Mean Girls Analysis

Season Davidson
Clark
English 1301
16 June 2011
Popularity: Doing It the Right Way
Girls in today’s society feel the need to fit in amongst their peers. They often search for ways to have more friends in school. A person involving themselves in school or community activities is the healthy way to do so. Ways such as the ones seen in the modern day movie, Mean Girls, unnecessarily corrode a person and the people around them. Girls feel the need to degrade others, in order for them to come out on top. This is not appropriate although it is becoming more common in today’s world.
In Dr. Manny’s article about teen bullying, he states that a majority of bullying is done within the “more popular” group of peers. Shown in research, “bullying levels peaked among teens who fit in the 98th percentile of popularity”. This is believed by Dr. Manny to be because of the lack of power within the lower 2% of popularity. This article also states that a reason for bullying is to “increase popularity” which is proven through their research. These teens feel the need to “antagonize their peers to raise their status”. Which shows a more common result of bullying “in the teens with high social status, but not the highest”.
In the movie, Mean Girls, Cady Heron lacks social skills when moving into the public schooling system. She feels the need to make friends, although she has never made this attempt before. Cady meets a couple of friends who are willing to accept her. Even though they aren’t the most popular kids, Cady desires acceptance. These friends turn out to be good for Cady’s social needs. Janis and Damian provide an area of comfort and happiness for Cady in her new school.
Regina George and the “Plastics” make an effort to introduce themselves, and invite Cady into their group. Cady, feeling a sense of importance, agrees to hang out with them and join into their group. Cady tries to balance both friend groups, but gives in to the group of “Plastics”. This group gives her a sense of belonging for a while, and then their true colors start to show. Regina stabs Cady in the back by seducing a boy that Cady likes. Through a series of events involving nutritional development bars and weight gain, Cady pays Regina back, ending in mass chaos caused by Regina.
Cady realizes things have gone south with the “Plastics” and tries to turn to her former friends. They inform Cady of her wrongdoings, and refuse to accept her plea to regain friendship with them. At this point, Cady regrets the things she had done to be a part of that group. When the school goes through mass chaos due to Regina’s payback, Cady is pointed out as the main bully. This storyline shows that the desire for popularity and friendship can often lead you in the wrong direction. This desire may also sometimes lead to one’s ultimate downfall.
According to Jagher Gray, Mean Girls stands out in society due to “how true it is to real life”. Gray also thinks this movie is popular due to how “people can relate to the need of feeling popular”. This story applies to real world high school and common teen situations. Many people identify with this movie because “we were all in high school and we know how girls can be”. Gray agreed that the idea of popularity being everything in this movie shows through “Cady feeling the need to increase her popularity through bullying because of the Plastics”.
Mean Girls is a real world example and provides a lesson to modern day teens. Teenagers learn some healthy ways to increase their popularity. A lesson that is also learned from this movie is the danger of becoming too popular. This lesson should be taught to teenagers in order for them to gain knowledge about their social lives. This lesson would help teenagers learn to handle their friendship issues. Teenagers in today’s society need an example of real life situations such as Mean Girls to prepare themselves for high school, and beyond.
Teenage lives have been occasionally damaged because of bullying. Even suicide is caused by peers who just want to be more popular. Mandy-Jane Clarke states that statistics have recently shown that “over 280,000 kids are physically attacked in secondary schools each month”. Hollywood should raise awareness when figures are this severe. They need to make people aware of the social problem so that it may be fixed by the younger generations who are stepping up. The problem is too severe for the United States to let it rise any further or even stay at the rate it is now. Society needs to get a grip on problems such as this. It is necessary for big business such as movie productions, music, performers, authors etc. to raise awareness and start a movement towards a safer American society.
Society needs lessons such as the ones in Mean Girls, not only to teach teenagers about their high school lives, rather to inform people of situations and encourage them to form an opinion. This is how the world has been changed by literacy, everything one reads or writes can be related to real life, and change the way someone views a situation. This value of literacy is something needed in every stage of society. It is necessary for a peaceful balance and growth. It is the responsibility of these outlets of movies, books, etc. to provide these lessons to society. This in turn provides a harmonization to life and the well being of the human race.