St. Elmo's Fire (1985) - Dir. Joel Schumacher
A group of university graduates struggle with the transition to adult life; finding their place in the world; and adapting to the realities of capitalist society. All while trying to uphold the bonds of friendship that got them through school. I think this is a glimpse at what happens to John Hughes characters after they get out of school (this film however, is not written by Hughes). Warning, this blog will include spoilers.
As if to echo the original sentiments that gave me the idea for this whole movie series, I overhead a conversation as we were exciting the theatre. A man was saying to his female companion how those characters were assholes, how they lie, cheat, sleep with each other, etc. The latter part of his observations have become foggy now but I think his overall point was that they did all this bad stuff, but in the end it was somehow still ok. I guess that is a reflection on the type of people they are?
When we're young our views of good and bad seem much more clearly defined, the evils you battle have distinguishable sides and it's easy to identify what's good and stand on that side. Things get a little more complex though. Rob Lowe's character Billy won't grant his wife a divorce, this is a little different than your average break up -- They have a child together, she's had an offer of marriage from an ex-boyfriend who will be able to properly support her and the baby, but he is the father and he doesn't want to get divorced because he wants to do the right thing and support them as a father should. Should he be blamed for not willing to separate and let his wife have a chance at a happier life?
There's still your quintessential "good" guys though - Wendy (Mare Winningham) and Kevin (Andrew McCarthy) are you good-hearted lovesick puppies who just get crushed and crushed again but their devotion prevails. They don't have memorable names like 'Duckie' or 'Watts' but they will always be there for the misguided bad boy (Rob Lowe) and self-doubting nice girl (Ally Sheedy).
As for Alec (Judd Nelson) and Kirby (Emilio Estavez), where are they on the good vs bad scale? Both are obsessive, forceful, and intimidating... but are they also not determined, well-meaning, and motivated by love? Ok, fine, maybe that describes Kirby moreso than Alec, but Alec is by no means a completely bad person. His desire for more money and ability to provide overshadows his political alliances but he has some 'good friend' moments too, how many people would you crawl out of bed in the middle of the night for? To rescue them from a self-inflicted, drug-induced situation (that is probably just a plea for attention) no less?
Perhaps some people "grow-up" adhering better to the laws of good and evil better than others. I've certainly found myself flailing in a whole lot of grey area over the years. And through all this my friends have loved me, hated me, fought with me, consoled me and everything in between. Our relationships have seen a lot fluctuations, flirtations, slights, scares, and even a bit of back-stabbing, but in the grand scheme of things, these are still the people I'm going to turn to. Though we're no saints, we understand and know each other, and we prevail through it all. (I mean, would you rather have someone who loves you blindly or someone who knows your flaws but stands by you anyway?) I really think this is one of the main points of St. Elmo's Fire.
Though the film took place in the 80's, a vastly different world from what we live in now. I see some similarities in that these people lives individually interesting lives, with budding careers, lofty goals, and yet in some way, they're still lost. Kriby flip flops from law school to med school to any way to make lots of money. Wendy's in social work which is not the most overtly rewarding, yet it's what distinguishes from her cardboard cutout (literally as they're in the greeting card business) family and their stogy values. Jule's life is a fine line between drug-addled divity and utter disaster. It's a fast moving world and everyone's cramming in as much as they can so they don't miss anything, but when you look at the picture, where are they really going? Does this sound familiar?
I don't think St. Elmo's is a film that's asking to be liked. Again it's one of those movies like Reality Bites or Saturday Night Fever, it speaks most to its targeted demographic and you won't derive much meaning from it until you've reached a certain stage in life. One observes and finds meaning through observation of these lives from point A to point B rather than being explicitly told a story from start to finish. Well, ok, maybe they do tell you one thing:
You can always count on your friends. Don't ever let the fire go out.
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