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Stereotypes In Mean Girls

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Stereotypically, men and women have very different roles in the eyes of society. Gender roles and stereotypes have a history in religious, political, legal and economic systems. In reality, men and women are more alike than most people assume. Throughout the world there are struggles with identity, power, and violence occurring everyday between both men and women. The film Mean Girls, directed by Mark Walters, follows a young girl, Cady’s, transition from being home schooled to public high school. Cady enters the school’s group of mean girls, otherwise known as “the plastics”, which consists of Regina George, Gretchen Wieners, and Karen Smith. Throughout the film each character struggles with their true identity. …show more content…

Similar to the stereotype of physical appearance connected to identity, appearance is also connected to power among the girls in Mean Girls. Because of the role appearance plays in one’s identity and power, Regina George in Mean Girls pays close attention to her appearance. While watching Regina and her friends attend their P.E. class, Janis and Damian explain Regina George to Cady.
JANIS: Regina George. How do I even begin to explain Regina George?
RANDOM COMMENTS ABOUT REGINA: Regina George is flawless. She has two Fendi bags and a silver Lexus. I hear her hair is insured for $10,000. I hear she does car commercials in Japan. Her favorite movie is “Varsity Blues.” One time she met John Stamos on a plane. And he told her she was pretty. One time she punched me in the face. It was awesome.

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. In contrast to Regina and other girls from Mean Girls, the boys on the island use fear to establish power. There are

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