﻿Mean Girls has solidified its place as one of THE most iconic teen comedies of
ALL time, but WHAT is it about THIS movie that makes it so enduring, “Why are you so
obsessed with me.” This is the total take where we break down the most analyzable
films and TV shows of all time through visual storytelling, writing, world,
symbolism, and impact. What is “Analyzable?” When we talk about a story that's highly
analyzable, it's not just about being
good or bad it's about DEEPER meanings that can use multiple readings LAYERS
that make the story apply to different contexts and Incredibly MEMORABLE themes
imagery scenes and performances. They make you THINK, QUESTION or even ARGUE
perhaps long after the credits rolled. Patreon Update - TOTAL TAKE
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So here's our total take on Mean Girls. Our first category is the WRITING:
the originality, inventiveness, and insight within the
script. What is the piece's true takeaway? For the 2004 classic Mean Girls, writer
Tina Fey drew from her own high school experiences and the book Queen Bees and
Wannabes to create a portrait of high school girlhood that was HILARIOUS, but
also GROUNDBREAKING for how it dramatized the major problem of
RELATIONAL AGGRESSION in young girls’ social groups. The story sheds light on
the way that we ALL can get caught up in trying to be what we think we SHOULD be
instead of trying to figure out what we actually want out of life- and the way
that this problem is often heightened even more during our high school years.
When we don't really have any concrete idea of who we are yet and fitting into
The “right” group can feel like life or death. “I know it may look like I'd become
a B—, but that's only because I was acting like a B—.” Upon arriving to
Northshore High in Evanston, Illinois, after being homeschooled in Africa for
years, Cady is presented with numerous options of who she COULD become in this
new environment, and everyone seems so sure that THEIR choice is the right one…
except for Cady- should she join the mathletes because it'll look good on her
college applications, the outcasts since SHE also doesn't feel like she fits in,
the Plastics because they're pretty and everyone seems enamored with them? “If
North Shore was US Weekly they would always be on the cover.” Mean Girls is
unique in that it really explores how this dilemma of having to figure out
where you fit into the world while also on the journey of figuring out WHO YOU
EVEN ARE affects everyone. While we watch how the pressures of conforming rattle
Cady, we ALSO witness how they fill Regina with a simmering rage, break
Gretchen, and to make Janice turn into the thing she hates. The film makes sure
to avoid the pitfall of framing one character being morally right and
everyone else as villains. No one person is set up as the movie's true VILLAIN,
instead Mean Girls correctly goes after the REAL issue at the ROOT of all of
these problems. Society's crushing expectations for girls and women. Mean
Girls is important because it gives insight into these issues WITHOUT
looking down on our belittling young women. The film is aware that we ALL have
the capacity to become the ‘mean girl’ when we're forced to limit and diminish
our true selves and don't have any OUTLET for the rage that incites.
“Regina's spine healed and her physical therapist taught her to channel all her
rage into sports.” Of course it's successful in making these DEEPER points
due to its ENTERTAINING and TIGHT comic script, where nearly every moment is
MEMORABLE and QUOTABLE, “That is so fetch.” And a key source of the script's
enduring relevance lies in how it perfectly CAPTURES and CRITIQUES the
familiar “tropes” of teen movies- it has lots of fun labeling the classic “crowds”
and types like the Mean Girl and the Pretty Airhead “I have fifth sense,” but
ultimately, it's cleverly UNDERMINING our common impulse to reduce each other to
oversimplified tropes as it offers DEPTH and SYMPATHY to all its characters. Now
let's take a look at SYMBOLISM. Does the film have a rich and original system of
symbols, and can it work as a parable on multiple layers? One of the most overt
symbols in the film is the use of PINK “On Wednesdays we wear pink.” The color has
the obvious connection to femininity, but the film uses it to highlight how the
societal constraints of “perfect” femininity actually HURT the Plastics.
Pink isn't a FUN choice, it's MANDATORY. “Whatever. Those rules aren't
real.” “They were real that day I wore a vest!” “Because that vest was disgusting.”
“You can't sit with us!” They wear it to create the vision of a unified front as
they work to keep CONTROL over the school and EVERYONE in their lives. Often
girls AREN’T given the same outlets or the same FREEDOM to openly and honestly
deal with their anger and competitive impulses. This leads to them feeling
the need to HIDE their more negative emotions under a guise of niceness. The
softness of the pink is similarly used as a SHIELD behind which they can hide
their evil pretending to be SWEET and INNOCENT while actually being conniving
and well… mean. The film's costumes perfectly capture the style of the early
2000s era, and also subtly hint at the larger issue of the SEXUALIZATION of
teen girls. As Cady becomes more involved with the Plastics her clothes
get pinker, but also TIGHTER and SHORTER. We also see how larger cultural
influences normalize girls sexualizing themselves in this way- from Regina's
younger sister dancing in front of the TV to the older girls calling each other S—.
“People forget about her cuz she's such a S—.” And we see that, in the end,
once they found their own senses of self the girls no longer feel this need to
buy into this type of societal pressure through their fashion or behavior. And
this DOESN’T mean they have to give up looking cute- NOW they're just more
focused on what looks good to THEM. The yellow school bus also has a surprising