PSA: Because there’s just so much in this movie to dissect, this post will be in a state of perpetual editing. It’s basically my personal masterlist of interpretations and extractions from the film. This is primarily for my own organization and understanding, so it’ll be rambling and probably incoherent at times: fair warning. ( With an obvious leaning towards Veronica’s character because of who I am as a person ).
To jump in, we’ll start with my problematic fave: Shakespeare. To be kept brief because it’s fairly straightforward or bleeds into other areas of analysis. ( Also I can add more later, I’m getting the basics down now ).
MACBETH: This is the most blatant. Veronica’s character is Macbeth modernized, essentially. JD’s her Lady Macbeth, if less subtle and more coaxing in his ways of edging her into murder. The main difference is the motivation - Where Macbeth and wife sought power, Veronica and JD are more focused on the greater good of the whole rather than seeking anything major for themselves. ( In fact, Veronica actively avoids and has major anxieties over taking Heather’s position and what that might do to her ). Gender plays a major role in differences and further analysis, see that section for more.
HAMLET: Hamlet’s indecisiveness and introspection are heavily seen in Veronica. Her diary entries, in my opinion, are modern extension of his soliloquies and monologues. Both are ‘haunted’ figures that struggle to make a number of major decisions and this procrastination to decide leaves their options limited and puts them in situations easily avoided. While I don’t think Waters used Hamlet as any kind of basis for the movie, the parallels are pretty undeniable. ( King Hamlet - Chandler, Claudius - Duke, McNamara - Gertrude, Ophelia - Martha, etc, etc. ). JD doesn’t particularly have a big part in the comparison ( maybe Hamlet’s ‘madness’ personified or the ghost pushing forward the idea of revenge? ). But both protagonists have a very similar internal back and forth and I apparently have a Type.
ROMEO & JULIET: Much less with this one, but Veronica and JD’s star crossed lovers trope is pretty blatant. The feud is in line with high school drama along with the theme of suicide, however the key feature of R&J in the movie would be the method of suicide. Poison is historically a woman’s method of death and a dagger would be a man’s, so where R&J flipped that trope, H.eathers reverted it again ( though both methods stem from JD ).
Next, I’ll keep brief. This section is for biblical allusions and for the time being I’ll keep it to the most obvious parallels and later on I’ll dig into the smaller details.
BIBLICAL: I mentioned it before in THIS post, but Veronica attempts to ‘punish’ herself twice in the same manner. Fire (or heat) to the center of her palm is a clear reference to Jesus’ nailed hands and his atonement for our sins. And, to add, as my friend @dinoperfecto pointed out, JD lighting his cigarette would be considered sacrilegious in and of itself. On a similar note, when JD goes to atone for his own crimes, he takes the same position as Christ on the cross and mirror JD’s actions from the car scene, Veronica lights her cigarette on that action.
Also notable would be ‘our love is God’. The lines drawn from JD and Veronica to their being God or perhaps overpowering him are recurring. In a line from an early draft of the script, Veronica writes in her diary “It’s God versus my boyfriend, and God’s losing”. The teens all have their own relationships with the deity that are played out in their prayers during Heather’s funeral ( which is also just their general responses to life/death ).
To track back to Hamlet, a common theme in the play is whether or not justice is man’s work or God’s, and I think that kind of plays a lot in Veronica’s inner conflict, as well.
More soon, probably.
The last section is for the miscellaneous. This can stem from pop culture references and influences to societal context of the period to anything else.
CONTEXT: The movie is a direct response to the Reagan era. John Hughes films sugar coated how horrifying high school could be and teen suicide had reached the point of epidemic. A campaign to sway teens from offing themselves almost parodied the seriousness of the issue and glamorized it. ( TOPICAL, since the A.manda T.odd incident, suicide has been a hot button issue and depression and suicide are treated as romantically today as they were in the 80s ). Even with all this talk about teen suicide, the way the public treated real teenage issues as less serious or important was trivialized and written off despite it’s severity. Likewise, teen horrors were sensationalized and essentially turned into entertainment. ( See: Veronica’s nightmare and the 3D glasses ).
