Mean girls essay

Mean Girls 

I have been practicing how to analyse media texts. Here is my essay including the camera and mine-en-scene in the film Mean Girls. 

In the ‘Mise-en scene’ in mean girls there are lots of things that should be noted. One of which is the personality and characteristics of the characters we are greeted too. The name of the characters are: Cady, Karen, Regina, Reginas mother and Gretchen. In this scene we see that Cady is  ‘different’ from the rest of the group. We can tell this by the use of her stand-of-ish body language and proxemics from the others. Whenever we see her, in the scene, she appears to be alone in a separate camera shot this is showing that she isn’t quite as close or comfortable with the others yet, making us imply that she feels a little awkward and uncomfortable towards the others. We can also tell that she hasn’t quite adapted to the ways of the other girls yet giving us a sense that she is a bit of an outsider to the other girls. We can connote this by her costume as yes she is wearing pick which seems to be their kind of ‘identity’ of the group, but she is wearing a oversized un branded t shirt. This is very different from the others whom as wearing tight fitted sexualised outfits , which is how the others wear their costume making Cady stand out and be classed as unique and different from the rest of the group creating a contrast between her and the other girls. We can also connote the sense of awkward ness from the character of Cady by the use of her facial expressions. People may have a polysemic idea about her facial expression however, I believe that she is feeling uncomfortable about hanging out with this group as she feels that she doesn’t belong, she constantly looks to the ground indicating something is making her feel out of place. Another important thing I noticed from Cady in this scene is her body language. Her body language clearly shows that she is not the most confident of the group. She’s a little hunched and closed in this isn’t obvious or exaggerated however noticeable in comparison to the others. 

Karen is the what I like to describe as the ‘fairy’ of the group she is very mind in the clouds and out with the fairy’s this is very obvious in the way she walks and moves. When she walks around Reginas bedroom she floats and bounces in her strides. However, she does walk with confidence and no hesitation to what others may be thinking about her. In terms of the way she is presented costume wise she wears a short, tight, fitted skirt and a pink fluffy long sleeved top this is very stereotypical girly. All of the girls look the same and share the same identity there is no controversiality between Karen, Regina and Gretchen however they do have very different personalities. Karens personality from the scene would be the typical dumb blonde she doesn’t have clue what the others are talking about so just follow along. We can tell this by the stillness of her facial expression there isn’t much movement suggesting she isn’t reacting or understanding what is going on around her. Instead she focuses on herself and just follows where ever the other girls go. 

Regina is the boss and queen bee of the group she has a massive amount of confidence and she is the leader of the group. We also know that she is very very rich as the whole scene is set at her house which is a luxurious white mansion full of tall ceilings and spacious rooms. We can tell that Karen is the lead and boss of the group as she makes all the decisions of what and where the girls go. She is always at the front of the group and the others are expected to follow behind her, this is seen at 0:21. The way Regina holds herself is very strong and confident she powerfully catwalks through the entrance of her home in front of the others commanding attention from the camera. This implies that she expects full attention and wants to be the centre of attention. Another important thing that I noticed whilst watching the scene is that Regina is the only one not wearing fully pink (apart from Cady but as we mentioned before she isn’t completely part of that group at this stage in the film). I think that is something that is hugely important she appears to wearing a leather short skirt. The fact that the skirt is leather implies that Regina  could be a bit more aggressive than the others. The colour black is a harsh colour and the material is often worm by dangerous more violent people. This choice of having leather could be Reginas way of getting more attention and trying to show everyone that she has more superiority that everyone else including everyone in her group. We also know that she very wealthy and lives a very easy upper class life style. We know this as as we are taken through to her room the camera portages a  large room with tall ceilings and a sea view balcony. Instantly we can see that she has a lot of money and isn’t afraid to spend it on luxury’s. It might also connote that her dad will buy 

anything for his ‘little princess’ maybe suggesting she is quite controlling of her father and uses her fathers money inconsiderately, backing the suggestion that she could perhaps be more aggressive. We can also see that she is self obsessed as she has many photos of herself in the light of being royalty and glorious, this is seen at 1:09 when Cady is looking around her bedroom. The pictures are hinting that she thinks that she is living the dream it also tells us as the watcher that she is popular as she is hanging around with boys, which in high school is a big deal, and the fact that she has s picture with a guy suggests that guys see her as attractive which  stereotypically is every girls dream at high school-  to be popular, have a boy friend and be seen as attractive. Also, in one of the pictures she is wearing a crown this highlights that she could be wanting to be viewed as royalty. 

Regina’s mum goes to a lot of trouble to try to be a replica of her daughter, Regina, she try’s to act and wear the same clothes on top of that, highlighting that she wants to fit in with the girls.  In the scene we see that she wears a very fashionable matching tracksuit outfit this is pink perhaps suggesting that she wants to match the girls colour scheme and that she is also a girly girl. The tracksuit could also suggest that she is obsessed with her body image. She is also wearing her top zipped down very low showing her breasts and her new boob job that Gretchen tells us about this adds the effect that she is a fake person. The fact that her top is zipped very low suggests that she wants everyone to notice her new boob job to perhaps show and trick people into thinking that she is much younger than she actually appears to be. The fact that she is wearing fashionable tracksuits also implies that she doesn’t do much physical work around the house or has a job due to how informal the outfit is and unpractical it is. In the scene we see that she is holding what appears to be the family dog. The dog is a typical Hollywood dog that most of the pop stars in Hollywood tend to carry around with them. This could connote that she wants to be rich and famous just like the people in Hollywood living the American dream. Regina’s mum holds herself very well. The way she walks implies great confidence, just like her daughter, coping her daughters movement as well as fashion this is telling us that she is making her own daughter a role model to herself being her mum which in my opinion is very sad as she doesn’t have her own identity however this is polysemic. Her facial expression tend to be quite minimal as we are led to believe that she has had plastic sugary to her face as we already know she wants to look young like the others. This is know to us as she says ‘you girls keep me so young’. So facial expression wise there isn’t much movement however she always seems to role her eyes this could be because she finds it cool and again is copying the girls reactions to make her appear more youthful.  Something that also appears to be not like a stereotypical mum would be that she brings cocktails in this is not normal what a stay at home mum would encourage even though she tells us that there is no alcohol the glasses imply that is is an alcoholic drink that perhaps Regina has manipulated her mother to giver her. 

Gretchen is like the other girls, she is wearing a pink pelted skirt with a pink long sleeved jumper. However one thing that I do get from Gretchen personalty is that I think she is a little bit insecure about her body image. Also she is the only one that communicates with Cady in a nice way not in a fake gossipy tone. Perhaps connoting that she isn’t all that fake and understands what it feels like to not be popular having a more humble feel to her we also see this through her body language. She walks with a different type of confidence to the others she doesn’t command attention like Regina - this shows she isn’t that full of herself but actually the most caring person out of the group. In the scene I always she looks confused, stressed out and unsure. This could be saying that she finds the popularity of being in the group a stressful task and that she might even be scared of Regina. This is also supported by her body language which can at times be very closed in suggesting she might be feeling a bit shy.

By Emily Bostock Jones