Summary Of Mean Girls Film Analysis
SOC 306I
March 12, 2016
Film Analysis: Mean Girls
SUMMARY
The movie that I have chosen to write a Film Analysis on is Mean Girls, which stars Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey. The film tells the story of a girl named Cady Heron (who is played by Lindsay Lohan) and her family whom just moved from Africa to the U.S. Cady was homeschooled for nearly all of her life until she came upon her first public school; Northshore High School. As she starts her first days of schools, she finds herself with two, who can be seen as, outcast friends named Janice and Damien. They both take Cady into their group and become friends. They guide her around the school and and inform her about the “groups” and “cliques” in the school ranging from jocks to mathletes, she especially points out one group in particular, “The Plastics”. They inform her that the “The Plastics” consist of three mean popular girls, starting with Regina George (Rachel McAdams) being the head of the trio who is manipulative, backstabbing and the main antagonist in the film. Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried) Regina’s two best friends, all who are admired and treated with high
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The first theory, symbolic interactionism theory is very clear in the movie. It is shown from the nice car that Regina drives to the house that she lives in and they all appear to show a status symbol. An example of this would be when they are all sitting at the lunch table and Gretchen says “On Wednesdays, we wear pink.” (Mean Girls, 2004) this symbolizes that they are together and they are one almost like a unity and they wanted to make it known to the rest of the school that they are The Plastics. Moreover, another example of this would be when Regina tells Gretchen that she cannot like or wear hoop earrings because “hoop earrings are her thing” (Mean Girls,
Bring It On Movie Analysis
1183 Words | 5 PagesThere are three key characters of that squad; Brianna, who is constantly called fat when she can’t be over 120 pounds; Amber, Britney’s best friend on the team and the only Asian man cast member; and most importantly, Winnie. Winnie is the “backstabbing frenemy” character who is always trying to undermine Britney despite the fact that they’re supposed to be friends. Britney’s father loses his well-paying job and their family has to move to “the other side of the tracks” and Britney must leave her squad and boyfriend, Brad, behind for Crenshaw Heights. To keep it short, she has a difficult time adjusting to a mostly black school that has high security and so little funding
Discourse Community Examples
899 Words | 4 PagesThe movie Mean Girls is about a sixteen year old girl, Cady Heron, who has recently moved from Africa to the United States, and is attending public school for the first time. Her first day of school was not the best, but on her second day of school she meets Janis Ian and Damian Leigh who start to guide Cady into high school by telling her about different groups (cliques/discourse communities) in the school, including the Plastics, which is made up of Karen Smith, Gretchen Wieners, and Regina George. The Plastics soon take interest in Cady ask her to sit with them at lunch. Thanks to that we learn all about the discourse community of The Plastics. According to John Swales, there are six characteristics of a discourse community which I will discuss and use The Plastics as an example.
Implicit Social Norms In Mean Girls
1398 Words | 6 PagesThe two compiled a map of North Shore High and how Cady will survive it. A big part of the map was the cafeteria and where all the different cliques sat. Cady was warned about a certain clique called “the Plastics”, she was told they are the worst people she would ever meet. The Plastics are the popular clique at Cady’s new
Conflict In Mean Girls
1250 Words | 5 PagesAt the beginning of the movie, it seemed as though Regina and Gretchen had a dominating conflict style because they were both aggressive in their own way and were uncooperative (Hocker & Wilmot, 2014, p. 156). They did all that they could to keep their power and cared less about other people’s feelings. At the beginning, Cady seemed to have an obliging conflict style, she accommodated to what others wanted so that she could fit in (Hocker & Wilmot, 2014, p. 163). She agreed to help Janis because she wanted friends and she started acting like the Plastics when she got close to them because she wanted to fit in with them as well. At the beginning of the movie Janis had an avoidance conflict style.
The Breakfast Club Analysis
950 Words | 4 PagesA princess, a basket case, an athlete, a brain, and a criminal. Five consequently different people with different priorities. This film is an overemphasis of real life and the stresses high school students go through. Looks, grades, and friends separate these students, therefore creating a divide between them before they even have an opportunity to know one another for who they truly are.
Mean Girls Sociological Perspective
1572 Words | 7 PagesThe 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.
The Breakfast Club Identity
993 Words | 4 PagesA Glimpse Into the Developmental Roles of Adolescents The Breakfast Club is a movie about five high school students who have to serve detention one Saturday morning. When each student arrives, the viewer gets a brief glimpse into the characters backgrounds. At the beginning of the day you can clearly see the separation among the five students. Claire is considered the princess, Andrew is the athlete, Brian is the brain, Allison is the basket case, and John Bender is the criminal.
Examples Of Conformity In Mean Girls
843 Words | 4 PagesCaty begins the movie with a real genuine friendship with Janis and Damien, two individuals who struggled with popularity because they were considered the “outside” group. However, the popular girls, infamously called the “Plastics” try to recruit Caty into their popular group, but only because she is considered one of the prettier girls in the school. The ring leader, Regina George, of the Plastics is the most popular girl in school who is really hated by alot of peers because of her horrible attitude and how she
Gender Stereotypes In Mean Girls
1839 Words | 8 PagesIt 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.
Adolescence In The Breakfast Club
2332 Words | 10 PagesThe 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
Destroying Avalon Character Analysis
449 Words | 2 PagesSecondly, the issue of having to conform due to pressure is explored in both the movie and the novel. For starters, there is a difference in in the way this issue is exhibited to the audience and the difference is situated in how the pressure originates. In Destroying Avalon, one of Marshall’s diary entries talks about how Todd pulls his pants down in front of the ‘tough’ or ‘popular’ guys during Phys Ed. He mentions: “I think he’s trying to impress the popular guys. He’s like that showing off and sucking up when the tough guys are around.”
The Plastics, And Social Psychology In Mean Girls
950 Words | 4 Pages“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
Mean Girls Psychological Analysis
996 Words | 4 PagesThe 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.
Social Identity Theory In Mean Girls
1719 Words | 7 PagesMany 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: Post-Feminist Analysis
1687 Words | 7 PagesMean Girls utilizes first person perspective with the protagonist, Cady narrating the majority of the film. This technique allows viewers to personally empathise with the protagonist and take on their world perspective. Further, Mean Girls frequently goes to close up camera shots of different staff and students in the school to show the overall opinion of the protagonist at varying points of her transformation; revealing the height of Cady’s popularity occurred when adhering to the ‘plastics’ materialistic standards (Mean Girls 2004). Similarly, Pink is also narrated from a first person perspective with the protagonist Ava. Accordingly, the audience is positioned to align with Ava’s perspective such as when she says ‘When I’d wanted to change boxes and become pink and perfect, all I needed to do was change schools and buy some new outfits.
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