Teen Angst for Adult Humans: A Night at the Heathers Art Show
EntertainmentArtist Heather Kohos came to “Gently, With a Chainsaw: A Heathers Art Show” prepared with cigarettes. After chatting with her about her art in the show and her Heathers origin story, I asked for her card. She handed me a wooden cigarette enscripted with “Dear Diary, Heather told me she teaches people ‘real life.’” (and, of course, the address of her Tumblr). I held the faux cigarette in my hand for the rest of the night, aiding in my low-level Veronica Sawyer cosplay and rereading the quote. What did Heathers teach me about real life?
Released in 1988, Heathers (written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann) followed Veronica Sawyer (all time babe Winona Ryder), an Ohio teen, who very half-heartedly hangs out with the popular “Heathers.” When a mysterious new dude, J.D. (peak Christian Slater) comes to town, Veronica’s tolerance for the social politics of Westerburg High turns murdery with J.D. by her side.
I don’t remember my Heathers origin story. I must have seen it in late high school, I guess, but at any rate, by the time I moved to Los Angeles almost five years ago, my out-of-print DVD copy had been watched at least a hundred times. And I revisited it: feeling the growing pains of moving to a new city, I used Heathers and other teen movies to find my people. I threw a teen-movie-themed 26th birthday party, dressed up in a Heathers group costume with a new group of friends on Halloween. It was easy to figure out who we wanted to go as; we all had our attachments and reasons. A red blazer, sitting unused in the back of a closet. The excuse to drink a mixed cocktail out of a bleach container. The hope to fully embody the spirit of Veronica Sawyer. At parties, people loved our costume. Someone invited us to go watch their dodgeball team, “The Heathers,” play next to The Abbey in West Hollywood. It seemed that the movie had an essentially endless appeal.
Erika Paget, curator of Gently, With a Chainsaw: A Heathers Art Show, loved the movie from the moment she saw it in high school. “You know when the movie is melodramatic or insensitive or provocative, it’s always on purpose,” she told me. “It feels rooted in the 1980s, but it also feels timeless. Those girls were badasses, and they had a real handle on life, at least in the way that you feel you do when you’re a teenager.”