Film Analysis: Mean Girls

Mean girls is a teen comedy film, released in 2004. The plot of the film is based around one particular teenage girl named Cady, who has returned from Africa back to the USA however is attending a public school for the first time in her life.
The film also includes three other teenage girls who aim to mould Cady as apart of their group, however this plan backfires into Cady wanting revenge against them.

The film is a representation of how female social cliques operate and the effect they can have on teenage girls. Although the film is produced to be a comedy, serious issues are also portrayed such as bullying and sexual themes.

Throughout the movie, A vast amount of characters are presented such as: the innocent nerd, popular mean girl and hero/love interest; these specific characters are known to be the stereotypical personalities found in a teen movie.

Mise en scene, camera, sound and editing all show a clear binary opposition of the 'innocent girl' vs 'the mean girls'. For an example; the use of clothing worn on Cady is casual as she is mainly seen wearing jeans/trousers and a t-shirt whereas the mean girls are seen to be in glamorous clothing wearing skirts/dresses, heeled shoes with matching handbags. However during the middle of the film as the transformation of character Cady happens, her appearance changes which instantly gives the viewer an insight on her new attitude.
This is portrayed in the clip below:

During the clip there are number of cross-cutting between the dialogue when the characters are speaking. For an example, when the characters are in Regina's bedroom continuos cross-cuts are used which has been used to contrast the characters as one shot captured Cady whilst the other shot captured the three other girls showing a clear differentiation in their lifestyles.
As the clip continues, at the end a voice over is heard which is represented to be Cady's thoughts. This sets a different scene to what we see as it is clear that the character is uncomfortable in the new environment she has been introduced to which intrigues the viewer into how this changes throughout the film.