Mean Girls- Film Analysis

Mean Girls is a comedic drama based on a book by Rosalind Wiseman. It was directed by Mark Waters and released in 2004. The movie stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried. The main setting is in Illinois, in their high school. Some of the other settings include the houses of the main characters.

Lindsay Lohan plays Cady (pronounced like Katie) Heron who grew up in Africa, because her parents are zoologists. At the age of fifteen she finally goes to a public school after being home schooled her whole life. When she arrives at school she befriends Damian, who is played Daniel Franzese and Janis Ian, portrayed by Lizzy Caplan. While sitting with the two they tell Cady of the Plastics. The Plastics are one of the "cliques" in their high school. There are the nerdy Asians, the cool Asians, the band geeks, the burnouts. What sets the Plastics apart from the other groups is that they are the most popular, the most feared, and the most envied and the most vicious. Cady is told to stay away from them but by a chance of fate they are introduced.

The plastics consist of Gretchen Wieners, which is played by Lacey Chabert, whose father invented Toaster Strudel. Gretchen is considered as the gossip queen of the group. She knows everyone's business and swears the she will keep their secrets although she is incapable of doing so. Karen Smith, played by Amanda Seyfried, is considered the dumbest girl alive. While telling Cady about her Damian says" I sat to her next to her in class last year and she asked me how to spell orange" The "Queen Bee" of the plastics is Regina George, who is played by Rachel McAdams. Regina is the one who controls the other girls and they are her followers, although she would not have the power if she didn't have them by her side.

While walking through the cafeteria one day Cady gets an invite to sit with the plastics at lunch for the rest of the week. Although she did not agree to sit with them she gets persuaded to do it in order to ruin the plastics by Janis. Janis has a grudge against Regina and although the viewers are not aware of the reasons of her hate, we soon learn why later. Janis used to be best friends with Regina, until they got to eight grade. Regina started to become popular and not Janis. Regina also began to have other friends and decided to tell everyone that Janis was a lesbian because she still wanted to hang out with Regina.

Cady begins to hang out with the plastics while Janis decides ways to break up Regina's empire. She turns Gretchen and Karen against Regina. Even though Regina is trying to loose weight she get these nutrition bars that Cady tells her is supposed to make her loose weight, all the while they are making her gain more weight. Regina also had gotten back with her ex-boyfriend, who Cady had begun to like. Regina was also cheating on her boyfriend so they decided to find away to make her boyfriend catch her. When Regina falls apart the only person who is there to take her place is Cady. Cady then becomes the "Queen Bee" of the plastics. She looses herself and becomes a dictator like Regina. Things were going great for Cady until she begins to forget who her real friends are. She becomes just as sneaky and manipulative as the people around her.

Humor is an often-used tool in this film. This movie is a hilarious satire as it makes fun of shallow high school students. Everything is a bit exaggerated and all of the characters are stereotypes. The story's time sequence is manipulated only in the beginning where there are flashbacks of Cady's past in Africa. This is to convey the differences between Africa and the suburban town Cady moves to.

Many diverse characters fuel the plot of this film. The story is told in the point of view of the main character, Cady. She is red- haired and freckle faced. She has a natural beauty that does not require make-up. She has this look about her to convey things about her past. She grew up in the jungles of Africa where she was never concerned about her appearance. When she moved to suburbia she didn't have what the other girls in school would call "fashion sense." In the beginning of the film she wears big T-shirts and her hair is pulled back in a simple pony- tail. As the story progresses and she becomes more and more consumed with the superficial high school world, she begins to dress trendier. She wears make-up and begins to look more done up. Her crush, Aaron, notices these changes at her house party as he tells her, "You lookÐ'...new clothes?" When he says this he is confused ad a bit disappointed. The unique girl that he fell for is now dressing more like a typical teenager.

Cady speaks eloquently and without fillers such as "like" and "whatever." She doesn't know the common lingo. Therefore, she does not understand sarcastic humor. When she sits with the Plastics at lunch for the