Okay, you’re going to think that this is so weird, but Mean Girls is actually one of the movies that my parents let me watch in order to get excited about moving to America. To be honest, I’m glad that they let me watch it, because it has become such a teenage cult classic, and it was an essential contribution to the formation of modern popular culture.
Now, you may be thinking how a movie about conniving, egotistical, and manipulative girls are supposed to give me confidence about moving to a new, unfamiliar country. But trust me, Mean Girls is so much more than a movie about superficial teenagers who only care about popularity. In fact, I found myself relating a lot to the main character, Cady Herron.
Mean Girls is a story about Cady Heron, who was trying to adapt to the American public high school culture. Cady was a homeschooled transfer student from Africa, and therefore moving to the United States was such a culture shock for her. She had no idea how to make friends in her new high school, and almost everyone thinks she’s weird. Eventually, she meets the “art geeks” who teach her the social hierarchy of their high school. When Cady was finally starting to get into the groove of things, she gets noticed by the girls at the top of the social hierarchy — The Plastics. These girls are rich, superficial, and deeply admired by the public. Cady was invited into their clique and was able to see that these girls that looked like they had it all, were actually pretty flawed. After taking over the queen bee, a hundred unfortunate mishaps, and an awkward school assembly, Cady ends up discovering who she really is and what she truly values.
Mean Girls is a movie about self-discovery. I think the main way that the movie shows that is through it’s depiction of a typical American public high school setting. In an environment where there’s a social hierarchy and certain expectations about where you fit in, it’s hard for teenagers to find their voice in the midst of all that chaos. A lot of the times in high school, you try to fit yourself into a box, or a certain stereotype. You think that you’re a specific type of person because you fit in best with these types of people. In addition to that, most people in a public high school were looking to climb the social hierarchy. But the movie shows that maybe that hierarchy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The movie communicates that that amount of social power and influence makes you lose sight of who you truly are, because you’re too busy being who everyone else expects you to be. At the same time, this movie shows that in order to discover yourself, you don’t necessarily have to fit the mold or limit yourself to a certain box. You’re free to be whoever you choose. I think that in this movie, Cady finds out not only who she is, but what it’s like to be a genuinely good person.
This movie is so relatable to teenagers across the United States, because, chances are, their high school was a lot like Cady’s. They know all about the social hierarchy, and how popularity is a form of power. Mean Girls highlights these qualities of public school culture, and critiques it’s influence on the younger generation. It’s showing teens that gaining popularity is a sacrifice of your morals, values, and overall good intentions. I think it’s a pretty inspiring movie too, because it’s teaching young people, especially young women, that you have every right to control who you are and that high school stereotypes shouldn’t be a defining factor for you.
Favorite Quote: “I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school… I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy…”
Culture Shock Cinema 