The Personality of Veronica Sawyer in Revealing the Dark Comedy in Heathers

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THE PERSONALITY OF VERONICA SAWYER IN REVEALING THE DARK COMEDY IN HEATHERS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By SONIA LARASAYU Student Number: 154214067

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2019 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

THE PERSONALITY OF VERONICA SAWYER IN REVEALING THE DARK COMEDY IN HEATHERS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By SONIA LARASAYU Student Number: 154214067

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2019

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I would like to express my gratefulness to Allah SWT for His love, guidance, and giving me the ability to finish this undergraduate thesis.

I would like to thank my thesis advisor A. B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph. D. for always giving me her patience and guidance in making this undergraduate thesis. I also would like to thank my thesis co advisor Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka,

M.Hum. for helping me in developing ad correcting this undergraduate thesis.

I would like to give my gratitude to my parents, Asri S. and Hariyanto, and also to my aunt, Maria Puspawangi, who never stop to keep me sane. The three of them have given me a lot of their bests and love in any forms for me.

During the process of making this undergraduate thesis there are many people who never stop giving their full-time support for me. Thank you to Gita

Ariesta R, Diana Puspitarini, Laras Mustika Rani, and Angela Merici, my support machine during my study in English Letters Department. Thank you for the great times and all the moments we share together. It is a pleasure to have them around especially during the making of this undergraduate thesis. I also do not forget to thank Jeri for all the understandings and always being here through the good and bad times.

Sonia Larasayu

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LIST OF FIGURES

No. Figure Page

1. Fig 1. Heather Duke, Heather McNamara, Veronica Sawyer, 28 and Heather Chandler. 2. Fig 2. Veronica hangs herself. 40 3. Fig 3. Veronica opens her eyes after her mother enters the room 41

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ABSTRACT

LARASAYU, SONIA. (2019). The Personality of Veronica Sawyer in Revealing the Dark Comedy in Heathers. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma. This undergraduate thesis analyzes a dark comedy film. Film is one of art works that is unique and powerful enough to deliver ideas, opinion, and messages to the world. Heathers is a 1988 American dark comedy, the story focuses on Veronica Sawyer, a girl who is a part of the most well-known clique in her school. The film is classified as dark comedy because the film contains dark and gloomy themes which presented in a humorous and comic way. Most of the themes are brought by Veronica, the main character. Her personality reveals the dark comedy in the film. Heathers has a unique and different way of delivering the messages to the audience, that is why this film is worth studying. This study discusses two main issuses. The first one is the personality of Veronica Sawyer, the main character, and the second one is how Veronica’s personality reveal the dark comedy in the film. The method that this study uses is library research because most of the data are collected from books. However, there are some data taken from the internet. This study also uses structuralism as the approach. In order to understand a particular element, studying the whole system of connection or structure is needed. That is why structuralism is chosen because it helps in revealing how the personality of Veronica reveal the dark comedy in the film. This study shows the analysis of Veronica Sawyer’s personality and how her personality reveals the dark comedy in the film. She has several personalities, such as kindhearted, intelligent, revengeful, suicidal, and pathetic. She comes with both good and bad traits. Her personality is related to the theme of dark comedy, which can be concluded that her personality is the one that reveals the dark comedy in the film.

Keywords: personality, dark comedy, structuralism.

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ABSTRAK

LARASAYU, SONIA. (2019). The Personality of Veronica Sawyer in Revealing the Dark Comedy in Heathers. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Skripsi ini menganalisa sebuah film bergenre komedi gelap. Film adalah salah satu dari karya seni yangcukup unik dan kuat untuk menyampaikan ide, opini, dan pesan kepada dunia luar. Heathers adalah film komedi gelap Amerika tahun 1988 yang menceritakan tentang Veronica Sawyer, seorang perempuan remaja yang merupakan anggota klik paling terkenal di sekolahnya. Film ini dikategorikan sebagai komedi gelap karna tema di dalam film ini gelap dan suram yang disajikan dengan cara yang lucu serta jenaka. Tema seperti itulah yang diusung oleh Veronica, pemeran utama dalam film ini. Studi ini mendiskusikan dua permasalahan utama. Pertama adalah kepribadian dari Veronica Sawyer, sang pemeran utama, dan kedua adalah bagaimana kepribadian Veronica memperlihatkan tema komedi gelap di dalam film. Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah studi pustaka karena data yang dikumpulkan banyak didapat dari buku. Bagaimanapun juga, ada beberapa data yang didapat melalui internet. Studi ini juga menggunakan struskturalisme sebagai pendekatan. Untuk memahami suatu elemen khusus, mempelajari seluruh sistem koneksi atau struktur adalah hal yang harus dilakukan. Maka dari itu, strukturalisme dipilih dalam studi ini karena membantu untuk mengungkapkan bagaimana kepribadian Veronica mampu memperlihatkan komedi gelap di dalam film. Di studi ini menunjukkan analisa dari kepribadian Veronica. Ia memiliki beberapa kepribadian, seperti baik hati, cerdas, seorang penganiaya, seorang yang ingin mengakhiri hidupnya berulang kali, dan seseoramg yang menyedihkan. Veronica memiliki kedua sifat baik dan buruk. Kepribadiannya memiliki korelasi dengan tema komedi gelap, maka bisa disimpulkan bahwa kepribadian Veronica lah yang membawa tema komedi gelap ke dalam film.

Keywords: personality, dark comedy, structuralism.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Art work is a common thing in the daily life. Art work has beauty value and aesthetic in it. It can function as both education and entertainment. Art works can take various forms including film. “Film is recognized as a unique and powerful art form on a par with painting, sculpture, music, literature, and drama” (Boggs &

Petrie, 2008, p. 3). Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.

“Film communicates directly, not through abstract symbols like words on a page but through concrete images and sounds” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 3). Film is one of many art works that is used to deliver ideas, opinion, messages, and many more. Most films are made so that they can be shown on big screens at film theatre and at home. There are many genres of films, such as sci-fi, drama, action, animation, comedy, dark comedy, romance, thriller, horror, and many more.

“Film employs the compositional elements of the visual arts: line, form, mass, volume, and texture” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 3). There are some purposes of film, such as to convey emotions to the audience by providing narrative-stories that are made as real as possible by using visual and audio effect. Films can also raise awareness about certain issues, such as political and social issues that are tend to show the story from the minority’s point of view. Films are concern about giving knowledge about certain subjects matter to the audience. A good film

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usually has certain messages that are successfully delivered to the audience.

However, the audiences do not have to agree with the message or the idea, but those films with powerful idea and characters that are able to influence the audience, whether it is their way of thinking or their behavior often assumed as good films.

Therefore, film is one of many art works that can be studied. This research has a deeper analysis on the main character’s personality in revealing the genre of the film. A character that has strong identity can be found in many films, such as

Heathers, one of classic phenomenal high school film. Heathers, a classic from

1988 written by Daniel Waters. Heathers was directed by Michael Lehmann. This film was released on March 31, 1988 in the United Sates. The film was not a big hit in the box office but become a cult classic, with high rentals and sales business. Cult classic or cult film usually related to something unusual and do not really follow the cliché since they have unique plots, characters, or settings and usually have a big fan base dedicated to a work of culture.

Heathers is an American dark comedy that is worth to be studied. The film is not only about the love life in high school, but also how teenagers deal with the society. “Dark comedy is a form of humor that concerns human suffering as ridiculous rather than pitiable, or that considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic” (Sahini, 2016). Still related to the genre, Giannetti stated that, “genres are distinguished by a personality set of conventions in style, values, and subject matter” (Giannetti, 1987, p. 268). The story focuses on

Veronica Sawyer, a girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the “in crowd” of her

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school. Later in the film she meets a rebel, Jason Dean/J.D. who later becomes her boyfriend. Veronica Sawyer’s personality brought the ‘dark comedy’ to the film.

It is a challenge to see how the main character slowly turns into the “antagonist”, even in the end of the film Veronica Sawyer realized that what she did with J. D. was not a rebellion, but rather psychopathic since they both successfully murdered a few popular kids from their school.

According to Ziberman, “Heathers has the courage to sympathize with a psychopath who exposes how dangerous it can be when fads and gossip are more influential than basic decency” (Ziberman, 2014). It shows that Heathers is a different kind of high school film, audience can find violence when they are supposed to find drama and romance in such teenage high school film. However, most people who watch the film do not really feel bothered with the violence found in the film. Even after many years Heathers is still one of classic films that people look for since the it is also well-known for its atypical.

Heathers was my response to the way the media and other films treated teenagers. They didn’t seem to have a clue as to what young people were about and how they acted. Films often portray teenagers as the innocent victims of a cruel society. I’ve always felt that young people were born with a lot of evil already in them. I wrote Heathers with the idea that most teens are not innocent victims, and that it’s a cruel world from day one.” — Daniel Waters, the script writer of Heathers (Myers, 2014).

