Mean Girls Analysis

**Analysis: The message of Mean Girls is that Western Civilization isn’t as civilized as most people think and that high school is a great example of our modern-day jungle.**

Examples that support this Mean Girls analysis:

References to animals:

– Cady Heron (Cat + Bird)
– Queen Bee
– Animal Halloween costumes

References to cultural practices that we consider primitive even though they still exist:

– The outdoor gym class scene, representing the jungle
– The different groups in the cafeteria, representing the jungle
– The mall scene around the fountain, representing the jungle
– When the girls go wild and show that they are all “mean girls”
– Numerous African culture references and primitive artifacts

Plastic is a product of Western Civilization that appears perfect, but plastic is easily broken:

– Each of the Plastics has deep insecurities
– The Plastics group is broken up
– In the end, the plastic tiara is metaphorically broken up into pieces

We feel safe in our culture, but the threat of being randomly devastated by a bigger animal is still present in our society:

– The entire school is hit by the release of the burn book
– Cady is almost hit by a bus
– Regina is actually hit by a bus