You may be one of the many Tiktok users currently looking at their phone screens wondering ‘What is a Heather? Did I miss something?’ Well, kind of and you’re several decades too late. The term Heather originally comes from the 1988 dark teen comedy Heathers featuring Wionna Ryder and Christian Slater. Like many films starring Winona Ryder the film eventually became a cult classic. The term has since made its way back into popular culture thanks to Conan Gray, a pop singer who just released Heather – a song in which the writer’s crush has a crush on the mesmerising Heather.
Like many cult classics, describing the plot without sounding like a 5-year-old with an overactive imagination on a sugar rush is difficult. It follows four teen girls, three of which are called Heather and the fourth high schooler Veronica Sawyer, who is played by Winona Ryder.
If you were to combine Clueless, another iconic coming of age comedy featuring Alicia Silverstone (1995) with suicide, sex, murder and bombs you’d have our beloved Heathers. Despite being a coming of age teen comedy Heathers doesn’t shy away from some very dark satire. It just covers it with glitter and blazers with shoulder pads.
Once again, what is a Heather and why are they so special?
Imagine perfect skin, undeniable beauty, mini skirts and perfect 80s voluminous curls. Daddies girls. The elites of high school. The ‘it’ girl. The mean girl. Every girl at one point or another has felt on the outside and isolated by a Heather. Her flawlessness reminds you of your blatant inadequacy and if you haven’t had this experience – congratulations Heather.
“And then there’s the Heathers. They float above it all.”
But that’s why it’s no surprise the term has survived decades. We all know a Heather. We love her, we hate her and we kind of want to be her. Heathers are timeless. Despite being a seemingly shallow the term it' an almost universal coming of age experience for young women. It captures the moment a young girl realises the power of beauty and popularity. A Heather has everything without even trying.
The film has since been remade for modern TV in a series in 2018 which looks so good, I haven’t even seen it. Heathers was also turned into a rock musical in 2010, but we all know nothing compares to the original with the exception of maybe a couple Disney live actions.
The film didnt just give us the term Heather but it also gave us iconic lines like this one:
Now hopefully some of these Tiktok's make sense. But remember being a Heather is a little overated and if you still haven’t seen Heathers it’s never too late. I promise you’ll love it and I pinky promise you’ll laugh. Plus the 80s hair and fashion is generally dreamy, you'll love it.
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