What transpired in the fire ending of St. Elmo?
Following their first year after graduating from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., St. Elmo's Fire chronicles an improbable set of friends. One of the most common, easily understandable complaints of St. Elmo's Fire is that its Characters are more often unlikable and harder to root for than not. This gets worse as the movie moves forward since the second half explores melodrama more thoroughly. Starting a sequence of divisive St. Elmo's Fire plot endings, Kirby, the waiter and law student of the friend group, kissed the girl of his dreams and the target of his stalking.
Spending his whole engagement with aspiring architect Leslie cheating on her, Alec, the yuppie future politician, was When she at last discovered it, she slept with Kevin, the obituary writer who had been in love with her all along. She chose neither of them at the end of St. Elmo's Fire and decided to pay more attention on herself. But not before Alec nearly killed Kevin, and Jules, a party girl with money and drug problems, shut herself quite firmly in her apartment. She meant to freeze herself to death, but Billy intervened. Billy had apparently transformed, leaving behind his wife, baby, and pals, the womanizing party guy who shirked his obligations as a husband and father. He slept with the virginal social worker Wendy, who had great crush on him, before he started over in New York. Planning brunch instead, St. Elmo's Fire sends Billy off at the bus stop at the end and decides not to visit their regular tavern. As the titles started to run, they performed one more "booga-booga," group shout and laughed offscreen.
How St. Elmo's Fire Forecasts Jules's Attempt To Freeze Herself To Death?
Jules deadbolt her D.C. apartment door near the conclusion of St. Elmo's Fire, now empty since everything she owned was seized, and sit in the middle of the floor with the windows open hoping to freeze herself to death. Not hard to understand why actor Demi Moore described her most embarrassing St. Elmo's Fire moment as While Alec pulls Kevin over the side of the railing, threatening to kill him, everyone is furiously trying to get Jules by breaking down the fire escape window with a blowtorch.
Still, early on the moment Schumacher intended to be melodramatic and satirical had some heart to it. One of the first sequences set Kevin as an obituary writer. Later on, it turned out he even kept an empty coffin in his bedroom for decoration. For her ailing stepmother, Jules spent much of St. Elmo's Fire "funeral shopping". She gave careful thought to the alternatives and expenses associated with several burial practices. Then there are her partying tendencies, which mostly included cocaine use and someone to chat to. Though Jules shrugged off Leslie and Wendy's worries about her expenditures, alleged affair with her boss, In a car by herself with Billy, the one time she really attempted to be honest to a friend thinking they would understand. She was hurt when he answered by sexually harassing her. Luckily Jules' friends showed up at last for her. Her lies were clear, and she had shown indications of more serious problems not expressed. Though the incident wasn't as dramatic as it could have been, or should have, Jules did what she believed necessary for her pleas for aid to be taken seriously. Moore's delivery of the relevant "I never thought I'd be so tired at 22" helps separate the humor from the relatability.
Fire Ending Explained: What Happens to the Characters St. Elmo's
St. Elmo's Fire was never highly praised despite its popularity, hence one should consider both advantages and drawbacks from its finish. Though a box-office, hit thanks to its soundtrack, popular ensemble cast, and possible relatability to the major characters, the 1985 coming-of- age picture St. Elmo's Fire was a critical disaster. Joel Schumacher, who frequently works with John Hughes, directed and wrote St. Elmo's Fire using the "Brat Pack" and the part their films helped to define the group. Thanks to a New York Magazine piece, almost every St. Elmo's Fire cast member was promptly named part of the "Brat Pack."
The Hulu Brat Pack documentary Brats mostly focused on the impact of this article, the Brat Pack, and St. Elmo's Fire. Director Anthony McCarthy reunited with several of his fellow St. Elmo's Fire castmates along with other well-known young performers of the time. Of the Brat Pack members officially, only Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall were absent from St. Elmo's Fire. St. Elmo's Fire is a 1980s coming-of- age masterpiece regardless of the article, the stars, the soundtrack, or the story itself.
Why did Kirby insist he and Dale saw Annie Hall?
As said, the people of St. Elmo's Fire are rather irredeemable, and Kirby is not at all an exception. Though he may appear harmless and in love, he actively stalked medical intern Dale, whom he "fell in love with" in college and reunited with at the hospital at the beginning of the movie. During what Kirby assumed was a date, he quoted the 1977 satirical romantic comedy-drama film Annie Hall. When she didn't understand the reference, Kirby reminded her they saw the film together in college.
Dale thought they’d seen a Mel Brooks film, likely a parody or farce. It’s a seemingly awkward, innocuous moment where Kirby insists it was Annie Hall. She left shortly after to go back to the hospital and Dale’s obsession, a word he later used to describe his "feelings" for her, grew. He stood outside in the pouring rain for her, took advantage of his wealthy boss being away to throw a party at his house for her, and even drove in the snow to where she and her boyfriend were having a ski trip after she started purposefully avoiding him. Kirby believed he was in a romantic comedy where if he did all the big grand gestures, Dale would fall madly in love with him. However, she and Dale are never on the same page, as shown by the Annie Hall confusion. Unfortunately, Dale gets somewhat rewarded for his creepy, stalking behavior with kindness and a kiss he initiated. Their final scene even implied that Dale wished she had given him a chance when she had a kind, supportive, seemingly normal boyfriend. In perhaps another bit of foreshadowing, the main couple of Annie Hall don’t even end up together.
