Headscratchers / Heathers

As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• Why didn't Veronica pull the fire alarm to get everyone out of the school before she tried to dismantle J.D.'s bomb?
  • The screenplay to the movie had J.D. dismantle them.
  • And if JD heard the fire alarm, who's to say he wouldn't blow things up quicker? He'd still have a window of maybe five minutes to cause some serious damage. He's the son of a demolitions expert, so he'd possibly know.
• Ok, this is both an in-scene and behind the scenes question because both confuse this troper. How the hell did J.D. light a cigarette off of Veronica's freshly burned hand?
  • Some Artistic License. The assumption is that the wound was still smouldering. Car cigarette lighters (which they don't seem to even make anymore —now that spot is a charger) were damned HOT. The scene itself is some Black Comedy with JD as a Sociopathic Hero. He doesn't care that she's in terrible pain, he just wants his cigarette.
  • Word of God on the commentary states that Winona Ryder was holding a wire in her hand. She had to be careful not to burn herself before Christian Slater could use it to light his cigarette.
• JD made Veronica think the bullets would break skin but not kill Kurt and Ram. So she didn't think that she could still get in trouble (as JD did earlier) for pretending she was gonna kill them?
  • The plan (as far as Veronica knew) was to make it look like a bungled suicide pact. She probably figured that if Kurt and Ram tried, to tell the truth, everyone would think they were lying to save face and no one would believe them, and she was probably correct — note how quickly everyone bought the suicide pact story. And J.D. being in on it meant she had an alibi. ("I don't know what those two are talking about, I was with my boyfriend the whole time!") The plan went off without a hitch — except with real bullets.
  • There’s also the interpretation that Veronica knew exactly what was going on with all three murders, but she wanted to kill them anyway. (J.D. even believes this is the case.)
• Why is this even called "Heathers," when they're barely even in it? Shouldn't it be called "J.D." instead or something?
  • J.D.'s mission is to rid the world of people like the Heathers (and later on, people in general, from what I can tell). Plus "Heathers" is a more memorable title.
  • The Heathers also represented everything horrible about high school, and high school movies, to young people who feel like social outcasts. Here are these beautiful people everyone is supposed to look up to and try to be like, yet they're terrible people.
  • Both of the above are good explanations. However, it could also be the movie's attempt at fooling viewers into what kind of movie they're watching. For most of Act I, it just seems like another teen drama until JD knocks things off the rails.
  • "Barely in it"....? A Heather of some description features in at least 70% of the movie.
  • And Veronica joining the Heathers is what makes her so gloomy and apathetic to the world around her that she's willing to resort to murder. She didn't hate Heather Chandler enough to kill her until after she became In with the In Crowd.

• I'll be honest and say that I haven't watched the entire movie, but I've seen plenty of scenes, read the story, and listened to the musical numbers. As it is, I have yet to understand Veronica. She didn't seem to be particularly broken up or disturbed for having assisted in three student deaths. Now maybe I've missed a scene, but she seemed to be fine during Ram and Kurt's funeral (even laughing at one of J.D.'s jokes) despite having helped shoot them. It just doesn't seem like she's human...or else she's as disturbed as J.D.
  • In the musical, she's much more upset and guilty about it — the musical filed off the more unlikable parts of Veronica. As for the movie — that scene where she laughs during the funeral, immediately after, one of the boys' little sister turns around and stares at her in tears, which prompts a My God, What Have I Done? moment for Veronica, and is the start of her Heel Realization. That, combined with Ms Fleming's "love in" in the cafeteria, and J.D.'s reaction to it, is what prompts her to break up with J.D. and start actively trying to stop him. So she's still an Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist, but not inhuman.
  • Movie Veronica is not so different from the Heathers, sometimes. She wasn't just using them to "survive high school", she admired them and thought they were cool, the same way she thought JD was cool. She didn't feel sorry for the way Martha was treated early on, she felt pity and disgust for her if anything. She did not intend to kill anyone, but rather than feel sad about their wasted potential, she's annoyed that their deaths have made them even more popular, by making everyone believe they were secretly deep and caring individuals. If you want to think about her charitably, imagine that she's in shock and repressing her feelings to try and minimise her guilt. She does soften, though, and by the time of Heather McNamara's cry for help, Veronica's sense of empathy gets back in working order.
  • The movie was trying a bit harder to do black comedy, so Veronica's reactions to death get toned down to just shy of "Seth MacFarlane show" levels. The theater version, natch, had to be a bit more sensitive, so it writes her reactions a bit closer to a typical teenager.
  • Veronica has a slight Berserk Button over Condescending Compassion. We see this a couple times in the opening scene (someone virtue-signals Deadpan: "You're beautiful"). Her contempt for the mourners is meant to be somewhat relatable because of how shallow and fake they're all being. This leads to sort of a deconstruction of Teens Are Monsters: they're not shallow and fake because they're "bad", they're just emotionally undeveloped and suicide is hard enough to deal with as it is. Veronica becomes a less nasty character as she realizes just how hard people actually were hit by the "suicides", and sees that her superior attitude (somewhat justified by her greater intelligence) makes her just as bad as Heather Chandler.
  • Veronica is disturbed when she accidentally kills Heather Chandler. Then when she and JD conveniently make it look like a suicide, she's partly giddy because she can't believe it was that easy to get away with. And that's a response to the shock in and of itself. She at first feels okay because Heather was a horrible person and thus killing her had to be a good thing. So when Kurt and Ram get killed, she feels the same, since they were bullies who spread rumours about her and gang raped Heather McNamara. But when they're at the funeral, Veronica is at first laughing at JD's joke, and then sees that little girl crying and it brings it all home to her. She realises that, regardless of what she thought of them, Heather, Kurt and Ram were still people. They all had loved ones who mourn them, and she realises that she basically robbed three families of their children. JD's apathy disturbs her, and that's how she realises he's a sociopath who has to be stopped. That's why she goes to such lengths to stop the bomb herself, because she feels it's how she should earn redemption for what she's taken part in.