Waters certainly stated that Heathers is not like the other high school film, it is a film that the purpose is to show to the society and world that teenagers are not always the innocent victim of the ‘standards’ that has been built since long time ago. Charles Webb also mentioned that,

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Heathers is one of the greatest films of and about the ‘80s. Not only skewering the odd mix of cultural conservatism and libertine excess that still dominated high schools, Daniel Waters’s script is a classic: dark, sharp, funny, mean (and at the same time, oddly sympathetic to its characters, even at their worst) (Webb, 2014). Heathers might be something unusual, and it is what makes people interested in watching it. The film was wrapped in a good way. From the characterization, the theme, and the culture adapted in the film.

Heathers is an art work that is worth studying. The film is another way of delivering ideas and messages to the society about what is going on with teenager and their world. Heathers is classified as a dark comedy since it contains violence such as homicide and murders but presented in a comic way. Heathers is famous for its atypical, the film does not really follow the teenage film standard and it is, somehow, a good thing. Different point of view and action taken in the film were also crucial. The main character, Veronica Sawyer sometimes got bullied by her own “frenemy”, and the way Veronica responds to the way she got treated is different compared to other character who also got bullied in their high school.

Thus, the personality of Veronica Sawyer, the main character in Heathers is an important thing to be analyzed in order to find out the contribution in revealing the dark comedy. In order to find out the personality of Veronica Sawyer that reveal the dark comedy in the film the writer uses structuralism as the approach.

B. Problem Formulation

To take a closer look on how Veronica Sawyer’s personality that reveals the dark comedy theme in the film, the writer formulated the following questions,

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1. What is the personality of Veronica in Heathers?

2. How does Veronica’s personality reveal the dark comedy in Heathers?

C. Objectives of the Study

The aim of this study is to analyze the personality of the main character in revealing the genre of the film. First, by analyzing the personality of the main character. After that, the writer tried to analyze how the personality of the main character reveals the genre of the film.

D. Definition of Terms

In order to avoid misunderstanding, there are some terms that needed to be explained. The first one is personality. According to Boggs & Petrie,

The major appeal of these characters lies in the qualities that set them apart from ordinary people. The theme of such films can best be expressed in a brief description of the central character, with emphasis on the unusual aspects of the individual's personality (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, pp. 22-23). Personality is the qualities that belong to a person or thing which make them recognizable.

The other term is dark comedy. Dark comedy is humor marked by the use of usually morbid, ironic, grotesquely comic episodes. It is the mix of offensive elements with comical ones that reveal the futility of life.

Dark comedy is a form of humor that concerns human suffering as ridiculous rather than pitiable, or that considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic. Popular themes of the genre include murder, suicide, depression, abuse, etc. Dark comedy is commonly used in dramatic or satirical films, retaining its serious tone and working as a tool (Sahini, 2016).

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter is divided into three parts. The first one is review of related studies, it discusses previous studies done by other researchers related to this thesis. Then, review of related theories discusses all the theories applied. The last one is theoretical framework that explains the contribution of the theories in solving the problems.

A. Review of Related Studies

A journal article entitled “Self-Determination to Fight Oppression as Seen in the Main Character of The Color Purple by Alice Walker” (2017) by Levita

Setya Budi & Dewi Widyastuti talks about certain characteristic of the main character in a literary work by Alice Walker entitled The Color Purple. The journal article begins with how men created the oppression towards women through several ways, one of them is rape. This study uses feminist approach and radical feminism theory. The study focuses on three main problems, how the personality of the main character are described, to find out how the oppression she experienced described, and then to examine the self-determination she has in order to fight the oppression she experienced. Celie, the main character, is described to be uneducated, submissive, and unattractive woman. The writers reveal the characteristics of Celie through the dialogue, it can be seen because there are evidences provided in the analysis. She is uneducated because her stepfather did not let her go to school and he even stated that Celie is dumb. Her

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stepfather thinks that she better stay at home and do all the domestic things, she is also expected to take care of the kids because staying at school does not suit her.

Celie is also described to be submissive since she always obeys her stepfather, her husband, and her stepchildren. She can never stay mad at those people who treat her badly. Then she is described to be unattractive woman through another’s characters personal thought and opinion, Celie herself also considers herself to be ugly. Celie gets treated in a bad way by certain people in her life such as her stepfather and her husband, and it shows the oppression she gets. The oppression itself is divided into two categories, non-sexual oppression and sexual oppression.

Her stepfather does not allow her to get education is an example of non-sexual oppression and her stepfather rapes her until she got pregnant twice is the example of the sexual oppression. However, Celie later tries to fight the sexual oppression she experienced by having a lesbian relationship with Shug which result in Celie feels comfortable and free.

In The Color Purple, Shug represents a character that has self- determination. Shug as an attractive woman, always encourages Celie that she needs equality in life. Shug represents a character that could live her life without any oppression because she has freedom” (Budi & Widyastuti, 2017, p.122).

It shows that Celie learns something from Shug since she teaches Celie to fight the oppression she experienced. “The Color Purple proves that self-determination helps women to fight oppression whatever characteristic that they have” (Budi &

Widyastuti, 2017, p.116). Even though in the first place Celie is described to be uneducated, submissive, and unattractive, later she is able to fight the oppression through her self-determination.

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According to Jens Eder in his journal article entitled “Understanding

Characters” (2010), there are four main elements needed in order to have a deeper understanding to characters in films. The first is characters as artifacts, they are shaped by audiovisual information.

By reflecting on the character after watching the film, we elaborate our model of the character further and may concentrate more on the way he is shaped, on what he may signify, and of what he may be symptomatic. With certain characters these aspects may even be in the foreground already while we are watching; characters whose appearance has been made particularly striking, for example, tend to be perceived as artifacts rather than as fictional beings (Eder, 2010, p. 22).

The second is characters as fictional beings that they have certain bodily, mental, and social features. Eder stated that, “in human behavior, physical actions and mental motives combine, and both are mostly also social, that is oriented toward others” (Eder, 2010, p. 24). It explains that there are some relations needed between physical actions and the mental that results in the way the act to others.

The third is characters as symbols, they impart higher-level meanings. It means that the character reveals messages indirectly since they are ‘symbol’ which represent something. “When we examine characters as symbols, the question to be answered is what indirect meanings they convey” (Eder, 2010, p. 32). However, they might reveal something they should not have, or probably some plot twist created by the character as the symbol. The last one is characters as symptoms.

They point to socio-cultural causes in their production and to effects in their reception. “When considering films in the context of cultural criticism, the symptomatic of the characters again plays a more important role because it can elucidate cultural mentalities or the socio-cultural consequences of particular

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films” (Eder, 2010, p. 32). In Eder’s journal article, he uses a typological approach. The heuristic model outlined in the article permits the derivation of typologies of characters on various levels. “Character models represent the properties of a fictional being in a particular structure, with a particular transparency, and a particular perspectival orientation” (Eder, 2010, p. 19). The main concern in this journal article is how to understand the characters and its affects or roles to the film.

Every main character has a big contribution in a novel, film, short story, and any art work. An undergraduate thesis done by Jefry Setyawan entitled The

Contribution of the Main Character’s Characteristics to the Tragedy in Henrik

Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (2013). The study analyzes how the main character’s characteristics contribute to the tragedy in the play using psychological approach.

Setyawan formulates three problems in order to find out the answers. The first problem is how is the main character characterized. Setyawan then describes one by one and reveals the characteristics of Hedda by providing the evidences through the dialogue in the play. There are five characteristics of Hedda that were analyzed, those are rude, ignorant, selfish, heartless, and ungrateful. After analyzing and describing the characteristics, Setyawan identifies the tragedy in the story which is the second problem. In this part, Setywan focuses on the tragedy of

Hedda and Lovborg’s life. He explains the tragedy in their life such as the death of Hedda after she committed suicide by shooting herself. He also gives evidences by providing the dialogues and the stage directions. The last problem is how the characteristics of Hedda contribute in the tragedies in the story. Setyawan tries to

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relate the characteristics of Hedda that have been analyzed in the first problem to the tragedies found in the story. Setyawan mentions that,

In Hedda’s life, there are two tragedies that happen in her life, which are her unhappy marriage and her death. It was because of her ignorance and rudeness, Hedda does not posses the elements of being a good wife. Then her selfishness contributed in her death. She commits suicide in order to release herself from the accusation and Judge Brack’s power. Her act to commit suicide results to her death (Setyawan, 2013, p. 41).

Hedda’s negative characteristic itself is what led her to the tragedies in her life.

She lacks of such elements and keep having those attitudes instead of being a good wife and being nice to others and that results in her own tragedies.

An undergraduate thesis done by Fransisca Miming Nung Kristanti entitled

The Roles of the Main Characters` Characteristics in Maugham`s Tragedies Rain and Casual Affair (2001) also discusses the characteristics of the main characters in two different short stories. In this study there are two problems formulation.

