Coming Of Age Issues In Teenage Movies

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John Hughes directed a few of the most iconic teenage movies of the 1980s, where each one is touching on the topic of coming-of-age. Hughes’ movies address important issues, some of which are slightly addressed in Heathers. For example while Breakfast Club (1985), whose message was not to judge a book by its cover. Heathers on the other hand gives insight into a world that a lot of a lot of people are desperate to enter. In one scene Betty Finn, Veronica’s old friend, tells Veronica how lucky she is to bebecause she is friends with the Heathers. EventhoughAlthough, every moment leading up to this scene Veronica was showing nothing but resentment towards the other girls in the clique. Two other films directed by John Hughes are Pretty in Pink (1986) and Sixteen Candles (1894), which both focus on a girl who …show more content…

Sometimes it is because parents are unimportant characters in a story revolving around teenagers. However, Heathers seizes the opportunity to show the impacts of “oblivious parents, idiotic faculty or babbling ministers” (Kempley, 1989). Veronica never confronts her parents about her feelings towards her friends. Her parents do not even bother to ask how things are going. In the few scenes where Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer interact with Veronica, the dialogue holds no deep meaning. Even in the scene after JD warns them that Veronica may commit suicide they do not bother to ask why she would do such a thing. Instead they go on and on about what things she should avoid. They are even oblivious to the fact that Veronica is distraught and do not attempt to stop her when she walks away from them. It is only after Veronica fakes suicide attempt that we see true horror in Mrs. Sawyer’s face. After Veronica’s fake attempt to commit suicide she runs into Pauline Fleming. Ms. Fleming states that whether or not to commit suicide is the most important decision a teenager can