Movie and scripts writers are influenced by what goes into the larger society while executing their roles. Basically, the themes that the writers portray in the films and movies are a reflection of what societies go through. As such, these films usually are constructed around sociological perspectives as well as various sociological theories. Analysis of Mean Girls by Tina Fey will shed more light on this proposition by discussing how different characters interact with each in the movie. More so one will be able to see how largely sociological perspectives and theories in this movie influenced the scriptwriters.
Sociological Perspectives and Theories Depicted in Tina Fey’s Mean Girls
Mean Girls captures the realities that go in a society in an attempt to fit and thrive into that society, a feat that is counteracted by numerous social challenges. The founding fathers of sociology such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Auguste Comte came up with sociological theories to help explain these societal problems. Among the theories that can be evident in this movie include conflict theory by Karl Marx, functionalist perspective by Emile Durkheim, Mead’s theory of socialization and interactionist perspective by Auguste Comte
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The movie captures Karl Marx conflict theory mainly through the various conflicts evident in this move. Conflict theory establishes that individuals are constantly in a conflict as they try to fit in a society which is divided into various classes. These classes include the bourgeois who own the production means as well as capital and the proletarians who are the workers. In turn, the masses of workers feel alienated in such a society and thus create a class struggles and conflict due to the feeling of inequality. Cady Heron who belongs to the lower class is keen on joining the Plastics, which is headed by Regina George to belong to a higher social class. She believes by doing her she will have better chances of thriving in this unequal society represented in the movie. She chooses to do away with her friends Janis and Damian as they are from the proletarian’s class. The struggle to fit with the Plastics forces Cady to get involved in unbecoming behavior to maintain her new found status. She does this at the expense of genuine friendships with Damien and Janice and her studies. The rest of the students feel alienated from the Plastics, as they cannot afford the kind of lifestyle being led by them. They are instead at the mercy of the Plastics who dominate everything that goes on in this school. The Plastics goes ahead to help the Plastics write the ‘burn book’ which highlights the flaws of the students from the lower class. Cady’s desire to belong to the bourgeois causes both internal and external conflicts in this movie making it a true representation of conventional society.
Emile Durkheim’s interactionist perspective points to the fact that an individual’s character is shaped by that individual’s daily interactions with others. Additionally, Durkheim established that a person’s upbringing plays a huge role in a person’s character. Mean Girls depict show a person’s character can be shaped or maintained depending on the kind of people an individual interacts with. In the beginning, Cady is a humble student who is keen on making it big in life in her new school. Coming from a humble background and raised to be a decent individual, she keeps a low profile, and she cannot afford the luxuries that life has to offer. In this case, Cady hangs out with Janis and Damian who fit her description of decency. However, her character is remolded once she hangs out with the Plastics. The once decent and humble Cady now goes from wearing decent clothes to wearing short and revealing clothes. More to maintain her friendship with the Plastics she betrays her former friends by being part of the group crafting the ‘burn book.' As if this is not enough, Cady disobeys her parent something she had not done prior to joining the Plastics. Regina who is the leader of the Plastics is a deviant girl throughout the movie thanks to her upbringing. Her mother who is easy going allows Regina to do as she pleases. Interestingly, Regina even bosses her mother as well as her peers around which reflects on the kind of upbringing she has passed through. These examples establish the role interactions and upbringing have in shaping and maintaining an individual’s character.
Functionalist perspective by Emile Durkheim establishes that individuals must play their respective roles to achieve balance in their respective societies. In Mean Girls, one can see the schools as a representation of a society with the various characters taking various roles in keeping that society balanced. The reason for taking the various roles according to Durkheim is to maintain social order and create stability. Prior to Cady getting into this new school, Regina George who is the head of the Plastics has created a certain social order. Here there are the upper class where she and her friends belong and the lower class with the likes of Janice and Damien. She has maintained that order very well in collaboration with her friends and everything falls in place with no major disruptions. However, things get out of proportion once Cady becomes part of this society. Cady who belong to the lower class fails in playing her respective role by rising to a class that does not reflect her character. Consequently, she destabilizes the set social order by creating conflicts. The imbalance she creates makes her reconsider her options and apologizes for disrupting the normal social order. Her action of realizing her actual role helps bring a balance in the end when the Plastics change for good thus creating an accepted social balance.
Mead’s theory of socialization is another sociological perspective, which can be used in the analysis of Mean Girls . This sociological perspective claims that an individual is a product of his or her social experience. In other words, a person can develop a certain self-image depending on how other people view him or her. In essence, a positive or a negative self-image comes because of positive or negative comments respectively. More so, the self-image becomes an individual reality as long as the society continually affirms it. Cady is keen on pleasing the Plastics more especially Regina by getting positive feedback. In that case, she tries hard to fit in their clique by going ahead to dress as they do to get this affirmation of having a positive self-image. Interestingly she dresses in pink to be like the Plastic, but she ends up dressing in men t-shirt. One can establish that she already understands how the Plastics may judge her and thus wants to receive positive judgment. For Cady, a positive judgment would translate to a positive influence and better chances of thriving in her new school. Keen on impressing the Plastics; Cady goes head to wear skimpy dresses that are too revealing. Sadly, for her, she imagined that she was getting positive feedback and made this dressing to define her character. What Cady does is to undergo a transformation to become a person she is not to fit in Plastics definition of belonging to higher social status. She sees herself through Plastics eyes, but her views are distorted in trying to pick up a new identity. In doing this, she loses sight of her real self and indeed becomes plastic.
