An example of deviance in the movie is when Regina turns the burn book into the

principal claiming she didn’t write it and then spreading copies of the pages across the school for
everyone to see. This act of deviance can be explained using the functionalist theory because the
theory states deviance helps society change and adapt, making deviance necessary for society to
function. This being said that act of deviance Regina did caused all the girls to fight each other
which led them to being lectured in the gym by Ms. Norbury. Where she had all the girls work
out their problems by owning up to things they have done to other girls and regret. Without
Regina’s act of deviance they wouldn't have had Ms. Norbury’s exercise help and they wouldn't
have been able to move forward past all the fighting and conflict.

An example of deviance in the film is all the things Cady did to Regina when she was
trying to get back at her for getting back together with Aaron. For example when she gave her
foot cream for her face, made her eat protein bars that made her gain weight, cut holes in her
shirt, etc. This can be explained through the conflict theory being that people who feel they have
less power do deviant acts to stop feeling powerless. Cady wanted to get back at Regina because
she hated how she acted like she was better than everyone else and the queen of the school. Cady
having the feeling that she wasn’t as powerful as Regina since she got Aaron made her want to
act out to help gain self-esteem and gain all power by being queen plastic.

An example of conformity in the film is when Cady first gets to school she doesn’t know
how to act or who to be friends with since she is in a whole new environment. When Regina and
the rest of the plastics show interest in her at lunch that one day Cady then conforms to being
like the plastics so she can fit in at school and feel like she belongs to a group. This can be
explained using the control theory being that people who have weaker ties to the community are
more likely to conform. Since Cady was new she had very weak ties to the community being the
school cliques she felt she had to conform to one. For example she does so by wearing pink on
Wednesdays, goes shopping with them, and gossips later at Regina’s house. This being said,
since Cady had low social ties being new to the school she was more likely to conform to being a
plastic.

Like mentioned above an example of conformity in the film is Cady conforming to all the
Plastics norms. This can also be explained using the cultural transmission theory being that your
behavior is influenced by who you spend time with forcing you to start acting just like them. For
example Cady started spending all her time with the plastics. She started acting like them by
gossiping and talking behind people’s backs. She even started talking bad about her closest
friends just to fit in. Since she was around Regina and was so used to how she acted, Cady
stooped down to her level without even noticing who she had become.

An example of deviance is when Cady throws the party and lies to Janice and after Janice
calls her out she says mean things to Janice to justify her behavior. This can be seen through the
labelling theory saying that if people say you are deviant based on your behavior you will start to
act that way. This can be seen when Janice calls Cady out after her party she calls Cady a mean
girl just like Regina. Being labeled as a mean girl didn’t stop Cady from how she acted because
she continues to fight back with Janice. Since she was finally labeled what she was acting like
she continues to keep this label till after the burn book was exposed and then at the spring formal
she changes her behavior.