Mean Girls Movie Analysis

Being a recent graduate from high school, all of my experiences are still fresh in my mind. I still remember all the clicks, the dances, the teachers and most of all the immature drama. Tina Fey's Mean Girls is an accurate portrayal of how rough high school can be, and more specifically how horrible teenage girls can be. Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), a "home schooled jungle freak" recently moved from the jungles of Africa to a city in America ready to start her first year at a public high school. Cady is immediately thrown into the world of cliques, make up and girl fights. Regina George ( Rachel McAdams) plays the role of the girl everyone in high school is all too familiar with. Regina is the prettiest, richest, most popular girl in school
and also the leader of the "plastics." Regina along with her two followers, Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and Karen (Amanda Seyfried), rule the school. Cady soon learns the ways of high school and eventually lands herself a spot amongst the "plastics." Watching Cady figure out the harsh realities of the "girl world" and even turn into a mean girl herself sets the stage for a perfect teenage girl movie.
The beginning scenes of the movie are the best when Cady is first finding out how hurtful, backstabbing and fake girls can be. "You're like really pretty," Regina George says to Cady. "Thank you," Cady replies to Regina. "So you agree, you think you're really pretty," Regina says back to Cady. This conversation leaves Cady confused and gives her just a hint of what she has in store for herself in the future. It's the lines like these that grabs the attention of the teenagers, because they all face similar situations in there own high schools. The characters are what keep the movie realistic. Every high school has a Regina George, the group of girls who will do anything to be cool, the one gorgeous guy that every girl wants to date, the nerds that are content with their lives and the others who are just trying to survive. Every character in the film lives up to their stereotype, which is what adds a lot of the comedy to the
movie. Mean Girls is brilliant because it's not just like any other teen movie. High school is not portrayed as one big party and parents and teachers are not seen as being the naïve people they usually are seen as in movies. There are teachers in the movie that actually teach, and a principal in the movie much like principals at everyday high schools. This movie captures the attention of both teenagers and adults because both groups of people can relate to the movie. The teenagers can relate to the drama and troubles of high school, while adults can look back at the joys of adolescence. There are no slow parts of the movie, everything is strung together really well. Tina Fey includes creative foreshadowing and over the top comparisons that brings everything together in the end of the movie. On Cady's first day of school she almost walks in front of a yellow school bus, making her parents question if she was ready for public school. Throughout the whole movie references are made about getting hit by a "big yellow school bus," and at the end of the movie Regina actually does get hit by a yellow school bus. Another example of a creative thing that Tina Fey adds into the script is when Cady sometimes compares what‘s happening in "girl world" to how things would be handled in the "animal world" that she is used to. This is a funny comparison because of how closely related the two things really are and shows that high school is much of a jungle itself. Both of these simple and ridiculous little extra parts gives deeper meaning to the movie and helps make it anything but a regular teen movie. The climax of the movie comes when Cady stops being friends with the "plastics" just to sabotage Regina George, and actually becomes a "plastic" herself.
Cady goes from being a caring, innocent, smart girl to a selfish, self-absorbed, horrible student. Cady plays a role in the movie almost every teenager can relate to in someway. Cady's character is an example of how easily swayed teenagers can be and how much it means to be accepted in high school. Fey doesn't fail to leave out "the outcasts," Damien (Daniel Franzese) and Janis (Lizzy Caplan), who are not quite accepted but seem to be happy with their lives anyways. Damien and Janis make the audience fall in love with their relationship and has the audience rooting for them throughout the whole film. On the surface Mean Girls seems like a regular, making fun of high school movie, which in some ways it is. But, after sitting through the whole movie, it's clear that Mean Girls serves a greater purpose than just being a comedy. Underneath the movie's satiric ways Fey includes a deeper meaning, that not everyone watching may
catch. The movie as a whole is brilliant, but the ending could have used a little work. The meaning of the movie comes clear in the end at a school dance, that no matter what everyone deserves to have friends and be accepted, but the way it is played out could have been done in a more creative way. Everything else in Mean Girls is done in an original and unique way, so it's a little disappointing when the end of the movie is a little cliché and predictable. As far as teen movies go though, I think Mean Girls gets really close to being a perfect one for people of all ages, sexes and races. It's easy to relate to and can be very enjoyable if everyone goes into the movie with an open mind, and not just ready to criticize another teen movie.