Everyone Hates The New "Heathers" TV Show Already And It Hasn't Even Aired Yet

22 January 2018, 16:15

By Katie Louise Smith

"I can’t stop thinking about how someone green lit a “heathers but the minorities are the sh*tty kids” show in 2018."

In case you missed it, the trailer for the brand new Heathers TV show reboot dropped last week... and eeeeeveryone seems to hate it already for one pretty problematic reason.

In the iconic original Winona Ryder-led film of 1988, the Heathers were a bunch of privileged white girls who act like the evil dictators at the school. They were the original Mean Girls. Whatever they say or do, goes. Whatever they wear, is what's in. Whatever they say has the power to make you or absolutely break you.

But in this remake of the classic, the Heathers are comprised of marginalised minorities... which many are calling problematic to say the least.

Listen, I love Heathers. I also don't agree that all remakes that make changes are bad. But the point of the original was that the Heathers WERE privileged white girls. Making them marginalized folks loses the plot and opens some dangerous lanes
— SISTER ROGER EBERT ✨ (@chickcheney) January 19, 2018

bye i can’t stop thinking about how someone greenlit a “heathers but the minorities are the shitty kids” show in 2018
— aristotle (@xochipiIli) January 17, 2018

heathers 2018: we are portraying marginalized people as the bullies and the skinny cis white girl as the victim

some fake woke blogger soon, probably a hamilton stan: WOW!!! look at this representation! so progressive!
— im love my gf (@strangeauthor) January 19, 2018

the heathers reboot show is messy for a number of reasons but the main reason is because it tries to be “diverse” by making the heathers clique minorities without understanding how bad that is. minorities are almost always portrayed as the villains and it’s terrible
— nat🍓 (@pedropscl) January 19, 2018

The show is clearly attempting to flip the stereotype that the only popular girls in school are all cis and white. At the end of the day, the message of Heathers is that everyone is capable of doing bad things, no matter who you are.

In the original movie, JD is the one true villain but to some extent, the Heathers are villains too. And by turning the Heathers - who are still powerful, shitty, condescending, judgemental bullies at their core - into the same minorities that are still targeted in real life at schools in 2018, people think that the show (whether it intended to or not) is giving off the wrong message.

Realizing the Heathers tv adaptation is going to have a white straight couple killing marginalized characters because the white straight people see themselves as the victims AND we're supposed to side with the white straight people. pic.twitter.com/bysm09mzPs
— Katie Schenkel (@JustPlainTweets) January 18, 2018

ofc marginalized ppl can be bad guys but pushing stories that depict us negatively & that reinforce specific harmful ideas abt us when thats all we ever get is harmful (& i agree that it was likely a tone deaf step toward inclusion & the show looks bad in other ways too)
— jill ʚ💗ɞ (@gamecubejill) January 20, 2018

Sooo... they're doing a remake of Heathers which flips it around so the liberal LGBT diversity kids are eeevil popular bullies who need to be stopped by the cool pretty white kids. 2018, folks! Taking your rebel heroes and making them an alt-right wet dream. https://t.co/ilIgCYFReA
— Stefan Gagne (@Twoflower) January 19, 2018

So ... the #Heathers reboot is about the pretty cisgender white het couple killing the queers and big girls?
— Tom & Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) January 18, 2018

Basically, everyone just hates it already.

you know the heathers reboot is already worse when they replace "well fuck me gently with a chainsaw" to "well suck my third nipple"
— meggg (@raygungoths) January 18, 2018

this is the biggest fucking DISRESPECT to heathers (1988) and living legend winona mf ryder.....punch me in the gut and shoot me in the kidney and it'll probably hurt less than watching this cringe shit https://t.co/Ev9fsjd4Bm
— f thot fitzgerald (@dracomallfoys) January 20, 2018

hey, uh, heathers remake? heather chandler fat shamed martha durnstock so aggressively that even after chandler was out of the picture she attempted suicide, so for you to make her fat herself is a fucking slap in the goddamn face
— mothman 🌷 (@bodaciamorose) January 19, 2018

heathers (1988) is a classic movie with a timeless message that's aged very well and it does not need a remake. the remake isn't making a statement it's just completely ignoring the message in the original movie. why remake things as diverse just to....kill them???? pic.twitter.com/4maQgkVfTw
— 🔪 (@bleuvaIentine) January 19, 2018

Jason Micallef, the series showrunner, has defended the show's flipped narrative and explained it all in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“The main thing to really take away is I don’t view the Heathers as the villains,” Micallef told EW. “The three Heathers are incredibly powerful and ruling the school; they’re the people you would want to be. In the original film, the Heathers were the ones I always loved, and it’s the same with the series. The Heathers are the aspirational characters. [That the Heathers are the villains is] the underlying thesis of the small segment of people that have an issue with it. The villain is J.D. — and that’s the same in the movie and same in our show.”

“The reason I changed the Heathers surface identities is I think today [the characterization] rings true," he continued. "Today, all different types of people are more aspirational. People that wouldn’t have necessarily been considered the most popular kids in school in 1988 could very well be — and probably most likely are — the more popular kids today."