The late 1990’s and early 2000’s saw a heavy surge of comedies centered on female characters, however this sensation had almost completely died out by the conception of Mean Girls in April of 2004. In order for Tina Fey to see success in her collaboration with “Queen Bees and Wannabees” writer Rosalind Wiseman, she had to establish a cast of hilarious, yet still relatable characters for the target audience, teenage girls, to identify with. The two women, along with a host of vastly unique and talented actors, found that relatability with a host of easily quotable lines and universally comedic material. Although Mean Girls didn’t spark a second female comedy revolution, it did manage to establish a prominent spot in cinematic history. This modern …show more content…
The movie starts with an unusual situation: fifteen-year-old Cady Heron starting public school for the first time because she was born and raised in Africa with her parents. Clearly Cady has no conception of what a “normal” high school experience is like as she wanders lost around the school on her first day. This experience for Cady is one that many teens experience as they try to find where they belong in a high school setting. From here, the plot takes off with Cady’s blossoming friendship with Janis (Lizzie Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese). In a turn of events, Cady is invited to sit with The Plastics, Regina George (Rachel McAdams), Gretchen Wieners (Lacy Chabert), and Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried), at lunch. This pivotal scene provides not only several of the film’s best lines, Gretchen’s first use of the word fetch and Karen’s line “If you’re from Africa, why are you white?”, but also allows for a fresh approach into the world of the popular girls. That approach is the hook for the film because nearly every teenage girl has asked themselves, “What would it be like to be popular?”. Janis hatches a plan for Cady to spy on them every day, which leads to a downward spiral that results in Cady adopting the Plastics’ ways. This is where the reality of the film sets in, and due to the fact that most of the film is focused on …show more content…
Any teenager can relate to someone telling them that they aren’t welcome at a certain place in the cafeteria, which made the line “You can’t sit with us”, that much more accessible. Things as simple as “You go, Glen Coco”, “On Wednesdays, we wear pink”, and “It was October 3rd” quickly became synonymous with Mean Girls. Teens everywhere could relate to and use a lot of these one-liners in their everyday lives and pretty much anyone would know what they were talking
When I watched this movie it was easy for me to see that the Plastics greatly affected how Cady and others at the school acted, talked, and dressed. In one scene Regina George, the ultimate mean girl and leader of the Plastics, returned to the locker room to find that her tank top had been cut in two places. She shrugged her shoulders and put it on, knowing
This movie is full of social psychology topics, such as, self presentation, agression, group behaviors, stereotypes, and conformity. To begin, when Cady tells the girls that she is from Africa, Karen blurts out something very stereotypical by saying, “If you’re from Africa, why are you white?” Here, she is representing
Cady has always been homeschooled, so she did not really know what it was like to communicate with others and make friends. She thought that her actions are what she should be doing in order to make friends. As Cady gets closer to The Plastics, she starts to develop feelings for Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels. Later on in the movie Cady has to make a choice whether she wants to be officially part of the group or to continue sabotaging it. Eventually she decides to be part of the group, which disappoints Janis; since Cady basically betrayed her. Cady starts developing into a whole new person; she became a Plastic. Cady illustrates different types of interpersonal communication as she tries to make everything right again in her life. Throughout this movie, the girls show how their relationships consists of: social exchange theory, communication privacy management theory, unproductive conflict, and productive
Mean Girls is a comedy film aired in 2004 this film captures the influences on lifespan development during adolescence. The main character Cady Heron was home schooled in Africa and now she must transition into high school where she is tested in different areas of her development. Throughout the film she becomes known as the new girl who is trying to figure out her self-identity. Cady integrates herself into a clique of girls known as the Plastics, soon enough Cady understands why they are known for their name. The Plastics run the school by the norms they have created and must always be followed otherwise it will lead into exclusion from the group. In order to be socially accepted social norms determining attitude, behavior, and status must
The Great Depression of the 1930’s caused widespread poverty, but the popular culture of the time did not reflect this. People wanted to escape from this harsh time so movies, dancing and sports became very popular. Radios broadcasted boxing matches and boxers became stars. The heavyweight champion James J. Braddock aka “Cinderella Man,” gained popularity. James Braddock gained fame by winning many fights and proving everyone wrong when they said he was too old and couldn’t win.
