Mean Girls

 

The movie I watched for the Bechdel Test was Mean Girls. In a gist, Mean Girls followed the life of Cady Heron as she entered her first year at a public school after spending much of her life in Africa. She is immediately overwhelmed by the cliques and drama of high school, including a three girl clan who are known as the Plastics. Cady befriends the Plastics to try to ruin their perfect reputation, as well as go after one of their ex-boyfriends; however, it isn’t long before Cady becomes plastic and mean as well. With the help of her real friends and after supposedly “pushing” the Plastic’s head leader in front of a bus, Cady realizes being mean doesn’t help in any situation and girls need to be less judgmental and more accepting of each other regardless of their differences.

            I believe this movie passed the Bechdel test. A vast majority of the characters in the movie were female who conversed with each other throughout the entire film. Although the subject of men was difficult to avoid in this movie, there were moments throughout the film where the female characters talked about other things as well. For example, Cady and her friend Janis often complained and mocked the Plastics. Given that the movie incorporated all three of the requirements of the Bechdel test, Mean Girls passed the test.

            Overall, I don’t think Mean Girls was a feminist film. Although some of the female characters represented strong, independent women, there were much too many times throughout the film where the characters fell into the usual female stereotype we see in most movies. For example, the Plastics focused most of their attention on looking good and remaining popular; this included thinking they were too fat or having to wear the most expensive clothing. In addition, one of Cady’s goals while destroying the Plastics was to date Aaron, one of the Plastic’s ex-boyfriends, which conveys how men can influence the thoughts and actions of women. While the film does a great job at emphasizing the cruel aspects of stereotypes, it does a poor job at representing feministic ideas.