COLOR MOTIFS (in general): This is fairly straight forward, so I will try to keep it concise but I am who I am.
*RED - Chandler’s color, one of Westerburg’s spirit colors. It’s a symbol of status, power, ambition, and anger. Scenes depicting people in red are depicting people at their most amibitious, powerful, and somewhat blinded. Kurt and Ram are always in their varsity reds, Heather is always in red save for her death when she’s in a softer shade of pink ( out of her element when taken by surprised and literally killed by her own pride ), to Duke’s switch to the color ( “I’m red.” ). Even in smaller doses, it’s a glaring color. Dennis wears a red sweater in the yearbook committee room, clearly on a high regarding his lay out idea ( maybe the president of yearbook? ). When JD finally wears a note of red, it’s when the killing thing has gone to his head and he starts believing he’s got some power to make a change that’ll hit the entire world.
*BLUE - Veronica’s primary color. Subdued, melancholic. Often contrasting very harshly with the aforementioned red. In every major struggle Veronica’s in with either major power player in her life during the movie ( JD or Chandler ), the lighting is very specific. The party scene is nothing but varying lights of red or blue. Veronica’s ‘speech’ scene is red when she’s furious and taking control of the situation, and Chandler’s in a blue bathroom when she feels she lost control of hers. The argument outside of Remington has both girls lit on either side by the two colors and Veronica ultimately ends up back in her blue room. Further on, the drano Heather drinks is blue, for obvious reasons. This color stays with Veronica throughout much of the film, save for a moment of purple when Veronica is beginning to take some control back for herself ( yay mixing colors ). The end of the film has Veronica in all her shades of grey and blue, with the small amount of red being glaringly obvious in contrast. The blood on her face and the pristine scrunchie in hair show the grungier side of pining for power.
*other colors tbw
COLOR MOTIFS (within characters):
* CHANDLER : Red. All the things mentioned above. Power, ambition, anger. In croquet, she’s always red. She’s always in charge. It’s the color of extremes and is starkly glaring, like her crass language compared to outward appearance.
* MCNAMARA: Yellow. It’s a really meek, cowardly color. It’s light and easily manipulated. Yellow means loyalty, remembrance, and joy but it also means deceit. Heather’s color never changes, she never shows any want for change and is just always there. In fact, most of her shades of yellow are on the softer side, lending even more so to that dynamic she has throughout the film.
* DUKE: Green. Duke is the only one without a primary color. She’s the foil to Veronica. She doesn’t quite fit with the group. She’s the one that gets the most shit from Chandler. And rightly so, green means envy and ambition. Also, in natural terms, green often means spring or the oncoming of renewal, likely a hint toward her ‘blooming’ and later on taking the red from Chandler.
* VERONICA: Blue, black. Veronica predominantly wears more black and grey shades than she does with blue, but overall her appearance is that of a bruise. She’s miserable. She’s melancholic. She doesn’t want to participate, but still has a standout appearance compared to Duke and McNamara. Blue is intelligence, wisdom, and confidence. Along with JD, though, her main color overall is black. Mysterious, dark, serious, and also representing power. It’s an obvious contrast to the red that produces a similar affect and really showcases the similarities and the differences between Veronica and Chandler or Duke.
GENDER ROLES: Heather’s, boiled down, reads much more like a Tarantino or Kubrick thriller or action film. The roles and themes aren’t traditionally female filled. ( In fact, Veronica is often referenced as a female Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver or Narrator from Fight Club ). That all being said, the tactics used are fairly ‘feminine’ in nature. Croquet is often associated with west European court life - Scheming and backhanded while putting forward a friendly faced. The girls’ language is crass and traditionally masculine, but their shoulder pads are exaggerated. The movie very much toys with traditional expectations while also staying true to real life. More tbw.
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