2018 is turning out to be interesting for entertainment with the launch of the trailer of the new Heather’s reboot. Coming out in mid-January the trailer depicts a few key changes to the beloved cult classic, and not all of the changes were well received by fans.
One of the most noticeable changes is how they are choosing to depict the Heathers themselves. Instead of the cookie-cutter mean girls that we are used to the reboot is choosing to depict them as minorities. A plus-sized girl, a gay boy, and an Asian girl make up the squad of Chandler, McNamara, and Duke respectively. On the flip side, Veronica Sawyer is depicted as the classically beautiful girl in the film.
In addition to that, the color schemes fan of the classic will remember for the Heather’s trio are gone. No more classic schoolgirl skirts, blazers, and knee highs. Instead, the television series opted for a more modern look and threw the classic colors out the window to give each of the Heathers a more unique look.
I, as well as other fans of the 80’s classic, saw the trailer and instantly had a lot of issues with it. I feel the creators of the reboot aren’t taking in the true meaning of what Heathers was about. The Heathers were supposed to be the same. Near clones of each other in different colored blazers. They were never supposed to be unique, they were supposed to be carbon copies of the same classically beautiful, white, popular girls. The point of Heathers was that Veronica survived because she was different.
By putting minorities in the roles of the Heathers it feels like Hollywood is saying: You got your representation, now be happy. But we don’t want it this way. By making the Heathers minorities you villainize them. You aren’t supposed to watch Heathers and like Heather Chandler, you’re supposed to watch it and root for Veronica. By making Veronica the only traditionally “pretty” person there it just perpetuates societies notion of giving us role models that fit the classic beauty mold which goes against everything Heathers was supposed to stand for.
The trailer further perpetuates this idea with lines like: “Fat kids can be popular.” Followed shortly by: “What about the Asian kids? And the genderqueer, obviously the gays and Jews are over.” The show’s creators say that they won’t back down from showing harsh topics, but there’s a line between showing harsh topics and being outright insulting.
There’s a point when a reboot crosses the line from being an honor to the original creation and being an insult to it. This reboot looks like it’s going to completely bypass insulting and go straight to destroying the original creator’s vision. I predict it will alienate fans and crash pretty quickly, but we’ll just have to wait and see when it premieres March 7.
(Video: Paramount Network, Gifs: Giphy)