Popular Girls

The adolescent years are a tough struggle for any young adult experiencing body changes, mood swings, and social issues and when mass media places even more pressure on teens to dress or act in a particular way it only adds additional stress and anxiety. Most teenagers’ want to be part of the in-crowd and some will do whatever it takes to climb to the top to be accepted or “cool”. The high society adolescents in Gossip Girl are no different, they are portrayed as self-centered teens, who think class, money and designer clothes will get them whatever they want.

It is understandable that the young girls decide to go out in secret and dance and act silly to release all the pressure put on by society. When society labels such activities as “abominations” or “vain enjoyment” the girls have no other choice but blame others for their abominable behavior out of fear of punishment. If the girls were able to express their own individuality or as the people call “vain enjoyment,” the girls would not feel the need to hide their acts in the forest making it seem like their acts are shameful. In addition with a moderate amount of freedom for self-expression, the girls would not feel the same need to rebel and act out in secret. Essentially the girls truly desire freedom from judgment.

The fact that the students in this movie actually become friends at the end shows that when looking at this situation from a sociological view, it can be said that cliques are not always what defines people. Cliques can be a negative and a positive thing. Obviously the negatives to cliques are that people get labeled into stereotypes which can be hurtful to some, and that people isolate themselves from other peers that are not in the clique. Positives of cliques can be that the people in the group have a sense of belonging, support from their friends during tough times, and also have a form of identity.

The film begins with a long shot of a neighborhood path filled with trees, presumably where the Lisbon family moves in. The trees, which appear healthy and lush, are actually “sick inside”—infected with Dutch Elm Disease. This serves as a metaphor for the Lisbon sisters, who appear beautiful on the outside, but suffer from severe oppression, isolation, and mental disorder. In addition, shortly before their suicides, the girls reach out to the neighborhood boys—leaving clues of the Virgin Mary, using light signals through the windows, and sharing songs over the phone—as a means of communicating and releasing their feelings. In this scene, Coppola reduces color vibrancy to highlight the lack of freedom and liveliness in the girls’ lives. The cooler tones evoke feelings of depression, longing, and sadness; and the dull, mysterious, uniform atmosphere parallels their inability to branch out and develop an identity. This scene reminds the audience that the girls suffer greatly from authoritarian rule. The constant shifts between warm and cool colors create two different worlds and emotions. This film shows the isolated girls taking supposed power into their own hands through, none other than, suicide—a form of escapism “deeper

According to the Webster dictionary, a clique is defined as “a small group of people with shared interests or other features in common who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them” (Merriam Webster's Online dictionary).

With a largely female cast this film is set up to provide excellent representation for girls. There are still some issues though. For example the ‘plastics’ who are the popular girls are very thin, attractive and often show more skin than the other students. For example in the Christmas showcase the four girls in the group wear short leather dresses with black knee high leather boots. One example of where Regina, the leader of the plastics, is shown to be obsessed about her weight is during a dress fitting where she can’t fit into the dress there is a close up on her shocked face showing that she is distraught about this. One reading of this is that in order to be popular you must be very thin and show off your body which is not good representation especially when it comes to young girls watching this film and being influenced by this and want to be like this in order to be popular. Another reading however is that who is obsessed about her weight, is the antagonist and therefore is not someone to be looked up to. One positive representation is that it expresses the message that girls shouldn’t degrade other girls. Ms. Norbury tells a room full of girls that “you all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores”. This is an important message for the young girls watching the film that shows them that

Throughout The Virgin Suicides we have been given the image of the Lisbon girls as an entity or one being. Additionally the boys have generally idealized the girls almost likening them to sexual goddesses. However, when some of the boys take the remaining Lisbon girls to the dance there is an important turning point in the story. The boys come to see that the girls are more normal than they have imagined them to be and that they are indeed their own individuals despite their similarities in looks. Kevin, one of the boys, said “They weren’t all that different from my sister” (118-119). The boys come to see the girls as more real than the one animal with ten arms type image that has been conveyed to us throughout the story. A particularly interesting

These three women represent society’s response to change and individuality, as well as how society will treat one that does not conform to societal norms and traditions.

The narrow set of representation of women and objectification of women in modern mass media is an inequality the band Misterwives strongly protests against in the song Not Your Way. This is shown through the metaphor “Fill us up with plastic and cut us up and tie a bow” portrays the pressures society places on women to look a certain way and how it can drive them to physically modify themselves to try and obtain the ideal of beauty. Their only job is to stand there and look pretty. They are standing up and being their own people not controlled by society or following its

Cliques are groups where there is some kind of common factor among all members, whether everyone is a cheerleader, or everyone is in the chess club. These cliques have their own unique way of doing things: their own table to sit at during lunch, their own desks in a classroom, and their own

One type of clique is the frat boys. Frat is a man who is in a college fraternity. A fraternity is a group of men who are bonded together by brotherhood. Certain things attract guys to this type of brotherhood. Personality is the key factor, because all the men are similar in this. Outgoing, friendly, and bold are some the personalities present. Frats can be broken into multiple houses, such as Farmhouse, Kappa Sigma, and Alpha Pie Alpha. The frats are known for their parties. Brothers and beautiful women are the only ones allowed. Monthly fees are required. Money goes toward alcohol, since

She wonders about how much one person can do to change her fate as a woman; to be veiled, hidden, ridiculed, and abused. Her brothers juxtapose her, being boisterous and open, simply because they can. Since they are boys, they are valued and have a freedom that women

As I look around, they don't do it like my clique, clique, clique, clique, clique

The solidarity of sisterhood becomes readily apparent with the women in this play. There are couple indications one could assume that the women form a unity. The first indication is that the women form a bond is because they act through

"Popular girls" is a short story from 2001 by Karen Shephard. She is born and raised in New York and her work has been published in several papers. The short-story sets in the early 80's where we get some insight in the life of five rich and popular girls. They are self-centered and don't have the slightest interest in other people. Their entire life is about maintaining their image as a group. The setting is New York, which is the riches city in the US. The city is also known as The big Apple and The city that never sleeps. This reflects in the mentality of these girls. They do speed, and not weed, because they want to get through school as fast as possible. They want to live life in the fast-lane and do extravagant things.