HOW DOES MEAN GIRLS CAPTURE IDENTITY ISSUES IN ADOLESCENCE?

capture self identity issues in adolescence?

Mean Girls, from the title, tells us that this film is about how those brief years of teenagerhood are always circling around the questions of ‘who am I?’ and ‘who do I want others to think I am?’. Every character is deep down desperate to be mean, to be able to blame someone else for their unhappiness in their social community. But the film wants the audience to know that this is about “girls” not “women”; it’s about a transient stage that they can and will grow out of. Cady morphs into a ginger Regina George by nature, following a some-what outdated idea of girlhood where you blindly follow the leader. Cady has no identity outside of being the new-girl from a different country- which from personal experience, doesn’t carry as a sole personality trait- and she does what she’s told out of fear from rejection. Janis and Damian take her under their wing, and throw her under Regina’s, using Cady as a clean slate to live their revenge fantasy, and stripping her and themselves of purpose. Cady is no longer lost in this new place, but she still has no true identity, losing her passion and avoiding the things that made her stand out otherwise. Janis’ identity was being Regina George’s counter, her archnemesis, and once Cady replaces her and stops being “friends” with Janis and Damian, she has to switch her anger and her personal arc, and with that goes her sense of self in a meltdown that makes her admit she is also ‘mean’. The channel ‘The Take’ explores Janis’ character in one of their videos, emphasizing how despite Janis’ hatred for Regina, the two used to be friends- ‘The Plastics’ still use Janis’ choreography, so their friendship must have been on a similar level of intimacy. The two rivals must have, at one point, had something in common that they ditched to adopt polarizing personalities in order to stand out, either as the top of the pyramid or completely outside of it. Coming-of-age films often paint teenage years as years of extremes, where you cannot be in the middle of anything, otherwise, you’ll forever be unnoticed. People are either desirable, so everyone follows their every move, or they’re low-profile yet clever and different enough that they don’t blend in but no in-between where they have not yet formed a strong personality. Mean Girls tries to eradicate this idea towards the end of the movie, as anger unites all teenagers desperate to fight whoever tried to sum up their identity in this amalgamation of such different people. Years later, films like Booksmart (2020) emulate that, forming the story around the basis that you can live a fulfilling life without forcing yourself into a certain group or denomination, and that your sense of self should not be tied down to whether you’re a popular kid, a smart one or just a bit weird. Mean Girls is just as relevant now as it was in 2004, as social media has been tirelessly trying to categorise everyone into a group or aesthetic, as to encourage consumerism through the promise of ‘belonging’. Cady is uninitiated and overwhelmed by the number of cliques presented to her in the cafeteria, and despite her initial motives she ends up becoming a plastic because it is the only group with no pre-requisite but to put the effort in to become one. The other groups require a hobby or even a race to be part of it, but The Plastics are simply pretty with a strict set of rules. The end of the film shows how identity and teenagehood are both spaces to grow, to learn and make mistakes, as everyone finds their own space to belong to. Overall, identity is rooted in community and the people surrounding the characters, whether it be Gretchen and the Cool Asians, or Regina and the Lacrosse team, the girls are at their happiest when they find their community stemming from their interests and personalities and not vice-versa. words by: Francesca Ionescu design by: Ananya Ranjit