Mean_Girls

This Summer: be part of the in-crowd Mean Girls is an American teen genre comedy directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is partly based on the non fiction book Queenbees and Wannabees by Rosalind Wiseman. The film uses a stereotypical American High School setting to explore the turbulent and wild nature of 'mean girls' in a humourous way. Mean Girls focuses on the attempt of the protagonist, Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) to fit into a school situation that is totally alien to her. This is because of the social and cultural isolation she experienced in Africa which has disconnected her from the world of fashion, music and film and also the complicated social structures of American high schools. As Cady has been homeschooled up until the age of 16,she soon discovers that she is completely unprepared for the 'jungle' of an American high school. The film explores a common theme of teen fiction and film genre – the difficulty of not belonging.The film emphasises this idea of belonging being difficult and something painful to endure. It deals with many aspects of belonging through the characters.They reveal that connections to groups and communities can create a sense of belonging,it can enrich one's identity and relationships and can lead to acceptance and under- standing,or could have negative repercussions on an individual. On her first day at North Shore High School, Cady is befriended by two 'outsiders', the 'arty' Janis and 'too gay to function' Damien who also don't belong to the mainstream. Janis and Damien take her under their wing and introduce her to the life of high school.As with most films of this genre, Mean Girls presents its characters in stereotypes that a teen audience are able to recognise – the 'popular' group, the 'nerds', the 'jocks' etc. Cady is given a summary of the different social cliques by Janis: “Where you sit is crucial 'cause you got everybody there.You got your freshmen, ROTC guys, preps, J.V Jocks, Asian nerds, Cool Asians, Varsity Jocks, Unfriendly black hotties, Girls who eat their feelings, Girls who don't eat anything, Desperate Wannabes, Burnouts, Sexually active band geeks, the greatest people you will ever meet (a photo of her and Damian is shown) and the worst. Beware of the plastics.” At this point, it is established that Cady does not belong to any of the social cliques of the school, even after being dubbed a 'regulation hottie' by Damien who suggests that she has a chance of belonging to one of these cliques.What Janis suggests is that the group you belong to is your identity in this school community. Where you sit is crucial because that is apart of your identity. Cady is warned to stay away from the school's most exclusive clique, the'Plastics', the reigning trio of girls led by a deceiving, hypocritical queen bee Regina George. The 'teen royalty'of the 'Plastics'are so nasty and vindictive to all those who do not belong that the majority of the girls at North Shore High want to belong to this clique. The following dialogue in this first scene suggests the idea of the excluded population wanting to be accepted by this particular group; Damien: She's the queen bee – the star, those other two are just her little workers. Janis: Regina George...How do I begin to explain Regina George' Emma Gerber: Regina George is flawless Lea Edwards: She has two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus Mathlete Tim Pak: I hear her hair's insured for $10,000. Amber D'Alessio: I heard she does commercials...in Japan Kristen Hadley: Her favourite movie is Varsity Blues Short Girl: One time she met John Stamos on a plane Jessica Lopez: and he told her she was pretty. Bethany Byrd: One time she punched in the face.... it was awesome! The scriptwriters use of hyperbole and humour has allowed the audience to see the desire of these characters to belong and be associated with Regina. The continuous listing of events in her personal life also suggests this. On the same day, Cady admits to Damian and Janis that she will join the Mathletes. Damian quickly replies “You can't join the Mathletea, that's social suicide”. Cady learns that there are some groups in which you should belong to and others that you should't. In Scene 2, Cady is confronted by one of the 'Plastics' boyfriend Jason in front of their lunch table. Regina defends Cady and invites her to join them at their table. The 'Plastics' take interest in Cady and accept her into their group by inviting her to join them everyday for lunch and introducing the rules of their group. (“Regina:Okay, you should know that we dont do this a lot. So this is like a really huge deal. Gretchen: We wanna invite you to have lunch with us for the rest of the week, Cady: Oh that's okay Regina: Coolness,so we'll see you tomorrow Karen:On Wednesdays we wear pink!”). Regina-the queen bee, and Janis-the outsider,were once friends until Regina started a rumour about Janis's sexuality. Upon realising that Cady has been accepted by the 'Plastics', Janis plans a revenge attack on Regina using Cady as the source of information to infiltrate the 'Plastics'and to destroy Regina's reputation by destroying her 'resources' – attributes that contribute to her identity as the queen bee. It reaches the point where Cady's act becomes reality.She has become a remake of Regina and is named the new queen bee after excluding Regina from the group because of her rapid weight gain. For a short time, she finally feels like she has been accepted by everyone and at one stage girls list her every move and confess to copying her in an attempt to be like her so they are become more acceptable to society.Cady's newfound status turns out in the end to be a path she never wants to take. She is blamed for the riot at the school over Regina's Burn book – containing Regina's slandering rumours,secrets and gossip about other girls and teachers. Cady realises that her association with the'Plastics' has caused her to be shunned and distrusted by everyone at the school. She decides to make amends by taking full blame for the Burn Book. At the Spring Fling Dance, she wins Prom Queen and gives a speech that victory is meaningless,that they are all wondedrful in their own way and thus victory belongs to all of them. As a symbolic gesture, she breaks her tiara and divides it among the girls. Cady in this last scene comes to a realisation that her desire to belong to a certain group for all the wrong reasons only produced negative results and consequences. Her character suggests that it is better to be inclusive of others and accept their differences. The final shot of a new generation of Plastics suggest that the cycle of torturing those who do not belong will continue. In conclusion, Mean Girls explores the various ways teenagers try to 'fit in' to others' expectations and society. As an audience member, I was able to engage and make a connection with this film because of the humour and hyperbole that was used. The tagline on one of the theatrical release posters appealed to me, 'This summer: be part of the in-crowd'. Even through advertising, the director and producers are able to engage different audiences to become connected to their film and be apart of in-crowd.