AARTI BHATIA
HONORS 159J

DEPICTIONS


Veronica at the Snappy Snack Shop
Sherwood, Ohio is laid out to be your typical American suburb. The high school has kids from all different social classes. The four main girls are fairly well off. They are portrayed as popular and snotty. The girls dress in the latest fashions and set the trends for the rest of the school. They wear the latest Swatches, drink diet coke, and drive Mustangs. The girls enjoy their high status and use every opportunity to flaunt it. Country clubs are one of the most suburban ways to display ones social status. The girls play croquet everyday after school at Veronica's house, and act as if they are at an exclusive country club. Veronica's last name is Sawyer. Last names like Taylor, Chandler, and Sawyer are considered typical suburban upper class last names. These names are used on purpose to portray the girls as being from higher status families.
The upper middle class is depicted in this movie as not having many family problems. The only family problems shown are the struggles between teenagers and their parents. Teens do not really tell their parents what is going on in their lives. Yet at the same time they expect their parents to understand their problems and give them the freedom to live their life the way they please. Parents try to provide their children with as much as possible. Children only have as much as their parents give them. The parents usually end up giving too much to their kids, and thats why kids expect so much out of the world, and are so ungrateful.
Westerberg High school is portrayed as a typical high school in the eighties. Everyone belongs to a certain clique or group. The boys in high school are all grouped into various categories: jocks, nerds, preps and stoners. The jocks wear their letter jackets; the nerds have their glasses and pocket protectors; the preps wear their khakis and button down shirts; and finally the stoners wear black, smoke in the bathroom, and rarely go to class. The teenage girls in this movie are all portrayed as typical high school airheads. They refuse to date all the high school boys; so they go to college parties to find more "mature" boys. The boys shown are no more refined than those in high school, yet Heather (Chandler) will do anything to please them. The girls always have their hair done perfectly, and their nails and clothes are immaculate. Beauty and popularity were more highly valued by the Heathers than intelligence or true friendship. In this movie there were many stereotypes of class, family and age that were considered typical in the eighties. Another movie that portrays the class and age distinctions in the eighties is Pretty in Pink. In Michelle Sit's project she describes the same sorts of stereotypes of high school kids in American suburbs. The higher class kids treat the rest of the kids with the same lack of respect that is displayed by the Heathers. Both Pretty in Pink, and Heathers contain many typical stereotypes that were prevalent in the eighties.


Project Two: HEATHERS