Mean Girls

Gender stereotypes in the media are an example of some of the negative stereotypes the media pushes on society. They use advertisements targeting males and stereotyped female parts is in movies and shows to constantly reinforce the message “that a woman’s value lies in her appearance and sexuality”(Berland). This is detrimental to our society because all

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).

Mean Girls is a comedy directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. Cady Heron is the new girl in town who moved from Africa. She instantly makes friends with two teenagers that are nice (Damian and Janis) whom, are considered in the "out crowd." After she meets the Plastics (three rude and popular girls), consisting of Regina the leader, Gretchen (Regina’s follower), Karen is considering one of the dumbest people you will meet. They let her in their group, where Cady falls for Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels. When Regina finds this out, she wants revenge. However, Cady, Janis and Damian plan together to get back at Regina and take her down from the head plastic. While planning revenge, Cady

Television, movies, songs, and social media are the cultured lenses in which we view the world. What we perceive through a screen can change where we stand on certain topics; for example, gender messages and body images.

Deciding what is most important in life is often a struggle, especially during high school. Mean Girls is a teen comedy film loosely based on the self-help book titled Queen Bees and Wannabes. The main character is a high school student named Cady that just moved from Africa and has been homeschooled her whole life. The American culture and society she is introduced to is embodied by the Plastics, who are the most popular girls at North Shore High: Regina, Gretchen, and Karen. The pressure put on Cady by society causes her to struggle to decide what her priorities should be. Mean Girls criticizes the traditional notions of femininity that are expected of women, as they are not required for them to be successful and accomplished.

Media has the ability to reinforce any stereotypical image with most viewers unaware that they are being unconsciously exposed to this material (Kenschaft et al. 2015,

Cady Heron is a 16 year old teenager who moved to a small town in Chicago where she also attended Northshore High School. She was homeschooled by her parents and they also stayed in Africa for about 12 years because of her parents job but since her mom got an offer in Chicago they have to move back. Since it was her first time going to a mainstream school, it was really hard for her to adapt especially her age. It would also be her first time dealing with a lot of social rules that many teenage girls deal with today. Her first friends that she met at this new school are pretty much complete outcasts, Janice Ian Dyke and Damien, later on she finds herself crossing paths with the three most popular girls in the school called, The Plastics. Regina George who’s “The Queen Bee” of the group, leading this group of 3 girls, tries to make Cady be apart of this clique by introducing her to their crazy rules and luxury lifestyles. She told Janice and Damien that

The media has become the world’s largest oppression outlet. Whether it be through movies, TV shows, or real-life news, the media has become capable of shifting one’s view on either yourself or other groups of people. Types of oppression that can result from the media include, but are not limited to, internalized oppression and interpersonal oppression. Internalized oppression is when a member of an oppressed group believes and acts out the stereotypes created about their group. Interpersonal oppression, on the other hand, is the belief that one group of people are superior to another group of people. Essentially, the media broadcasts ideas from interpersonal oppression and causes internalized oppression through the

Are Girls To Mean To Each Other I do believe that girls are to mean to each other because well with girls there's always something. It could be an argument, fighting over a boyfriend, something someone said on the internet, or they just don’t like each others. Honestly I don’t know why girls are even like that I mean us guys we don’t really trip off of what people say about us.

Cady enters her first classroom and meets two interesting classmates; Janis, an apparently goth outsider with a artistry for revenge, and Damian, an outgoing friendly fellow who Janis describes as, “Too gay to function”. The two amigos view Cady as a cry for help and take it upon themselves to inform her of the most prestigious and superficial clique in the school, the Plastics. The Plastics’ leader is Regina George;an arrogant, malignant bitch whose taste for evil is only matched by her beauty and will to dominate. Janis describes her perfectly,

“Mean Girls” has produced a fan cult like following. It also fully portrays the real struggles of High School. This pure classic can be fully understood by all age groups. Tina Fey used Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman as the basis for this outrageous comedy. Not only has it become a social icon that fully represents literally archetype such as, the queen bee, loss of innocence, and the outcast. The Settings played a huge part in the “close to home’ factor and the two major locations were the high school and the dance.

The constant presence of the media in our lives continues the trend because men, women, and even children receive these messages continuously and reinforce them when they actually absorb and act on them. The documentary explores how there is a prevalent idea

Cady Heron grew up in africa and was homeschooled by her scientist parents. Cady moves to Illinois and enters the scary reality of public high school. She is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school. They are gorgeous, rich, exclusive girls led by a evil Barbie doll named Regina George. Cady be friends with social outcasts Janis and Damian. She makes the mistake of liking Aaron Samuels, Regina’s ex boyfriend. Regina is quick to resolve the problem resulting in a very angry Cady. Cady stays close to The Plastics in order to give Regina a dose of her own medicine. The trouble is, the more Cady pretends to be a Plastic, the more she becomes one. She sets out to teach Regina a lesson, but learns a valuable one herself:

Studies regarding gender roles in media show that the feminine essence tends to be depicted as inferior, with women often being marginalized, disempowered and humiliated through a status that is based on their youth and looks; whilst men tend to be portrayed as superior with higher and longer lasting careers

As a Communication major, I spend a lot of time studying the human communication process, which is the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between a receiver and sender. This communication process does not only apply to face-to-face interactions but also includes mass media, rhetorical, and technological communication. Through these various forms of communication, the sender not only expresses his/her message but also expresses power hierarchies about race, gender, and sexuality that are present in society. Mass media has a significant impact on socializing gender roles and perpetuating gender stereotypes, and to prove that, I am analyzing mass media messages, such as television shows, movies, and advertisements.