Does St. Elmo’s Fire Have A Villain?
St. Elmo’s Fire doesn’t have a traditional villain, but many characters commit villainous acts, for which critics and viewers have understandably vilified them. Kirby and Dale’s subplot could have been a horror film, and St. Elmo’s Fire began with Billy getting himself and Wendy into an accident because he was drinking and driving. Alec’s connections kept Billy out of jail, and Wendy easily forgave him, but that was far from the end of his troublesome behavior.
Yet, at the end of St. Elmo’s Fire, he left all the "trouble" in his life behind, including his wife and child. He also finally slept with Wendy, with his move absolving him of the serious, monogamous relationship Wendy might have sought. Alec initially appeared to be the villain in St. Elmo’s Fire with his infidelity, arrogance, and misogyny with no signs of changing. Even after he’s confronted with truly losing Leslie, he makes her out to be a villain for sleeping with Kevin, whom he nearly kills out of jealousy. Kevin was in the more traditional sympathetic, perhaps even heroic, role of the best friend watching the girl he loves get mistreated by a man, knowing he would never treat her that way. This narrative falls apart when considering he kept Alec's infidelity a secret and later tried to force Leslie into a relationship she didn’t want. Thus, the top Letterboxd review of St. Elmo’s Fire, made by user Kevin Clarke, calls the movie "A parade of the worst men ever." There’s no one true villain in St. Elmo’s Fire, and none of the characters were meant to be villains, but they’re far from heroes, or even sometimes just far from likable. The female characters are not absolved from criticism either. In one odd scene, Leslie and Jules went to the soup kitchen where Wendy volunteered, partially ate a free meal, and talked loudly about their privileged lives. Everyone is a spoiled brat at best at some point.
The Deeper Meaning Of St. Elmo’s Fire’s Title Explained
Much of St. Elmo's Fire takes place at the bar they frequent, St. Elmo’s. This is one dimension to the film's title, as the bar is likely named after St. Elmo’s fire, a lightning-like weather phenomenon named after St. Erasmus of Formia, or St. Elmo, the patron saint of sailors. When Billy had trouble calming Jules down towards the end of St. Elmo’s Fire, he told her,
“This isn’t real. You know what it is? It’s St. Elmo’s fire … Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them, there was no fire. It wasn’t even a St. Elmo… They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. We're all going through this. It's our time at the edge.”
This dialogue explains the meaning of St. Elmo’s Fire’s title and delivers its message. These lines are supposed to comfort Jules and viewers who might feel like her. They’re all going through a post-college adjustment period, and though they react to it differently, it’s not easy on any of them. As Billy said, they’re at “the edge,” it’s like a cliff where you’re always scared you'll trip over the edge if you're not standing completely steady on top, but you're not standing alone. Still, the phrase "making up" when her property was seized during a mental health crisis could have been better used.
Is St. Elmo’s Fire The Post-College Version Of The Breakfast Club?
St. Elmo’s Fire came out about four months after The Breakfast Club, and the New York Magazine article came out 18 days before the release of St. Elmo’s Fire. With three stars (Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy) overlapping between them, it was, and still is, easy to group the films. They’re both Coming-of-age films with talented young actors that came out in 1985 and attempted to break down stereotypes; they just dealt with different age groups.
The Breakfast Club takes place in one day, with five high school students in differing social groups and grades spending a nine-hour lunch detention together. St. Elmo’s Fire has an indeterminate timeline, but it’s set in D.C. with students four months out of college. Thus, one can easily view St. Elmo’s Fire as the “post-college version” of The Breakfast Club, especially because The Breakfast Club ends without answering whether they’ll stay friends after their intense bonding period, leaving it up to the viewer to decide. St. Elmo’s Fire could be an example of what their friend group might have looked like if they’d stayed friends or met in college where cliques and parental and societal influence look different. Yet, many have questioned why St. Elmo’s Fire characters are friends beyond proximity. Though the actors have chemistry, their personalities can clash, like in The Breakfast Club. The films will forever be linked, but they’re not connected.
The Real Meaning Of St. Elmo’s Fire’s Ending Explained
At the end of St. Elmo’s Fire, the characters huddled together in the cold outside the bar and watched Billy board the bus to New York. This image is overlaid briefly with all seven main characters walking together after graduation. This transitioned to them walking as a group without Billy. As the image appeared and disappeared, Leslie said,
“I can't remember who met who first or who fell in love with who first. All I can remember is the seven of us always together.” When they stopped in front of St. Elmo’s, they saw all the college kids inside and turned down Leslie’s suggestion to go inside. They have work in the morning, or they have to find work. They instead agree to Leslie’s suggestion of Sunday brunch, and Alec suggested they go to another place called Houlihan’s that wasn't “so noisy” and didn't have “so many kids.” Here, they’re making the “grown-up decision,” just like Billy did by leaving. Yet, they’re just making a surface-level change. This is quickly shown in the final lines, as immediately after agreeing to brunch, Jules starts talking about her stepmother’s cremation bills again. They laugh and, without Billy, do their “booga-booga” group cheer. Things might look like they’re changing, but it could be St. Elmo’s fire. For better or worse, the characters in St. Elmo’s Fire are who they are, and it takes more than a couple of months from college graduation to truly grow and evolve.
