What I researched and why:
I found the post that explored Lindsay Lohan's personal life with Paris Hilton pretty interesting and decided to do some exploring on the personal life of the actress who I believe gave the finest performance in Mean Girls, Rachel McAdams who played Regina George. I mean, come on, if I had to choose between which character would be more fun to play, Regina is so much more complex than Cady. She switches objectives and tactics at the drop of a dime (one example that comes to mind is the moment in the movie when Regina first engages Cady by telling her she's beautiful, accusing her for believing in her self beauty, and than complementing a bracelet she doesn't even like). The link to the article on Rachel McAdams is from People.com chronicling her career shortly after filming the notebook.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1080601,00.html
What I found:
Unlike Lohan, Rachel lives in Canada and remains close to her family and friends (also making her personal life less of a target for tabloids). She is quoted in the article stating how riding her bicycle and working in her garden keeps her centered as an actress playing different characters. In another article it was also mentioned how McAdams politley walked off the set of a photo-shoot with Kiera Knightley after discovering the poses were to be nude. (I mean, come on, the Pirates of the Carribean queen? That's a major publicity stunt she declined over moral values).
My interpretation:
Funny to acknowledge that unlike Lohan, McAdams sounds like quite a "nice" girl. While I feel that "mean" and "nice" are muddy adjectives, being a person of the theatre business world myself, it is certainly my opinion that McAdams is a more professional actress than Lohan. I guess the lesson for all aspiring Hollywood actors to take away from that is to stay out of L.A.! Yet nonetheless, McAdams has also played a much larger range of roles than Lohan (i.e. The Notebook, Red-Eye), also adding to her credit of more professionalism (and dare I say talent?) It's obvious I'm fan. But seriously, in my opinion she's already keeping her proffessional and personal carreer separate to the degree which Kevin Spacey operates, and he's been playing the Hollywood game a lot longer than she.
What this adds to the discussion:
Today's reading assignment about Paris vs. Lohan makes the Mean Girl sensation an irreputable fact in the media world, and therefore something that is very hard to resist indulging in when you're the centre of that world. I believe behavior like McAdams shows a certain degree of respect for the art work that she does, while behavior like Lohan's is sheer indulgence. There's quick fame and there is lasting fame; fame that is earned and fame that is granted for all kinds of reasons. I think of the great Hollywood stars of our past and how their lives show similar patterns of example. Mean Girls are definetly something thrown at women by the world around them, and its hard to avoid to it. It shows a certain strength of character; like Aaron Sammuels, perhaps the most upstanding character in the film.
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10 comments:
I completely agree that of all the major characters in the film, Rachel McAdams played hers the finest. I think it goes to say that she is a hollywood star because she can plays roles such as these that are completely out of her character (at least the character we see, or rather dont see, in the tabloids). On the other hand, the portrayal of Lindsay Lohan done by herself is very much like her character in the movie. The line between nice and mean girl can be murky and its funny that rachel mcadams: nice girl was mean in the movie; and lindsay lohan: hollywood drama queen began and ended as a nice girl in the movie.
There's something else to think about with this post. He joked about telling girls to stay out of L.A., but there is some legitimacy to that. One of the things i noticed in the movie is McAdams' character's mom, who condoned and rewarded mean girl behavior. This goes back to our discussions with naughtiness as an internal or external force. Maybe environment has a much bigger effect on kids than we though. How could a girl ever grow up to be nice living in a home like that? Not to generalize too much, but Canada is probably a lot better at nuturing nice people than Los Angeles.
After reading this post and Sam G.'s comment, I completely agree that environment and social influences greatly contribute to people's development and behavior. Throughout the entire course, this has been an interest of mine, and I think it is fascinating to see the difference between Lindsey and Rachel's behavior after now knowing the diffirences between them. It seems that Rachel was raised to value family and no one can deny that Lindsey was raised by a disfunctional family. Lindsey's off camera behavior is mostly likely a direct result of not being taught or shown proper ways to behave and not being taught the value of morals.
I think this is a great observation and you actually triggered some thoughts in my mind as well. I saw that you found in your research that Rachel McAdams lives in Canada instead of in the star "hot spots." This is interesting and very relative to the movie as well. Cady lives in Africa most of her life and describes herself as a "nice" girl. When she moves and attends a "regular" school she turns into a "mean" girl. Is this what Rachel McAdams is trying to avoid? Does the fact that she remains in Canada tell us that she believes that moving to LA would turn her into a "mean" girl?
To answer Amanda's question, I can't say for sure that Rachel McAdams chooses to stay in Canada to prevent herself from becoming a mean girl, but I can say that it shows a strength of character and a subdued pride in herself that other current waif-actresses (Lohan) lack.
I also found it interesting how McAdams enjoys gardening to focus herself on her acting. I find that gardening helps me to focus on my writing prjects... and it appears that dear Lindsay finds that extensive drinking and coke binges help to... well i wouldn't say focus, because that type of self abuse is clearly inflicted to forget or replace some other type of pain.
The interesting thing about Lindsay Lohan is that she was not always the "mean girl" she is today. When she started her acting career (remember the Parent Trap?) she was just about as nice and clean-cut as you can get. Unfortunately, he parents pushed her into bigger acting jobs and socializing and all those fun things when she was still 15 or 16, leading to her quick downward spiral. The same happened with Britney Spears; her parents pressured her to get involved with the Hollywood crowd.
I'm not sure how McAdams' parents treated her newfound stardom, but it seems to me that this makes a pretty strong argument for society's creation of "mean girls."
I find it interesting that it seems that Lindsay and Rachel have reversed roles from real life to the movie. McAdams doesn't appear to have a "mean" reputation...and neither did Lindsay at first. However, there was the feud with Hillary Duff when she was younger over Aaron Carter...then over Chad Michael Murray staring in both girls movies...and then...well you get the picture....Linds has always been a bit on the mean side it seems. You'd think she might take something from the movie she starred in.
I would agree that Rachel McAdams appears to be a nice girl and Lindsey Lohan appears to be a mean girl but how much do we really know about them except for tabloid gossip. McAdams could be a mean girl sometimes. However if we take it at face value that Lohan is a mean girl, she has gained much press because of this. Some publicists consider all press good press. She is in the news and in the face of the public so people know her. Possible her popularity has turned around a little after drug and alcohol use but if she had not been involved with this and simply been a mean girl I believe that this would have helped her gain press and roles because she is known.
Although we can attribute a lot of how girls grow up to be to their parents, I also think it also has a great deal to do with who they idolize. I mean, a girl wants to be like an actress who is known for being really nice and doing lots of charity is probably going to try to emulate, not only the way that actress looks, but also how she behaves. Similarly girls whose heroes are women with a negative lifestyle will probably emulate that type of lifestyle instead. A couple months ago I stumbled across a TV show in which there were a group of pre-teen girls who had a "Paris Hilton" themed birthday party to whcih Paris actually came. All of the girls were dressed up like Paris, and honestly I'm not sure I'd let my kids dress like that, let alone arrange for their "hero" to come to see them at the party.
I agree that Rachel McAdams is a much more talented actress than Lindsay Lohan. She is a much better role model for young girls. I was a fan of hers since she was in The Notebook. I feel that McAdams is a refreshing example of a successful actress today that isn't a wild party girl like Lindsay Lohan.
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