• Regarding the end where JD blows himself up; How did Veronica not end up badly injured after standing so close to an explosion? Assuming that one would survive such an impact she should've at the very least had multiple broken bones, spinal damage and third-degree burns but she just kinda walks away covered in soot?
  • Likely Artistic License.
  • One animatic depicts JD using a tactic similar to a military roll to make himself absorb much of the impact.

• In the musical, Heather McNamara says that she has to take the bus because all her rides to school are dead. But we know from Candy Store that Heather Duke has a Jeep. Is Duke so mean that she won't even give McNamara a ride to school?
  • Definitely.
  • Not impossible, but if you want a less cartoonish explanation, Duke just lives too far away to pick her up.

• In the musical, why does J.D. point the gun at Veronica after he finds out she faked her suicide? Was it a threat to make her go outside or did he intend on killing his girlfriend?
  • In the movie, he was planning on killing her if she didn’t cooperate with his plan of blowing up the school. It’s most likely the same as the musical. J.D. has an “if I can’t have you, no one can” mentality. It’s shown just how his sanity has deteriorated in “Meant To Be Yours.” Just before he opens the door, he tells her he’ll count to three before becoming irritated and bursting in. It was to show more of his aggressiveness. At that point, he wants her back but is too far gone to realize the consequences of his actions.

• If they just wanted to make Heather Chandler throw up why not just put ipecac or something in her drink instead of drain cleaner?
  • The drain cleaner wasn't meant to be an emetic (or to be given to Heather at all actually). Originally, Veronica wanted to give Heather orange juice and milk which was supposed to make her throw up, but J.D. kept joking about giving her drain cleaner instead. The cups then got mixed up and Veronica accidentally gave her the cleaner instead of the OJ and milk combo.
  • There's also the interpretation that Veronica secretly knew they were giving her the drain cleaner (you can see her feeling the cup for a lid, which indicates which one is safe) so in that case she wanted to kill Heather.
  • JD wanted to kill Heather, and he tricked Veronica into doing it.

• How was Heather Duke allowed to get implants at 16? Especially since she wouldn’t pass a psychological evaluation due to her bulimia.
  • You can technically get them in the US at 16 with the permission of your legal guardian (at least, you can now, and I assume that was the case in 1989). I would assume she keeps her bulimia secret from her parents.
  • I always presumed Veronica was just repeating something off the rumour mill.