Kristanti uses formalist approach in order to analyze the problems. The first problem is what are the main characters’ characteristics in each short stories. In

Rain, the first short story, the main character is Davidson. Kristanti states that

Davidson is a mixture of both good and bad man. “Actually he is a good man, but his belief to himself makes him not good enough. It arises the bad side to appear clearly,” (Kristanti, 2001, p. 40). Davidson is also described to be a religious person and somehow it what makes him think that he never made mistakes.

However, he is only a human being who makes mistakes and there is nothing wrong with that, but he thinks otherwise. “The bad side of Davidson is that he has no mercy for sin. He thinks that everyone who has sinned has to be punished and he will give some fines to expiate the sins” (Kristanti, 2001, p. 44). In the story

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Davidson committed suicide because he does something bad with a woman and he feels really guilty for that. After discussing the characteristics of Davidson in

Rain, Kristanti describes the main character in the second short story, Casual

Affair. The focus of the story is Jack Almond which happens to be the main character in the short story. Actually Jack only appears in a flashback situation,

Kristanti mentions that there is a narrator who tells a story about Jack in details.

There is a similarity occurs between Jack and Davidson, they both appear to be a mixture of a good man and bad man. However, the thing that makes Jack a bad man is that he has a relationship with someone who already has a husband. Later in the story, the married woman that Jack falls in love with decides to end the relationship and that is when Jack’s life shatters into pieces. He was depressed that he lost his will to live because the married woman was the love of his life, which later Jack died because of love.

The second issue is that Kristanti tries to relate the main characters’ characteristics to the tragedy in the story. Both Davidson and Jack died in the story and their death are related to women. Meaning to say that there is a huge influence created by women in their life.

The main characters commit a suicide because of their problems with women. Although they have different reasons, it cannot be denied that they died because of women. In Rain, the main character, Davidson commits a suicide because he has done a bad act with a woman named Miss Thompson (Kristanti, 2001, p. 56).

It is stated that Davidson committed suicide because of a woman. He is ashamed of himself and does not want other people to know about this, he also betrayed his

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wife, that is why he chooses to end his life rather than facing the result of his uncontrolled action. “In Casual Affair, the character, Jack Almond kills himself indirectly both by consuming opium to overcome his problem and by letting him to fall on starvation” (Kristanti, 2001, p. 56). It is also stated that Jack Almond killed himself because the woman he loved the most ended their relationship. It can be seen that both the characters in each short stories by Cupham committed suicide because the influence of women in their life.

After reviewing two related studies and two journal articles above, it can be seen that there are some similarities shared by them, it is analyzing the main character’s characteristics or personality in an art work or literary work such as play, short story, and novel. The purpose of analyzing the main character is also various such as to reveal the personality in order to find out the contribution to the tragedy in the story or to identify the character development and its contribution to the theme. However, this study is different from the related studies that have been reviewed. This undergraduate thesis focusses more on discussing the main character’s personality and analyze how the personality reveals the genre of the film, that is, dark comedy using structuralism as the approach.

B. Review of Related Theories

There are four theories used in this research. First, Understanding Film, character and characterization, genre in literature and film, and the last one is theory on dark comedy.

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1. Understanding Film

Film is a time-based performance, meaning to say that it is limited by certain and specific time. Theorists mentioned that there are two kinds of classical film theories, formalism and realism. “Realism try to preserve the illusion that their film world is unmanipulated, an objective mirror of the actual world”

(Giannetti, 1987, p. 2). It means that the film is made based on the daily basis or the reality in the society. Realism is the imitation of reality and attempt to be faithful to the nature. “In realistic ﬁlms, the implied author is virtually invisible.

The events “speak for themselves,” as they do in most stage plays. The story seems to unfold automatically, usually in chronological sequence” (Giannetti,

2014, p. 331). “Formalism, on the other hand, make no such pretense. They deliberately stylize and distort their raw materials so that the very naive would mistake a manipulated image of an object or event for the real thing” (Giannetti,

1987, p. 2). It focuses more on the form rather than the content.

Analyzing films cannot be done randomly. It needs certain ways in order to reveal what the film is about. ”The first step toward an analytical approach to film is to recognize that every film contains a range of different meanings, which are not always readily apparent” (Geiger & Rutsky, 2005, p. 19). It is stated that to analyze film is not only to simply view the film, a more active and critical approach is needed.

Film analysis requires us to respond sensitively to the simultaneous and continuous interplay of image, sound, and movement on the screen. This necessity creates the most challenging part of the task: We must somehow remain almost totally immersed in the experience of a film while we maintain a high degree of objectivity and critical detachment (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 5).

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It stated that to do a film analysis a critical thinking is an important thing to do. A film needs to be understood not only on the things that are shown on the screen, but taking a look beyond of something happened in the film is indeed a must. In films, every part and element is related to one another. That is why to do a film analysis the writer must responds sensitively to all the big and small things in the whole film.

The writer should pay attention to the details such as the characters, setting, and all the events happen in the film. “To read a film is to look beyond its obvious meaning—what it says or what happens in its narrative—in order to find the often unnoticed meanings, assumptions, and beliefs around which it is organized”

(Geiger & Rutsky, 2005, p. 19). Meaning to say that to understand a film cannot be done by guessing randomly based on one’s point of view only. Taking a deeper look and analyzing on how the film is made, organized, and how the character is characterized in certain way might help to reveal the meaning and messages.

2. Character and Characterization

According to Corrigan and White, “characters are either central or minor figures who anchor the events in a film. They are commonly identified and understood through aspects of their appearance, gestures and actions, dialogue, and the comments of other characters” (Corrigan & White, 2012, p. 224). As stated by Roberts and Jacobs, “in fiction, a character may be defined as a verbal representation of a human being. Through action, speech description, and commentary” (Roberts & Jacobs, 2005, p. 131). Character is an important element in literary work or any art work such as film. “If we are not interested in a film's

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most human elements-its characters-there is little chance that we will be interested in the film as a whole” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 60). It is clearly stated that there is only a little chance of people liking a film if they are not interested to the characters.

However, each characters have personality possesed by them and characterization is the way how character is made by the author. According to

Boggs and Petrie, there are eight characterization mentioned in their book (2008, pp. 59-67): a. Characterization through appearance

“A major aspect of film characterization is revealed visually and instantaneously” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 60). It is stated that appearance is an important thing in films, because the characters are visually displayed. It means that audience will judge them by their appearance first, before judging them through another element. b. Characterization through dialogue

“Characters in a fictional film naturally reveal a great deal about themselves by what they say. But a great deal is also revealed by how they say it” (Boggs &

Petrie, 2008, p. 61). Paying attention to what the characters say is needed, also the way their words and sentence are said is also important. Characters usually express their thoughts, emotions and intention by saying it whether they are saying it to other characters or to themselves.

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c. Characterization through external action

The appearance of a character might be something important, but perhaps the action they do reflects their personality the most. “Every action that the character takes in some way reflects the quality of his or her particular personality” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 62). Even the small action contributes in the film, and somehow it is what matter the most rather than the big action. d. Characterization through internal action

“Inner action occurs within characters' minds and emotions and consists of secret, unspoken thoughts, daydreams, aspirations, memories, fears, and fantasies”

(Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 62). Different from external action, internal action deals with unspoken thoughts, usually the author reveals the internal action by providing images, audio, sounds of what the characters think of or imagine, so that the audience can visualize the actions taken. “The most obvious way in which the filmmaker reveals inner reality is by taking us visually or aurally into the character's mind so that we see or hear the things that the character imagines, remembers, or thinks about” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 62). e. Characterization through reactions of other characters

“Sometimes, a great deal of information about a character is already provided through such means before the character first appears on the screen”

(Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 64). The way other characters view a character might reveal a certain personality of that character.

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f. Characterization through contrast: dramatic foils

“One of the most effective techniques of characterization is the use of foils contrasting characters whose behaviour, attitudes, opinions, lifestyle, physical appearance, and so on are the opposite of those of the main characters” (Boggs &

Petrie, 2008, p. 64). It is stated that the use of having other characters who have the opposite behaviour of the main character is effective, the audience will find it easier to classify the personality and characteristic of the main character. g. Characterization through caricature and leitmotif

“In order to etch a character quickly and deeply in our minds and memories, actors often exaggerate or distort one or more dominant features or personality traits” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 65). Besides caricature, the use of leitmotif is indeed an important thing applied to a character. “Leitmotif, is the repetition of a single action, phrase, or idea by a character until it becomes almost a trademark or theme song for that character” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 66). h. Characterization through choice of name

“One important method of characterization is the use of names possessing appropriate qualities of sound, meaning, or connotation” (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, p. 66). This type of method is called name typing. An author should not use a random name for a character especially if it is a main character. A name should have a meaning or hidden meaning related to the character’s personality or characteristics.

