that's why her hair is so big it's every
leader needs a follower and Regina
George's reign over North Shore High
would be impossible without her number
two Gretchen weiners the heir regardless
ex-boyfriends are just off limits to
friends I mean that's just like the
rules of feminism Gretchen is Regina's
top enforcer maintaining the strict
social order that protects the queen
bees power I can't wear a tank top two
days in a row and you can only wear your
hair in a ponytail once a week
she's also Regina's only true confidant
and trusted with the dark secrets the
leader hides from everyone else I mean
her parents totally don't sleep in the
same bed anymore if that's what you mean
but being theoretically the second most
popular girl in school doesn't give
Gretchen any real power
she fiercely defends a set of arbitrary
oppressive rules that privately make her
miserable two years ago she told me that
hoop earrings were her thing and then I
wasn't allowed to wear them anymore her
status fails to command the respect of
the guy she's hung up on
and her best friend isn't even nice to
her that is so fetch Gretchen stop
trying to make fetch happen it's not
going to happen
nonetheless Gretchen is completely
subservient to her leader no matter how
badly she's treated the meaner Regina
was to her the more Gretchen tried to
win or Jeana back so what drives the
Gretchen's of the world to put up with
so much abuse just to retain their
positions near the top she knew it was
better to be in the plastics hating life
than to not be an adult through Gretchen
we can understand the mindset of the
follower type the one who falls in line
behind a cool authoritarian even if it
means giving up their own agency and
identity here's our take on Gretchen
wieners and why some people choose to
follow what they gain from it what they
lose and whether they can gain the
courage to go their own way so fetch
what is fetch oh it looks like England
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creativity grilling up female in this
world is not easy Mean Girls was
inspired by rosalind Wiseman's book
queen bees and wannabes a book of
parental advice on helping young girls
navigate the ruthless world of high
school and its strict social structures
to the outside world it looks like they
all are the best of friends but in that
group are very rigid hierarchies at the
top of these hierarchies Weisman
describes is the queen bee why are you
so obsessed with me directly beneath her
is what Weisman dubs the sidekick the
one who quote will back her no matter
what because her power depends on the
confidence she gets from the queen bee
but anyways on your left Weisman lays
out four characteristics of the queen
bee sidekick one she's jealous of
someone else being friends with the
queen bee why would Regina send you
those candy canes not me - if you're the
parent of the sidekick the queen bee is
your daughter's authority figure not you
I mean you wouldn't buy a skirt without
asking your friends first if it looks
good on you the third attribute of a
sidekick Weisman says is that she feels
like it's just the two of them and
everyone else is a wannabe she doesn't
even like you that much and finally
Weisman says parents will know your
daughter is a sidekick if you think her
best friend pushes her around give me
your phone teen movies and shows about
popular cliques ruling their schools
almost always feature the sidekick
character by the queen bee's side
jawbreakers Marcy is so submissive to
boss Courtney shame that she goes along
with a plot to cover up murder
no questions asked is your child a
follower and you know what hang on I was
deeply concerned because yes Oprah my
child is a follower the follower
character and Heather is
hether McNamara even attempts suicide
because she thinks all the cool kids are
doing it these stories illustrate that
the power of the cruel mean girl at the
top depends on the blind obedience of
the second-in-command yet perhaps none
of these stories get at the dark
complexity of the sidekicks mindset as
accurately as Mean Girls does through
Gretchen wieners while everyone in the
school knows Regina is secretly a mean
girl
the queen bee still wears a fake
sugary-sweet mask in front of most
audiences only Gretchen gets to see
fully into the unfiltered depths of the
Queens darkness if you even knew how
mean she really is this makes Gretchen
feel special would you wait
talk to me yet this illusion of intimacy
is just something Regina has cultivated
to control her subordinate and other
kinds of stories were used to seeing
sidekicks as largely noble characters
who support their leaders
unconditionally with little concern for
themselves but this relationship is only
as reciprocal as the leader allows and
when the leader is more villain than
hero
they're dynamic becomes more like a
master and servant they're gaining on us
sir we'll have to jettison something
in a manner to serve you sir Gretchen
exists solely as an extension of Regina
who gets the pleasure of carrying out
the dictators dirty work
Regina wanted me to give you this being
Regina's confidante also gives Gretchen
structural power and in theory leverage
over Regina maybe she feels weird around
me because I'm the only person that
knows about her nose job because she
alone holds the key to information that
could bring her superior down we got a
crack Gretchen weiners crack Gretchen
and we cracked the lock on Regina's
whole dirty history in this way Gretchen
also has elements of what Rosalind
Wiseman calls the banker type whose
specialty is banking information about
girls to use to her advantage later have
you seen the guys let you think you're
cute yet yet Gretchen is deeply
reluctant to wield that power over
Regina the sidekick relationship relies
on sublimating your own identity in
service of someone else's but what is it
about the Regina George's of the world
that inspires sidekicks willing to set
aside their own self-interest completely
for a leader who treats them so
disrespectfully even cruelly one of the
most excruciating ly difficult
experiences as a parent is to watch your
child follow somebody another kid who is
horrible who is mean what does Gretchen
get out of being a follower
what is she following Regina toward
some followers stay close to their
leader in hopes of overthrowing her and
becoming the top dog themselves I prayed
for the death of Heather Chandler many
times but a true sidekick personality
doesn't even think of replacing her boss
craving closeness to power rather than
power itself Gretchen's self identifies
as a number two Brutus is cute a Caesar
gave Brutus it's just a smartest Caesar
people totally like Brits just as much
they like Caesar instead of outright
power or dominance regina's followers
the plastics possess a specific type of
popularity that University of North
Carolina psychologist Mitch Princeton
calls status for the plastics 13 royalty
