So I Graduated College, Now What?

Growing up is tough, and second-guessing your every move - whether regarding love or a potential career - only makes the journey more stressful until everything starts to pay off. Over the years, the coming of age genre has helped many, including myself, find comfort in knowing we are not alone in experiencing growing pains throughout our first few decades of life. Recently, many coming of age films that have become popular in their own right, have centered on one’s experience facing the dramatic crossroads of mastering your adolescence. This can be seen in Booksmart, Euphoria, and almost any Netflix Original show with a cast under the age of twenty-five.  However, one particular coming of age story that I believe is not shared enough, is the coming of age story one may experience during the period of life between graduation and your quarter-life crisis. So, I decided to revisit a film that covers this topic: the 1985 Joel Shumacher entry in the ‘brat pack’ collection that is St. Elmo’s Fire. 

Fair warning, when I say ‘revisit’, it’s like when you return to a restaurant you visited once with your family on a roadtrip a few years later, and all you remembered was the decor and that one waiter that kept making too personal conversation for a highway detour establishment. The first and last time I had watched this movie was in my junior or senior year in college, and was hooked solely based on the recognizable cast.

Fair warning, when I say ‘revisit’, it’s like when you return to a restaurant you visited once with your family on a roadtrip a few years later, and all you remembered was the decor and that one waiter that kept making too personal conversation for a highway detour establishment. The first and last time I had watched this movie was in my junior or senior year in college, and was hooked solely based on the recognizable cast.

[If you’ve seen any John Hughes film or any high school 80s film, guaranteed you’ll say “hey i know that person” during the film. Pictured: Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Mare Winningham.]

Now, a couple years later, having experienced, (and still going through), the post-graduation slump of inner turmoil, I have a better grasp to explore how the movie holds up today. This led me to explore whether the film offers an accurate depiction of the post-grad angst which many of us are experiencing now. Stepping back and looking at this film from the perspective of, “Let’s sit down and watch a nostalgic movie from the 80’s,” I found it hard to relax and root for a majority of the main cast. Whether it’s womanizing and cheating on their significant other with no remorse - looking at you Judd Nelson and Rob Lowe - or most troubling, stalking and trying to make someone feel

bad because they won’t accept your romantic advances - Emilio Estevez's only character trait being that he is obsessed with Andi Macdowell’s character. Part of what makes these elements of the plot worse, is that they are told through the lens that, “it’s all for love” therefore the problematic tendencies should be excused because of their boyish charms and random soliloquies about being lovesick. Pardon my french that may be censored, but fuck that noise. 

Moving on from infidelity, the movie also mishandles the outdated trope of; “I’m a stalker with a heart of gold” with Emilio Estevez’s character, Kirby. You'd think his storyline was a fragile Fedex package being chucked in the back of a delivery truck. 

The characters who seem to be battling actual quarter-life crises are Julie (Demi Moore), Wendy (Mare Winningham), and Billy (Rob Lowe). While Julie is painted as the spoiled socialite who puts up a front as a carefree party girl and turns out to have daddy issues, (don’t we all at this point), her character becomes the root of the climatic ending to bring the gang together when she attempts to freeze to death in her empty apartment, due to her unemployment - sounds a bit too close to home for my 2020 experience. Wendy is unfortunately not given much besides being the ‘fat’ character who is used as a protective blanket for Billy, but faces the conflict of convincing her parents to let her get her own apartment instead of rushing into a marriage with anyone, since apparently being a wife is all her parents want her to be. 

Then there’s Billy, the person tied for dead last with Alec in the ranking of characters that deserve any redemption or sympathy. After you see his behavior and complete lack of empathy and respect for women, it comes as a shock that he managed to get married and have a child by graduation. In the end he actually ends up giving some sound advice to Julie during her rescue mission that can actually be a good takeaway from the film to be passed down from generations to generations, however, the impact is diminished a bit considering the man’s peak was being in a fraternity and

His only solid relationship is between him and his saxophone, (today it probably would have been something more portable like a harmonica). 

A character dynamic I believe could be carried over into any type of remake that may be destined to be developed in the future, is the love triangle between Kevin (Andrew McCarthy), Leslie (Ally Sheedy), and the bottom of the barrel, Alec (Judd Nelson). Now, Joel Shumacher set up the character of Kevin so as to present him as someone who always says, “love sucks”, when given the chance, and used as the butt of a joke suggesting his singledom - but which must be the result of him actually being gay (a trope that we have luckily seen mainstream media depart from, post 2010 at least). It becomes clear that he’s single because he’s always been in love with Leslie, who is entangled with Alec until his infidelity becomes public knowledge in a quintessential party brawl, (where no one actually seems to care or feel Alec should be reprimanded for his twisted perception of sex being the missing piece to his relationship with Leslie). After this reveal, Kevin takes Leslie back to his place to comfort her, and then make his move - don’t take a drink every time a man in this movie emotionally manipulates a woman who they believe ‘needs saving’ from their current significant other. While Kevin’s fulfillment of his longtime crush comes into full fruition, that is basically where his arc ends, essentially becoming a simp for Leslie who in the end decides to choose herself and spend some time on her own after the credits roll, (wise choice, Leslie). 

So thirty-five years later, how does the film hold up? How relatable are the themes, characters, and overall take away message? Well, when it comes to a coming-of-age, or rather character growth and realization of what they need to improve for the better and learn from past mistakes, the only character I see this being true of is Leslie, with her decision to ditch Alec and Kevin, and to instead focus on herself. Julie realizes she’ll have to find another job, but comes to this realization that everything will be okay for  mister dumpster fire, Billy. 

Billy decides that his next move should be to NYC, leaving his estranged wife and baby behind, in hopes of being hired as a saxophone player. Of course, he can’t leave without his “going away” present that turns out to be Wendy’s virginity, (basically going against Wendy’s independent character that had been built the entire runtime until this point). Wendy gains her independence with an apartment for herself, but as previously mentioned, christens it with an emotional abuser. Alec is left with no fiance and a job working under a Republican senator, with a dangerous piece of advice lingering in his ear from Billy, before he boards his Greyhound for NYC; “don’t let her [Leslie] go”. Although we never know how Alec takes this advice, at least we have hope Kevin respects Leslie's decision and probably just returns to his vinyl collection at home. 

The general theme of fear for the future is present throughout the film, with characters questioning how marriage, career, and status all play into post-grad life, as well as balancing your self-worth with everyone’s expectations. This theme could easily translate and be elevated in a modern adaptation, considering all of the fears are only magnified with the presence of social media. Now, while the avenues Shumacher took to explore these fears can be adapted to a more realistic storyline for the twenty-first century, I only ask that if any characters or storylines could be completely replaced are Kirby and his clear inspiration for Penn Badgely as Joe in You.

All in all, watching this movie today seems like it could easily be added to the library of ‘White Privilege Problems’ alongside Just My Luck (2006), except that I tend to have a more pleasant experience watching that extremely underrated cheesy romcom. St. Elmo’s Fire is one to watch if you want to see how bad the 80’s kids had it and realize; “Oh, things are a lot worse now”. But like Billy said, “We’re all going through this. Hey, it’s our time on the edge.” In the end, at least they all realized part of growing up is leaving your college watering hole behind, even if it has the same name as the movie you are in.