Identity Management in Easy A

For my media analysis I intended to investigate how identity management, including theories of social comparison, reflection appraisal, stereotyping and self-esteem are reflected in the 2010 teen comedy Easy A, written by Bert V. Royal. Throughout the film, the themes of identity management are discussed at length; majority of the characters are given “identifiers” on their social standing in high school, communication patterns between the characters show social comparison through lies and truths and the overall plot of the story is about a girl and her high school peers trying to find their identity in high school.

The movie is about a clean cut high school girl named Olive, who tells a white lie to her best friend Rhiannon about losing her virginity to an imaginary college guy named George. While telling the lie in the bathroom, the high school’s goody two-shoes Christian girl overhears the conversation and tells her friends, who in true high school fashion, tell their friends and the rumors start spreading about Olive’s promiscuity.

At first Olive is approached by Brandon, a fellow high school student that is bullied and beat up for being homosexual. He has heard the rumors around school about Olive having sex, which he believes is true, and she explains to him it was a lie, but that if he wants to be treated as “normal” he should lie about who he is as well. This prompts him to convince her to lie about having sex with him so people will believe he is straight, and so he will stop being tormented. Brandon even goes as far as saying “I can’t take another day of this...I feel like I’m suffocating,” about his high school experience. She agrees, and they go to a big high school party and fake having sex in a room so people...

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...’t tell you, how shitty it feels to be an outcast, warranted or not.” This is developed thoroughly when he has such low self-esteem and thinks his identity is so bad, he is willing to have sex with a girl just to fit in. He uses the sex lie to change his identity in order to fit into what he sees as the social norm. Later, we see Brandon’s identity come to fruition when it is told that he wrote a note to his parents that says “I’m gay bitches!” and leaves town with his male partner. At this point, we see Brandon with a positive self-esteem when his true identity is portrayed.

I believe Easy A is a great movie displaying how communication, truthful or not, and self-reflection play a huge role in both identity management and self-esteem. Even though it’s a young adult comedy, the themes and message of the movie are undoubtedly related to interpersonal communication.