Mean Girls

Means Girls, directed by Mark Waters, is a comedy about the social hierarchy of teenage girls in high school. The story follows Cady, a transfer student from Africa attending her first public high school. The film is based on the novel, 'Queen Bees and Wanna Bees,' by Rosalind Wiseman.

I think the representation of teenage girls in Mean Girls is negative. The film portrays teenage girls through four different cliques which include the 'Plastics', the 'wannabes', 'girls who eat their feelings' and 'girls who don't eat anything'. The 'Plastics' are the epitimy of cool and every girl strives to be like them. The Plastics believe they are superior to everyone else because they wear the right clothes, have nice bodies and are pretty. They maintain their position at the top of the social ladder by making nasty comments, manipulating other people and sharing secrets. The Plastics believe that everyone loves them  and this becomes apparent when Gretchen Weiners says, 'Im sorry that people are so jealous of me, but I can't help it that I'm popular.'  Teenage girls are represented to the audience as self-absorbed, nasty and egotistical. Every teenage girl, apart from Janice Ian who is an outsider, is obsessed with becoming popular and getting higher up the social ladder. In Mean Girls, teenage girls seem to be more concerned with beauty, boys and fashion than 'typically' more important things such as school and family. 

The features used to establish this representation are Mise En Scene, costume and slang.

• An example of Mise en Scene and positioning within the frame is used in the cafeteria scene.The Plastics are situated in the centre of the cafeteria which shows they are the 'core' of popularity and the stars of the school's social life. Janice says, 'Gretchen Wieners (a Plastic) knows everybody's business, she knows everything about everyone.' Sitting in the middle of the cafeteria also emphasises the 'elite' aspect of the Plastics as everyone is able to see them eating lunch. The rest of the cafeteria is crowded with students, however the Plastic's table appears empty and spacious. This mise en scene feature is used to show the exclusivity of their clique as there are only three of them. It also shows their superiority to other cliques as you have to be invited to eat lunch with them.

• The costume is arguably the most important feature used in Mean Girls. We regularly see the Plastics wearing short skirts, tight-fitting dresses, high heels and feminine colours.These costumes are very revealing and often emphasis their figure and cleavage. The Plastic's costume sets them apart from the other students because their clothes are more fashionable and trendy. They  wear similar clothes each day because they are a clique and it makes them more identifiable.  The Plastics often wear pink which is perceived to be a girly, passive and 'weak' colour. This feature represents all teenage girls as skanky, high matinance and very feminine. 

• Mean Girls represents teenage girls through slang, insults, vocabulary and tone. Throughout the film we notice that each clique has their own slang and 'language.' For example the Plastics often call each other insults such as, 'get in loser we're going shopping,' 'shut up' and 'boo, you whore.' The Athletes, Nerds and Wannabes also have their own slang as well. The Plastics vocabulary is very limited which portrays girls as dumb and illiterate.Teenage girls are able to relate to this language because they use it themselves.

These features are very effective because teenage girls are able to relate to the Plastic's. Cliques are common at every high school and they all share similar behaviour. Teenage girls can relate to feelings of insecurity, the use of slang and peer pressure. In the film we see the Plastics doing activities many girls like to enjoy such as shopping, hanging out and giving each other make-overs.

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Media representation of teenage girls has the potential to greatly affect teenage girls within our society today. Mean Girls teaches girls to seek peer acceptance and advice before making  decisions.When Gretchen tells Cady about the rules of girl world she says, 'Well, I mean you wouldn't buy a skirt without asking your friends first if it looks good on you.'  I believe this is a poor message to be teaching teenage girls as it encourages them to make decisions based on other people's expectations. Peer pressure can lead to unhappiness as girls are forced to act, talk and dress in a certain way in order to be accepted and cool. In the film Cady has to follow a certain set of rules in order to keep sitting with the Plastics. This representation negatively affects teenage girls because it teaches them to conform in order to be included. The Plastic's representation in the film encourages girls to wear their hair out, look feminine and show off their curves in order to be attractive and popular. This representation may cause girls to doubt their beauty because they don't fit into the stereotypical mould.Once Cady joins the Plastics she is transformed into society's definition of the 'ideal' beauty even though she was beautiful in her own way to begin with. In the film, Regina is very flirtatious with guys and often uses her 'sex appeal,' to gain attention.  This could influence teenage girls to show off their bodies and act provocatively in order to get male attention. Young women have the potential to become exploited by males who are only interested in them because of their bodies. Teenage girls in the film often call each other names such as , 'slut,' 'bitch' and 'whore' when they are angry or joking around.  This normalises the insult and makes it seem acceptable, whereas in reality the insults are harmful. 

 

The way girls are portrayed in the film could affect society's perception of teenage girls. People may expect all girls to love the colour pink, beauty, make-up and fashion. Guys may form unrealistic expectations as to what women 'should look like,' only to become dissatisfied with reality.The Plastic's revealing clothes encourage men to objectify women instead of viewing them as a person.  Because pink is seen as a 'weak' colour society may assume teenage girls who wear pink are also passive. They could begin to perceive males as more intelligent and secure because they wear 'stronger' colours.   Stereotypes have the potential to make people think that all girls are high maintenance,  manipulating and sneaky -which isn't the case.
 

The reasons for the difference between the film's representation of teenage girls and the reality is that Tina Fey ( screen writer) has used exaggeration and humour to highlight some dysfunctional teenage behaviour. Mean Girls is a satire which exaggerates grains of truth in order to get a message across to their target audience. Representation is reality being 're-presented'  through the creators world view and ideology.  Some viewers may blur the lines of representation and reality when watching Mean Girls, by not realising the humour and irony. Mean Girls revolves more around cliques and popularity which differs from other films like Easy A. Easy A focuses more on rumours getting out of hand which can ruin a person's reputation. This relates to teenage girls who often gossip as an act of revenge, to make someone look bad or just because it's fun.

 

Portraying girls as immaculate and 'doll like' makes society believe every girl is the same.  This stereotype in inaccurate as teenage girls are different and enjoy unique interests such as sport, acting, motorbike racing etc... In movies such as Mean Girls, the most popular students are often pretty, skinny and sexually 'mature.' This reinforces the message that in order to be popular and fit in teenage girls need to behave like the Plastics. The Plastics dialogue emphasises the message that teenage girls should worry about their bodies and aim to look better. This was shown through sayings 'I wanna lose three pounds,' 'I used to think there was just fat and skinny but apparently there can be a lot of things wrong with your body,'and 'My pores are huge.'  By including this material Mean Girls is reinforcing the message that beauty, appearance and looks are of most importance. Mean Girls fails to acknowledge other appealing attributes such as humour, friendliness and a kind heart. By choosing to not include this Mean Girls conveys the message that having a good personality isn't important.

Ella McDonald