ipl-logo

The Character Stereotypes In The Movie Mean Girl

2137 Words9 Pages

Stereotypes are seen all throughout history in films and television. With all of the character tropes that began to make an appearance in films, most characters were thrown into a certain box with a checklist of criterias that they had to fit. Character tropes are especially seen in movies with a high school setting due to the overwhelming pressure of fitting in and the cliques that seem to ring true in real life. In most high school movies there is almost always a teacher's pet, jock, stoner, geek, and most importantly a mean girl. A mean girl trope is very common in high school movies and they are usually one of the most relevant characters to the plot of the movie. Although there are a variety of iconic mean girls throughout films, they …show more content…

This is really solidified in films through the other characters' comments on the mean girl's appearance. Other characters are always drooling over the mean girl, playing a strong part in her desirability, which is one of the most notable traits of the classic mean girl in movies. Everyone always wants to be her or to be with her. In addition to this, everyone becomes easily influenced by the mean girl. This is strongly portrayed in the movie Mean Girls (2004). In this movie, the main character, Cady, moves to a new school and befriends the group of popular girls. Throughout the film, Cady is trying to ruin Regina George’s, the main mean girl’s, reputation. Cady agrees to do this on behalf of Regina's former friend Janis. Janis has a hatred for Regina because she spread hurtful rumors about her in the past and ruined their friendship. In one of Cady’s attempts to sabotage Regina, she decided to cut holes in Regina's shirt during gym class. Unembarrassed, Regina still decided to wear the shirt around with the holes in it. Everyone saw Regina wearing the shirt around and thought it was a new fashion trend and that it must be cool because Regina was doing it. In only a few hours, almost all the girls in the school decided to cut holes in their shirts as well. This just shows the influence and desirability that mean girls have in

Show More
Related

  • The Ugliest In The List By Siobhan Vivian

    611 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jennifer was the first to be picked the ugliest girl in her grade 4 years in a row, but it’s not really an accomplishment to be bragging about. Jennifer’s freshman year, she got so upset she threw up on herself while crying, “..she wailed so loud the science classes could hear her, even with their doors shut and their teachers lecturing.” (pg. 62) Although she was affected less and less every year, it’s not something someone should get used to. When she was crowned with the title her freshman year, it affected her greatly.

    Read More

  • Mean Girls Psychology Essay

    529 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movie Mean Girls shows many of the psychological themes that have been discussed throughout the course. Two prominent themes within the movie are bullying and cliques. Bullying is described by the book as being “verbal or physical behavior intended to disturb someone less powerful” (Santrock, 2016, p. 351). Bullying is extremely prominent in schools, which is the setting of the movie, with one in three students claiming that they have experienced bullying at some point whether as the victim or the bully (Santrock, 2016, p. 351). In the movie, bullying is a prominent plot point with most of the background characters stating that they, at some point, had been bullied by Regina George.

    Read More

  • Mean Girls Essay

    1182 Words  | 5 Pages

    Repression is Regina's second pillar of dominance; like many notorious dictators before her and many who govern today, in fact, Regina dominates through instilling fear and cruelty among the masses. You can see Regina creating this panic in her peers countless times throughout the film. A notably well-known scene that highlights the cruelty Regina inflicts on her fellow students is when a teacher asks if anyone has ever been personally victimized by Regina George, and the entire female student body, including some teachers, wearily raises their hands! (Mean Girls 2004)This demonstrates that Regina's repression affects not just her peers but also those presumed to be above her; she has considerable power and influence over these

    Read More

  • Summary Of Eleven By Sandra Cisneros

    502 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rachel had to wear the piece of clothing in front of her class when it wasn’t even hers. Children are mortified when they are forced to do something awful in front of their classmates. In addition, the flustered Rachel is called out when,” Mrs. Price says loud and in front of everybody, ‘Now, Rachel, that’s enough.’” The degraded narrator is drawn further into despair when her teacher singles her out. The author uses imagery to fortify Rachel’s humiliation.

