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Sociology in mean girls
What sociological theory ties with mean girls
What sociological theory ties with mean girls
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Mean Girls is one of my all time favorite movies in which came out my senior year in high school. Mean Girls the movie focuses on a female transfer student named Cady who moved to civilization from a small tribe in Africa. Her first friends are two outcasts, who explain to her the school's social scene. There are a group of three girls who are the most popular, mean and rule the school who are called the plastics. The three girls end up befriending Cady to transform her and make her somewhat like their doll. Cady’s outcast friends encourage her friendship with the plastics and to hang out them to see what they do. But as she spends more time with them, she becomes more and more like them, backstabbing, mean, self-obsessed, and superficial. Eventually she alienates her original friends and her Plastic friends. When the entire school finds out about the "Burn Book" she eventually apologize to everyone she hurt and begin to find a way to become a better person. In a sense all individuals can relate to this movie no matter of your gender, sex, age, race, ethnicity, class because each person in a sense can relate to this movie in some sort of way. This movie in a sense is s realistic portrayal of high school cliques. Mean Girls shows everyday high school struggles for students and teachers in what they have to encounter. The hated 'plastics' in the end is no longer in sync and is destroyed; each member of the 'plastics' joins another school clique that they relate to and it appears that the school is at peace until at the end of the movie a new generation of 'plastics' appear. With sociological theory Mean Girls can be identified and look at in many different aspects. The two most important and relatable theories is that of ALIENATIO... ... middle of paper ... ...tically this society shifted me into the popular group. It also didn’t hurt that I was athletic and somewhat intelligent. Growing up, I have always thought that doors opened if you asked. I didn’t have to work much to be popular or liked. I just was. In turn I found it to be very interesting that a new generation of 'plastics' appeared even though the previous one had ended. It made the point that although one change at one point in time occurs, that doesn't mean that future generations will change since it hadn’t changed in my family history. In Mean Girls Cady finds herself in a situation every teenager feels in some point of their life. Out casted and feeling isolated in a sense of not knowing where you fit in. We also see that Cady was like any other new girl, just wanting to make friends and fit in with everyone in which he is pressured to have others like her.
In the movie Mean Girls the role of conformity is important to the central plot. The plot of the movie is focused on new girl Caty, who moved from Africa to start a new life, and is forced to attend America’s high schools. She at first has two friends, Damien and Janis, two kids who consider being in the “outside” group. However, the popular girls, called the “Plastics” try to take Caty into their group, because of her she looks. The leader of the group is the most popular girl in school named Regina, who is really hated by a lot of people, but is still considered extremely popular. Caty falls for their deceptive kindness, not realizing that really it’s all just a show. She begins to become more like them, she starts to talk to boys and dress
In the film Mean Girls, teenager Cady Heron was home-schooled in Africa by her zoologist parents. When her family moves to the U.S., Cady finally gets a taste of public school and learns a vital lesson about the cruelty involved in the tightly knit cliques of high school. She eventually finds herself being drug into a group of “the worst people you will ever meet”, The Plastics; and soon realizes how they came to get their name.
Man no longer lives and fights to survive but enjoys luxuries. In the Mean Girls movie, the comparison between the students and domination of others by the alphas depict Rousseau’s idea. The alphas consisting of Regina George, Karen Smith, Gretchen Wieners, Aaron Samuels and Cady Heron (joins later) dominate the underdogs including Janis Ian, Damian, Ms. Norbury, and the Asians. As Rousseau stated, comparison gives dominance and happiness, the alphas have a better life and are enjoying themselves more than the others. They also derive pleasure from dominating the others and treating them with contempt. Rousseau considers the invention of property as the beginning of equality, and that property offers a platform for the rich to exploit the poor. Rousseau believes that conflict and despotism would occur as wealth becomes a rule for comparison. The idea of wealth as a comparison factor is evident in Mean Girls movie with Regina representing the upper class as she is rich, famous, and beautiful. Her social status gives her the title of a leader of the “plastics,” and she makes the rules including deciding what to wear and doesn’t take orders from anyone (Mean Girls). Wealth differentiates Gretchen and Regina, and because of her lower social status, she cannot be the leader of the plastics. She has to accept her position yet she despises Regina, thus depicting the role of wealth as a comparison factor in the movie highlighting Rousseau’s idea of wealth as the basis for comparison. Wealth as a differentiator is also evident in Cady, who comes from the middle-class but her exciting experience makes her accepted in the plastics but becomes obsessed with richness and fame that it intoxicates her. The changing status also shows inequality evidenced by wealth as outlined by Rousseau. Wealth status also creates classes among the other students
The stereotypical girls in highschool can either be very negative or positive when it comes to engaging with interpersonal communications. To display various examples of interpersonal relationships, there is a movie called Mean Girls. The movie demonstrates how a group of girls in a public high school survive their way through life with gossip as one of their sources of communication. The main characters involved in this movie are Cady Heron, Regina George, Gretchen Wieners, and Karen Smith. These girls are known as, “The Plastics,” the most popular girls in the school. However, Cady was not one of them, she only hung out with them to sabotage them because they would bully Janis Ian, the first friend Cady made since she moved to that school.
