haven't you heard I'm the crazy [ __ ]
around here
whoever said girls are made of sugar and
spice and everything nice didn't go to
school with a Blair Waldorf a Sheryl
blossom a Heather Chandler or a Regina
George these mean girls rule their high
schools with an iron fist
shoe [ __ ] and if we break down the
mean girl character type in movies and
TV we see some recurring elements she's
confident and ambitious but she takes
these positive qualities to a dark
extreme I admire you so much she's often
highly intelligent and cunning with a
canny understanding of how to manipulate
people for personal entertainment for
just toys Sebastian
a little toy I like to play with she's
glamorous and charismatic
Regina's like the Barbie doll I never
had I've never seen anybody so glamorous
even to those who hate her the weird
thing about hanging out with Regina was
that I could hate her and at the same
time I still wanted her to like me
she's driven by rage which comes from
her realistic yet cynical understanding
of the world Heather told me she teaches
people real life
she said real life sucks losers dry the
status quo of the social hierarchy
actually makes her miserable but instead
of overturning it she chooses to
perpetuate the toxic cycle because at
least she's on top so the mean girl is
the high school version of the
cautionary tale that power corrupts
here's our take on the mean girl on
screen what makes her tick what she
represents and why she ultimately has to
fall person maybe but I'm rich and I'm
pretty so it doesn't really matter
[Music]
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the core of the Mean Girls identity is
rage Mean Girls star Rachel McAdams
described Regina George as a really
angry kid who had no boundaries or
guidance and said director Mark Waters
told her to listen to Courtney Love's
music and watch Alec Baldwin and
Glengarry Glen Ross for inspiration
because you drove a Hyundai to get here
tonight I drove an $80,000 BMW that's my
name
early examples of the mean girl already
embody a raw anger or hatred towards the
protagonist that's hard to immediately
understand ears beautiful wealthy
popular Chris and Kerry talking about
the awkward painfully shy classmate
who's never done anything to her I hate
carrying white and look at the intensity
of the hatred that beautiful wealthy
popular girl Benny has toward Molly
Ringwald's Andy these Mean Girls of the
70s and 80s planted this mystery of why
the girl who has everything so fiercely
despises the outcast who has less a
pattern we'd see continued in later
examples in 1988 Heather's gave us a
more complex and alarming look at the
pathological Society that drove the
queen bee to be so mean it's just like
there are people I work with in our job
as being popular and ship but the trope
really took often became a fixture in
90s and early 2000s movies and this
timing is no coincidence in the early
90s Kai Bjork fists free search shed a
new light on female aggression according
to Bjork vist girls can better
understand how other girls feel so they
know better how to harm them in 1995
Nikki R Creek and Jennifer K crop Peter
coined the term relational aggression to
describe how while boys tend to be
overtly aggressive through physical
violence or threats girls are more
likely to express aggression by
weaponizing relationships relational
aggression comes out in behaviors like
exclusion and spreading rumors or lies I
want you to raise your hand
you have ever had a girl say something
bad about you behind your back early
2000s bestsellers like odd girl out and
queen bees and wannabes which inspired
Mean Girls further spotlighted the
subject of female bullying as young
women grow up they're angry aggressive
and competitive impulses become less
socially acceptable so they're forced to
express these emotions in
under-the-table ways the aggression
might be increasing to the extent that
we are putting more pressure on girls to
achieve in the same ways that boys
achieve but again not giving them the
license to engage in the kinds of
competitiveness and aggressions that
they need to go the distance the Mean
Girls BC on screen are often smiling
assassins their machinations are more
sinister because they're hidden under a
cover of surface niceness I love your
skirt where did you get it that is the
ugliest effing skirt I've ever seen so
part of the problem is that girls aren't
given license to deal with conflict
honestly out in the open I knew how this
would be settled in the animal world but
this was girl world and the lack of
communication leads to a toxic buildup
of resentment
that's why Mean Girls Miss Norbury
doesn't tell the girls to stop feeling
angry she urges them to express your
anger in a healthy way there's also an
even more disturbing reason girls resort
to relational aggression they are bored
we don't have to look any further than
Mean Girls burn book to see what this
looks like that book was written by a
bunch of stupid girls who make up rumors
because they're bored with their own
lame lives girls bullying each other for
entertainment is very sad and it points
to a culture that's not offering young
women constructive outlets for their
self-expression if I use my grand IQ to
decide with clear gloss to how to hit
three takers before curfew what's so
