Kaylie McDonald
Alexander Fisher
POPC 1700
1 December 2017
Stereotypes in Mean Girls
The term stereotype is a term or idea that a person, group of people or even a thing can
exist as. Stereotypes can be good, but most of the time, they are offensive. Almost everywhere
one looks in life, stereotypes exist. Most of the time, stereotypes can exist while most do not
realize that it does exist. Stereotypes usually judge and point out the flaws of a certain individual,
group or thing. Frequently, stereotypes only define that person, group or thing in the simplest
form without looking into the true meaning of the subject or object. As stated in the TED talk
titled, “The danger of a single story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she stated, “I’ve always
felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging with all of
the stories of that place and that person. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs
people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how
we are different rather than how we are similar” (Adichie). The film, Mean Girls demonstrates
many different stereotypes about high school, but also shows the effects of stereotypes on
individuals proving that stereotypes are a big part of popular culture.
Mean Girls is a teenage drama film that was released in 2004 but yet still exists as a very
popular movie in contemporary society. An overview of the movie is that a new girl, Cady
Heron, who has been home-schooled in Africa all of her life moves to a new school. She quickly
discovers that public school is nothing like she thought it was going to be. There are cliques
everywhere and Cady meets Janis Ian, “the dyke” and Damian, who is “too gay to function”.
One day she meets Regina George, otherwise known as “the queen bee” of all queen bees
known. Regina George and her friends, also known as “the plastics” try to befriend the new girl,
Cady; which “the plastics” befriending someone different is actually very rare; they decide to
befriend her when they find out she has never been to a public school before. Yet when Janis and
Damian warn Cady that Regina George isn’t someone she wants to befriend, Janis and Damian
try to convince Cady to ruin Regina George’s life. Cady Heron decides to go along with the plan
for her new friends. The plan slowly works, but once Regina George catches on; Regina frames
Cady for the “burn book” and exposes the “burn book” to the whole school.
The stereotypes laid out in the paragraph above are of characters in Mean Girls are words
or phrases that were in the “burn book” to describe or expose them. This movie helps to show
that almost all stereotypes are negative and hurtful to others. In the movie, Mean Girls, when the
