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.
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.”
The 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
At 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 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.
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
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).
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
Caty 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
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
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 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
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.
Cady has never really had to question her identity because she was homeschooled. She goes through obvious changes after becoming apart of her new group. She insists on working hard to please and be accepted by her intragroup. “Because being with the plastics was like being famous,” Cady thought to herself. Throughout the film Cady has a tussle with her own social identity.
Mean 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.
