What I researched and why: With so many different aspects of this movie already being analyzed on this blog, I decided to try to take a look at how the movie was marketed. I wanted to find out who they were marketing this movie to, how they were doing it, and what they were saying about the mean girl phenomenon in the process. So, I searched for movie posters, trailers and other promotional material to see what i could find.
What I found: The best thing I found was an official movie trailer on YouTube. Here's the link: Trailer
Fast foreword to right around the 1:41 mark. I didn't think that this clip was going to do much for me before this part, but it ends up working really well. The scene starts with Lohan's character saying "I knew how this would be settled in the animal world" before knocking over the blond girl in the cafeteria and roaring like a lion. She then says "But this was girl world-- All the fighting had to be sneaky."
My Interpretation: While this is a very basic idea from the mean girl theory, it is interesting that the people in charge of this movie decided to include this in the marketing towards its younger audience. The clip from this trailer glorifies meanness. By contrasting their meanness against animal violence and savagery, they are making high school drama look more sophisticated and even like a better alternative. (It is no coincidence that their animal-like behavior in the dream sequence mirrors stereotypically violent actions taken by boys.) This trailer is saying that it's OK for girls to spread rumors, secretly make fat or do any other "mean" act of "sneaky" fighting. It's almost as if they are saying that emotional abuse is less harmful and more sophisticated than physical abuse. But unlike the movie, there is no real resolution or closure in the end-- the clip ends with all mean actions go unpunished.
What This Adds to the Class Discussion: This brings the class full circle, connecting our last media (Mean Girls) and one of our first (Little Red Riding Hood). This trailer combines the mean girl phenomenon with the controversial distinctions between savageness and civilization. Are the girls more civilized because they use words instead of fists? What does is this trying to say about the severity of this kind of emotional bullying? This is also interesting from the non-literary, marketing perspective. Is this a responsible way for the movie makers to display such mean acts (downplaying their severity and glorifying them) to impressionable young girls? Could a movie trying to dissect this phenomenon also be strengthening it? And, what about the inevitable number of girls who see this trailer and never get to see this movie? Since they never get the end message of the movie, what do they learn about meanness? Is it the trailer maker's responsibility to set a better example?
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14 comments:
There were so many good questions and ideas brought up in this blog post, so to respond to a couple. I also have wondered since seeing this movie, if the message backfired and this phenomenon was strengthened among girls in school. But if anything, I think, it brought the mean girl idea to the forefront of people's minds and gave it attention it needed. I thought it was also very interesting to discuss whether movie trailers have a responsibility to the young impressionable viewers. And personally I think it's a good trailer, shows that the movie is a comedy about this whole mean girl idea and yes, while it does show savagery amongst the characters, there is at the end, the scene where they do trust falls where they speak their feelings, this shows the movie will have some finality and a message.
I actually disagree with the statement that perhaps the fighting in "girl world" is a BETTER alternative to the fighting in "animal world." As was said in the blog itself, no actual answers are given (which I also disagree with given the ending of the film). While the fighting in girl world is "sneaky" I do not like to think that it is more "sophisticated" than the sheer effectiveness of the way disbutes are settled in animal world. Maybe that sounded like some twisted look into my personality, what I'm trying to say is that the sneakiness of girl world is NOT sophisticated. I find it immature and unprogressive to the gender. Okay, now I sound like yeah-girl power. There's nothing sophisticated to high school foppery in my opinion! Whew.
This blog did bring up a lot of good points. I think one of the reasons that the mean girl phenomenon has taken such a long time to surface is because it doesn't involve physical violence as much. While some people may see this as less brutal, I agree that the "sneakiness" can be just as damaging to children and teens. We all remember the mean girls in our past, so clearly they had an effect on us. For this reason, I think it's good that movies such as mean girls are at least exposing the issue. It will probably be a process to try and find any solution to such a big problem, but I think drawing attention to the issue is a step in the right direction.
I think that the play between the savage, physical fighting of animals and the sneakier fighting of girls reaches its peak when the two ideas collide and all the girls physically and savagely fight each other. Cady sees this fighting and blinks her eyes to make it go away, but realizes that it is real this time, not just in her head. It seems like this fight scene could be a dramatization of the emotional violence caused by the sneaky fighting of girls, considering the intervention scenes that happen afterwards are all about dealing with inner emotions and feelings and how to channel them into productive things. Anyway, I really liked how the physical aggression of animals and the relational aggression of girls literally came together in the fight scene, drawing clear parallels between the type of fighting found in girl world and the type of fighting found in the animal world.
