regina seems sweet gina george is not
sweet she's a scum-sucking road she
ruined my life she's fabulous but she's
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evil
there's barely a soul on this earth that
hasn't seen mean girls
a cult classic whose quotable lines have
wormed their way into our vocabulary
she doesn't even go here that is so
fetch
on wednesdays we wear pink how many of
you have ever felt
personally victimized by regina george
fall for you glenn coco you go glen coco
it spawned countless memes and video
essays and the film has even earned its
very own international holiday
on october 3rd he asked me what day it
was it's october 3rd
written by tina fey and directed by mark
waters the film is a staple of teen
comedies
i love and have loved this film ever
since i first watched it
but it's only in the wake of uploading
my sharpay video that i realized how
this film follows the trend of
demonizing hyper femininity i understand
that it's a satire of the high school
experience meant to dramatize and
exaggerate female friendship dynamics
and teenage troubles
however its archetypal characters from
the goth to the girly girl
speak to larger societal attitudes
through the main trio of the plastics
and katie's descent into girl world
the film frames hyper femininity as a
negative trait
mean girls does go beyond typical
one-dimensional representation of the
teen bully
showing them to be young women with
depth and insecurities
it shows how easily the desire for power
and popularity
can change someone and it's an excellent
character study of the mean girl
it captures the nuances of psychological
bullying
and the politics of high school cliques
and it still manages to feel relevant
almost two decades after its release
where i think it fails however
is that all the mean girls but one are
forced to change and see the errors of
their ways
and that one girl is janice ian janice
is essentially
a mirror to regina but unlike the others
she remains largely
unchanged by the end of the film where
the other girls are forced to change
their behavior
however slightly janus suffers no
punishment for her mean girl actions
the film separates these characters
along the lines of femininity
with the plastics and janna's
representing opposite ends of the
spectrum
do you have anything pink mean girls
ultimately falls victim to the trope
of demonizing ultrafemininity with its
emphasis on the politics and appearances
of girl world i think it makes an
excellent example
of hollywood's attitudes towards
femininity
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when i refer to hyper femininity i'm not
expressing my own opinion on how
femininity is expressed femininity is a
spectrum
with everyone having their own distinct
take what i am referring to however
is the trend of hollywood to associate
girly girls with a barbie doll aesthetic
for example i'm not saying that janice
isn't feminine
but that her femininity is contrasted
with the hyperfemininity of the plastics
also when i say that femininity is
demonized through the plastics
i'm saying that by associating this
girliness with villains
the girliness is framed as something
negative this
is not a justification for their toxic
actions
but an analysis of how culture shapes
our view of girly girls i'm highlighting
how hyperfemininity
is not the root of their villainy even
though the two are often linked
now on to the video
where the plastics they're teen royalty
if north shore was
us weekly they would always be on the
cover in their book bad girls and
transgressive women
julie a chapel and mallory young argue
that the mean girl is quote
almost without exception white straight
and economically privileged
she is frequently blonde always stylish
and quite often overtly sexualized
the plastics pretty much fit this
description to a t they display an
ultra femininity and exaggeration of
girly girl traits
like a love of makeup and shopping they
display
all the style of barbie but without the
substance
regina's like the barbie doll i never
had i'd never seen anybody so glamorous
both are clad in a bubblegum pink
aesthetic but unlike barbie who's been
an astronaut a vlogger
and everything in between these
hyper-feminine women
are portrayed as airheads is butter a
carb
yes ultra feminine characters in general
are often bimbos or bullies or both
the trope is so prevalent that it
basically became shorthand
for prescribing the villain or at least
the vapid mean girl
even the nickname the plastics implies
an appealing shiny object
with nothing beneath the surface it also
suggests plastic surgery something
that's associated with vanity and
artificiality
like chaplin young highlighted this
ultra femininity
is typically but not always linked to
rich
thin attractive white women not unlike
the original barbies
their conventional western beauty is key
to their claimed power
regina's weight and appearance is a huge
part of her confidence
her attractiveness yields power one of
janice's main points of attack
to dethrone the queen bee is to get rid
of her hot god as she gains weight her
peers begin to bully her
and her supposed friends shun her you
can't stick with us
that's where you're going fat ass
showing that her thin
body is not an arbitrary trait but
rather something
integral to her power regina shows her
vulnerable side for the first time
when losing this exposing her
insecurities
sweatpants are all that fits me right
now
the mean girls are also segregated from
their peers
along the lines of class all three are
quite obviously wealthy
sporting designer goods and living in
lavish mansions
and language of royalty elevates them
above everybody
else the mean girl's buying power
translates into social power
as she has money to keep up with the
latest trends and alter her body to make
her more conventionally attractive
maybe she feels weird around me because
i'm the only person that knows about her
nose job
pastimes include gossiping shopping and
not much else
this preoccupation with appearance is
labeled as vanity
but we have to wonder why their lip
gloss is a marker of shallowness
while janice's eyeliner shows her to be
unique and artsy
the popular cliques achieve popularity
by conforming to standard ideas of
femininity
and losing their individuality the film
belittles the values of these individual
girls
rather than criticizing the system that
encourages women to prioritize
appearance
and rewards beautiful women with
popularity the film goes beyond
belittling them to outright punishment
because like all mean girls they need to
be punished
regina survives the school bus but she
illustrates the trend
in popular teen films in which the queen
bee figure
gets her comeuppance often at the hands
of the less popular girl that she
torments
i think in tina fey's critique of girl
world she focuses too much on the girl
and not enough on the world i.e the
society that rewards the behavior of
girls like regina george
when we look at other characters in the
film this bias becomes
even clearer
janice ian is essentially a mirror of
regina george
but the dark version of her she
