Identity and Belonging Easy A

Olive Penderghast: In the beginning stages of the movie, Olive Penderghast identifies herself as Anonymous as she is fairly invisible to her peers at school. She never really desires to be anything other than who she is until the day that she gives into Rhiannons badgering and makes up a fake fling with a guy from a community college. This lie spreads throughout the school, beginning the rapid decline of Olives reputation. Now youre a super slut like me! Despite the negative aspects of her newfound infamy, for a while Olive enjoys being known and even liked, even if it is for the wrong reasons. This leads her to allow the perpetuation of the rumors and to help the desperate boys at her school use her tattered reputation to increase their own. She develops this alter ego, the Adulterer, gaining inspiration from the Scarlet Letter. By using this symbol, Olive becomes this other person that reflects on the outside that which her reputation has made her out to be. She pretends to be this other person not realizing that is would cause major identity conflict that would result in consequences she had not understood. People thought I was a dirty skank? Fine. I'd be the dirtiest skank they've ever seen. All she wants is to fit in and be accepted for who she truly is. Todd, the boy she has had a crush on for many years helps her get past the lies and rumors and get The truth The Users: Those who used Olives increasingly bad reputation for their own gain. It all started with Brandon. For years, Brandon had been tormented at school for being gay and to try and cope with this he enlists Olives help. With one fake fling, Brandon becomes a legendary straight guy while Olive is left with the more negative outcome of being labeled a trollop. All the other boys who asked for Olives help all gained from the experience, whether it was female attention or an improved status among peers but as their reputations soared, hers plummeted. Mrs. Griffith, the school council ends up using Olive to escape from the consequences of her affair with a student. Unable to tell her husband about the affair nor willing to reveal that it was she that gave the student an STI. She struggles between her responsibilities as councilor and her fear of the repercussions of her actions.