Wednesday 9 May 2012

Mean Girls

In the movie, 'Mean Girls' the first thing that you notice about their school is that they have very strong cliques and when the new girl Kady (Lindsay Lohan) is being shown around this is one of the first things that is pointed out to her. Everybody belongs to their own clique and when watching it, the message coming across is that if you don't belong in a clique, then you are an outcast.


People in their school have to adapt themselves and there personalities to fit each group in order to be accepted. They don't get to be them selves. The problem with films like this is that they are aimed at young teenage girls, and if they see there idols like Amanda Seyfried (who plays Karen) doing things like partying and being mean to everyone that isn't in their clique, then they're going to think its exceptable for them to do as well.

Movies like these with the mean popular girl are very common and are watched by many teen age girls. If they see bullying like this, teens are going to think it's ok to treat people badly, or they may think that that is how you are supposed to treat others, causing them to act in the same way they see on the movie. 42% of teenage girls have been involved with bullying, whether its being the bully or the vitcim. This percentage has increased since movies involving heavy cliques, have been made.

The over drawn shallow, characters in the movie like Regina, are always seen at parties, hanging out with guys, applying make-up and back stabing other girls in her clique. Everyone else is scared of her so never argue with her. At one part of the movie Regina is especially mean to a girl in her group, Gretchin. But Gretchin would rather be unhappy in the 'plastics' group than not in it at all.

Teenage girls are often associated with being 'bitchy' and backstabing towards each other. This movie does teens no justice. We see Regina Gorge, the ring leader if you will, manipulating the rest of her group to make herself feel better. An example of this is when Regina starts to whine about how fat she is, then she glared at the other girls in the group who are intimidated by her, until they say 'Ohh no you're soooo skinny' She does this for reassurance that she is skinny.

It isn't just Regina who minipulates people for her own benefit, even the main character Kady who is portrayed as the innocent girl who's just trying to fit in, minipulates others. Before she joined the 'plastic's' group she had a crush on a boy Aaron Samuals (the most popular guy), when she found out Regina purposely kissed him because she knew Kady liked him, she snapped. She manipulated Regina by befriending her and getting her to eat protein bars that Kady told her will help her 'loose weight', when in fact they made her gain weight like crazy.

Teaching young girls that being horrible to your friends is ok, is not the message that should be being spread. These girls are going to grow up being very exlcusive to everyone but people in her clique group. This could lead to bullying or even depression if teens start to feel that down on their selves.

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