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3. Genre in Literature and Film

Genre in film and literature is not the same. There is a different meaning of genre when it comes to literature. Altman stated that,

Even so simple a question as the meaning and extent of the term genre remains confusing, for the term inconsistently refers to distinctions derived from a wide variety of differences among texts: type of presentation (epic/lyric/dramatic), relation to reality (fiction versus non-fiction), historical kind (comedy/tragedy/tragicomedy), level of style (novel versus romance), or content paradigm (sentimental novel/historical novel/adventure novel). (Altman, 1999, p. 11). It shows that genre in literature functions to distinguish from one another type of literary work. Literature has four main genres; poetry, drama, fiction, and non- fiction. When readers want to read one, they have an assumption and imagination on what they are going to read. Each genre has different characteristic, for example, a non-fiction is something based on reality and usually adapted from a true story experienced by someone. When a reader reads a non-fiction literature, they know what to expect before reading the text because they know the characteristics of a non-fiction.

However, genre in film is slightly different from genre in literature.

Giannetti once mentioned that,

A genre film is a specific type of movie: a war picture, a gangster film, science fiction, and so on. There are literally hundreds of them, especially in the United States and Japan, where virtually all fiction movies can be classified according to genre. Genres are distinguished by a characteristic set of conventions in style, subject matter, and values. Genre is also a convenient way of focusing and organizing the story materials (Giannetti, 2014, p. 354). Genre is a useful category functions to divide different types of film. “Film genre’s special power is nearly always expressed in terms of stylistic devices or

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metaphors that figure a special ability established connections” (Altman, 1999, p.

14). Genre in film is defined by the filmmaker industry, however, it is recognized by the audience. Genre in film has clear identity and clear borders from one to another. A whole film belongs to only one genre, however, some films have more than one genre. When audience watch a gangster film it means they know what to find in the film.

4. Theory on Dark Comedy

Comedy is one of the film genres and it is one of the first and most long- lasting of film genres. Films that have comedy in them have grown since the creation of cinema in 1895. It is stated by Corrigan and White that “comedies celebrate the harmony and resiliency of social life. Although many views associate comedies with laughs and humor, comedy is more fundamentally about social reconciliation and the triumph of the physical over the intellectual”

(Corrigan & White, 2012, p. 326). However, comedies are related to happy ending, where in the beginning the main character seems to lack of something in their life, struggling to whatever they are facing, and they get lot of character development within the story. Comedy celebrates human survival. “In the most common literary application, comedy is a work in which materials are selected and managed primarily in order to interest, involve, and amuse us” (Abrams,

1985, p. 28). Comedy also has “agreeable” ending, where people definetly accept and agree.

“The term “comedy” is customarily applied only to plays for the stage or to motion pictures” (Abrams, 1985, p. 29). It is stated that comedy customarily

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applied for motion pictures, and motion pictures itself is a film. However, comedy can also appear in literary work. “However, that the comic form, so defined, also occurs in prose fiction and narrative poetry” (Abrams, 1985, p. 29).

Black comedy/dark comedy is a branch of comedy. “Dark comedy is a form of humor that concerns human suffering as ridiculous rather than pitiable, or that considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic” (Sahini,

2016). Dark comedy is humor marked by the use of usually morbid, ironic, disturbingly comic incidents. It is the mix of gloomy themes with humorous ones that reveal the futility of life. According to Sahini, “popular themes of the genre include murder, suicide, rape, depression, abuse, crime, torture, domestic violence, racism, and homosexuality” (Sahini, 2016). The themes are usually gloomy and disturbing and that is what people laugh at.

Black comedy is otherwise known as black humour and possibly first appeared in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s in American literature. It is a dark comedy (hence black) and finds great humour in what most people regard as inappropriate subject matter. Black comedy mocks serious topics such as death and religion and makes fun out of various organised, logical aspects of our everyday existence. It is often grotesque and morbid (Cash, 2006). Satire is the main and most definite feature that needs to be included in dark comedy. It is to expose and criticize people’s foolishness. “Satiric comedy ridicules political policies or philosophical doctrines, or else attacks deviation from the social order by making ridiculous the violators of its standards of morals and manners” (Abrams, 1985, p. 29). Thus, dark comedy produces constant criticism of old-fashioned values through aggressive methods.

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C. Theoretical Framework

The title of this study is The Personality of Veronica Sawyer in Revealing the Dark Comedy in Heathers. This study discusses the personality of the main character in the film and its contribution in revealing the dark comedy theme.

There are four theories used in this study in order to help the writer analyze the subject matter. They are theory of Understanding Film, character and characterization, genre in literature and film, and theory on dark comedy.

Understanding Film is used to analyze the film. The writer quotes from

Giannetti and Gieger & Rutsky’s books. They mentioned that there are two kinds of film, realism and formalism. It helps the writer classifies what kind of film the writer uses. They also mentioned that to analyze films a critical thinking is needed because the object of this study is a film which means that the writer needs to analyze the film in a more critical way and “read” the film rather than only to see it as an entertainment.

The second theory is character and characterization. It is used to identify a character and reveal the personality of the main character in the film. The writer uses theories from Corrigan and White’s book, Roberts and Jacobs, and Boggs and Petrie. A character is something important in any literary work or art work.

There are some actions taken in order to reveal the personality of every character through characterization. There are eight characterization mentioned by Boggs and Petrie in their book which the writer uses. Thus, this theory is needed in order to reveal the personality of the main character one by one.

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The third theory is genre in literature and film. This theory explains about the differences between genre in literature and in film because there are some significance differences between them two. The theory is taken from Giannetti’s book and Altman’s book about genre in both literature and film.

The last theory is theory on dark comedy. There are some statements stated by some experts such as Abrams, Cash, and Sahini towards dark comedy. This study is about how the main character’s personality reveal the dark comedy in a film, which means the writer needs this theory to know in detail about dark comedy, such as the themes, how it is made, and what elements needed in order to make the film is categorized as a dark comedy. Then, the writer tries to relate the themes of dark comedy to the personality of the main character in the film.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The objects of this study are both the film and the screen play of Heathers.

The film was directed by Michael Lehmann and the screen play was written by

Daniel Waters. The film was released on March 31, 1988 in the United Sates.

Heathers is classified as dark comedy because of the elements within the story. It is an American dark comedy that later became a cult film, but it was not a big hit in the cinema. Cult film refers to something unusual and usually does not have the cliche. The film made director Michael Lehmann and producer Denise Di Novi the 1990 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Daniel Waters, the writer of the screen play, also gained recognition for his screenplay, which won a

1990 Edgar Award.

The film tells a story about a girl named Veronica Sawyer who is a fourth member of the most famous clique in Westerburg High School. The other member of the clique all named Heather which refers to the title of the film. Veronica

Sawyer is wary of the Heathers’ misdeeds, but she follows along to preserve her social status. She later meets J.D./Jason Dean and becomes his girlfriend.

Veronica and J.D. then starts planning on plotting the downfall of the popular kids who are a bully by murdering them and make it look like a suicide. However,

Veronica starts to realize that what she did with J.D. was not the best way to take revenge on people who bully her.

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Heather ends with Veronica tries to stop J.D. from blowing up the school, but J.D. keeps talking about how social equality only exist in heaven, that is why he sets up a time bomb to make it looks like all the kids in school committed suicide to get their equality. Somehow, after having a pep talk with Veronica, J.D. disables the bomb by shoving a knife to it. However, when Veronica walks out from the school, she finds J.D. standing with a ticking time bomb beneath his trench coat, then J.D. blows himself up.

B. Approach of the Study

This study uses structuralism approach in order to analyze the subject matter. “Structuralism reveals form and structure, not the actual content of the text. Although individual texts must be analyzed, structuralists are more interested in the rule-governed system that underlines texts rather than the texts themselves”

(Bressler, 2011, p. 105). Structuralism talks about things that cannot be understood in separation. They have to be seen within a certain system of relationship or within larger structure they are part of. Everything makes sense only in relation to something else. An element cannot be perceived by itself. In order to understand a particular element, studying the whole system of connection or structure is needed. Structuralists believe that code, signs, and rules govern all human social and cultural practices, including communications and literature.

Structuralists believe that discovering these codes, signs, and rules give meaning to all of the social and cultural customs and behavior. The aim of structuralism is to find out how all parts fit together and function.

Like the linguistic elements in Saussure’s exposition, are not objectives facts identifiable by their inherent properties, but purely “relational “entities;

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that is, their identity as signs are given to them by their relations of differences from, and binary opposition to, other elements within the cultural system. This system of internal relationships and of the “codes” of significant combinations has been mastered by each person competent within a given culture, although he or she remains largely unaware of its nature and operations (Abrams, 1985, p. 280).

Ferdinand de Saussure, a structuralist, mentioned that first, he reveald that the meaning given to words are purely arbitrary, and that meanings are minted by convention only. Secondly, he stated that the meanings of words are relational, no word can be defined in isolation from other words. Thirdly, meaning is always attributed to the object or idea by the human mind, and constructed by and expressed through language: it is not already contained within the thing. Saussure points out that a word assumes different meanings according to the particular structure in which it is a part.

