Cady Heron: The Erikson Stage Theory

During the opening scenes of the movie Cady’s dad is shown handing her a brown paper sack lunch and telling her that there is a dollar inside so that she will be able to buy milk during lunch, he then tells her that she can ask “one of the big kids” where to buy the milk at. This sounds more like a dad talking to his kindergartner on the first day of school, not a sixteen year old on her first day of high school. This is showing the relationship between Cady and her parents. You always see that even though they are not directly controlling her they are still babying her, which is a part of balancing freedom and control (Santrock 395). A big part of adolescent develop is their need to become independent and their aversion to authority figures because of the mind set that are always right and they know best because they are now growing up. One thing that parents have to strive to achieve is the balance of supporting the child’s newfound independence and their desire to still have control over what is best for their child. Another time that you see Cady’s relationship with her parents is when she asks if she can stay home one weekend without them because they have tickets to a show but she wants to go to Janis’ art show. They protest telling her that she always comes, but then change their minds because they think she is responsible enough to stay home by

Mean Girls is about a girl named Cady who joins an elite social group at her new school known as the Plastics. While socializing with the Plastics, Cady develops a new, mean girl, personality and ends up sabotaging the group’s leader, Regina, and becomes the new leader of the Plastics. Regina retaliates by spreading the burn book, a book the Plastics filled with insults and gossip about other students, around the school leading to a riot and Cady takes the blame. Cady realizes that her new personality is wrong and apologizes to the school, makes amends with her old friends, and forms a truce with Plastics who disband and become regular students (Mean Girls, 2004).

Regina George’s friend group is comprised of Karen and Gretchen. Their friendship is difficult at times. They share secrets among each other, for example the burn book is a secret between the girls. When Cady is included into the friend group she is then entrusted with the group’s secrets. This group of “Plastics” are friends by choice and always ask for each other’s

In Erik Erikson's stages of development, the identity vs role confusion theory coincides with Claire’s life tremendously. The identity vs role confusion is a theory where basically the question, “Who am I?” pops up to the teens head many times in order for them to find out what type of person are they. The teens usually hang out with many social groups or act a certain way in order to fit in with the norm or to feel at all comfortable with who they are. The identity vs role confusion usually involves teens who go through the ages of twelve through eighteen. In Claire’s perspective she experiences she experiences this theory in a way that she just tries to go with the flow. She just suppresses feelings just because she has no real friends or parents in her life. She has no grip on her personality

In the story “The White Heron” by Sarah Jewett, a young girl named Sylvia gives up a lot of money to save a rare bird called a white heron from being killed. The lesson I learned from this story is that you should never let greed keep you from doing what’s right. I really liked ready “The White Heron” because it was very descriptive of things like Sylvia and her surroundings. As I kept reading the story I felt like I connected with her. I also understood why she gave up the money to save the white heron. The reason for that is, I have always hated when people were trying to kill endangered animals. If I was in that kind of situation as Sylvia, I would have done the same thing she had done.

As Cady gets to know the plastics they begin to introduce her to The Burn Book. This book is a perfect example of prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice is hostile or negative feelings about people based on their membership in a certain group. Discrimination is behavior directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group. The Burn Book was a book that singled out anyone in their school whether it was fellow students or even faculty members, and would basically list things that were wrong with that person. For example, they stated in the book that one of their newly divorced female teachers was selling drugs on the side and that certain girls were fat and ugly. Some examples would also stereotype because of a part of sports team or group those students were part of. For example, the students that were part of a more man like sports team such as lacrosse or field hockey was considered “lesbians” or “dykes”.

