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Critical analysis of the movie mean girls
Social problem among teenagers pdf
Overview of the movie mean girls
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This emotional satisfaction stems from the “remembered hurts which then get recast into symbols” (Denby 11) and are eventually eliminated or fixed when “the outsider who joins the system also modifies it” (Denby 13). The system he mentions is the social constructs American teens create for themselves as they view the world is constantly judging them and they constantly judge the world. The high school teen movie genre in a whole is an inaccurate representation of reality, according to Denby. They are “merely a set of conventions that refer to other films” (Denby 4) and simply reaffirm for the yearning viewers that “the outsiders can be validated only by the people who ostracized them” (Denby 13) creating yet another unrealistic
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 plastics” were the leading group of the school, consisting of three popular, attractive girls, Regina, the leader of the group and two other girls, Karen, and Gretchen. “The Plastics” then scouted Cady since she had been attractive, and got the attention of popular boys, in which Janis and Damien originally supported in order to manipulate and plan to destroy “the plastics” through Cady. Cady’s exploration with social psychology is shown through her being unaware of everything at her new high school; social psychology concepts that are shown throughout this storyline are implicit personality theory, norms and group schemas, gender roles. Implicit personality theory is the inference of co-occurrence of personality traits based on another personality trait. This can be shown by the halo effect, where one infers that someone is generally good based on a few RUNNING
The film displays these issues in order to satirize them, and therefore, certain behaviour may be exaggerated to make it more obvious for the audience. As can be seen from the Plastics’ “rules”, there is a common theme present in what the “popular” girls hold valuable. From the iconic quote of “on Wednesdays, we wear pink”, to downright odd restrictions such as “we only wear jeans or trackpants on Fridays” (Michaels & Waters, 2004), the prevalent thing these well-liked, “flawless” girls seem to be concerned about is appearance. Intelligence is undesirable and unneeded in order to stand out and rule in this teenage social hierarchy. For example, when Cady says she wants to join the Mathletes, both Regina and Damien—who have very different personalities—say that it would be “social suicide” (Michaels & Waters, 2004).
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.
A new generation brings in a new, different culture. And somehow, it goes from different to rebellious. The adult American society will often look at the youth subculture’s homology: their choice of clothes, music, dance, and their overall lifestyle, and they will just begin to form these “personality conflicts” (O’Connor 412). If adults, more specifically parents, begin to have better understanding of why their subculture is often so different, then they will be able to relate to and raise “better” teenagers. This does not mean that every elder and adult has to embrace youth culture, but there should be an attempt to have a better understanding of it.
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.
Comparison Between Mean Girls And Real Life Hollywood has made many movies that involve teenagers and their lives in high school. In most of those movies, they portray high school differently than actual high school. One of those movies is Mean Girls. The movie is about a girl named Cady Heron who moves to a new city from Africa and attends a public school for the first time.
Such social value leads out group members to have out group favouritism towards the high status group due to hopes of joining and also acquiring high social value. This is also viewed in the movie Mean Girls in how everyone admires the members of the plastics (PSU WC, 2015). The entirety motion picture is truly one enormous case of Social Learning for case when Regina learned how to be a ‘plastics’ from watching her mother and students in a college copy the conduct in an endeavours to be compensate in term of being recognizable in a college. Expentancy Violantions Theory are applied during this scene in which as according to
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.