Structuralism is chosen in this study because it helps the writer finds out the personality of the main character in the film and then reveals their contribution in revealing the dark comedy.

C. Method of the Study

This study is a library research since it collects data from documents. The primary source of this study is a film entitled Heathers. Heathers is an American dark comedy written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann. The other source that is also important for this study is the screen play of Heathers, books entitled The Film Experience: An Introduction by Timothy Corrigan &

Patricia White, Understanding Movies by Louis Giannetti. There are also many information retrieved from the internet, articles, books, and other studies that

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provides datas related to this study, whether it is about the theory, approach, and general information that are needed in this study.

The steps taken in this study were the writer watched Heathers for several times and paid more attention to the main character, Veronica Sawyer. Then the writer questioned on how the personality of the main character in the film reveal the dark comedy in the film since the writer found some indirect intention and messages in the way the main character is characterized. After that, the writer read the screen play carefully so that the writer understood the whole story especially the personality of the main character. The next step was analyzing the personality of the main character through both the film and screen play using theory of character and characterization and Understanding Film, since those theories helped the writer to ‘read’ the film and found out the personality of the main character. After that the writer tried to relate the personality of the main character and the themes of dark comedy. The writer found out how the personality of the main character reveal the dark comedy in the film. Structuralism is used here since it talked about things that could not be understood in separation, which means that one element is related to another in order to reveal the intended meanings and purposes. The last step taken was making a conclusion based on the analysis provided

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this chapter, there are two main problems discussed. The personality of

Veronica Sawyer, the main character in the film and how Veronica’s personality reveals the dark comedy in the film.

A. The Personality of Veronica Sawyer

In this part, the writer tries to find out the personality of Veronica, the main character in the film. The theory of character and characterization is used in order to reveal the personality of Veronica. The writer also provides evidences from both the film and the screen play.

Veronica Sawyer is described as a teenage school girl at Westerburg High.

She is part of the most well-known clique in her school, including the most popular girls who all have the first name of Heather; Heather Duke, Heather

Chandler, and Heather McNamara. They all also share the same taste in fashion, big hair and bigger shoulder pad.

HEATHER CHANDLER You wanted to become member of the most powerful clique in the school. If I wasn't already the head of it, I'd want the same thing. VERONICA I'm sorry? What are you oozing about? (p. 14). From the dialogue above, it can be concluded that Veronica is part of the most popular and powerful clique in her school. However, her personality is slightly different from the three of them especially Heather Chandler

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Fig. 1 From left to right, Heather Duke, Heather McNamara, Veronica Sawyer, and Heather Chandler (Heathers, 1988, 00:05:29).

1. Kindhearted

The first personality of Veronica is kindhearted. In the beginning of the film, she shows her kindness to her friends. Just like when she apologizes to Betty because Veronica missed her birthday party.

VERONICA Betty Finn. Gosh..... VERONICA crouches down, embarrassed and rueful VERONICA I'm really sorry I couldn't make it to your birthday party last month. BETTY That's okay. Your Mom said you had a big date. Heck, I'd probably skip my own birthday party for a date. (pp. 6-7)

From her conversation with Betty, it can be concluded that Veronica is pretty nice to her friend. The writer uses Boggs and Petrie’s characterization through dialogue and external action. The way Veronica crouches down before saying sorry for her absence shows her politeness. It is also a gesture of apologizing

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because she feels bad for not coming. Even though the birthday party was last month Veronica does not forget to apologize because she still feels bad about it.

Another dialogue of Veronica and her schoolmate also proves that Veronica is a person with a good heart.

As they argue, J.D. looks out and sees MARTHA bob up from beneath her table then dart back under. He ambles away....

PAULINE Why are you dissing me, Veronica? I'm trying to redefine the high school experience..... VERONICA You're ignoring the high school experience. People are dead and all you can think to do is whip up some warped Pity Party. If we're going to ever build respect for each other, it's gotta be something...something real. We can't be tricked into it. Back me up J.D...J.D.? PAULINE (moving off) let’s go Peter, some people are just unwilling to share the pain.... (p. 66)

The dialogue takes place after the death of Kurt and Ram. Pauline is about to make a party and invites the whole school because she wants to redefine the high school experience. In a party people usually have fun, get drunk and so on, even though the party is called Pity Party. In Veronica’s point of view, it is considered as something rude and mean, because there are many things the students can do other than having a party and it has to be something real that can lead to zero suicide attempt at least for the students in Westerburg High School. It is obviously rude if the students go out for a party and probably have fun after someone’s death and consider the party as a way to stop any further suicide. This action shows her sympathetic nature and that she is actually someone with a good heart.

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The next event that proves Veronica’s good heart is when she saves Heather

McNamara from trying to kill herself. The event happens after the death of

Heather Chandler, Kurt, and Ram. Heather McNamara tries to kill herself by swallowing sleeping pills in the school’s restroom, but before that, there was

Veronica saves her life by punching Heather’s face.

HEATHER MCNAMARA gets running water from another sink as VERONICA rushes in. VERONICA punches HEATHER MCNAMARA's face causing the pills to explode out of her mouth. HEATHER MCNAMARA slumps against a stall, onto the floor.

HEATHER MCNAMARA What are you trying to do? Kill me? VERONICA jumps up and down on the pills on the floor VERONICA What were you trying to do? Sleep? HEATHER MCNAMARA Suicide is a private thing.

VERONICA lunges forward to strike her. HEATHER MCNAMARA recoils with a wail. Half-regaining her composure, VERONICA slides down next to HEATHER MCNAMARA. (p. 82).

Veronica fails Heather McNamara’s suicide attempt from drinking the whole bottle of sleeping pills. It shows how Veronica cares about Heather even though she makes her mad most of the time. Veronica does not want another ‘suicide’ especially if it is her close friend again. After all the mistakes she did she makes sure that things like this will not happen ever again in the future.

2. Intelligent

The second personality of Veronica is intelligent. Veronica is smart and clever, she learns every subject in school quickly better than the other students.

She does great in school and also the smartest among the Heathers.

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VERONICA What a life. I almost moved into high school out of sixth grade because I was some genius. We all decided to chuck the idea because I'd have trouble making friends, blah-blah-blah. (p. 29).

Veronica herself admits that she is genius and obviously smarter than the other students in her batch. In sixth grade, her I.Q. was the same level of a high school student. However, she does not really use her intellegence for her academic field.

She says that her parents did not agree to the idea since she would make trouble making friends if she skipped a few years and be friends with people who are older than her.

VERONICA: Now blah-blah-blah is all I do. I use my grand I.Q. to figure out what gloss to wear and how to hit three keggers before curfew. Some genius. (p. 29).

She also states that she uses her excellent I.Q. for nothing, but when she does it is something that does not really important and has nothing to do with her academic field in school. It is tragic to see someone who is really brilliant does nothing to do with her brain.

3. Revengeful

The next personality of Veronica Sawyer is revengeful. It is an action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment. Veronica is revengeful since she is cruel and harmful to other people, she always takes revenge for what people did to her. Somehow she cannot control her anger and emotion and later she does something that makes those people suffer whether it is physically or mentally.

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The first result of her revengeful personality is the death of Heather

Chandler. Veronica accidently kills Heather Chandler, because the previous night before the accident happens Veronica has an argument with Heather since at a college party Veronica acts odd and she pukes on Heather which makes her mad and tells Veronica that she has to ‘pay’ for all the mess she makes. The death of

Heather Chandler happens quickly in the morning after that argument. Veronica herself actually wants her dead since Veronica hates her that much, but she does not really have the intention of killing Heather. Veronica and J.D. were at

Heather’s house to take care of her from her hangover. Veronica messes around with J.D. about killing Heather using some poisoning liquid. Veronica even pours a cleaning fluid into a cup, but she does not really have the intention to give it to the hangover Heather. However, Veronica does not grab the cup filled with milk, instead she grabs the cup filled with the cleaning fluid before heading to Heather’s bedroom. It happens because Veronica is jokingly pours the cleaning fluid just for fun and to make herself ‘satisfied’, but it leads to her grabbing the wrong cup. If

Veronica did not do it in the first place, Heather would not be dead by now.

HEATHER CHANDLER'S eyes slam shut and her limp body crashes through the glass coffee table. VERONICA and J.D. freeze.

J.D. Something tells me you picked up the wrong cup. VERONICA No shit, sherlock. I can't believe it. I just killed my best friend. J.D. And your worst enemy. VERONICA Same difference. Oh jesus, I'm gonna...

VERONICA staggers to a desk. J.D. laughs out of shock. (p. 34).

