Mean Girls

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

This paper will provide a sociological analysis of Mean Girls broken down into two sections. Section one will explain why a sociologist would find the movie interesting, examining the movie from a functionalist perspective, providing an example of private troubles and public issues, and comparing the movie to North American culture. Section two will discuss the themes of socialization and culture by explaining terms related to each section and applying them to the movie.

The consequences of these people making their relationships expendables means they are pushing away and sacrificing the people that love them the most in order to obtain something they think they want/need, but overall has very low importance to their lives.

In Mean Girls, Cady’s conformity also comes with her increasing reliance on others. When Cady is a part of the plastics, she is reliant on praise of those she regards as inferior and the demise of Regina for happiness. She is incapable of being happy from her own approval, she requires that of others. For example, when Cady was informed that she was failing her calculus class, she could not rely on herself to feel better by fixing it, but had to push the blame to others and rely upon insulting other people to feel better. Unlike Cady, Bartleby is entirely self reliant. There is no one in his life that he relies on. Because of this, his actions are to him without consequence. Since there is no one’s approval to seek or disappointment to avoid he can act unrestrictedly as he wishes. This self reliance is another contributor to his fall, as his entirely self reliant decisions in the end cause him to starve. Together, the movie and the novella show that self reliance is a healthy quality so long as that person still has people to rely upon if need

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

She knew nothing of the cruelties of the high school world. During one scene in the movie, Cady’s teacher almost loses her job because of a lie that Cady spreads about the teacher dealing drugs.

Cady is used to living in a society, or a group of people that share the same beliefs and values as her, where adults trusted her, and she had the freedom to do almost anything she wanted. When she switched from homeschool to public high school, she was met with a new set of norms, or the behaviors that are expected by teachers and peers. Cady could not go to the restroom whenever she want; she

The classic movie 12 Angry Men opens with clips of a courthouse, ultimately panning to a specific court room where an 18-year-old boy is on trial for killing his father. Despite the case being the central point which the story revolves around, the movie isn’t about the boy or even his father. The movie is about the 12 jurors who are in charge of the boy’s fate. If they decide he is guilty, he is sentenced to the death penalty, which meant death by the electric chair.

Every individual has traditions passed down from their ancestors. This is important because it influences how families share their historical background to preserve certain values to teach succeeding generation. N. Scott Momaday has Native American roots inspiring him to write about his indigenous history and Maxine Hong Kingston, a first-generation Chinese American who was inspired by the struggles of her emigrant family. Kingston and Momaday manipulate language by using, metaphors, similes, and a unique style of writing to reflect on oral traditions. The purpose of Kingston’s passage is to reflect upon her ancestor’s mistake to establish her values as an American

The book Queenbees and Wannabees inspired Tina Fey to create a film which soon became Mean Girls. Fey called and pitched her idea to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels who then contacted Paramount Pictures. Paramount Pictures then bought the rights to the book. Although the book was nonfiction Tina Fey wrote the plot based on her own high school experiences. As far as casting goes Lindsay Lohan first read for Regina George but feared that the "mean girl" would ruin her reputation and the producers also saw her better fit for the part of Cady.

It is amazing how much abuse, hazing, and punishment people will go through just to be accepted into a group (be it a Frat, Sorority, or life in general). Real life for minorities is not as easy as its polished representation on television. Many people every day and nearly everywhere suffer because of their living conditions and even their race.

Rhetoric is a course in which students are taught the values of persuasion. And yet, behind this course is the utmost power to corrupt the world, changing it into a world of our own policies. This power, even though seldom discussed, has lead to many intriguing discoveries. One such discovery is how people are able to shape the world they live in simply by choosing the right words. Therefore those who would want the world to be a better place must protect this power. If in the wrong hands this power could cause serious damage. Several authors have striven to protect rhetoric and its power. Few agree on the matter of defining rhetoric, but they know that they must protect rhetoric from dark souls. A single definition of rhetoric must maintain a simplistic nature while incorporating every aspect of rhetoric. However, I argue that rhetoric is a means of persuading audiences of a situation and a particular reality through language and personal appeal. In order to prove this definition I will discuss how rhetoric creates a situation, the shaping of a different reality, the audience, the use of language, and the personal appeal. Finally, I will demonstrate the absolute need for rhetoric.

The author explains to us that many women are subject to subservient functions (Lakoff 46). The roles the sexes play in society have a determination in how they are treated Robin states (Lakoff 46). She tells us about her first hand experiences of this, which cause the reader to sympathize for her (Lakoff 46). The author thinks that we will find two different ways of discrimination women face in language. The author explains the way that women are taught to use language and the way that general language treats them (Lakoff 46). This is where the reader starts to see the problems that women may face. The rhetorical strategy ethos used helps the reader feel for her cause as if it were happening to them first hand. This makes the reader aware of what is going on. At this point the audience can start to

This will be an introduction to a few of the functions of education and how they relate to the experiences of Cady Heron in the movie “Mean Girls”.

Twelve Angry Men is about a jury who must decide the fate of an 18 year old boy who allegedly killed his father. The jury must determine a verdict of guilty beyond any reasonable doubt and not guilty. A guilty verdict would mean that the accused would receive the death penalty. After a day of deliberation and many votes, they came up with the verdict of not guilty. I believe they achieved their overall goal of coming up with a verdict they were all able to agree with. It seems there were some individual personal short term goals that were not met. One being that the one juror was not able to go to the baseball game. Another was that a juror was not able to take out the anger he had towards his son on the son accused of killing his