I believe that the fighting in animal world is actually better than fighting in 'girl world'. Fighting in the animal is very savage and raw. The animals use actual physical violence, instead of mental violence. I believe that most of the time mental violence is actually worse then the physical violence. The mental violence can lead to the girl doing the physical violence to herself. Also the mental violence that girls experience can last much longer than physical violence. An example of this would be how Janis dropped out of school for a year and then returned a bitter person towards Regina.
I dont think that the point of the movie is to glorify violence and meanness in girls as much as it is making a complete mockery of it. Obviously this movie was highly calculated and every scene has intentional meaning behind it. It is important to remember that the people making this movie are part of our culture at large, which is what is arguably producing such mean girls. I think that this phenomenon created itself and is perpetuated by culture and media today. This film does a good job at poking fun at the mean girl epidemic, but does not offer any real soltions to it, which is most troubling to me.
I agree with Jeff in that this movie did bring the mean girl phenomenon to the for front. Before this movie I hadn't really heard of this, however, being a girl I definately understood it and knew what it was all about. However, I am worried about the fact that a movie has been made to advertise this phenomenon to young and impressionable girls. I remember learning about the idea of desensitization (the more times you see something, the less you are affected by it, AND the more you are accepting of it). Therefore, while this movie might make people aware of the mean girl phenomenon, the people who are impacted by it (girls), already know it exists. By making it funny and advertising it, it's making this phenomenon funny, making people think the actions of these girls is acceptable.
I completely agree with Megan's comment on this topic. After reading this blog post, I was thinking the exact same thing even before reading Megan's comment. I believe that mental abuse can be far more damaging to a person's spirit than physical abuse can. This goes back to the age old saying, "Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me." I never agreed with that. I always have thought that words are far more hurtful. A bruise or cut heals in a few days or weeks. But wounds to your spirit can take months and even years to repair. Some hurtful words are never forgotten.
I agree with Jeff that this movie brought the mean girl phenomenon to the forefront of people's minds. We know that the mean girl phenomenon exists, but for the most part people tend to dismiss it because "girls will be girls", but the movie shows the aweful side of it. Everyone felt victimized by the phenomenon, even the "popular girls" or rather the plastics. It shows the message that everyone can feel victimized, and everyone does. Although I believe the intent of the movie was to shed light on the phenomenon and prove that all felt victimized, it also shows that such actions do not have many consequences to the actions. Everyone was happy at the end in typical Hollywood fashion, but I think that we need to inform young people about the bad effects that such actions can have on others and that victimizing people is not alright and should not be taken lightly.
I think it is kind of ironic that the movie mocked bad parenting/the influence of the media on children with the background character of Regina's little sister (who was shown imitating dance moves and "flashing" the television while watching Girls Gone Wild) but the movie itself does the same thing, to some degree. In showcasing the "mean girl" phenomenon and having popular, "glamorous" actresses play the roles of mean girls, it actually works to glorify and condone such behavior in children, especially younger ones who are likely to emulate what they see in the media.
I think it's interesting that the "mean girl" phenomenon was catapulted by this movie, and yet I'm fairly certain that our mothers would be pretty familiar with the idea that girls can be mean. Can't everyone be mean? Boys are simply socialized to deal with their issues differently...to quote "She's the Man" "When debutantes disagree they say so with their eyes." I find it fascinating that violence isn't accepted among girls...and we also won't accept the "sneakyness" associated with being a mean girl...are girls simply not supposed to have conflict ever? Do boys REALLY deal with conflict in a healthier way? Is punching someone healthier than spreading a rumor?
I think it's interesting that the "mean girl" phenomenon was catapulted by this movie, and yet I'm fairly certain that our mothers would be pretty familiar with the idea that girls can be mean. Can't everyone be mean? Boys are simply socialized to deal with their issues differently...to quote "She's the Man" "When debutantes disagree they say so with their eyes." I find it fascinating that violence isn't accepted among girls...and we also won't accept the "sneakyness" associated with being a mean girl...are girls simply not supposed to have conflict ever? Do boys REALLY deal with conflict in a healthier way? Is punching someone healthier than spreading a rumor?
I think that the writers of the movie compare girl world and the animal world because it is not culturaly acceptable for girls to act like animals. Boys can be connected to the wild and be savage and it is expected, if not okay. Girls have to act covertly because society says that they can't be agressive. If girls were to break a social norm then they would be labeled as so therefore girls must be sneaky, they must turn into the mean girl.
In response to the question are girls more civilized for using words instead of fists, I don't feel that they are. Words can be just as bad as physically fighting someone, if not worse. For example in the movie Janis drops out of school because of the rumor Regina starts about her. The trailer doesn't try to shows viewers any morals that are in the end of the film, because they are just trying to use comedy to captivate the viewer to go see the movie.
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