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Lesbian Identity In Mean Girls, Directed By Mark Waters

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The pinnacle of the lesbian identity is the taboo connotation that follows women’s identities in same-sex relationships transcending history and culture. Initially, the term “lesbian” is used to refer to women in homosexual, romantic relationships. However, because of our heterosexual society, over time, the term “lesbian” is hurled as an insult towards lesbians and straight women in order to ridicule their identities. In the movie, Mean Girls, directed by Mark Waters, the term “lesbian” is often used as a slur to perpetuate the notion that to be romantically attracted to women is something to be ashamed of. The portrayal of lesbianism in this movie serves as a reflection of our society’s views on lesbianism, as it is something to be ridiculed …show more content…

Influenced by her works, the Economist article titled “Why Lesbians Flock to Lesbos” explains that fans of Sappho’s work began using her likeness as a demonym in order to identify homosexual attraction between women (Anonymous 1). As a result of Sappho’s poems, many were inspired to use the word “lesbian” in order to represent themselves as women in same-sex relationships. However, though the term “lesbian” was simply used to represent homosexual relationships without negative connotations throughout history, due to the Christian evangelism that followed during the eighteenth century, our society became increasingly conservative, ultimately forcing the term “lesbian” into a …show more content…

Denying Janis from being invited to her pool party, Regina states, “Janis, I can’t invite you because I think you’re a lesbian… I mean, I couldn’t have a lesbian at my party…There were gonna be girls in their bathing suits” (McAdams, Mean Girls). Revoking her friendship with Janis by uninviting her to her pool party, Regina implies that because Janis objectively acts like a lesbian, Regina discriminatorily projects that Janis would be predatory to all the girls at the party. The anti-lesbian sentiment that Regina imposes onto Janis throughout their youth ultimately reflects our society’s views on lesbianism, as they wrongly personify lesbians as predators through superficial stereotypes based on surface-level actions combined with false societal judgments loosely based on female

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They way a person reads is greatly influenced by their personal background; their story, their culture, anything that led them to who they are today. When reading How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents written by Dominican-American Julia Alvarez, many controversial points are brought up that can be interpreted in many different ways depending on who is reading. In many scenarios, it’s the matter of where the reader comes from, in this case the Dominican Republic, or the United States. By having written from both Dominican and American perspectives, Alvarez teaches how a character’s sexuality or sexual tendencies can be perceived differently depending on the reader's personal background.

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By having a lesbian relationship in the text, it shows representation and the normalcy of having a relationship with someone of the same sex. The two girls obviously care about each other; Anne is very concerned for Diana’s health when she accidently gets drunk. If we read it as queer, their relationship is positive and healthy, which provides great representation for queer relationships. It also shows that children have some innate understanding of what person they are attracted to, without understanding what “lesbian” or “queer” means. One of the disadvantages of reading the text as a lesbian relationship would be negating the importance of close female friendship.

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Moreover, Feinberg portrays the struggles and discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community, particularly butch lesbians, during the mid-twentieth century. The novel highlights how society, including law enforcement agencies and the medical establishment, viewed butch lesbians as deviant and pathological, subjecting them to harassment, violence, and conversion therapy. The absence of role models and the relentless hostility from society made it challenging for butch lesbians like Jess to find acceptance and

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Years prior, gay individuals got shunned, and restricted in films with few exceptions while worsening with the AIDS crisis. It was not until 2000 when Vermont created the Civil Union and in 2004 Massachusetts accepted gay marriage whereas other states were rejecting this right. In the same year, 2004, Mean Girls was released which was created off the basis of Queen Bees & Wannabes published by Rosalind Wisemen. This film in particular is quite unique and important to understanding high school students in their environment, causing them to change. Mean Girls was written by Tina Frey, who brought personal experiences into the film giving a stronger connection to real life.

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Subcultures form due to our deep rooted preference for likeminded individuals and ideas. We hold anxieties about how people are different and we worry about our own status within society (Andrew Campa 2015 YouTube). Schouten and Alexander (1995) describe that “a subculture of consumption is a distinctive subgroup of society that self-selects on the basis of a shared commitment to a particular products class, brand or consumption activity” (43). It is through this continued communal consumption that an individual finds social validation for their beliefs, value and way of life. Popular culture has magnified high school subcultural identities.

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The article reveals the racism that gay men and women deal with within the black culture. It speaks on, an unspoken action that is ignored in the African American community. Lorde (1984) speaks about the African American women smuggles as a lesbian, Icard (1986) speaks no how the African American male is seen an inferior. Loiacano

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Mean Girls is a movie filled with unique words and weird gestures that we as watchers can understand. Symbolic interaction theory emphasizes face-to-face interaction and thus is a form of microsociology. In our textbook, symbolic interaction is described as a theory that human interaction and communication is facilitated by words, gestures, and other symbols that have acquired conventionalized meanings. An example that captures the essence of symbolic interaction theory involves Cady, Janis, and Damian at the beginning of the movie.