• The kill the entire school at the prep rally plot kinda falls flat if you consider the students who were absent for whatever reasons *EG sickness, or not wanting to go to the prep Rally and went home early (Assuming that pep Rallys are an after lessons thing in schools). What was JD going to do to those absentees who were lucky to escape the slaughter?
  • He might not care about getting everyone, but just enough people to cause a massive public incident. Of course, even Sherwood PD might sit up and take notice that, somehow, everyone who stayed home but still signed the petition had no knowledge of any suicide pact. But just because JD's a good manipulator doesn't mean he's a master planner.
  • In the movie, one of the characters mentions getting out of class for the pep rally so while people absent from school that day might be a problem, it isn’t an after school thing so most people would be there

• Coming off from that, why the hell did Ms Fleming think using a suicide note to connect to people a good idea? Why not actively try to protect depressed students and prevent further tragedy?
  • That's part of the commentary of the movie/musical. While I'm sure Ms. Fleming cared about the students to some extent, she also thrived on the drama and emotional turmoil that came out of the "suicides". She exploited them as a way to promote her happy-go-lucky, hippie-esque sharing session rather than treating them with the gravitas they deserved.
  • Heathers is supposed to be a commentary on high school life. Mrs. Fleming's reaction could be a reference to schools in Real Life claiming that they're against bullying, but doing nothing to help bullied students and enforcing zero tolerance policies. Basically, it's a situation where she avoids the elephant in the room and chooses to fix the wrong problem.
  • This was the 80s. Mental health problems weren't generally taken seriously by our society until the mid-2010s at the earliest. The movie is ahead of its time by showing Ms Fleming's attitude as shallow nonsense.

• Mostly considering the musical version here... Couldn't Veronica have called police or the fire department or anyone qualified to disarm bombs before heading after JD? Or just asking her parents to call while she hurries after him. She goes in quite willing to die if necessary, so I doubt she's worried about incriminating herself at this point.
  • In the movie, she says: "nobody can stop JD. Not the CIA, FBI or PTA." I haven't seen the musical but presumably, Veronica felt that only she could talk JD down.
  • Veronica is also a teenager, and it is a bit of her character that she thinks she's somewhat better than everyone else (she spent most of the movie being part of the elite clique). Maybe the police would have done a good job too, but Veronica thought she was the best woman for the job.
  • The cops also found mineral water at the scene of a murder, with two kids nearby (one of whom had recently brought a gun to school) and immediately assumed it was a gay suicide pact. Veronica might think Police Are Useless with good reason.

• Why do the Heathers play croquet? Was that a big "popular rich kid" stereotype in the late 80s?
  • Croquet is often associated with rich snobs, because it's a game that can normally only be played in private clubs. It's associated with rich women playing as well, mainly thanks to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts loving croquet. It's another way of showing the elitism of the Heathers.
  • Word of God on the DVD commentary says that the screenwriter enjoyed the weird juxtaposition of a sedate game you play in a manicured garden with the cutthroat quality of the gameplay, such as taking your opponent completely out.

• Can anyone explain the mixing-up-Bo-Diddley-and-Bruce-Lee joke? I'm assuming it's just meant to be a "Ram and Kurt are dumb" thing, but... if they know Bo Diddley wears a long dark coat and they know Bruce Lee is in "Enter the Dragon", there shouldn't be any way they can confuse the two.

• How does J.D.'s dad survive to the end of the play/movie? J.D. probably hates him in a more personal way than any other human being, he's got clear impulse control problems, in his own mind he's basically confirmed that he's clever enough to get away with it, and yet somehow all his targets are high school kids he barely knows.
  • JD possibly fears him and thus isn't able to make himself do it. He goes after high school kids because they're easier targets.
  • More pragmatically, how do you murder an adult and get away with it? He was able to get away with the murders of Heather Chandler, Ram and Kurt because they were able to pass them off as suicides - and said characters were also dim-witted enough to be suckered in (Heather was hungover enough to accept a drink without question, and the jocks thought Veronica would sleep with them). At this point, he doesn't have Veronica helping him, and it was her writing that was able to make a convincing suicide note. But he's the troubled kid with a reputation for bringing a gun to school, and if his father suddenly turns up dead, he'll immediately fall under suspicion. And if JD is suspected to be a murderer, people will start wondering whether his classmates were murdered too.
  • At least in the musical, we DO see JD pointing his gun at his father as he walks away, only for him to not fire until Big Bud Dean has left the room, when he turns and shoots the TV (and all he gets in response from Bud is an offstage shout of "no firearms in the house!", which implies this isn't the first time this sequence has played out). Some part of him seems incapable of killing his father as much as he hates him - if the death of his mother, which played out in front of him, traumatized him, he may psychologically be incapable of killing his father, meaning watching his other parent die in front of him, no matter how much he hates Big Bud Dean.

