Heathers

Heathers was one of my favorite movies we have watched all semester. It was surprising to see all the violence included in the film in that context because it isn't that way today. Back then, suicide wasn't a reoccurring thing and a movie like this wouldn't do so well today because suicide has touched so many people. Too many bad things have happened in today's society that movies like this making a comedy out of something horrible wouldn't do well. I was surprised at how raw and honest the film was and it was one of the things I enjoyed most about it.

Comparing the film to Mean Girls is interesting because they are very similar yet very different. Besides the suicide, Mean Girls is more realistic to what happens today in high schools. Yet Heathers tackled issues in a similar way that Hollywood Shuffle did. Is it truly okay to laugh at the things in this movie? Because they actually are horrible things that everyone deals with, especially bullying and suicide and the struggle to fit in/be popular. When the very fat girl, Martha I believe, tried to kill herself because it is what the popular kids were doing, I was so mortified because it is very sad in reality to think that someone might think that way. The reading states "It’s the superficially flip manner with which it treats those subjects that really stands out. Heathers doesn’t do heartwarming messages." The film didn't do heartwarming messages, but showed the audience them in a different light, same as Hollywood Shuffle did with racism. 

I think Heathers is smart and original and it is a film that I would watch again. It kept me entertained the entire time wondering what was going to happen next because it is a movie that doesn't hold back. 

Wall Street

Wall Street was the typical movie that I expected to be. The young Wall Street broker gets into bed with the wrong people and it turns his life upside down. With the predictable story line however, it is interesting to watch these gentlemen fight and do horribly things all for the trading of practically nothing- just an image.

The film also explored interesting themes, such as the American Dream. The reading talks about testing one's moral flexibility when starting one's career. Bud starts the film out by saying "that's illegal" a few times, one of those being to Gordon Gekko. But Gekko encourages him that if he wants all the things he says he does, he has to bend the rules and cheat. Bud hopes that if he does what Gordon says, one day he'll be the one giving out the demands. And who wouldn't want to be as successful as Gordon Gekko? Except for the fact that he is successful off of crushing anyone and anything in his path along with trading this image. The one thing that bothers me most about this film is that these men are going to great lengths and doing ridiculous things all for the image that maybe a company is going to have a profitable year. It is somewhat sickening to watch, yet when I imagine myself after college trying to establish my career, I wonder if I would test my morals.

While watching this film I also was comparing it to this year's The Wolf of Wall Street, and the reason I liked that movie better was because of how it was almost satirical of Wall Street. You laugh while watching Jordan Belfort rile up his broker's and have ridiculous things happening inside of the office. I think Wall Street and everything these people do is disgusting, so to watch it put into a more comedic light made it more enjoyable for myself. With Wall Street I could see where the story was going and was just bored with the predictable-ness of it all. 

VS.