The story begins when Cady meets two friends, Janis and Damien, who show Cady the ways of high school. This is a very normal way in reality and most would not think much of it. Unconsciously, Freud would say, that there is some sort of motive behind this behavior and that there is no possible way that there doing it just to be nice. But as the story goes on we do find out that Janis used to be best friends with Regina (queen bee of “the plastics”) and that their friendship ended due to Regina spreading a rumor that Janis was a lesbian. When Cady is asked by Regina to hang out she is very hesitant to do so and tells Janis what is happening. Janis gets overly excited and instantly her id, the pleasure seeking principle, of her behavior jumps into play causing her to completely ignore

The movie Mean Girls is about this new girl Cady Heron who becomes friends with The Plastics. Cady befriends this group of clique as a way to spy on them with the help of her friends Damian and Janis. In the Plastics Regina George can be seen as the Alpha of the group, Gretchen Wieners can be seen as an insecure person and Karen Smith was portrayed as an airhead. In the movie Cady begins to have a crush on Regina’s-ex boyfriend, Aaron Samuels, Regina finding out about this Kisses Aaron Samuels and become his girlfriend again purposely hurting Cady. Throughout the movie Regina can be seen doing mean things or saying mean things to other. According to the DSM-5 Histrionic Personality Disorder is categorized as a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionally and attention seeking, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.

An impending identity crisis is another contributing factor in Holden 's breakdown. According to Plotnik, "Identity refers to how we describe ourselves and includes our values, goals, traits, interests and motivations" (394). Erik Erikson theorized about identity by way of "eight developmental periods during which an individual 's primary goal is to satisfy desires associated with social needs" (Plotnik 393). These stages span from infancy to old age. During adolescence, Erikson views people in the psychosocial stage of identity vs. role confusion.

Regina’s “flawless” appearance established her power among other girls. Among high school girls, power is stereotypically established through looks. As shown in Mean Girls, girls will look up the person they feel has the ideal appearance. The random comments said about Regina indicate that she is idolized by many of the girls attending North Shore High School. Other girls know everything about her, because they want to be just like her. This entrenches Regina’s position at the school.

The film that I chose to do was the movie Mean Girls. This movie is filled with many funny characters and an amusing plot, but even though this movie has earned the crown of being the official “chick flick” it has a lot of psychological concepts that people really do not realize. However, when you really think about it, the movie has a lot to relate with when it comes to teenagers going into a new school because every teen that enters high school goes though the emotional and social stages of development. In this paper we will be looking at parts of the movie that focus on Cady and her stages of development as she goes through high school and deals with the Plastics, and then the Plastics themselves as well as certain aspects and things that revolve around them throughout the movie.

The need to create an identity for oneself is a strong human desire with an intensity that is equaled only by the craving to become part of a community. With such strong yearnings for individuality as well as a sense of attachment within a group, the most familiar consequence is conflicting emotions that are all too easily persuaded. The 2004 film Mean Girls exhibits various examples of identification and social influence as well as the level of persuasion they hold over the decision making process of the main character, Cady. After arriving at a new school, Cady is immediately accepted by two unpopular students, but then attempts to become noticed by the most popular group of girls, The Plastics. Once Cady is accepted by The Plastics, her moral compass, belief systems, and actions change in order to more closely reflect those around her and solidify her status

In the teen comedy Mean Girls, directed by Mark Waters, the protagonist (Cady Heron) is welcomed into the stereotypical high school setting after being raised in Africa for all of her educational path. Cady, never being in a public-school setting, comes across the Plastics: Regina George (unspoken leader), Gretchen Wieners (gossip queen), and Karen Smith (the stupid, clueless one), who are at the top of the social pyramid. Befriended by the girls, Cady is left to decide whether or not she belongs in this clique or if her place exists in a different one. Throughout the film satirist and comedic scenes are used to show the different sexist lenses and stereotypes that women are viewed with.

Erikson’s stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion (13-19 years old), was a crucial time for my brother and I, as my parents decided to put us back in public school. I was thirteen-years old at the time, just entering the eighth grade as a “new kid” in a very small rural community. This was beyond some of my toughest

Sibylla, a semi-awkward 16 year old, and Lou, a new girl with a no nonsense attitude, are thrust into the Australian wilderness for nine weeks, along with their classmates. Sibylla has to navigate her first relationship with Ben, a popular boy, and wonders what is up with the new girl. Meanwhile, Lou deals with the aftermath of losing her first love in a tragic accident, and is curious about why Sib puts up with her jealous and cruel best friend, Holly. As Sib explores her new relationship with Ben, Holly begins pushing Sib in a direction of which she is unsure. Lou, who would much rather be left alone by her bunkmates and therapist, branches out and befriends Michael, a friend of Sib’s, and a few other classmates. As the nine-week program