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The dialogue above happens after Heather falls into the floor because she drinks the blue liquid which Veronica brought her. Veronica even admits that she kills

Heather, a best friend and worst enemy. However, Veronica does not want her life

‘ends’ because she kills Heather Chandler, Veronica then tries to cover this murder case by making it looks like Heather Chandler killed herself,

J.D. We did a murder. In Ohio, that's a crime. But if this was like a suicide thing..... VERONICA Like a suicide thing? J.D. Adolescence is a period of life fraught with anxiety and confusion. VERONICA (calming down) I can do Heather's handwriting as well as my own. VERONICA takes some stationery from the desk and begins writing, calling out her words. VERONICA “You might think what I've done is shocking..." J.D. "To me though, suicide is the natural answer to the myriad of problems life has given me." VERONICA That's good, but Heather would never use the word "myriad." (pp. 34-35).

The dialogue between Veronica and J.D. above proves that they make the death of

Heather Chandler looks like a suicide. Since Veronica can do other people’s handwriting, she uses her ability as a chance to get away from the trouble she makes. She does not want to get caught and ‘ends’ her life this soon. This proves that her revengeful personality causes other people to suffer and hurt. It seems like she does not have a good control of her action, she lets her anger takes control and later she regrets for doing all the things that actually make her suffer too.

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Later in the film, Kurt and Ram tell everyone who are sitting with them at the lunch table that the night before they have a party and Veronica gives them an oral sex which was not true at all. Veronica gets mad because Kurt and Ram spread this kind of rumor, which leads her anger takes control all overagain.

PETER I rarely listen to Neanderthals like Kurt Kelly bu-ut he said you were bent over like a coffee table with Kurt going in one end and Ram coming in the other. Pardon the pun. VERONICA (dazed) Pardon the pun. Son-of-a-bitch. (p. 51).

Veronica knows the rumor from Peter since he tells her about what Kurt and Ram have told everyone about what happened last night at the party. However,

Veronica decides to trick them because what Kurt and Ram did have crosses the line, spreading a rumor that Veronica gives them two an oral sex. Veronica plans on having revenge on Kurt and Ram for spreading false rumor. At night, Veronica calls Kurt over the phone and tells him that she wants all the things he and Ram tells everyone to be true. Veronica tricks them into coming to the woods behind their school because she promises to give them an oral sex and even more.

VERONICA arousingly speaks into her phone.

VERONICA Hi, Kurt? This is Veronica Sawyer. I didn't expect to be calling either. I guess my emotions took over. I was wondering if you wanted all those things you've been saying to really happen. It's always been a fantasy of mine to have two guys at once...... Sure, you can write Penthouse Forum.

Revealed to be lounging on her bed, J.D. laughs out loud. VERONICA throws a book at him.

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VERONICA That's right. In the woods behind the school. At Dawn. And don't forget Ram. (p. 51). Veronica even tells Kurt that it has always been her fantasies to have sexual intercourse with him and Ram. If Veronica acts a little more calm she would not have called Kurt, but she lets her anger takes over which results in tricking Kurt and Ram into coming to the woods at dawn. In fact, Veronica just wants to shoot them as revenge. Veronica also asks J.D. to help her in doing the revenge,

Veronica will make it looks like both Kurt and Ram committed suicide by killing each other using a gun. Veronica makes another suicide note as if Kurt and Ram wrote the note. In the suicide note, Veronica writes that Kurt and Ram killed each other because they were gay and the society does not want to accept them. It is also easy for Veronica to copy Kurt’s handwriting since she is good at copying other’s handwriting.

KURT steps into the scratched-in-the-dirt circle next to him. A confused RAM walks past VERONICA and steps into a circle at the opposite end of the foggy clearing. The guys pause, then slowly start taking off their clothes.

RAM What about you? VERONICA I was hoping you'd rip my clothes off me, sport. RAM Oh. Good idea. KURT and RAM awkwardly stand at opposite ends in their undies. VERONICA Count of three, guys. RAM giggles in anticipation. VERONICA One. KURT finally cracks a smile. VERONICA Two.

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J.D. suddenly moves next to VERONICA holding a gun in his right hand and the feminine shopping bag in his left.

J.D. Three.

J.D. almost non-chalantly shoots RAM in the forehead. VERONICA rips out her gun and swings it toward KURT. Using both hands, she fires, but misses completely. KURT runs away onto the path. VERONICA throws down her gun with a smile.

VERONICA Shucks. (pp. 55-56).

J.D. comes out of nowhere and supposed to shot Ram and did not miss at all, while Veronica is supposed to shot Kurt, but missed. Kurt escapes and runs away into the path. J.D. tries to chase him and the panicked Kurt keeps running. When

Kurt sees the opening at the end of the woods. J.D. suddenly moves into the opening and raises his gun then Kurt runs back.

KURT barrels into the clearing as J.D. howls from the woods.

J.D. Now!

In a burst of frightened, animal instinct, VERONICA whips around and fires her gun right into KURT's chest. (p. 56).

When Kurt runs back to where he started running, J. D. sees a chance and he yells to Veronica in a way to inform her to shoot Kurt properly. Then Veronica takes out her gun and shoots Kurt right into his chest. After that J.D. places his gun on

Ram’s hand while Veronica does the same to Kurt. J.D. and Veronica immediately run to their car, so that they would not get caught. During the accident happens, there are cops who patrol around the woods that hear the

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gunshots and decide to look around to see if something happens related to the two gunshots they heard before. Then the cops find two dead bodies lying in their undies and both of them holding a gun.

MILNER What's the deal? McCORD Suicide. Double Suicide. They shot each other. MILNER That's Kurt Kelly! McCORD Yeah, and the linebacker, Ram Sweeney. MILNER Oh my God, suicide? Why? McCORD Does this answer your question?

McCORD reaches in the feminine shopping bag and pulls out the bottles of Perrier water.

MILNER Oh man, they were fags! McCORD Listen up, "We could never reveal our forbidden love to an uncaring and ununderstanding world." (p. 59).

The two cops observe the dead bodies of Kurt and Ram. Veronica along with J.D. successfully make the death of Kurt and Ram looks like a double suicide and the cause is Kurt and Ram’s forbidden love, Veronica makes it looks like they were gay all this time and that the world, society, all the people in the school would not accept them if they reveal their relationship, so they end their life by killing each other. This also shows how Veronica’s revengeful personality leads to another tragedy because she cannot control her anger in the first place. If only Veronica could control her anger, she would not have done this, that Kurt and Ram would still be alive.

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4. Suicidal

The next personality of Veronica is suicidal. Suicidal people have the desire to end their life because they are depressed enough with the pressure and life problems they have. It also happens to Veronica, where she thinks that ending her life can solve all the problems and end her depression. Suicidal people usually harm themselves and even do suicide attempt multiple times. Veronica also does the same thing, she harms herself multiple times in the film, and this makes her a suicidal person. First, she harms herself by pressing a car cigarette lighter into her hand.

INT. THE SAWYER CAR—MORNING

The Heavy Metaler Heap's obnoxious muffler causes a sleeping VERONICA's eyes to snap open in bug-eyed sweat. Mentally wounded, she climbs into the front seat, pulling on her blazer. She presses in the car cigarette lighter. J.D. rumbles from the back as more cars begin to fill the lot.

VERONICA We killed them, didn't we? J.D. Of course.

VERONICA tugs out the car lighter and savagely brands the palm of her hand. J.D. hurdles into the front seat and bats the lighter away. He lights a cigarette off the scorched flesh of VERONICA's hand as she wails away. (p. 61).

Veronica is mentally wounded because of the guilt from killing Kurt and Ram, and she tries to hurt herself by putting a car cigarette lighter into her hand. She does not want to feel the burden because she kills her schoolmate for spreading a false rumor about her. Veronica does not directly end her life, but somehow,

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By pressing a car cigarette lighter into her hand can make her forget all the problems she has. She hurts herself physically so that she does not have to feel the pain that hurts her mental and heart.

Suicidal people are the one who feel depressed enough with all the life problems and the expectation pressure. Veronica’s father also notices her depression. In the film, it can be seen that her father worries about her mental condition because depression can lead to something more than self-harm, a suicide attempt.

MOM and DAD glance at each other before MOM speaks.

MOM Your friend Jason Dean just stopped by. He seemed very concerned about you. He said he thinks you might try to kill yourself. DAD You have been depressed lately. Oh, he said this is for you. (p. 86).

Veronica’s father directly says to her that she looks depressed recently. Before even J.D. told Veronica’s parents that she might try to kill herself, her father actually notices her strange behavior in the first place. Her depression is caused by the things she does herself, she kills her best friend and her other school mates just because she cannot control her bad temper. Her depression leads to another level and that is suicidal, wanting to die. However, the next day at night, she hangs herself, but this one is not real. She hangs herself just to see the reaction from

J.D., how he will react to the fact that Veronica committed suicide by hanging herself, but she does not actually hangs herself.

INT. VERONICA'S BEDROOM—NIGHT

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J.D. crawls through VERONICA's window. Hanging from the rafter, neck in a noose of bedshoots, is VERONICA. (p. 91).

