The Clique Movie Analysis

What movie did you watch?

“The Clique” (Levy, Morgenstein, & Banks, 2008)

This film stares five young girls in the stages of adolescents and the challenges they face during this stage of life. The film begins with Massie Block (Elizabeth McLaughlin) waking up to her parents notifying her that some family friends were coming to stay with them for a little while. Shortly after she was notified the Lyons Family showed up, Massie was taken off guard by the looks of the family and decided she had no interest in associating with the Lyon’s daughter Claire (Ellen Marlow). Massie, Claire, and three other girls (Dylan, Alicia, and Kristen) are placed in situations to help them comprehend the facts of life. It is up to each of them preserve through the chaotic demands of adolescents.

What parenting styles are reflected to the audience through these adolescents?

In the film “The Clique” there were two main parenting styles being presented to the audience, one was by the parents of a character named Massie Block played by Elizabeth McLaughlin and the other parents by a character named Claire Lyons played by Ellen Marlow.

The two sets of parents differed in parenting styles, The Block’s family demonstrate the difficult side of adolescents. Massie’s parents are resistant (neglectful) to their parenting and lack in awareness of their daughter’s development and growth. Their care free life style often leaves Massie feeling misunderstood. Claire’s parents the Lyon’s are quite the opposite, they are very aware of their daughter’s development of adolescents. They are consistently working on their relationship with Claire in trying to stay in tune to her emotions and experiences. The Lyon’s strive to be an encouragement for their daughter, instead of placing hard judgement to what they see. The parents of Claire work to have an open relationship with Claire, which results to Claire reaching out to her own parents when her challenges become too much for her to

handle.
What adolescent issues as addressed in the Balswick and Balswick text are evident in this film?
This film demonstrates a lot of adolescent issues in the aspect of addressing Balswick and Balswick text, between the two main characters Massie and Claire (along with the other girls) they both struggled with peer influence and acceptance (industry going into identity). With both girls learning how to hold value in their independency, at times with facing challenges of opposite views of parental values. The girls showed several examples of behaviors that may be experimental (risky) behaviors, such as new clothing styles, views, ideas, speech and appearance change. Massie at times faced the issue of thinking her own parents were her enemy, well Claire faced the challenge of her “friends” being her enemy. These challenges made it difficult for these girls at times to find common ground, with each of them carrying a fear of being rejected it effected their interaction with one another or their families. Peer relationships, independence, body image, romantic interest of the opposite sex all played active roles as evidence of adolescent.
What identity development and subculture formation do you see here? Is it healthy or not?
High standards of perfectionism, popularity and wealth were the formation of subculture and identity development, in order for these girls to feel accepted and of value they presented themselves in such way, even if it came with a price. One of the girls name Kristen felt the pressure of easily being rejected, that she laid about her school tuition being paid with a scholarship. These girls deeply wanted to be accepted for their independency of their individuality. They looked to find self-identity in the subculture formation and society.
I think it can only be healthy if you find a happy medium. “When an adolescent feels confident as a separate self, he or she has a new capacity to interact in meaningful ways with others.”(Balswick & Balswick, 2014, p. 167) We are going to be influenced by our surroundings, but ultimately it is our self-identity that places the demands of who we will become based of our values and faith.
What efforts toward differentiation do you see here?
I believe the Lyon’s family showed a great example of differentiation, despite the challenges Claire went through with rejection and acceptance of her school peers the foundation of their family unity remained solid and provided stability for her. “It helps when parents have compassion for their adolescent children, who are in the process of resolving a multitude of changes during this stage of development.”(Balswick & Balswick, 2014, p. 166) Adolescents are able to build confidence in themselves because of the communication between family and people around them. The end of the movie ended with a form of establishing differentiation between all five girls.