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How do the texts you studied explore the need to break from conformity and embrace individuality? Mean girls, a movie directed by Mark Waters in 2004, and the "outsiders' written by S.E Hinton (1967), both explore the issue of conformity and social expectations while trying to maintain their individuality. Throughout both texts, it's made evident that you need to embrace identity instead of conforming to social expectations depicted by society. The composer of each text demonstrates that conforming negatively impacts your sense of self and limits your freedom, resulting in the loss of your individuality.

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The movie Mean Girls is a perfect example of many social-psychological principles. Three of the major principles that are seen in the film include: conformity, in-groups and out-groups and prejudice. Cady Herron, a naïve sixteen-year-old who has been homeschooled her entire life, is forced to start as a junior at North Shore High School because of her family’s job relocation. Throughout the movie, you see Cady struggling to maintain acceptance in the school’s in-group known as The Plastics. The Plastics, who represent popularity, high economic status and the acclaimed standard of beauty, are one of the meanest cliques at North Shore.

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The language in Plato’s symposium and the expression of Sappho’s poetry are similar in that they both deal with homoerotic love. Sappho, the only ancient Greek female author whose work survived, talks from the female point of observation, where as Plato’s work concentrates on the idea of love among males. In spite of the fact that both of their points of view are comparative in courses, for example, their thoughts of physical fascination and want, Plato’s work creates a better understanding of the nature of love then Sappho’s ideas. This understanding will be shown with three arguments and counter- arguments in order to demonstrate the dominance of Plato over Sappho. It will than be concluded with an overview of the main idea and a recap of the three arguments made for Plato.

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The film Mean Girls, produced by Lorne Michaels and directed by Mark Waters in 2004 focuses on a teenage girl, Cady Heron, who experiences the drastic change of living and being home schooled in Africa to moving to America and attending a regular high school. While attempting to sabotage the plastics, the girls who hold the most popularity in the school, Cady unknowingly turns into one of them, leaving aspects of her old personality behind. By analyzing the film through sociological perspectives, the deeper meaning of the film can be revealed. Socialization Socialization is the process of connecting individuals to their community allowing individuals to experience new attitudes and perspectives.

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1687 Words | 7 Pages

Mean Girls, set in Illinois, depicts the socio-political climate of an American high school, with it’s protagonist, Cady Heron moving from Africa and homeschooling to be socialised in her new society. The antagonist throughout the film, Regina George, is portrayed as an authoritarian woman who has total control of the school (Mean Girls 2004). Regina is shown to engage with numerous sexual partners at the same time and promotes her liberation through wearing a tee-shirt with her bra protruding out the front when she finds two holes cut at her breasts; motivating a new fashion trend throughout the cohort (Mean Girls 2004, Robinson-Cseke 2009, p. 45). This depiction of a strong, independent woman aligns with ‘Post-feminist texts-films, books, magazines and television programs characterised by a model of young womanhood that is empowered, successful, entitled, independent, socially mobile and free to choose her destiny’ (Toffoletti 2008, p. 72). Post feminism is further reflected in the film through the power change which occurs, transferring from Regina to Cady, mirroring the transfer of power from second wave feminism to post feminism.

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Youth culture can pertain to interests in styles, music, clothes and sports. It also pertains to behaviours, beliefs, and vocabulary; this refers to the ways that teenagers conduct their lives. The concept behind youth culture is that adolescents are a subculture with norms, morals, behaviours and values that differ from the main culture of older generations within society. For instance, young men and women, teenagers in this case, are mostly represented as unpredictable and not easy to understand. In the film, Mean Girls directed by Mark Waters (2004), adolescents are represented as bullies, who use manipulation to achieve what they want and are two-faced with the people around them; they are constantly stereotyped as a high social group like the plastics and a low social group like the mathletes; also they are presented as young people that fall under peer pressure, and are overly concerned about their appearance and about being socially accepted.

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because of a situation about a burn book, and the first thing that comes out of her mouth is words of manipulation towards the principle saying” I don’t think my father, the inventor of toaster strudel, would be too happy to hear about this.” Gretchen believes that she is in a higher class than other people and that with her parent’s wealth and fame she could get herself out of trouble no matter what she does. The conflict theory states that there is always tension between groups of people because there is one group wanting to run and rule over the other. In Mean Girls, we see this happen with the Plastics, which we could compare to the bourgeoisie during Karl Marx 's time. The movie explains perfectly what some people in a higher class compared to a lower class believes that everything revolves around them and the other students that are considered lower class needs to obey their every single command.

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All of a sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when I was watching the movie “Mean Girls,” because it reminded me of the cliques and peer groups that were in my old high school. The movie is about a teenage girl who ends up becoming a part of this clique full of mean girls and after an incident she sets out to try and ruin the leader of the clique’s life. It was the cliques and peer groups that made me start thinking sociologically, because it made me look back and see how much I have changed since I came to the University of Kentucky, and left my old clique or peer group behind. In my sociology class I learned that a peer group is a “group of individuals who are often around the same age and are linked by common interests and orientations.”

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