It is stated there that Veronica hangs herself and J.D. knew about that. However,

J.D. has no idea that this is only a trick to see how he will react if Veronica killed herself. That night when she hangs herself, J.D. is outside her house and then he climbs up to her room and enters the room through the window. J.D. finds out that

Veronica already hang herself. J.D. is surprised and he confesses his feelings and thoughts to Veronica, which in here Veronica can hear all the things J.D. tells her.

After a while, J.D. leaves her room through the window again. Then Veronica’s mother enters her room because it is dinner time, but Veronica does not bother to hear her mother yelling from downstairs that dinner is ready. So her mother decides to rush to her room, with Veronica is still hanging by her neck, her mother is totally shocked while looking at her daughter hangs herself.

Fig. 2 Veronica hangs herself (Heathers, 1988, 01:23:16). MOM (outside) Honey, are you all right in there?

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J.D. swiftly picks up the petition and heads out the window. MOM enters the room and, seeing her hanging daughter, launches into frantic screams.

MOM Oh God, I knew it! No, no! I want my baby back! I should have let you keep that job at the mall. I was just afraid of you coming home alone at night! VERONICA opens her eyes. MOM I made your favorite! Spaghetti! Lots of oregano!

VERONICA undos the noose around her neck but still remains hanging for the rope runs all the way down her back beneath her blazer and is tied around her waist. She undos the waist knot and lands on her bed. She quickly puts a small pillow over the left-behind gun, unnoticed by her dazed MOM.

VERONICA Hey Mom, why so tense? (pp. 92-93).

Her mother freaks out while looking at her daughter in that position. Her mother also thinks that Veronica really committed suicide, since she also confesses her feeling about should have let Veronica kept the job at the mall, she admits her regrets. However, before her mother goes too far Veronica opens her eyes and gives a signal that she is all okay and nothing bad happens to her, that she was just faking it all. Veronica then undos her noose around her neck.

Fig. 3 Veronica opens her eyes after her mother enters the room (Heathers, 1988, 01:25:28).

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Her mother is surprised that she does not actually kill herself and remains silent when Veronica asks her. She thought she would lost her daughter when in reality she only wants to know how J.D. would react to her death. This action of her also represents her suicidal personality, because she could choose another way to achieve her purpose. Since she is suicidal and has suicidal thoughts in the first place, so she uses this trick as a way to find out J.D.’s reaction towards her suicide, if she was not that suicidal and depressed, she would obviously use another alternative technique.

5. Pathetic

The last personality of Veronica Sawyer is pathetic. Veronica herself is a terrible friend, she lacks of respect due to some situation. She dumps one of her best friend since elementary school for someone she actually hates just because

Veronica wants the fame. Veronica wants to be acknowledged as the famous girl by joining the most well-known clique in her school. However, she has to dump her best friend who is actually a really nice person and does not do bad things or bully other people. She even admits herself that she hates the Heathers.

VERONICA It's not perfect. I don't really like my friends. J.D. I don't really like your friends either. VERONICA It's like they're just people I work with and our job is being popular and shit. (p. 22).

She confesses to J.D. that she does not like her current friends because they do not really do anything besides being popular. It is tragic to see Veronica this way,

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because in the first place she dares to dump her former best friend because she wants to part of the Heathers and be famous in high school.

INT. VERONICA'S BEDROOM—NIGHT

VERONICA savagely scrawls in her diary, tears burning fierce.

VERONICA (voice only) Betty Finn was a true friend and I sold her out for a bunch of Swatchdogs and Diet Cokeheads. Killing Heather'd be like offing the Wicked Witch of the West. Or is it East? West! I sound like a psycho. Tomorrow I'll be kissing her aerobicized ass but tonight let me dream of a world without Heather. A world where I am free. (p. 27).

Veronica states that she sold her former friend, Betty Finn for bunch of people she hates. At the beginning she only wants the fame, but it turns out that she also has to deal with the Heather, three girls who are actually as pathetic as Veronica.

After a while, Veronica realizes that she is completely dead wrong for dumping people who are actually nice and care about her feelings and not taking her for granted. Since the Heathers actually using Veronica’s brilliant brain for something unnecessary and even bad.

Thus, there are five personality of Veronica Sawyer, those are kindhearted, intelligent, revengeful, suicidal, and pathetic. After identifying the personality of

Veronica through the film and screen play, the next thing is to relate her personality to the theme dark comedy.

B. The Personality of Veronica that Reveals the Dark Comedy

Heathers is categorized as a dark comedy because the theme within the film is gloomy and dark, but presented in a humorous and comic way. In review of related theories, the writer quoted from Sahini, “popular themes of the genre

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include murder, suicide, rape, depression, abuse, crime, torture, domestic violence, racism, and homosexuality” (Sahini, 2016). In dark comedy, people laugh at how messed up it is, that is why not every person can take or handle dark comedy/joke. Some of them find it really rude and inappropriate to laugh at someone’s misfortune or catastrophe. Veronica Sawyer as the main character in the film has several personality such as, kindhearted, intelligent, revengeful, suicidal, and pathetic. She is obviously has a huge contribution in the film.

Veronica’s personality proves that why the film is considered as a dark comedy.

Veronica’s personality brings the dark comedy to the film. The theme of dark comedy is revealed through Veronica’s personality. It is stated in the previous paragraph that one of the themes of dark comedy is torture. It can be seen clearly that Veronica is also revengeful. It is explained how she can be described as revengeful. She causes pain whether it is physical or psychological to other people. Veronica kills 3 people from her school and one of them is even her best friend, she does it because she wants them to suffer since those people did

Veronica wrong. The act of killing by Veronica is also related to the theme of dark comedy that is murder. She does murder several times.

HEATHER CHANDLER'S eyes slam shut and her limp body crashes through the glass coffee table. VERONICA and J.D. freeze.

J.D. Something tells me you picked up the wrong cup. VERONICA No shit, sherlock. I can't believe it. I just killed my best friend. (p. 34).

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The dialogue between Veronica and J.D. is a proof that Veronica kills her best friend because she grabs the wrong cup. Veronica was about to give Heather a cup filled with milk because Heather does not feeling good from having a party the night before. Heather was with Veronica at the party and they argued over something that later makes Heather mad at Veronica. This results in Veronica feels attacked because Heather always think that she can do everything she wants without thinking about how other people will get hurt by her words or action. The morning after, Veronica comes over to Heather’s place to take care of the hangover Heather, but Veronica still has the thought of killing her even though she does not really try to do that. However, Veronica pours a cleaning fluid to a cup as if she would give that to Heather. Veronica is supposed to bring the cup filled with milk to Heather and apparently she grabs the wrong cup. If Veronica did not have the thought of killing Heather she would not pour the cleaning fluid in the first place and thus Heather would still be alive by now. To cover her murder case, she makes a suicide note so that it looks like Heather committed suicide and not get killed by Veronica. How Veronica makes it looks like a suicide is also related to the theme of dark comedy that is suicide. The way

Veronica murders Heather Chandler is also presented in a humorous way. How she states that she kills her besfriend but at the same time she fulfill her dreams about cutting Heather off from her life. People would actually find this event funny and dark at the same time.

Veronica also murders another person, Kurt. She shoots him as revenge because he spreads a rumor that she gives him and Ram oral sex. She tricks them

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two into coming to the woods behind their school to get laid, when in reality she just wants to shoot them for doing her wrong.

In a burst of frightened, animal instinct, VERONICA whips around and fires her gun right into KURT's chest. (p. 56).

Not only happens to Heather, but Veronica also makes the death of Kurt and Ram looks like they committed suicide by making another suicide note. In the suicide note Veronica writes that they killed themselves because they are homosexuals that the world would not accept them for who they really are. Homosexuality is also one of dark comedy’s themes, which it can be seen that Veronica chooses homosexuality as a way to deliver the dark comedy to the audience. It is a proof that Veronica chooses homosexuality for a reason.

The other personality of Veronica that reveals the dark comedy in the film is suicidal. Veronica is a suicidal and depressed person, she also harms herself.

Depression and self-harm are also included in the theme of dark comedy which makes more sense why Veronica is characterized in certain way. Veronica feels really guilty for killing Heather, Kurt, and Ram, that is why she tries to distract the pain she feels in her heart by hurting herself physically. Veronica harms herself using a car cigarette lighter by pressing it to her hand.

INT. THE SAWYER CAR—MORNING

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It is written that she is mentally wounded since she already kills people because she lets her anger takes over and thus she starts revengeful others as a punishment.

Veronica self-harming proves that she reveals the dark comedy in the film.

Her father also notices her depression and even says it to her.

In the dialogue above it can be seen that Veronica’s depression is shown and noticed by the other character which is also a proof that her personality reveal the dark comedy. The depression is followed by Veronica fakes committing suicide.

Veronica fakes committing suicide because she wants to know how J.D. will react if she killed herself. This only shows her suicidal personality even more because she could have used another way to find out J.D.’s reaction, or she could have just asked him in the first place.

INT. VERONICA'S BEDROOM—NIGHT

J.D. crawls through VERONICA's window. Hanging from the rafter, neck in a noose of bedshoots, is VERONICA. (p. 91).

