Name: Kim Ngọc Thảo Nguyên

Class: Advanced Finance 59A

Student ID: 11173473

FILM REVIEW

FILM: MEAN GIRLS (2004)

The United States is considered to have one of the most advanced educational systems in

the world. Additionally, school life in the US is a hot topic that several people are concerned about.

One of the most famous and typical movies about high school in US is “Mean Girls”. This teen

comedy film was produced in 2004 and promptly became a hit in the movie industry. Many young

actors and actresses became popular after starring in the film such as Lindsay Lohan and Rachel

McAdams. The film partially takes the inspiration from the Rosalind Wiseman’s fiction book that

describes social life of high school students and their problems. “Mean Girls” not only is a teen

film made for entertaining but also contains a large number of meaningful lessons for viewers.

Among these lessons, always stay true to yourself is an important message of the producers for

everyone especially youngster who are at the same age as the characters.

In “Mean Girls”, the main character, who stars Lindsay Lohan, is sixteen-year-old Cady

Heron. She has been a homeschooled girl for a long time before returning to the US for high school.

On the first of public school, Cady makes friend with two classmates who are Janis and Damian.

Janis and Damian warn her to stay away from the popular and mean group of girls called the
“Plastics”. However, Cady is finally in “Plastics” group and friend of three infamous girls in school

that are Regina the Queen Bee, wealthy but shaky Gretchen and simple Karen. After several

dramas, Cady decide to support Janis’s revenge plan to Regina by being an infiltrator. Cady tries

to destroy Regina life in every aspect in the same way that Regina does to bully other people. After

recognizing what Cady did behind her back, Regina publics the “Burn Book” which contains

several secrets of girls and teachers at school. The whole school believe that Cady is the one who

publics the content of the book and isolate her. The truth is finally discovered and the time of being

an outcast helps Cady return to her true personality.

From the film we can learn that staying true to yourself plays an important role in life

because not being that can be considered as the key reason why all the dramas happen. In the first

place, the true personality helps to attract right people into life. Normally, people tend to be with

someone who has similar characteristics and same perception. Cady in “Mean Girls” also does

that. In the beginning, she makes friend with Janis and Damian who have quite similar

backgrounds and personalities as hers. However, after getting into the “Plastics”, Cady gradually

forces herself to match with the other girls and turns into a typical mean girl in high school that

bully school mates. Being in “Plastics” makes Cady forget about her true personality and do what

her peers usually do. Fortunately, in the end, Cady still returns to her original person and has a

happier life surrounded by right people. Secondly, being yourself help you gain your clarity.

Indeed, discovering the inner part of oneself is a long and time-taking process which requires lots

of awareness of point of view, emotions and self-management. With the knowledge about yourself,

personal boundaries can be defined easily. Cady in “Mean girls” experiences this process in a very

special way. No matter how complicated her process is, Cady finally gains her clarity, not being a

“plastics” girl, not an infamous girl, but just Cady. Finally, the true personality helps to love
yourself. Pretending to be others does not make people love you more. Perhaps, a desired image

is useful to learn from and get better. However, trying to be others can lead to negative effects,

especially copying someone you hate. In Cady’s case, she is just a homeschooled girl who is

unfamiliar with public school environment. She is dragged to a group of girls who are popular and

mean and acts like them. Cady actually acknowledges that they are the girls who should be avoided

and all their actions are unacceptable. On the other hand, she still continues to follow them and

loses her true self.

In conclusion, “Mean girls” provides viewers especially teenagers with several valuable

lessons in life. The story in the movie is an example for why it is so important to stay true to

yourself even when there are social media, communication channels, hot trends and peer pressure

convincing everyone to change in order to fit in. Even though, the movie was made more than ten

years ago, the lessons from the movie can be still helpful for many people.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Girls

https://www.thetalko.com/15-life-lessons-from-mean-girls/

https://www.nerdycreator.com/blog/why-is-it-important-to-be-true-to-yourself/