Textual Analysis: Mean Girls

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Codes and Conventions
The non-diegetic sound is mostly through the use of a voice-over. This creates an instant connection with the audience by allowing them to feel and think as the same character who is doing the voice-over, in this case Cady. The diegetic sound has been used through the use of dialogue; many of the characters speak words that aren’t commonly known throughout England, for instance the word ‘fetch’ is used throughout frequently. This use of slang reinforces the stereotype that teenagers all speak in this way.

A stock setting for teen rom-coms is a high school due to it being a main part of their life. Mean girls is set in America however the characters are mostly seen in a high school, another setting that the characters are seen in are a mall and the characters houses. The stereotypes that are included with a mall is that teenage girls love shopping and gossiping with one another. Naturalistic, high key lighting is used thoroughly throughout the film as it allows the audience to relate to the characters more easily as well as creating verisimilitude.

Most of the characters seen throughout the clip wear colourful clothing, especially “The Plastics”. For instance the majority of their outfits include the colour pink encoding them to be very feminine, since pink is considered to be a feminine colour. Characters such as Janice and Damien wear more thorough costumes in order to reflect their personality, for instance Janice wears dark clothes and has black hair which echo’s not only her personality but her need to be different from everyone else. The character of Cady begins to have numerous costume changes, especially when she becomes a part of “The Plastics”; she begins to wear pink clothes and short skirts which are all connotations of stereotypical female clothing.

Characters
As I’ve found through the codes and conventions the characters within the film are stereotypical for the genre of teen rom-coms. Towards the start of the film there is a scene where Cady is told about all of the different social cliques in the school, there are: cool Asians, varsity jocks, burnouts and many others. Point-of-view shots being used during this scene allow the audience to feel as though they are learning about the cliques as Cady does. These stereotypical groups are reinforced through the use of Mise en Scene, specifically though the use of costumes; this helps the audience to identify each social group.

Propp’s theory of certain characters can be applied to this film, for example Cady is portrayed as the heroine as starts to divide the students’ different cliques by breaking and sharing her spring fling crown. An exception to this theory is that Aaron may be considered as the princess since he is Cady’s reward at the end of the film. There are two characters that are represented as the mentors and they are Janice and Damian; they are considered as the mentors because they are the two characters that accept Cady when she first joins the school and help her form a plan to sabotage Regina. The villain of the film is the character of Regina as she wants Aaron to herself and blames Cady for creating the ‘Burn Book’ and posting flyers of it around the high school.

Narrative Structure
The film follows a linear narrative structure with a clear beginning, middle and end. Todorov’s theory can be applied to this film:

Equilibrium: Cady is home-schooled by her parents whilst living in Africa
Disruption: Cady moves to America where she attends public school
Recognition of disruption: Cady realises that no one at her new school like her
Attempt to repair disruption: Janice and Damian befriend Cady and tell her about the different cliques
Disruption: Regina gets together with her ex boyfriend, knowing that Cady likes him
Attempt to repair  disruption: Janice makes a plan to destroy Regina
Disruption: Janice, Damian and Cady begin to sabotage Regina in various ways
Recognition of disruption: Regina blames Cady for creating the ‘Burn Book’
Attempt to repair disruption: The school makes the girls do exercises to help trust one another.
Disruption: Regina, in a rage, runs out into the road and gets hit by a bus
Recognition of disruption: Everyone blames Cady for Regina being hit by a bus and ignore her
Attempt to repair disruption: Cady wins mathletes, becomes spring fling queen but shares her crown
Reinstatement of Equilibrium: The girls become equals with one another and Cady goes out with Aaron

Technical Aspects
Mid-shots are used frequently throughout the film to not only show characters costumes/reactions to one another but to also highlight relationships with each character. For example when the characters Aaron and Cady are becoming closer emotionally, a mid-shot would be used in order to show how close they are physically. Similarly this can also be seen when Cady is getting closer to becoming part of “The Plastics”.

Close-ups are used recurrently within the film in order to show a character’s reaction. For instance a close up of Cady is shown when Janice is referring to her changing into one of “The Plastics”, this helps the audience see the finer details of her change. A close-up of a character looking into a mirror, specifically Cady, is used to show the changes she undergoes to become “The Plastics” leader once Regina has left. The mirror symbolises vanity, which is a stereotype associated with teenage girls particularly girls of the ‘preppy’ stereotype.

Straight cuts are used regularly throughout the film in order to create verisimilitude for the audience. This allows the audience to be drawn into the narrative and feel for the characters compared to if the film was continuous.