However, she does not only want to know how J.D. will react to her suicide, but also she wants to find out what J.D. will confess to her. If she was not so suicidal in the first place, she would have used alternative way to find out all the things she wants rather than faking committing suicide. This is also a proof that her suicidal personality brings the dark comedy to the film.

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The other theme of dark comedy is sexual assault or rape. Veronica almost get raped by a drunken frat boy when she goes to a college party with Heather

Chandler.

BRAD How's my little cheerleader? Now I know everyone at your high school isn't so uptight, come on. VERONICA Hey really, I don't feel so great. BRAD Let's do it on the coats. It'll be excellent.

BRAD plops down onto the bed of coats and begins bouncing.

VERONICA I have a little prepared speech I give when my suitor wants more than I'd like to give him.... Gee Blank, I had a nice.... BRAD Save the speeches for Malcom X. I just wanna get laid. VERONICA You don't deserve my fucking speech!

VERONICA yanks up her coat from beneath BRAD on the bed causing him to slide off onto the floor. (p. 26).

In the dialogue above, it can be seen that Brad seduces and teases Veronica, when she just wants to talk casually. Brad calls her “my little cheerleader” when she is not even in the cheerleader team, it shows that Brad teases her and she feels uncomfortable which makes it considered as a sexual harassment. Veronica already tells him that she does not feel so good that she is not interested in doing such things like Brad wants her to do. Brad directly says to her that he only wants to get laid and does not want to know about Veronica’s other stuff such as the little speech. In here, Veronica is a victim of being almost raped by the drunk

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Brad, luckily she is brave enough to leave quickly before things get even worse.

Veronica being the victim of sexual harassment is also reveals the dark comedy.

Crime is one of dark comedy’s themes. In the film, Veronica and her boyfriend, J.D. are criminals because Veronica asks J.D. multiple times to help her in doing the crime. Veronica herself even admits that she has a Bonnie and

Clyde life with J.D.

VERONICA You can't be serious? Hey listen, my Bonnie-and-Clyde days are over.

VERONICA drops her gun in revulsion and launches off her bed. With a patient smile, J.D. pulls her back down. (p. 52).

Bonnie and Clyde were American criminals and they are a very well-known criminal couple until present days. Even though she states that she wants her

Bonnie-and-Clyde days over, she still does several crimes and hurt other people.

In Veronica’s line, she uses Bonnie and Clyde as a representation and visualization of her relationship with J.D., which makes Veronica herself admits that she is a criminal who does violence and hurt other people. This shows that

Veronica brings the crime into the film, which one of the themes of dark comedy.

In the film Heathers, the writer finds lot of the dark comedy’s theme that most of them are brought by Veronica Sawyer, the main character in the film.

However, there are some suicide attempts done by the other character. The first suicide attempt is done by Martha Dunnstock/Dumptruck. The death of Heather,

Kurt, and Ram are known to be a suicide by the people in school. The three of them are also the popular kids that somehow influence other student. Martha who

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happens to be the kid that gets bullied a lot sees the death of them as something that she has to do in order to be recognized by the people in the school.

EXT. OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL—DUSK

MARTHA trudges outside of the school, the coke stain still grotesquely encrusted to her BigFun T-shirt. She pins an illegible-except-for-the-words- DEAR-WESTERBURG note onto her shirt, over the stain. She continues moving toward a street of passing cars. (p. 77).

In here, it can be seen how she tries to kill herself by moving toward a street of passing cars and hopes that she will get hit by a car and dies and then she will be finally recognized by the other kid in Westerburg High School. She does this because she is tired and done being bullied. The way she gets called as Martha

Dumptruck instead of Dunnstock, her original name, shows how people in the school makes fun of her curvy body. There is also a dialogue between Veronica and Heather Duke talking about how Martha tries to kill herself in order to imitate the popular kids, but she fails.

HEATHER DUKE Hi everyone, door was open. Have you heard, Veronica? We were doing Chinese at the Food Fair, right, when they come over the radio and say Martha Dumptruck tried to buy the farm. She bellyflopped in front of a car, wearing a suicide note. VERONICA (repulsed) Is she dead? HEATHER DUKE That's the punchline. She's still alive, in stable condition. Another case of a geek trying to imitate the popular people of the school and failing miserably. Is that pate?

VERONICA slaps HEATHER DUKE in the face. (pp. 78-79).

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It is stated that Martha also wears a suicide note, imitating Heather, Kurt, and

Ram’s suicide note. However, Martha’s suicide attempt fails and she is still in a stable condition, even though she appears using a wheelchair in the end of the film.

The other suicide attempt done by the other character rather than Veronica is when Heather McNamara tries to kill herself by drinking the whole bottle of sleeping pills, this happens after the death of Heather Chandler.

HEATHER MCNAMARA What are you trying to do? Kill me?

VERONICA jumps up and down on the pills on the floor

VERONICA What were you trying to do? Sleep? HEATHER MCNAMARA Suicide is a private thing. (p. 82).

Heather McNamara is lucky enough to be saved by Veronica. Even though

Veronica herself is suicidal, she does not want her friend to actually committed suicide. It shows that suicide is a serious matter of issues in this film since the writer finds several suicide attempts. The suicide attempt done by the other character also reveals the dark comedy even more.

In the second part of the analysis explains how the three of Veronica’s gloomy personalities reveal the dark comedy in the film which presented in a funny way. Some of her personality might be her flaw, but that is the reason why

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her personality brings the dark comedy into the film. How she is a good person and at the same time she is a criminal. Veronica being depressed, suicidal, pathetic, revengeful, and characterized in certain way definitely has a main purpose that is to reveal the dark comedy in the film. It is funny to see that people

(the audience who watch the film) still have symphaty towards Veronica even though she has done bad thing such as murder. However, Veronica “survives” in the end of the story, just like what a comedy is, it ends with acceptable and

“agreeable” ending.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

This part summarizes the issue that has been analyzed in this study. Film is one of the kinds of art works that is used to deliver messages and ideas to the world, which is why studying and analyzing a film is worth to do. The film

Heathers is known for its dark comedy. The main character, Veronica Sawyer reveals the dark comedy through her personality. Veronica has several personalities: kindhearted, intelligent, revengeful, suicidal, and pathetic. Veronica is characterized to be a good person with some flaws that bring her to her catastrophe, but that is the reason why her personality reveals the dark comedy in the film. Through the film itself and the screen play, the writer tries to find out the personality of Veronica Sawyer. She might be kindhearted and nice, but she is also revengeful and a pathetic person. How Veronica fails Heather McNamara’s suicide attempt even though Veronica does not really like her is one of the proofs of her kindhearted personality. However, Veronica left her best friend, Betty Finn, who is actually a good person just because she wants to be a part of the most popular clique in the school, the Heathers. Veronica herself hates Heathers for their bad attitude and behavior, but she still manages to hang out with them because she wants the fame. This action of her proves that she herself is also a pathetic person. Veronica is characterized to be an intelligent person. When she was in sixth grade her I.Q. was equal to the level of a high school student.

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However, she does not really use much of her brain especially in the academic field.

Veronica’s revengeful personality leads her to end up killing three of her friends, Heather Chandler, Kurt, and Ram. She enjoys revengeful people as a punishment because she always takes revenge on those who did her wrong. The reason why Veronica murders her friends is also to make them suffer. It shows how she let her anger take over, then ends up being revengeful and hurting other people. The other personality of Veronica is suicidal. She harms herself to make a physical pain as a distraction of her guilty for killing her friends. Veronica’s depression is also noticed by her father, which shows that other characters aware of her odd behavior. Her depression and suicidal thoughts lead to her end up faking committing suicide, she has her reason why she does so, that is to find out

J.D.’s reaction and the things he confesses to her. If she was not suicidal in the first place, she would have used another way to find out all the things she wants to know. Different personality leads to a different action a character takes, and this shows how Veronica’s suicidal personality controls her decision making.

The popular themes of dark comedy include murder, suicide, rape, depression, abuse, crime, torture, domestic violence, racism, and homosexuality.

The writer tries to relate the personality of Veronica and the theme of dark comedy. Most of her personalities are related to the theme; revengeful, suicidal, and pathetic. The way Veronica is characterized shows how her personality bring the dark comedy to the film. She murders Kurt and Ram for spreading a false rumor and makes it look like they committed suicide because the world would not

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accept them as a gay couple. She is also depressed, suicidal, and how she admits that she has the Bonnie-and-Clyde’s life, a criminal. The way Veronica is characterized is somehow unique and different. She comes with both the good and bad. It is not something usual for some audiences to see that the main character turns into a bad person, because a main character is typically a real good person and even some of them come with no flaw. However, that is what makes

Veronica, Veronica. She comes with flaws that lead her to her tragedy, but it is also the tragedy that makes her go back to the right path, become a good person like she is supposed to be. Therefore, through the analysis, this study proves that

Veronica’s personality reveal the dark comedy in the film.

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