Pressures In Michael Lehmann's Facetious Heathers

In Michael Lehmann’s facetious Heathers, various characters display their perspectives on the complications and difficulties of navigating the dynamics of adolescence. The teenage years are known throughout American culture to be some of the most trying times in one’s life. The pressures of fitting in, being popular, and feeling loved can become so important to teens, often close to obsessions. JD is someone who sees the falsehood behind these needs and looks down on those who epitomize them. While shown in an exaggerated form, JD’s animosity towards those in the popular clique reveals itself to the extreme. Although JD attempts to detach himself from the pressures of teenage society, they eventually get the best of him resulting in a harmful devaluation of his self worth to the

He doesn’t care what other people think and stays true to himself. JD is not the conventional Westerburg High student; he rebels against the norm and detaches himself from the pressures of society. He disregards all the rules of becoming cool and remains true to himself. JD wears black. This lack of color represents his objection to the status that the colors portray for the Heathers. JD bemoans the absence of justice, expressed when he speaks back to the “jocks” of the school. He is not afraid of defending himself, as the other students are. When Heather Chandler tells Veronica to write a counterfeit letter from Kurt to Martha Dunstock, although Veronica hesitates with her response she ends up acquiescing to Heather’s low level status and forges the letter. Unlike the other characters, JD doesn’t try to become accepted. The first day he joins Westerberg High, he sits at a table with someone else who is sleeping. When the ‘cool’ kids approach him, it becomes clear that JD is totally disinterested in their approval and even finds them laughable. Instead of attempting to win their favor, JD mocks them and effectively succeeds in dismissing