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BRIEF COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHANSAW IN THE MOVIE AND MUSICAL

By me & @evans-gallery

Special thanks goes to @theodichka for helping edit this article <3. This essay was originally in Russian, but we decided to translate it.

DISCLAIMER

By "chansaw" here we do not mean a ship, but only a duet/relationship between two characters. Evan and I are well aware that Chandler and Veronica's relationship in canon has no romantic overtones, and that such wording is merely used for convenience.

GREETINGS. WHY DOES THIS ANALYSIS EXIST?

As you know, Heathers the musical and the film are two different works. The difference between these media also affected the relationship between chansaw. Therefore, Evan and I decided to make a comparative description of the duet of Chandler and Veronica in the original and adaptation.

VERONICA'S RELATIONSHIP TO CHANDLER. BEGINNING OF THE FILM AND MUSICAL.

Unlike the musical, the film does not give us clear information about the chansaw's first meeting (namely, the circumstances under which they met, how long they have known each other, etc.). However, when we meet Veronica, we clearly see that she is simply tired of Heathers' company. When J.D. asked, “You are a Heather?” (here, not a name is assumed, but “one of the Heathers,” since “Heather” is preceded by the article “a”), the girl replies: “No. I'm a Veronica." With this phrase, Veronica emphasizes that she does not want to associate herself with the Heathers company and Heather Chandler in general.

Sawyer doesn't consider Heathers to be his real friends (and the scene at 7/11 confirms this, as Veronica literally compares Heathers to her co-workers, not her friends), presumably her motives for spending time with them are the same as in the musical (surviving high school ).

Chandler:"Come on, Veronica. You used to have sense of humor"

Interesting fact: At first, Veronica more willingly agreed to do all kinds of wild things that Chandler offered her. This is evidenced by Chandler's phrase: “You used to have a sense of humor.” Does this line suggest that Veronica enjoyed bullying people? More likely no than yes. She was probably just trying to consolidate her position in the company, so she was more accommodating first time.

Veronica: "Heathers and I have been friends for three weeks now!"

Unlike the film, in the musical Veronica has not yet gone through her “accommodating” phase. We also know how long chansaw has been knowing each other (approximately three weeks), and for her this place is much more important than her version from the original.

She is ready to tolerate bad attitude towards herself, towards her parents and towards her best friend (albeit only partially in the latter case). Veronica does not approve of Chan's actions, but does not enter into any particular confrontation with her (except for the moment at the party, but here the state of alcoholic intoxication played a role). This is not to say that Sawyer at the beginning of the film was able to tell Heather whatever she was thinking, but it is clear that she is much bolder than her version from the musical.

JD. PARTY IN REMINGTON.

As already mentioned, Veronica in the film is tired of Heathers' company. She regrets leaving Betty, her friend, for this company and her tense relationship with Chandler.

(I won't translate everything here, but in short, Veronica expresses regret at this point for leaving Betty for Heathers)

Jason became a breath of fresh air for Veronica (of course, only at first). The girl saw in him a good alternative to the company that was already boring her, so after a quarrel with Chan at a party, she realized that JD was a way to burn all the bridges between Sawyer and her past popular life. This is also confirmed by the fact that, apparently, Veronica initially wanted, albeit reluctantly, to apologize to Heather, but after a conversation with Jason she decided to finally break off relations with Chan, mixing all sorts of nonsense into her mug, because of which the girl in red I would throw up.

Veronica before talking to Jason: "Tomorrow I will have to kiss her trained ass, but today let me just dream of a world where is no Heather. A world where I am free."

Here, after a conversation with Jason, Veronica says that she wants to make Chandler throw up before cutting off all ties with her.

On Veronica’s part in the musical, a similar passage remained without much change, except that the girl was actually preparing a hangover cure for Chandler, because, as already mentioned, Sawyer had recently joined Heathers’ company, and this place was still important to her, unlike her movie version.

CHANDLER'S DEATH.

In the musical, because Heather Chandler's ghost is something of Veronica's conscience, Sawyer feels guilty for killing his "friend." In the moments when Ronnie was forced to show cruelty, one can see similarities with Chan (especially the poses).

Both versions of Veronica are trying to find an excuse for themselves, but unlike the musical, in the film the girl copes with Heather’s death quite quickly, even if she is very scared at first (cus killing a person was most likely not her everyday's routine, haha). Most likely, this is due to the fact that, again, Sawyer is simply tired of Chan’s company.

