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Sociological analysis of the movie mean girls
Sociological analysis of the movie mean girls
Sociological analysis of the movie mean girls
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Conformity is present in every group situation with adolescents. Adolescents are always looking to be a part of a group, usually conforming to the standards of the group. Adolescents often conform because they want to have the approval of the peers that are well liked or “popular”. A great example of adolescents and conformity is in the chick flick ‘Mean Girls’ through the different cliques in high school and how it affects the peers themselves. Caty, the main character, is faced with several difficult situations where she decides to conform with her high school peers getting her in trouble that becomes hard for her to escape.
The main characters are Claire Standish, the princess; Andrew Clarke, the jock; Brian Johnson, the brain; Allison Reynolds, the basket case; John Bender, the criminal, and Richard Vernon the principle. This movie shows five young adolescent people trying to figure out who they are in high school. Which can be very difficult with peers and the awkwardness of being a teenager. The first part of this movie opens to each of the characters being dropped off by their parents. When Claire’s
Introduction The film, Mean Girls, a 2004 American teen comedy, focuses on female high school social “cliques” and their effects. In doing so, the movie brings up various topics of sociological relevance, with connections to two of the main topics discussed in the first semester of this course. This film’s characters and world tie into modern socialization and gender issues, giving sociologists a satirical in-depth view of the social hierarchy present in today’s youth—particularly concentrated in young female teenagers. The movie addresses gender stereotypes, socialization and assimilation into a complex high school environment, self-fulfilling prophecy, and various other concepts important to the development of a social self for teens in the
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.
Regina George ran the school, she was the most popular student in the school. Students would run the opposite way from her, she would also push people out of the way so that she and her “plastics: could walk in a straight line in the hall ways. Towards the end of the movie Cady realizes that name calling does not make her better than anyone else. She states “calling someone else fat will not make you any skinner, calling someone else stupid will not make you any smarter” (Waters, 2004). This was a turning point for Cady because got so caught up with becoming a “plastic” that she started to act like them and did not stay true to
It centers on females and how they act at that certain age. The four mean girls, Regina George, Gretchen Wieners, Karen Smith and Cady Heron represent the stereotypes of the popular girls of high school. The role of gender plays an important role in the movie. The movie discusses the aspects of how a “typical” teenage girl should be, in order for her to fit in.
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.
Mean Girls: implicit and explicit social norms, conformity, obedience Cady Heron’s life changed dramatically when she moved to a suburban area in Illinois, after living in Africa and being homeschooled her whole life. She started at North Shore High and quickly got sucked into the stereotypical girl drama. Prior to the drama, Cady met two of her best friends Damian and Janis, who were apart of the out-caste clique.
Many of the characters in Mean Girls struggle with finding their identity and belongingness into a certain group. Fitting in is hard. Making new friends, moving to a new place, figuring out where you belong, and discovering who you are—all of these are difficult tasks. The films show how cliques can wreck everyone’s life. The film even shows how conflict often time arises within different socio or cultural groups.
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.
High school is a life changing experience for everyone. Teens mature and deal with situations that they may not have had to deal with before they entered it. The movies Clueless and Mean Girls are based on two different high schools with similar problems the teen girls face. Although the two films are taken place in different decades and portray a different aspect of what it’s like to be in high school; they both have a similar life lesson.
Some of the fundamental qualities required to be a successful cheerleader counter the stereotypes constantly perpetuated in media. The mean-girl stereotype does not exactly fit this narrative of them working hard and supporting athletes to performing complexed stunting and tumbling, and the memorization of chants and routines. It is unfortunate that the majority of cheer-related representation does not reflect reality, and paints the athletes in an unfavorable light, because the millions of girls who cheer are unable to identify with positive role models or even multi-dimensional people. I feel that film and television should try to depict these characters in a more positive light. These characters should be more dynamic and we shouldn't generalize
At the beginning of the film (4 minutes and 50 seconds) shows how the different Hierarchical Groups taking part in this movies. Social Dominance Theory explains the behaviours that being participated in and experienced in middle and high school as well as the behaviours in the above mentioned move, Mean Girls. The theory states that people all belong to groups and members protect their group and act to maintain their hierarchical groups. The clip demonstrates this principle in how a member of the group did not follow their standards and therefore, in order to protect the group, she was dismissed. The top group has high social value which motivates and maintained the hierarchical status.
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.”
There is no doubt that the film Mean Girls is full of conflict. Director Mark Waters did an excellent job at presenting how conflict can transpire and spread between females. The conflict that occurs in Mean Girls can easily be seen through the main characters Cady and Regina, however, conflict does not only takes place between the two of them but the entire school as well. Conflicts that arise throughout this film can be explained through power and power currencies, conflict styles and tactics, assumptions and triggering events, and forgiveness and reconciliation. Each conflict allows there to be understanding as to why the conflict took place and how it got as destructive as it did.