The film Mean Girls is about a young girl, Cady Heron, born and raised in Africa by her zoologist parents, who were also her homeschool teachers for sixteen years. When Cady moves to the United States, she enrolls in a public school for the first time. Here she realizes that high school students have the same hierarchy as the animals she observed in Africa. The lowest ranking group in this high school hierarchy is the outcasts, who also happen to be Cady’s first friends in the U.S. The highest on the high school food chain are the “plastics”. The “plastics”, are the most popular girls in school. The plastic’s notice Cady’s charming personality and stunning good looks and invite her to join their clique. In order to avenge her first friends,
Claire Standish was known as “the princess”. She dressed in pink and acquired many material items because of her rich parents. Many students envied her life, and considered her to be stuck up and snobbish because she received whatever she wanted. Andrew Clark was known as “the athlete”. He wore a letter jacket with all of his accolades displayed and seemed to discriminate and bully kids whose social statuses were below his. This is especially apparent in his reason for the detention: bullying a fellow student in the locker room. In addition to this, both Claire and Andrew’s reference groups and family social contexts guided them to the detention that day. Andrew’s father and friends encouraged him to perform the bullying act that landed him in detention. His father was happy that Andrew was attending the detention because he believed it would give him a better reputation in the athletic world. Claire’s father allowed her to skip school one day to go shopping. It seemed that Claire’s family believed that material items and wealth was more important than school. Claire displayed this belief and landed a spot in detention. Although Claire and Andrew did not reside in the same high school cliques, their cliques were near the top of their high school hierarchy. Their cliques defined what everyone thought they wanted, but the stereotypes that surrounded these two individuals was a façade. They also discovered through the journey of the film which was the realization that everyone is the same on the inside, even though their outsides are
There are many different preconceived ideas about what it means to be in a sorority, and many of them are not good things. When I was in high school, if I heard the words “sorority sister” I would immediately think of drunk party girls who was most likely failing all their classes. That was my preconceived idea of what it meant to be a member of these groups, but after I have encountered various members of sororities, I know now that I was wrong. A sorority is defined as a social group for females that are in college. There are very many different sororities all over the United States, and they can be distinguished by the Greek letters that make up their name. Most people think that sororities are just for popular
First, Cady is assumed to be black by her teacher when she mistaken her for an African-American girl on the first day of class and by Karen who is intrigued by her nationality “So if you are from Africa why are you white?”. Second, the name of her native country is ignored because Africa is often portrayed as one big rural country with jungle animals. As stated before, these statements are intently not directly offensive because they are addressed to white girl but this doesn’t make them less racist. On another hand, one of the high school’s clique is the “unfriendly black hotties”, this categorization entails that they are all as popular as the Plastics but are unfriendly because of their ‘un-whiteness’- even though Regina, Gretchen, Karen and Cady are as mean if not meaner. Asians are also targeted in this movie, as cool or nerds. It’s obvious that they are Vietnamese but are still labeled Asians following the “us vs. them” strategy. The representation of race in this film implies the primary rule to be popular which is to be white or else the person is considered less valuable.
Mean Girls tells the story of Cady Heron’s transition from 12 years of home school in Africa to public high school in the United States when her mother gets offered tenure at a nearby college. Upon her arrival, Cady bonds with Janice and Damian who are considered apart of the “out crowd”. Janice and Damian give Cady the scoop on all of the social cues and how to navigate her new territory. When she is invited to join the most popular clique in the school, “The Plastics” Cady is placed in the middle of revenge and is encouraged to invade the lives of the girls to steal their secrets and eventually uproot their lives. Although this movie is primarily focused on revenge (which can be correlated with coercion, the least ideal form of leadership)
The film Mean Girls tells the story of sixteen-year-old Cady Heron and her new life as a high school student in the United States. She had previously been homeschooled due to her parents work as zoologists in Africa. Since it’s her first exposure to public school, she is a bit naïve and unaware of all the rules and customs. On her first day, she befriends Janis and Damian, who give her the rundown of different groups and personalities at North Shore High. Of all the groups, they recommend she steer clear of most dangerous one, the “Plastics” and their leader Regina George.
One of the major conflicts is the intrapersonal conflict Cady has with herself. Cady goes from being home-schooled in Africa to entering the “girl-world” in high school. Throughout the movie, Cady is trying to fit in, become popular and to get the attention of her crush, Aaron Samuels. This causes Cady to ultimately lose herself in the process of becoming Plastic. In the effort to take revenge on Regina for taking Aaron back, Cady loses her own self by attempting to be Regina. This gets Janis to notice Cady’s transformation especially when Cady throws party the same night of Janis’s art show and doesn’t even show up to the art show. Janis came to Cady’s house tell her: “You think that everyone is in love with you, when actually, everyone hates you.” Cady then has to decide whether she wants to become a better person or become someone she’s
"Cold, shiny, hard, PLASTIC," said by Janice referring to a group of girls in the movie Mean Girls. Mean Girls is about an innocent, home-schooled girl, Cady who moves from Africa to the United States. Cady thinks she knows all about survival of the fittest. But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when she enters public high school and encounters psychological warfare and unwritten social rules that teen girls deal with today. Cady goes from a great friend of two "outcasts", Janice and Damien to a superficial friend of the "plastics", a group of girls that talks about everyone behind their back and thinks everyone loves them. Adolescent egocentrism and relationships with peers are obviously present throughout the film. I also noticed self worth in relationships, parenting styles, and juvenile delinquency throughout Mean Girls.
In this film, Tracy is a prime example of an adolescent and much of what I have learned this year can be applied to her character. “Fitting in” is a concept that is seen a lot in adolescence. Teenagers will do pretty much anything at times to have friends or appear to be “cool.” That is exactly what happens to Tracy in this film. As the film begins, Tracy is a good, simple girl, and her pureness all changes when she befriends the most popular girl in school, Evie Zamora.
Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop-country sensations of the 21st century. With over billions of sells, she is also one of the top selling artists of our generation. But what makes her so unique? Are there not other pop-country artists out there? This is the story of Taylor Swift, and how she came to be.