Mean Girls is a comedy film aired in 2004 this film captures the influences on lifespan development during adolescence. The main character Cady Heron was home schooled in Africa and now she must transition into high school where she is tested in different areas of her development. Throughout the film she becomes known as the new girl who is trying to figure out her self-identity. Cady integrates herself into a clique of girls known as the Plastics, soon enough Cady understands why they are known for their name. The Plastics run the school by the norms they have created and must always be followed otherwise it will lead into exclusion from the group. In order to be socially accepted social norms determining attitude, behavior, and status must
The film Mean Girls is about a young girl, Cady Heron, born and raised in Africa by her zoologist parents, who were also her homeschool teachers for sixteen years. When Cady moves to the United States, she enrolls in a public school for the first time. Here she realizes that high school students have the same hierarchy as the animals she observed in Africa. The lowest ranking group in this high school hierarchy is the outcasts, who also happen to be Cady’s first friends in the U.S. The highest on the high school food chain are the “plastics”. The “plastics”, are the most popular girls in school. The plastic’s notice Cady’s charming personality and stunning good looks and invite her to join their clique. In order to avenge her first friends,
If I was to walk into a video store I would be able to choose from
"Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me," says Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman). The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols in 1967 is an influential satire/comedy film about a recent East Coast college graduated who finds himself alienated and aimless in the changing, social and sexual general public of the 1960s, and questioning the values of society. The theme of the film is of an innocent and confused youth who is exploited, mis-directed, seduced (literally and figuratively) and betrayed by a corrupt, self-indulgent, and discredited older generation (that finds stability in “plastics”) that I found to be quite clear and understanding, while also capturing the real spirit of the times and allows America's youth to perceive onscreen an image of themselves which they can both identify with and emulate. The Graduate is a significant film even today due to its use of abstract camera angles, telephoto lenses, excellent cinematography, and great acting. Few visual effects were used, however, matting and numerous point of view shots were used. These characteristics and the fabulous use of mis-en-scene, great writing and the era of the film all made The Graduate what it is today, magnificent.
The Hollywood movie Pretty Woman (1990) is about a prostitute in Hollywood, marrying an extremely rich businessman, in spite of her mutual distrust and prejudice. The movie contains the basic narrative of the Cinderella tale: through the love and help of a man of a higher social position, a girl of a lower social status moves up to join the man at his level.
Ideology is “a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about that world.” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). According to Sturken (2001), the system of meaning is based on the use of language and images or representation. Therefore, media texts come along and select what is “normal” and what is “deviant” to the extent that this hegemony of constructed meanings in the viewer’s head becomes “common-sense” (Gramsci in Croteau & Hoynes, 2014). From this standpoint, what America claims to be pop culture which is omnipresent in media internationally, is a representation, through “politics of signification” of what is right or wrong (Kooijman, 2008). An example of America’s cultural ‘manifestation’ is Mean Girls,
In this film we see many typical high school behaviors such as cliques, cattiness, and popularity (or lack there of) issues. Many scenes in this movie have an array of stereotypes. Sometimes they are clearly stated and others just seen through attitudes of the actors/actresses character. Also through out we follow the main clique “the plastics” and they have this image they have to uphold. Be perfect, skinny, the best at everything, and in sync with everything they do; or they wont uphold their status. I chose this film because I think it shows a lot of what we have learned in this course and how it is in real life. Clearly the film is exaggerated but much of
Mean Girls tells the story of Cady Heron’s transition from 12 years of home school in Africa to public high school in the United States when her mother gets offered tenure at a nearby college. Upon her arrival, Cady bonds with Janice and Damian who are considered apart of the “out crowd”. Janice and Damian give Cady the scoop on all of the social cues and how to navigate her new territory. When she is invited to join the most popular clique in the school, “The Plastics” Cady is placed in the middle of revenge and is encouraged to invade the lives of the girls to steal their secrets and eventually uproot their lives. Although this movie is primarily focused on revenge (which can be correlated with coercion, the least ideal form of leadership)
"Cold, shiny, hard, PLASTIC," said by Janice referring to a group of girls in the movie Mean Girls. Mean Girls is about an innocent, home-schooled girl, Cady who moves from Africa to the United States. Cady thinks she knows all about survival of the fittest. But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when she enters public high school and encounters psychological warfare and unwritten social rules that teen girls deal with today. Cady goes from a great friend of two "outcasts", Janice and Damien to a superficial friend of the "plastics", a group of girls that talks about everyone behind their back and thinks everyone loves them. Adolescent egocentrism and relationships with peers are obviously present throughout the film. I also noticed self worth in relationships, parenting styles, and juvenile delinquency throughout Mean Girls.
“Fitting in” is a concept that is seen a lot in adolescence. Teenagers will do pretty much anything at times to have friends or appear to be “cool.” That is exactly what happens to Tracy in this film. As the film begins, Tracy is a good, simple girl, and her pureness all changes when she befriends the most popular girl in school, Evie Zamora. Evie is very rebellious. She does not have a strong authority figure in her life (Levy-Hinte, London, & Hardwicke, 2003). The sweet, innocent young Tracy is soon to be completely transformed. Evie is vividly a bad influence on Tracy from the beginning, as seen when she influences Tracy to steal something the first time they hang out together (Levy-Hinte, et al., 2003). Stealing is illegal and considered a minor crime and turns Tracy into a delinquent (Berk, 2011). Tracy’s identity development is heavily influenced by her new friendship with Evie from that moment on. Evie is so popular, but she makes very poor choices and Tracy follows her lead because she wants ...
...ole, the female students became close when they became true to themselves and the cliques begin to blend. For example, Gretchen, one of the Plastics became close friends with the Asian students. Social acceptance should not be the most important thing in anyone’s life. Always wanting this acceptance will cause people to change into someone they are not.