if North Shore was Us Weekly they would
always be on the cover through their
close proximity to Regina the focal
point of the school Gretchen and Karen
receive attention that gold standard of
teen world and thereby achieve status
likewise their friendship group isn't
bound together by liking each other but
by a shared sense of superiority which
is familiar to us from other depictions
of rich popular girls she's my friend
because we both know what it's like to
have people be jealous of us there are
people I work with in our job as being
popular and [ __ ]
also like other famous girl groups the
plastics affirm and maintain their
status through rituals of conspicuous
consumption and by being hyper vigilant
about their appearance it's all about
details if you don't pay attention to
detail you're due look at my nails while
Regina knows that her so-called rules
are arbitrary fictions she's made up to
control her peers whatever those rules
aren't real Gretchen's commitment to
these structures of the social hierarchy
is total if you break any of these rules
you can't suppress so much well I mean
not just yiling any of us her
unquestioning devotion to the laws of
the plastics mirrors the zeal of members
within a religious cult or an
authoritarian regime in our Regina
George video we looked at how Regina
illuminates the tactics and psychology
of a dictator and in traditional
autocracies there is often a private
army of enforcers who pledge allegiance
to the leader rather than the state it
was time to turn our attention to
army of skanks Karen who's known for
lacking smarts I could put my whole fist
in my mouth might represent the
dictators unquestioning mindless
soldiers meanwhile Gretchen who knows
everybody's private information
resembles and autocrats secret police
wieners hose everybody's business she
knows everything about everyone she
maintains Regina's control through
keeping a file containing each student's
weak points he's let it out honey put it
in the book as a wealthy heiress she's
totally rich because her dad invented
toaster strudel Gretchen is also
reminiscent of those rich citizens whom
savvy dictators co-opted into their
States rewarding them with prominent
positions in order to make them invested
in the system and neutralize any
potential threats to the dictators power
authoritarian structures like the ones
Gretchen seeks out thrive largely by
eliminating the need for their subjects
to make decisions for themselves you may
think he likes someone but he could be
wrong followers like Gretchen take
comfort in allowing someone else to
dictate their realities for them now
what would we do on any other day create
lunch touch-ups
Marcee and to clearly define the roles
they have to play it's the unspoken
truth of humanity that you crave
subjugation ultimately this
authoritarian structure is so successful
that the second-in-command ends up being
more invested in Regina's law and order
than Regina herself is you're wearing
sweat pants it's like even when
Gretchen's at last pushed to her
breaking point and betrays her leader
she desperately searches for a new
similar ruler to fill that top spot was
I the new queen bee then as the dictator
state itself is crumbling she refuses to
acknowledge the truth I'm sorry that
people are so jealous of me but I can't
help it that I'm popular and after the
dictatorship gives way to a new order of
freedom
Gretchen still manages to find a
subculture with rigid hierarchies where
she can continue being a subservient
number two and Gretchen found herself a
new clique and a new queen bee discern
Mean Girls ends with a triumphant
overthrow of the social order the queen
bee gets her comeuppance her power is
redistributed to her once oppressed
people and her former followers are
liberated and become self actualized in
similar stories - we derive pleasure
from the party message that the
influence of cruel leaders is limited to
that small short window of adolescence
Heather my love there's a new sheriff
but Gretchen's version of a happy ending
is still to remain a follower actress
Lacey Chabert imagines a hopeful
conclusion for her character I think
Gretchen's probably married with like
ten little babies running around him
feeding them toaster strudel every
morning I think she and Jason probably
got married she probably locked it down
with Jason and we might see some hope
for Gretchen in her friendship with
Karen which genuinely is a caring
reciprocal relationship Gretchen looks
out for Karen when others don't
and then you have your first cousins and
then you have your second cousin oh
honey that's not right is it
that is so not right and when everyone
else turns on Gretchen Karen is there to
catch her so Gretchen is capable of
forming positive bonds not based on
subservience to status get when we leave
her she's not hanging out with Karen
she's still putting her need for a
social hierarchy first unfortunately the
research suggests that someone like
Gretchen who continues to prize status
at the cost of her own individuality
will only bring herself future
unhappiness seeking status is a way of
putting your happiness into someone
else's hands saying the only way that I
will feel good is if everyone else
constantly tells me that I am high in
status according to them followers tend
to grow into anxious adults
dr. Prince Dean says more likely to
suffer from depression and addiction and
have trouble maintaining a career or
romantic relationship this makes sense
because Gretchen's commitment to being
the sidekick is also a commitment to the
unhealthy mental habits she's learned
from being in the plastics these Mean
Girls uphold their sense of superiority
by belittling others
check it out kay it's our burn book did
he cut out girls pictures from the
yearbook and rewrote comments seeking
refuge from their own issues with body
image and self-esteem they project their
anxiety outward as a relational
aggression toward others yet while this
gives the plastics an illusion of
control over the messiness of adolescent
life ultimately it doesn't work to ease
their deeper discontent rage and
self-doubt calling somebody else fat
won't make you any skinnier calling
someone stupid doesn't make you any
smarter while most people eventually
outgrow many of the worst aspects of
adolescent behavior the deeper dynamics
at play in high school cliques remain
ingrained in our very nature I knew how
this would be settled in the animal
world
our social behavior is an outgrowth of
primal instincts the same herd mentality
that allowed humanity to elude predators
and we can only assume that Gretchen's
habits will die hard
sadly the sidekicks of the world and
their follower mentality continue to
endure well into adulthood
maybe we're not in that book because
everybody likes us and I don't want to
be punished for being well-liked if
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