interesting about the mean girl is that
she's full of potential her male
equivalent is the jock bully who preys
on nerds but the jock is usually
portrayed as dumb and boorish while the
mean girl is strikingly bright and
perceptive she can read the people
around her like a book it's a sexy push
back
Katie will you please Thomas hair looks
sexy push back even if she's a dark
figure she embodies many empowering
qualities that teen girls should aspire
towards fierce ambition determination
and belief in herself power isn't just
my mission it's my mantra we could
imagine a very different version of her
story where the mean girl gets to
channel her talents into a worthwhile
pursuit and her physical therapist
taught her to channel all her rage into
sports looking at all this together it
becomes clear that this character's
meanness is really a coping mechanism
the sympathetic take on these frustrated
young women is that they're thwarted by
a suffocating system that doesn't expect
them to be more than vapid sex symbols
or allow them to embrace their full
mental power the mean girl is under no
illusions about how the real world works
life's a [ __ ] then you die she may be
beautiful and rich but the true reason
the queen bee rises to the top in the
first place is her cold cynical
understanding of the system she gets
that public opinion is everything
everybody loves me so she skillfully
cultivates an image that makes her seem
godlike in jawbreaker
Courtney's rule about not eating in
public suggests she doesn't even want to
be seen as human the mere act of eating
invokes thoughts of digestion
flagellation defecation even shall we
say complexion defection like a monarch
the queen bee builds a larger culture
around herself to keep her subjects in
line and worshiping at her altar because
being with the plastics was like being
famous people looked at you all the time
and everybody just knew stuff about you
she has a posse of enforcers which often
has its own group name and a strict code
of laws that must be obeyed the girl
world had a lot of rules you can't wear
a tank top two days in a row and you can
only wear your hair in a ponytail once a
week her hyper-vigilance in maintaining
her reputation reveals that while the
student body sees her as untouchable
she knows how tenuous her position
really is
but popularity can see there can be many
different reasons for the Mean Girls
pessimistic outlook my boyfriend
compulsively cheats on me all of my
friends work for me my parents didn't
even call me on my birthday because they
were too busy hosting a fundraiser for
Jeb Bush
there's the claustrophobia of being a
teenage girl in a sexist unfair world
and knowing you have so much more
potential than you can realize god
forbid I exude confidence and enjoy sex
do you think I relish the fact that I
have to act like Mary sunshine 24/7 so I
can be considered a lady there may be
great suffering in the characters
backstory on Riverdale
Cheryl blossoms hostility is really an
expression of her pain but most
troubling ly the Mean Girls world view
represents a broader societal outlook
usually this character has inherited a
corrupt value system from the privileged
adults in her life
you will never be more beautiful or thin
nor happy than you are right now so
essentially this young woman embodies
the elitism and superficiality of the
most powerful people in our world some
people are simply better than others I'm
pretty in pink the only real reason were
given for Benny's problem with Andy is
that sheave used this working-class girl
as less than but this is learned
behavior reflecting how the world at
large defines Andy and her peers by how
much money they have I'm getting a
better education I deserve I'm lucky I'm
fortunate to the good people this
community allow me to attend the school
so the real culprit is a messed up
society that teaches impressionable
young adults to value beauty wealth and
fame over inner virtues like kindness
you were a good person fern ultimately
the mean girl is just ahead of the curve
she embodies the cutthroat attitude and
materialist standards we expect from
power players in the adult world where
there are no teachers trying to help
everyone get along all this makes the
Mean Girls so often the
or villain of her story meanwhile the
protagonist is typically a rebel who
tries to bring down a wrong society why
is everybody stressing over this thing I
mean it's just plastic it's really just
[Music]
Sharon since the mean girl is the
equivalent of a queen or aristocrat she
doesn't have any incentive to overturn
the system that keeps her in power she
chooses to succeed within it thereby
protecting her popularity yet the irony
is that she actively fights to preserve
a status quo that makes her suffer you
put on a good front but you're miserable
don't you think any of that has anything
to do with the fact that you've created
an atmosphere based solely on negativity
and raw ambition in heathers Heather
Chandler act like she's helped veronika
by making her part of the in-crowd and
Veronica should be grateful you were
nothing before you met me
even though Heather's own social success
clearly doesn't make her happy at the
Remington party Heather's college
boyfriend pushes her to do more than
she's comfortable with should we get
