Stereotypes In Mean Girls

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What does it mean to be a girl? Does it have to do with a midwife’s proclamation at birth, or is it something more elusive, an identity constructed over the course of a lifetime? In the movie Mean Girls, the character Cady Heron is forced to face the reality of this question when she enters a traditional Midwest high school after having lived in Africa for all sixteen years of her life. Torn between her alliance with Janis, an artsy, eccentric outsider, and her friendship with the popular girls, commonly known as ‘The Plastics,’ Cady faces the social pressures of girl world for the first time. Using the Plastics as an ‘ideal’ model, and Janis as the ‘anti-model,’ Mean Girls illustrates the set gender roles for young women in society. The film …show more content…
At the beginning of the film, Cady is essentially a ‘clean slate,’ free from the influences of gender norms. When we first meet her she is poised, naturally attractive, and slightly (but endearingly) dorky. An excellent math student, she immediately gravitates toward the invitation to join her high school’s ‘Mathlete’ team. Cady’s identity at the beginning of the movie is that of a girl who makes decisions and lives her life uninhibited by the pressures of society. However, at this time in the film she is lonely and isolated. We see footage of her eating lunch in a bathroom stall on her first day of school because she has no friends to sit with in the cafeteria. This situation illustrates the idea that in order for one to truly be a free thinker in our society, they must be completely removed from it. Social pressure is simply too strong a normalizing force, and it is present whenever an individual comes into contact with other humans. Thus, a consequence of being unrestricted by social pressures—as seen in the case of Cady at the beginning of the film—is complete separation from one’s peers. This is not a sustainable lifestyle, as social connection and acceptance are some of the basic needs of all human