Mean Girls Movie Analysis

Daniel Schwarz
"Mean Girls"

"Mean Girls" is an action-packed movie full of drama and gossip. The movie is based off of the life of Cady Heron. Cady has wonderful parents that have an interesting occupation. They are zoologists. Since birth, Cady has been living the life of a innocent, smart, and sweet homeschooled girl that lived in the African Jungle. However, her world was about to be turned upside down as she had no idea what was to come when her family decided it was time to movie back to the United States. Knowing all the ins and outs of the Jungle, Cady would have a very tough time adjusting to the American way of life. At the start of her American High school experience Cady instantly makes friends with two somewhat different teenagers,
However, soon Cady meets the "plastics" a small social group containing three girls that are attractive, popular, and widely known around school for being the gossip queens. The "plastics" immediately let Cady into their group, but Cady, wanting to keep her first friends Damian and Janis, is unsure. The two convince and sway Cady to keep her relationship with the popular plastics so that they can find out the groups deepest and darkest secrets. However, this spying takes a turn for the worst as Cady becomes caught up in the life style that the "plastics" live and turns into a so called "plastic" herself. Which ultimately leads to an abundance of drama and problems that come about because of her and the "plastics." In summary of Mean Girls, Cady overcomes the stereotype and reunites the school as she steps outside of her everyday norm . When the movie Mean Girls flashes forward a year, you can see that the former members of the "plastics" have spread out across the school taking their talents, personalities, and more elsewhere. Which in turn helps them connect with other social groups across campus. However, the sight of a new group of "plastics" can be seen at the very end leading up to wonder what will happen
Academic culture to me is defined by the culture in which academic success is taking place. The shared values and beliefs that are present and predominate in the learning environment. Cady, for instance is a bright young lady that is very intelligent. She strives for academic success until she meets a boy that she is willing to do anything for including fail so that he can tutor her. Tutoring and organizations that establish tutoring centers and all are a great way of defining the academic culture of an institution. Students are striving for excellence by reaching out for additional help in the classroom. At the University of Oklahoma there are several ways in which students can receive tutoring whether that be in the math lab or the writing center there are an abundance of opportunities to receive additional help. Another component that makes up the academic culture in the movie is the academic clubs. The mathletes were a group for highly intelligent students that competed in math competitions. In the movie, joining the mathletes is frequently referenced as "social suicide". This is the opposite of what an academic environment should look like and is not how we operate on our campus. Academic success should not be rejected, but encouraged. Late in the movie Cady was forced by her math teacher to join the mathletes. In this bold predicament, Cady essentially broke the barrier in regards