St. Elmo's Fire Is A Coming-Of-Age Story Made in 1985. The Story Follows Seven Main

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Koen Hernandez
Dr. Kozaczka
ENGL 1302
14 February 2024
St. Elmo’s Fire

St. Elmo’s Fire is a coming-of-age story made in 1985. The story follows seven main

characters, all friends who have recently graduated from college and are now moving on to the

next stage of their lives. This film follows the struggles of each of the seven characters: Alec

Newberry, Leslie Hunter, Kevin Dolenz, Kirby Keger, Jules Van Patten, Wendy Beamish, and

Billy Hicks. Within the first 20 minutes of the feature, we are introduced to issues such as:

obsession, finding a place in the world, societal pressure, and love quarrels. The theme trying to

be conveyed is how finding one’s identity and place in the world is not easy, and that is ok. The

characters carry the film for the most part. However, many moments stand out due to how it is

filmed, emphasizing the scenes.

While watching, it almost feels as if one is experiencing these moments with the

characters. The way it is filmed and portrays itself is almost as if it's a sitcom on television:

characters have witty banter and “deep” conversations with each other. Eash scene can feel like

different snippets of episodes. Because of this, the film makes a great point of humanizing these

characters. They don't just feel like actors on the screen, down to their outfits it feels real and

casual. For example, at 22:48, the scene is set in Alec's and Leslie's new, empty apartment. Here,

an interaction between Leslie and Kevin follows. They have a conversation about love, mainly

how Kevin seems to oppose the idea of its existence. Leslie pesters him about it, and Kevin tells

the story of how he fell in love with a girl, tells her how he felt, and how he was rejected. He
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says, "Love sucks" (Joel Schumacher 1985). and Alec enters the scene. You can see the contrast

in expression between Leslie and Kevin. Kevin rolls his eyes while Leslie is delighted to see her

boyfriend; arguably, this can be seen as opposition. From this scene, we can gather that Kevin

has an unrequited love for Leslie. Further supported as a few minutes later, he hears the couple

laughing and, out of jealousy, puts cigarette ashes in the pan of cooking food.

For the most part, the movie mostly has those types of moments; it does not do much with

how it is filmed. Which is why scenes like the one at 48:25 stand out. Here, we are following the

character, Kirby. He is incredibly infatuated with a girl named Dale he met in college. From the

beginning of the film, we see how head over heels he is for this girl and will stop at nothing to

make her his. It began somewhat innocently, but throughout the film, we see how crazy he gets

over her. As evidence, in this scene, we observe Kirby waiting creepily outside Dale's apartment.

It's rainy and has this eerie blue lighting. He follows her car to this party, and peeks through a

window, watching her soaked.; the way this is framed is like it's right out of a horror movie

included the eerie music accompanying his stalking. He emerges from the shadows outside,

contrasting with the warm, inviting lighting indoors, accompanied by the film's "love theme." He

watches her with piercing eyes as she takes off extra wear. We are treated to a close-up of her

face as she elegantly brushes her hair, with a soft, halo-like light behind her, giving her an

ethereal glow. In the next scene, we get a "point of view" shot from Kirby's perspective; he's on a

mission to confront Dale. The lighting becomes dimmer and muddier while he gets dirty looks

from the people attending the party; you cannot help but get this overwhelming feeling of guilt

and intrusion. He finally spots Dale like a lion, looking for his prey. Dale still meets him with a

warm greeting; he then admits how obsessed he is with her, absolutely drenched and looking
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pathetic as a wet cat. From an outsider's perspective, we can see how unhealthy this is for Kirby.

Continuing through the film, we can see how much he's willing to change himself for Dale.

Eventually, Kirby will, for the most part, get over Dale and learn that love is not what it's

chalked up to be. Jules is another character who is deeply troubled. She uses other men,

sometimes her friends, and drugs/alcohol to escape with feeling her raw emotions. Because of

this she loses herself, she realizes this in one of the ending scenes (1:36:00) where Billy

confronts her during a meltdown. She makes up all these problems for herself so she can keep

going, to keep herself busy from facing her reality, he says. Billy explains the title of the movie,

saying “Saint Elmo’s Fire” is something that’s there for a moment, then gone in an instant (Rice

39). He reassures her saying "We're all going through this." However, he is not only telling her

this but to the audience as well. Saying that line, he looks directly at the camera afterward to

signify he's comforting the viewer as well. There was an interview with the director, Joel

Schumacher, to prove this further. (Joel Schumacher Interview 1985 (St. Elmo's Fire) Brian

Linehan's City Lights) Schumacher mentions he had put a part of himself in the movie as he

struggled with substance abuse as well as trying to find his place in life. Using Billy's character,

Schumacher was able to comfort those who are in the same positions or struggling to find

themselves.

The film intends to assure the viewers that it's okay not to know what to do with your life

straight out of college. He mentions in the interview that in the 80s, twenty-year-olds were

supposed to know their role, to be a "finished product" at their age(s). Showing all these

characters, their struggles, their desires, and their relationships build and fall apart gives young

adults an ounce of hope. Not knowing who you are right out of college shouldn't be a strict

"mandate." Humans are unique in how we feel and experience things. It's not a straightforward
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line to success; it is a trail with many different paths. There will always be hicks in the road, but

life isn't perfect, nor are the people living it.


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Works Cited:
Linehan’s, Brian, and Joel Schumacher. “Joel Schumacher Interview 1985 (St. Elmo’s

Fire) Brian Linehan’s City Lights.” 1985, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbiYvpsCY9I

Rice, Lynette. “St. Elmo’s Fire.(Director Joel Schumacher and the Cast)(Hollywood’s

Greatest Untold Stories of the ’80s / Oral History).” Entertainment Weekly, no. 1460–1461,

Time, Inc, 2017, pp. 34. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?

vid=0&sid=9063d75f-40e6-41c5-85a0-6debbeba9b46%40redis

"ST. ELMO'S FIRE." Monthly Film Bulletin, vol. 52, no. 612, 1985, pp. 316. ProQuest,

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/tamiu.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/st-

elmos-fire/docview/1305837617/se-2.

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