    Read More

  • Implicit Social Norms In Mean Girls

    1398 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Bullying In Rona Maynard's Short Story 'The Fan Club'

    877 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘Or in a trash dump.’ That was Diane.” This proves that many students looked down on Rachel because of her appearance and financial state. Finally, the biggest and worst moment of the bullying, “Choked giggles, shuffling feet—and then applause—wild, sarcastic, malicious applause” shows that the majority of students in the class participated in the derision of their classmate. However, this is not the only scene where bullying pressures others into doing the same, as it can also be seen when the bullies encourage Laura to take part in the

    Read More

  • Individuality In Mean Girls

    1009 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Mean Girls, the composer illustrates the pressure of conformity and the need to follow the social hierarchy as the protagonist, Cady Heron, a new student, faces school social expectations while trying to maintain her identity. This becomes evident in the film when she is asked to sit with the notorious plastics, the most popular girl in the school. We then are witness to the technique of framing. As Cady walks up to Regina, we can tell she is anxious as she is already bombarded with social norms. Regina tells Cady that pursuing one of her passions, math, is "social suicide, and that being a "mathlete" would be frowned upon.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Mean Girls

    990 Words  | 4 Pages

    The period of adolescence is confusing for both the adolescents and the parents. As a result, there are a lot of stereotypes and myths that we associate with them. Some of these stereotypes and myths are exaggerated and reinforced in popular media. The movie, Mean Girls, reinforces some of these myths, but overall, accurately portrays many aspects of adolescence. To summarize, Mean Girls is about Cady Heron who transferred to a public school in the United States after being home schooled her entire life.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In The Movie Legally Blonde

    986 Words  | 4 Pages

    Next, many gender and sexual stereotypes are perpetuated in media, through the ways of movies. In fact, the movie Legally Blonde fits under the category of stereotypes exceptionally well, since it shows many stereotypes of women in the society. For instance, there is one scene in the movie, where Warner, the handsome boy is playing football with his friends, and Elle, the dumb blonde sits on the sidelines to study and distract the guys playing as she wears nothing but a sparkly bikini top under a furry shawl on her upper half. This example evidently portrays the serotype of being a blonde dumb. Throughout the movie “Legally Blonde” Elle is shown as a material sorority girl, who is a duplicate copy of barbie in real life.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In Mean Girls

    1839 Words  | 8 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mean Girls Psychology

    471 Words  | 2 Pages

    All the girls backfired at each other, calling each other mean slurs like sl*ts and h*res. The plastics created a “burn” book that consisted of photos of girls they disliked and they wrote insults under them. Cady herself was pressured to join the Plastics and contributed to the “burn” book. Everyone at the school had something against one another especially the girls. They never recognized that the differences between us are what makes each and every one unique.

    Read More

  • Social Identity Theory In Mean Girls

    1719 Words  | 7 Pages

    Second, I will present a synopsis of the film Mean Girls and how it applies to the Social Identity Theory. Lastly, I will provide my own personal interpretations of the social identity theory in relation to the film Mean Girls. Summary of the Theory Tajfel and Turner first developed the

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In The Film Imitation Of Life

    418 Words  | 2 Pages

    These stereotypes are labels that evoke images of oppression, segregation and exploitation of minorities in America. Meanwhile reinforcing the dominance in a social hierarchy. The film Imitation of Life (1959) indicates the power behind stereotypes. It strongly depicts the relationship between a Black American woman, Annie Johnson

    Read More

  • What Is The Interpersonal Conflict In Mean Girls

    680 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. In the story, there are many protagonists and antagonists characters. Each character has their own conflict either it is interpersonal conflict or intrapersonal conflict. Cady- new student come from Africa, has to deal with both of her intrapersonal conflict and interpersonal conflict through Regina George's friend circle with two other girls are Gretchen and Karen. Because she tries to solve problems with it, at the end of the movie, she has actually know who's her real friend and her internal solves from there.

    Read More

  • Mean Girls: Post-Feminist Analysis

    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.

    Read More

More about The Character Stereotypes In The Movie Mean Girl

Open Document