Mean Girls: Movie Analysis - Essay Example

Mean Girls: Movie Analysis Mean Girls is a good example showing how communication within the dominant groups’draws fellow age mates to it. It exposes to the light how, once they are accepted, the new recruits become unwilling to see the imperfections in the supreme group. This film shows the social hegemony, which female teens are exposed to while studying in high school. Here the supreme social group simply remains in control just because the rest allow them to. By knowing their position, they generate fear, which enables them to keep the position and helps evade being overthrown (Cragan and Wright 123). In the inauguration of the film, we find Cady, a new student in North Show High School and, more generally, a new student to all high school system of the USA, since she had been schooling in Africa and, thus, she is uninformed of the dominancy that befalls teenage girls. Janice and Damien (being members of the oppressed group who possess the ability to see all the flaws in the supreme bonds that dominate) make Cady learn the social rules she should follow to be among the members of the dominant group (Rothwell, n. p.). Cady is supposed to interact with the dominant females and familiarize herself with crucial characteristics defining them. To begin with she is supposed to wear proactive clothing, which reveals a large portion of her body (Rothwell 251). The group is composed of females who are least concerned with their education (mostly discouraging being the part of extra circular educational activities, such as “Mathletes”) but rather spending the entire time advocating on their social positions through partying, gossiping and dating. This dominant group ensures that they remain supreme and dominant by belittling the oppressed groups through browbeat, oblique compliments, and manipulation. This is the group which disrespects, lies and abuses their parents in order to do their things the way they want. To be recruited into the dominant group as a member, everyone should follow the rules set by the superior member of this dominant group (Regina George) and disassociate with anyone disobeying these rigid guidelines (oppressed group) (Rothwell 361). Janice and Damien persuade Cady to become a member of the dominant group so that they can enjoy themselves together and have fun. At first she does this because she assumes this is what should do. She switches to pink miniskirts instead of plaid flannel shirts. With time, Cady no longer changes herself because others are doing it, but is changing because it is simply a common sense to her. She begins doing poorly in academics. After spending considerable time adjusting to this hegemony, it strikes her that by getting a boyfriend she has to allow him think that he is smarter than her, always. Out of this reason she begins to fail in calculus assessments so that she can win a man (Aaron Samuels). Cady’s internal transformation moves on when she unknowingly starts using slang terms (like ‘shut up’), chattering and gossiping even at times when she is not around the dominant group members. Regina starts dating the man Cady has begun failing calculus for, and this makes Cady sabotage her popularity, thus, replacing her as the greatest dominant group member of the supreme group. Cady’s revolution into the ideal example of the supremacy that befalls girls in their teenage has been crystallized after she throws a party (Currie and Kelly 342). She does not only wear tight but lies to host the party. Also she doesn’t invite Regina to manipulatively keep her new-found status. At last, she fails to invite Damien and Janice, thus, excluding the group, which is being oppressed, from her circle. Cady becomes much more immersed into hegemony and is not able to see the negatives within it. Although she behaves herself in the way that allows her to win the men, she has betrayed the parents’ trust, abandoned and hurt her only true friends in order to keep her reputation. The worst thing is she does not feel remorse and feels quite pleased with that. Currently she is positively gaining from the fact that she belongs to the dominant group being popular and socially controlling the crowd, but she fails to notice the negative impacts which are arising out of this hegemony. Dan Rothwell explains that in most cases people know who is wrong and what the right thing to do is, but their communication patterns do not favor the purpose of standing up for justice as they strive to avoid being ridiculed and, thus, end up fitting in (Rothwell 283). This tells us why Cady, being part of the supreme group, is unwilling and unable to question or leave the system she has gotten into as by doing so she could have been different and would have broken the conformity (Cragan and Wright 530). As the film comes closer to its peak, Cady drops out of the dominant group. Following the blame put unto her for inscription of the book that every girl in her school dreams to possess and after having been exposed for diminishing Regina’s popularity, she finds herself in the group which is oppressed once again. In this oppressed group, she returns to her normal lower status and begins to see the flaws of being in the dominating group. She realizes how damaging it is to gossip about people when her instructor (Ms. Norbury) is involved in public humiliation making police to search her house after she started rumors that she was involved in drug trafficking (Mean Girls movie). To reconcile with Ms. Norbury, Cady agrees to be a member of “Mathletes”, thus, immersing herself further to the oppressed group. By doing so, she realizes the scale of injustices she has been involved in due to her association with the dominating group by facing an attractive girl during the Mathlete State Finals. As Cady’s mind generates insults towards this girl, she comes to understanding that, no matter how she ridicules the girl’s appearance, the girl will still beat her in the competition. The female teenage hegemony remains based greatly on appearance and control of the beleaguered group. Cady is able to know that forming a hierarchy being based on just these characteristics is ineffective and unfair as there are other important qualities, such as cleverness and kindness, which matter. Karl Marx (in his columnist manifesto) stated that the only way the society could change was though the oppressed group overthrowing the dominant group. At this point the movie proves that since Cady is able to enter the oppressed group after having been on the top of the dominant group, the epiphany is possible and can be achieved (Wood 239). Cady has come to understanding that there are extra characteristics, which should be considered so as to gain popularity and common social control in the society, more so the high school environment, and she starts to think of the ways through which this can be done (Rothwell 264). Through good communication she is able to maintain perfect social control and can win the “Spring Fling Queen”, but after winning the Mathlete State Finals Cady makes a public speech to advocate equality. Through this new sense of equality, the school decides to rebuild the former hegemony and build a society that respects their qualities and talents equally (Regina starts going in for sports, for instance). Works Cited Currie, Dawn H., and Deirdre M. Kelly. 'Girl Power': Girls Reinventing Girlhood. USA: Peter Lang, 2009. Print. Cragan, John F., and David W. Wright. Communications in Small Groups: Theory, Processes, Skills. London: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Rothwell, J. Dan. In Mixed Company: Communicating in Small Groups and Teams. NY: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Wood, Allen W. Karl Marx, The Arguments of the Philosophers Series. UK: Taylor & Francis Group, 2004. Print. Read More