Media Production Film/TV UAL Level 2

Preaya Skerritt.

PLOT OVERVIEW

The film that I have decided to analyze is the movie called Mean girls, which is a 2004 all American teen comedy film which was directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. The movie is about a girl called Cady Heron that moves from living in Africa due to her parents being involved in a research program to moving again to the United States. Cady Heron then gets in a group called the plastics an all girl group that holds authority over the peers in their school. 

The movie is known to have some symbolic themes such as the color pink which is seen all around the movie and represented stereotypically as a girly color which is one of the reasons why this movie is seen to be more liked by the female gender. In fact, there is a very famous quote that is very recognizable in the movie which is ‘’on Wednesdays we wear pink’’ which again brings up the pink reference.

 

                              (As you can see the common color the Plastics wear is pink)

The location of the film is located in Evanston Illinois, in an all-American themed high school called North Shore, some scenes are filmed in a shopping center. Most of the scenes appear to be bright and in a busy environment because the movie is very teen related, although the environment is packed there is one group of girls in North Shore that captures the center of the attention which are the plastics. As they walk throughout the school their body language shows how much authority and power they obtain. 

 (They walk with their heads held high and good posture whilst making themselves appear girly and feminine) 

 What also shows that the Plastics are important is not just through their posture but also through the lighting aspect of this film, the lighting appears to be much more brighter and a high key lightening as soon as they step onto the scene.  When they walk into the scene it is even edited to make the Plastics appear that they are walking in slow motion simply to show that they are better than everyone else and that they’re the superior ones of the school.  Besides the lighting there clothing and the style of it really contributed well towards the fact that they are popular as their clothes seem to be hip than everyone else’s, it also related to the genre of theme about them being young. Which fits the theme as well about stereotypes is the use of props the plastics have in the film you see a lot of props such as purses, hairbrushes, dresses and all things girls related which could be one of the reasons why this movie is more female influenced. Some of the members even carry a cup of coffee. 

There is even another stereotype that is placed in this movie regarding females with blonde hair. Karen Smith is a rather blunt and dumb character who is known to act unaware and just clueless towards the rest of the members of the Plastics and the situations they encounter.

 

 She is known to say quite ignorant stuff without really thinking of the consequence. For example, in one scene she says her cousin is ‘’hot’’ and a ‘’good kisser’’ and in another scene that she feels like she is psychic due to her breasts always predicting when it is going to rain. She is the exact stereotype representing that blonde girls appear to be dumb and unaware of their surroundings and people.

Facial expression is also a factor that is played out throughout the movie, the plastics are known to use their facial expressions to their advantage to show their dominance towards their peers and also some people in the shopping center.

This is the scene when Regina George the main leader of the plastics realizes her dress does not fit her and is asked to leave the shop and go to sears.

Her facial expression shows how frustrated she is by the retailers’ advice and also shows how threatening she may look to others.This scene is perfect for seeing the expression she has and the rest of the plastics, the scene shot turns to a middle scene so you can see the anger on her face and how the rest of the plastics empathize due to her frustration.

How camera angles made an impact in the film

The camera angles was an important part of the film it allowed the viewers to see the expressions more of the characters and the surroundings really well. The camera angles varied from being a medium shot to a pan shot which was used to show the surroundings of the high school and last but not least there was some close up shots in the film to add an intense atmosphere.

 

For example, in this phone scene, they are some long shots and some close-up shots. You notice that in the close up shot you can see more emotion some of the plastics members obtain whilst speaking on the phone.

Connotation Signs

When it came to denotation and connotation signs of the movie Mean Girls there are quite visible signs which were even present in the film cover. The cover instantly shows the vulnerable person Cady Heron and besides her the Plastics presenting themselves in a confident and powerful way.  The Plastics in the cover look quite intimidating giving the ‘’always watch your back’’ vibe whereas Cady by her body language looks innocent and defenseless.

The cover also links to the pink reference again  that stereotypically girls find that color amusing. 

The font appears to be big and eye-catching and yet again in the color pink, the word that stands out the most is ‘‘mean’’ because this is evident from the film that one of the main characters is a victim towards the Plastics.You can see the contrast of the Plastics and Cady Heron through their clothing to the plastics seem to be dressed like a stereotypical girly girl whereas Cady does not fit that criteria her clothing seems to be quite the opposite from the Plastics.

Conclusion : Overall it is been proven that the target audience  for this film is mostly aimed at the female gender simply because of the symbolic signs and girly themes, you could tell that the film was also a movie that would be targeted at the younger generation because of the comedic and immature scenes that were placed in the movie, it has been said that when the movie came out it was age restricted at 12+ which is very understandable.  The movie Mean girls was meant to be an attraction for females rather than males despite this they are some males  that find mean girls an attraction to them and a good movie.