However, the scene with the locker still changes the girl's attitude towards Chandler's death. Noticing that Heather had been keeping photographs of her and Veronica together all this time, the latter realizes that for Chan their peculiar “friendship” had some weight. Veronica finally understands that everything she and JD did was not right.

To sum it up, Veronica's treatment of Chandler in the musical and the film is not too different. However, at the beginning of the latter, her relationship with Heather was already on the verge of breaking due to the fact that Sawyer regretted that she had exchanged her past friends for Chan's company and was tired of spending time with her. The episode with the locker does change Veronica's perception: she realizes that their relationship was still important to Heather to some extent, so we can assume that Sawyer changed her attitude towards Heather for the better.

CHANDLER'S ATTITUDE TO VERONICA.

We're probably going to say a very provocative thing now, but Chandler in the film shows some kind of respect for Veronica. Let's look at the beginning: the lunchtime poll. Heather Duke and Veronica question Chan about it, despite the fact that the latter discussed the topic with both of them, but only Duke receives a sharp reaction from Chandler.

This may mean that Heather does take into account Sawyer's opinion, although not always. The fact that Chandler hangs around with Veronica during the lunch poll, even though Veronica doesn't provide any practical benefit (Heather asks the questions and she writes down the answers), may hint that Chan enjoys Veronica's company to some extent. Yes, she still uses the latter's skills for her own purposes, but at the beginning of the film there is no sense of outright disrespect on Heather's part, unlike the musical.

In the musical, Chandler brought her negative qualities to the maximum. She is rude to Veronica's parents, humiliates the girl in blue's childhood friend, shakes her at a party and forces her to humiliate herself on her knees to ask for forgiveness. And in general, the whole problem of chensav in the musical is the fault of Chandler’s image. Heather in the film did none of the above (just in case, Veronica's childhood friend in the original was Betty, not Martha), which makes her more mature.

WHY WAS HEATHER SO ANGRY AT VERONICA AT THE PARTY?

At this point we are only identifying the cause-and-effect relationship of Heather’s actions. Chandler in both episodes acts, to put it mildly, badly, and such behavior cannot be justified.

In the film, partying at Remington is, in Heather's opinion, an acquisition of status. Most likely, she was going to enter this university and wanted the same for Veronica. With her requests to leave and her subsequent behavior, Sawyer, in Heather's opinion, put their reputations at risk. Veronica's very bold responses to Chan's claims completely infuriated the latter, which is why she broke off the relationship between them.

In the musical, everything is much simpler - Heather appeared at the Inca in the evening in a society in which she already had a reputation, and Veronica’s open resistance could damage it. This is what caused Chan to react so strongly.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE LOCKER SCENE. Chandler felt a connection with Veronica, as evidenced by the locker scene and partly the moment where McNamara, after Chan's death, says that Heather would give her watch to Veronica, since she was unhappy with her taste in accessories. In general, one could say that the moment with the clock is far-fetched, but imagine the same Duke in Veronica’s place. Chandler would hardly give her things to Heather, even if she was dissatisfied with her taste.

This stupid app won't let me insert photos. If anything, the line about the watch was in the scene where the girls were discussing Chandler's death in the locker room. If you need to show one or another scene described above, don't be afraid to ask.

In the musical, this connection manifests itself in the form of Heather as a phantom as Veronica's conscience, but such interactions cannot compare to the scenes above.

IN CONCLUSION

The Chansaw in the film is clearly more interesting and deeper than the Chansaw in the musical (especially on Chan's part). They have moments that show the connection between them. Their relationship in the film is very far from ideal, given the nature of both girls, but it still feels much stronger and capable of development (under any ideal circumstances). The main problem with the Chansaw in the musical is the way the two are presented. If Veronica's character was not distorted so much, Chan underwent big changes.

In the film, Chandler shows insecurity at the Remington party, which adds depth to her character. In the musical, she is unshakable and seems to have no complexes at all. The relationship between Heather and Veronica in the musical is simply not interesting to watch, since they do not have the same hints of any kind of friendship as they did in the film, so their relationship is clearly better developed in the original.

That's all. Thanks for reading this essay, don't be afraid to ask questions & say your opinion. Sorry for the dumb grammatical mistakes, me and Evan are from Russia, so we are just learning English ✌️✌️

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