represents the opposite pole of the
femininity spectrum
to the plastics where the plastics
associate themselves with a barbie brand
of femininity
janice has clearly attempted to distance
herself from hyperfemininity
and adopts a goth style with masculine
silhouettes
her rejection of mainstream femininity
peaks in her prom
suit but beneath the surface janice and
regina aren't too different
they were even friends at one point we
were best friends in middle school
and janice choreographed the famous
jingle bell rock dance
does it bother you that they still use
your original choreography
shut up she's undoubtedly a victim of
bullying
but her actions are similarly evil
however her victimhood and the
demonization of regina george
act as a justification for her actions
initially she didn't seem interested in
katie's friendship as much as using this
regulation hottie for revenge
how do you spell your name again caddy
it's katie c-a-d-y
yeah i'm gonna call you caddy this
doesn't discount the friendship that
does develop
but shows how janice isn't that
different from regina and that both
girls see the people around them
as tools first and friend second janice
and damian also [ __ ] about people
behind their backs
and are just as judgmental as the
plastics they prescribe
everyone in the cafeteria into neat
categories
ignoring individuality they just don't
have a burn book full of their thoughts
like regina janus is manipulative she
manipulates katie after katie sees
regina kissing aaron
using her hurt and rejection to convince
her to ruin regina
look she's not gonna get away with this
again okay we're gonna do something
we are regina is framed as an evil
dictator for her scheming
but this scheming is indifferent from
janus's
the difference isn't in their
personalities but in how they're framed
janice thinks she's a good guy which
makes the audience and everyone around
her
think so too she's literally held up and
celebrated once everyone hears of her
revenge but this
shot mirrors regina's entrance once
again highlighting how similar the two
are at the end of the film regina
releases the burn book in order to frame
katie gretchen and karen and she doesn't
care who gets hurt in the process
this could have easily been done by
janice who asked katie to steal the burn
book to expose the plastics
catty you got to steal that book no way
come on we could publish it and then
everybody would see what an
axe wound she really is once again
disregarding other people in her quest
for revenge aaron even says but look
there's good and bad everybody
right regina's just she's just more
upfront about it
and he's not wrong almost all of the
main characters partake in some sort of
scheme or manipulation to take another
person down
if regina is an evil dictator then janus
is the head of the resistance
buddy you're not pretending anymore
you're plastic cold
shiny hard plastic the demonization of
femininity is made
even more apparent with katie's
storyline
she first exhibits a modest brand of
femininity and for her first day of
school she's casually dressed in a khaki
jacket and jeans
pink is pretty much non-existent in
katy's sphere at this point
and as a homeschool girl who grew up in
africa she's largely ignorant of western
societal ideals and conventions
katie do you even know who sings this um
the spice girls i love her she's like a
martian
she's framed as a young naive girl from
the beginning
unprepared for the jungle that is high
school however
once she's indoctrinated into the
plastics both her personality and
appearance
completely change her wardrobe
illustrates the transition from home
school to jungle freak
to one of the plastics she begins to
subscribe to ultra femininity
ditching her jeans and t-shirts for more
pinks and pastels
mini skirts high heels and makeup her
appearance is far from casual at this
point
and instead carefully constructed this
highlights how katie is just
performing how she has adopted a facade
not unlike that of the plastics to fit
in and be popular
i know it may look like i'd become a
[ __ ] but that's only because i was
acting like a [ __ ]
she dumps herself down in order to get
aaron's attention playing into the
airhead stereotype of the mean girl
to match those around her you're not
stupid karen
no i am actually costuming reflects her
assimilation as she becomes a new queen
bee
she starts wearing a c necklace that
matches regina's oar
and the dress that she wears at her
house party is the inverse of regina
spring fling dress
as she becomes more stereotypically
feminine her personality becomes more
[ __ ] and shallow
her social ascent is directly linked to
her adoption of markers of
hyperfemininity
highlighting how popularity is rewarded
to those who adhere to social norms
the link between her change in
personality and change and appearance
is further evidence that the film
demonizes hyper femininity
implying that all girls who love pink
and wear lip gloss
are inherently [ __ ]
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the title of the film and even the film
itself acknowledges that all of them are
mean girls
god see at least me and regina george
know we're mean you try to act like
you're so
innocent but what's problematic about
the ending is how
distancing themselves from ultra
femininity the girls shed their [ __ ]
shell
and seem more true to themselves regina
grows katie groves
but it's not that clear that janus has
changed all that much and in line with
this
her costuming doesn't really change from
the beginning to the end of the film
the film blurs who is and who is not a
mean girl
but treats the hyper-feminine characters
very differently
the plastics and katy are punished for
the manipulative and mean
actions and are forced to change but
janus the only girl who presents an
alternative femininity
is rewarded with a successful revenge
plan
with this contrasting face of characters
it's pretty clear that hyperfemininity
is demonized and framed as something bad
the new generation of plastics the trio
of girls who look like they walked out
of a barbie catalog
show how the stereotype is passed down
over and over again
as young girls continue to perform hyper
femininity
in a bid for social power the film
places the blame on the mean girl
individuals
rather than the system that rewards
women who adhere to dominant gender
roles and expressions these women
weren't born [ __ ] barbie dolls
but became them in order to gain the
most valuable currency available to them
popularity even though janus isn't one
of the popular plastics
she's still a mean girl something i
think goes overlooked a good bit by a
lot of viewers
but at the end of the day i just wish we
could all get along like we used to in
middle school
i wish that i could bake a cake made out
of rainbows and smiles and we'd all eat
be
happy sorry i had to
thank you so much for watching this
video i hope you enjoyed it i'm finished
college for the summer so i'm hoping to
upload a lot more regularly
so if you want to see more videos please
subscribe and i will see you in my next
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video