Mean Girls
It's been almost a decade since the classic teen movie "Mean Girls" hit the silver screen and this 30th of April 2014 would mark its 10th anniversary. The film has become iconic for its amazing comedic screenplay, written by the talented Tina Fey and its realistic portrayal of high school drama. From backstabbing popular girls to the art-nerd revenge, Mean Girls characters has surely taught female movie-watchers few important life lessons about high school, girl world and womanhood in today’s society (Cills, 2014). The point is, why is this movie still so in-trend? Firstly, it is said that Mean Girls is a cult classic. It is by far one of the most quotable movie of the 21st century. Teens of today can be seen slipping a few Mean Girls quote here and there in their daily conversation such as “That’s so fetch”, “You cannot sit with us” and there are even Mean Girls merchandises sold in all forms with all the infamous quotes printed on it.
However, racial stereotype can be seen heavily portrayed in the movie. What are stereotypes and why do they exist? Stereotypes are beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group. The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world by reducing our thinking time when we meet a new person. Hence, we assume a person is somewhat a certain way based on what we have encountered or learned in the past. In the movie Mean Girls, one of the lead characters was a dumb blonde. The fact that they used a blonde actress to play that role immediately justifies what our society today believes in; which is “Blondes are usually not smart”. In one of the scenes, that character by the name Karen Smith was seen bluntly asking the lead actor, Cady about her origins. “If you’re from Africa, why are you white?”. It shows how stereotyped people can be as we tend to generalised the colours of our skin to where we are originated from.
The fact that this movie is so relatable to teenagers of today’s century is
However, racial stereotype can be seen heavily portrayed in the movie. What are stereotypes and why do they exist? Stereotypes are beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group. The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world by reducing our thinking time when we meet a new person. Hence, we assume a person is somewhat a certain way based on what we have encountered or learned in the past. In the movie Mean Girls, one of the lead characters was a dumb blonde. The fact that they used a blonde actress to play that role immediately justifies what our society today believes in; which is “Blondes are usually not smart”. In one of the scenes, that character by the name Karen Smith was seen bluntly asking the lead actor, Cady about her origins. “If you’re from Africa, why are you white?”. It shows how stereotyped people can be as we tend to generalised the colours of our skin to where we are originated from.
The fact that this movie is so relatable to teenagers of today’s century is