back to the party we will mr. so hot
tonight I can't control myself but when
Veronica resists the guy who's trying to
pressure her in the same way Heather is
outraged
Veronica's refusal to conform bothers
Heather so much because she lacks this
spark to be an individual there's a
deeper symbolism in the term queen bee
bee colonies are divided into castes
much like a high school hierarchy
without the Queen the bee colony can't
survive so it relies on her to keep the
whole structure alive but the man girl
is actually at the mercy of her colony
clerical SP rights while the queen bee
is pivotal to everything that happens
inside the hive she is not contrary to
popular belief in control of the colony
in fact the thousands of worker bees
control the queen all this brings us to
the answer to that mystery we raised of
why the main girl hates the misfit with
such intensity she fears the alternative
outcasts as a threat to this
system she's invested in maintaining but
even more than that she envies that girl
for her freedom and her willingness to
rebel because while the Kingdom the mean
girl reigns over leaves her deeply
dissatisfied
she can't conceive of life outside it I
realize now that none of this matters to
me but it does to you it's your dream
this gives us more insight into what
drives even the one-dimensional Benny in
pretty and pink
she puts Andy down because her clothes
aren't expensive but this outfit
expresses a quirky charming style that
stands out on some level Benny probably
wishes she had Andy's individuality
which significantly has attracted the
attention of Benny's rich boyfriend
Steph makes you so different tastes
[Music]
more often than not the on screen mean
girl isn't redeemed in the end even if
she's humanized its within limits
instead the main event is her being
overthrown or exposed as the evil person
she is
as her oppressed population unites
against her in heathers after Heather
Chandler dies everyone jumps to
believing she was more than a
one-dimensional dictator thought she was
a usual airhead [ __ ] guess I was wrong
but the movies point is that they
weren't wrong and the take away of many
of these movies is that the mean girl is
rotten to the core you're a bad person
with an ugly heart and we don't give a
flying what you think her aspirations
often don't extend far beyond becoming
prom queen or if they do her goal is
extremely superficial I'm what's known
as pre famous my life is an audition for
reality TV so yeah I need to chronicle
everything in movies where we see the
character as an adult
she's fixated on her past glory days
perpetuating the narrative that those
who are popular in high school peak
early and go downhill from there unlike
high school losers and nerds who will
surely go on to great things but you
know what Sunday I just but you you will
never stop being a jerk so we're
encouraged to feel a sense of
superiority over the mean girl yet it
feels wrong to derive pleasure from the
Mean Girls downfall first as we've
discussed
she usually embodies strong powerful
traits that are generally rewarded by
our society so why wouldn't she be
destined for big things in high school
musical Sharpay is ruthless as she tries
to maintain control over the school
musical we need to see her show from
people who don't know the difference
between a Tony Award she's acting the
way any highly competitive person would
if their ambition were threatened and
this kind of behavior generally yields
success in the adult world if we're not
the cool rich beautiful leader it's
tempting to console ourselves that we
must be better people and she'll get her
comeuppance
but vilifying the mean girl through this
black and white moral lens is missing
the point
because to some degree there's a
mean-girl in all of us waiting to come
out there's good and bad everybody right
Regina's just she's just more upfront
about it it only takes one sip of the
kool-aid to cross over to the dark side
why are you such a mega [ __ ] because I
can be in Mean Girls as Katy replaces
Regina she finds herself effortlessly
transforming into a master manipulator
--ax I had learned how to control
everyone around me even Janice who sees
herself as Regina's victim is really her
oppressors equal in scheming and cruelty
I just think that it would be like a fun
little experiment the movies writer Tina
Fey has said that in high school she was
a mean girl and she described her
behavior as a coping mechanism for
feeling less than this is something they
also explored in 30 rock where Liz Lemon
is shocked to discover that in high
school she was not a victim but a
victimizer a bully you most of us don't
fit neatly into the high school
character types we see on screen it's
possible to be both unpopular and cruel
or cool and smart
we didn't party because we wanted to
focus on school and get into good
colleges but the irresponsible people
who partied also got into those colleges
they did both to reduce your peers or
yourself to just one thing does a
disservice to everyone and it distracts
from the more important takeaway it's
the world that's mean this girl's just
doing a better job of living in it I
have an army to build a school to take
over and girls to blackmail hey guys
this is Aulani
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you