Choice Assignment #2 The Plastics a.k.a Rulers of the School

For the second choice assignment I decided to do an analysis of the teen film "Mean Girls". I focused my analysis on teenage cliques and how they influence the high school culture, since most of the film is about a teenage girl, Cady, becoming one of the popular girls at school know as "The Plastics". The Plastics set the rules for the rest of the school. They are the most fashionable girl's in school with designer clothes and handbags and expensive cars, all of which their parents spoiled them with. They are the ones that every teenage girl aspires to be and every teenage boy wants to date. The Plastics sit at their own special table at lunch and have certain rules that each in the clique has to follow. The ring leader of The Plastics is Regina and she tells the other members of the clique what to do, what to say, what to wear, who to date. When The Plastics walk through the hallway the whole school stops and stares at them in amazement. They are the coolest in school and if you aren't with them then you are a nobody. Cady is new to the school and when trying to find her place among the social groups in the school, somehow ends up falling under Regina's spell and joining The Plastics. So much of this film reminds me of when I was in high school and seeing the "popular girls" dress the same, act the same, walk the same, thinking they are the queen bee's of the school.
The name Plastics is so critical of what the clique is all about. To me, plastic means fake, artificial and the girls in this clique are exactly that. There is no individuality or self-expression among the plastics. They are in a sense clones of each other and feel that they have to live up to what everyone else in the school thinks they are. I feel that The Plastics are completely self-centered and have in a sense, lost their identity. They would betray each other in a heartbeat, if it meant that they were going to get what they wanted. The Plastics give us a glimpse of what it is like in the world of teenager girls. To them image is everything and social status defines who you are. So many teenage girls change who they are, just so they can fit in with the popular clique, not realizing that being popular means nothing once you are in the real world. This film shows us how evil and destructive teenage girls can be to one another and how they can be a menace to their environment. If something goes on within their group, the whole school hears about it and then rumors and lies begin a vicious cycle of betrayal and deceit. I believe that this film teaches us that being a teenage girl and being part of the popular clique is a way of life that leads to the lose of identity and caring only about yourself and your own needs. Being in a popular clique forces you to change the person you are deep down inside and judge others around you not by why they are inside, but by the superficial things such as appearance and what social group they belong to. They look past the uniqueness of individuality and see conforming to each other's norms and rules, as the most important thing in life.
A course text that relates to this is "The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager" by Thomas Hine. There is a quote in this reading that I feel relates to the idea of teenagers trying to fit into social groups and it says, "Figuring out where they fit in-to the universe, the world, the economy, their social circle, their family-is a project on which teenagers spend a lot of their time and energy." (Hine 2) Another quote I found in the reading says, " The teen years have become defined not as an interlude but rather as something central to life, a period of preparation and self-definition, a period of indulgence and unfocused energy." (Hine 11) This relates to the teenage girls in the film, who are indulging in all that popularity has to offer them and not focusing on the important things in life such as true friendship and respecting others.
Another course text that relates to the film is found in the Preface to fast forward, by Lauren Greenfield. She says that, "... young people are preoccupied with becoming other than they are." This is true for The Plastics, as their only concern is looking perfect and acting like each other. They are not showing any individuality as they dress the same, talk the same, walk the same, which occupies their whole existence. Another quote about teens that relates to the film says," They have spent less time with their parents than children of previous generations and have been increasingly socialized by the media and by each other." The teenage girls in the film are influenced by each other's appearance, attitude, and the way they act. Their main focus is to be something they are not. They are not being true to themselves, but to the social clique in which they belong to.