Sarah Rayner: Evening up the score
Sarah Rayner, author of Getting Even (out today!), joins HEA to explore themes of revenge by revisiting classic movies like Heathers and Thelma and Louise.
Sarah: "What are my favorite books and films about revenge?" I ask Othello.
I'm convinced my 18-year-old feline is eyeing me knowingly. Little did I realize when I named him that it would prove so apt — a more jealous creature you'd be hard pushed to find. But I'm not complaining — when he jumped on my bed one night and scratched my then fiancé to let him know he wasn't welcome, Othello sparked the idea for my novel, Getting Even.
Of course I changed the story in the retelling — Getting Even is a modern-day tale of bonding and backstabbing set at an advertising agency, a light farce with dark twists. Female-focused and fun, Getting Even probably has as much in common with Mean Girls, say, or Heathers — my own favorite teenage-revenge flick — as Shakespeare's tragedy.
Back in 1988, Heathers shone a light on the darker side of high school life that other movies hadn't — one that is still familiar. When Winona Ryder's Veronica wants to be like the cliquey Heathers, we understand that feeling of exclusion all too well, so when the lead Heather vows to ruin Veronica for embarrassing her, we root for Veronica to hit back. What makes Heathers different is how Veronica chooses to wreak revenge. Hooking up with the deliciously psychotic JD, the couple stage a number of murder/suicides and start an epidemic at their high school. Eventually Veronica works out she has power, then exploits it to the hilt in a coming-of-age fantasy that makes most teen movies look saccharine.
If it weren't so very funny, Heathers might be deemed sick, but that's the thing with revenge — it's rarely pretty or nice. It's the dark side of romance, that's for sure. So in another '80s classic, The Life and Loves of a She Devil, British novelist Faye Weldon captures not just the desperation of the jilted wife but also the joy of destruction, so in the end Ruth becomes an avenging angel for all who are judged lacking in the transient virtues of beauty, taste and wealth. Then there's The Help: Talk about a dish best served cold! When Minny serves a cake made with dog poop to the white employer who unfairly dismissed her, yes, we might all go, "Ew," but we cheer all the same.
Thelma and Louise// goes several steps further: When a man attempts to rape Thelma, Louise shoots him, and from then on every male misdemeanor is evened-up and some — a slime-bag driver who harasses the heroines gets his truck blown sky high; a husband who is smugly indifferent to his wife's needs learns what really turns her on; a lot of cops are outsmarted; and the women get the last word. It's the dark side of romance, as I say.
It could be argued that the end of Thelma and Louise is unhappy, but I saw it as the ultimate act of defiance. Because Thelma and Louise articulates the truly beautiful thing about revenge — at its best and most meaningful, revenge isn't just about evening up the score, it's a way of redefining right and wrong, and gaining liberation.
Here's the blurb about Getting Even:
Revenge has never been such fun
How would you feel if your best friend at work betrayed you? Was secretly having an affair with an influential colleague? Won a coveted promotion, then teamed you up with a mere junior, leaving you feeling completely demoted? What would you do? For Ivy there's no choice. The only person she has ever trusted, Orianna, has blown it big time. So there's only one way forward: revenge.
Ivy's campaign is brilliant, if horribly destructive, and she's determined to get even with the woman who has dared to cross her. But is Ivy really the innocent party? Or is she hiding secrets of her own?
Find out more about Sarah and her books at www.thecreativepumpkin.co.uk.