• (In the movie) Why did Veronica leave Heather McNamara alone with the football players, one of whom is on top of Heather while she tries to fight back? The one that asked Veronica for sex fell flat on his face, drunk, and J.D. showed up, so they easily could've done something.
  • Doylist answer: the writers were playing it for laughs instead of drama; the characters don't take it seriously because the viewer is not supposed to. Watsonian answer: Veronica really just doesn't care. Values Dissonance may be quite heavily in play in either case.
  • This is Veronica pre Heel Realization. She isn't a good person, considering she is implied to have known Heather Chandler was drinking the drain cleaner. Veronica leaving Heather alone to be raped by the two football players shows she's just as self-centered as everyone else, because she only cares about getting revenge on Kurt and Ram when she is personally affected by their behavior. It's only later in the film when she realises how screwed up their school system is - and she tries to comfort Heather over her suicidal thoughts.
  • It's also implied that Kurt couldn't get it up if he tried because he's too drunk, and Heather is on a date with Ram, so Veronica might think it's consensual if she doesn't think too hard about it. Bolstered by the confusion when she says "the last guy I had sex with killed himself," implying she gave in if not fully consented.

• I haven't read Moby Dick, only saw its movie long ago, and I haven't seen Heathers either, only listened to the songs, so I apologize if it is explained but is there any specific reason JD singles out Moby Dick out of Veronica's books as the one to "prove" her suicidal tendencies to her parents? Wouldn't something like, say, The Sorrows of Young Werther, which directly deals with the suicide of a main character (and even spawned a bit of a suicide fad it is said) have brought the point he was trying to make more effectively across?
  • I have only seen the movie, not the musical, but I assume it is a reference to the movie, where Heather Duke is often seen reading Moby Dick.
  • Earlier in the musical, when JD is trying to convince Veronica to help kill Heather Duke, he says he underlined some "meaningful passages" in the book, to make the suicide look more convincing. I haven't actually read Moby Dick, but it can be presumed that these were passages talking about suicidal intent.
  • The plot of Moby Dick is Captain Ahab hunting the white whale because he's having suicidal thoughts, and going out to sea is the only way he can shake them. The narration has him actually recognise his suicidal thoughts, so there could very well be something there for JD to convince Veronica's parents.

• How is it that Veronica’s parents don’t come running up the stairs during “Meant to be Yours”? J.D. was ranting about killing his classmates, screaming for Veronica to come out of the closet, and banging on the wall. Shouldn’t her parents have realized someone was in their daughter’s room and gone up to save her or at least call the police?
  • Part of the point in the story itself is how Adults Are Useless - the only other time we even see Veronica's parents is before the Homecoming party. Legit, they don't hear anything, even accounting for how JD's ranting and raving is almost certainly part of musical convention (ie. it's not like he really spontaneously generates the chorus to recite the suicide letter, etc.).

• So this has always bugged me ever since I saw the musical and the end of the movie - Veronica very easily takes the red scrunchie from Heather Duke, declares herself the new sheriff in town and, as top dog, she’s able to call an end to the era of fear and invite Martha to watch movies with her. So, if the social top dog in Westerberg is determined by whoever wears the red scrunchie, why isn’t there a huge fight over it? What’s stopping Heather Duke from taking it away from Veronica the next day, or McNamara for that matter? It’s even more confusing in the TV show where it seems like wearing any kind of red in your hair/on your head advances you to the top of the social hierarchy. This school should be a school full of red hair accessories - if they had uniform all the girls would be dressed like Heather Chandler.
  • It's more symbolic. The red scrunchie was significant because red was Heather Chandler's colour, and you see that Duke had to wear green and McNamara yellow - with Veronica's colour being blue. Once Duke seizes power, she now wears red because there are no more rules about what colours she has to wear. So the scene of her being offered the scrunchie was just symbolic that she could take the power and be the new Alpha Bitch. Veronica taking it at the end and putting it on just shows how meaningless it actually was, breaking the illusion of power the Heathers clique had over the school (Veronica thought she had to follow all their rules but she opted just to do what she wanted).

• How did JD always seem to know where Veronica was? The encounter at the Snappy Snack Shack may not be so suspicious, given JD’s history of going to Snappy Snack Shacks, however the timing seemed a little too convenient. He knows where she lives and knew where she was for the “double date” with Heather Mc Namara (again with perfect timing- showing up the moment after Veronica finished writing in her diary about her disastrous experience at Remington University and the moment she was completely done with the grotesque double date.) I used to suspect that perhaps Veronica had simply called JD and disclosed her whereabouts there, however this idea is completely invalidated when she explained to JD at the cow farm that she “tired to tell [him] at the funeral but [he] rode off.”, meaning that she has no way of communicating with him unless they are physically together.

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