Cady's Use Of Identity Crisis In Mean Girls

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Introduction For as long as the technology has existed for movies to be made, screenwriters have been using the high school setting to perpetuate the basics of adolescent development common to all of humans. Specifically, the stereotypes of the popular kids versus the not-so kids comes up in almost all of these, as the conflict between such groups allows the writers and viewers to experience and understand the push and pull of figuring out who we are through taking risks and making decisions about which kind of person we want to align ourselves with. These films almost always bring attention to the school environment, emphasizing the idea of close-knit cliques and friend groups. Mean Girls (2004) has tackled this exact conflict as its basis, even acknowledging it in the …show more content…

128). Identity Crisis Throughout the entirety of the film, Cady really struggles to figure out who she is. Damien and Janis immediately take her under their wing, but convince her to transform into a “plastic,” in order to destroy Regina George from within the group. This definitely does not make it easier for her to figure out her true identity, especially since she finds herself conforming to their thoughts and actions, instead of the sole purpose, which was to sabotage. There’s a scene in which Janis, her best friend, tells her, “you’re not pretending anymore, you’re plastic.” This statement was somewhat of a wake-up call for Cady, realizing she had indeed become one of them. James Marcia portrays the idea of identity as a self-constructed concept, made up of all of the traits of a person’s beliefs and ideas (Waterman, 1988). There are four stages of identity development: foreclosure, diffusion, achievement, and moratorium. Steinberg, 2023, p. 218-223. I believe at this point in the movie, Cady was likely on the moratorium stage. Cady really wasn't sure where she

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