Regina George- Queen of North Shore and Satire

"Mean Girls" is a satirical movie from the early 2000's that dramatizes the distinctive "cliques" in high school. As most popular in the school, Regina George basically runs everything, until a strange home-schooled student from Africa arrives. Regina's power is threatened by the excitement of a new student, Cady Heron.

Wanting to be in the cool "clique," Cady dumbs herself down to fit in- more so, to fit the stereotype that popular girls are not smart. The funniest part is that Regina's small, exclusive group of girls actually call themselves, "The Plastics"- as if the girls are not fake and shallow enough alone.

The mastermind behind this movie, Tina Fey, uses extensive irony to get exaggerate the stereotypes. In the beginning, Cady joins The Plastics to learn more about them and eventually cause their downfall in an awesome prank, but she actually becomes friends with them. While planning to take The Plastics down because of their bad personalities and complete disrespect for others, Cady falls under the influence of high school drama and becomes a Plastic herself. Not only does Cady become a Plastic, but she ditches her original friends. 

Tina Fey successfully suggests ethical reform among high schoolers, particularly girls. Teenage girls tend to be very mean to each other and tear each other down. I don't think that girls realize the extent to which their words and actions affect their friends, which Fey really emphasizes. By the time Cady was officially a Plastic, her friends were upset with her for ditching them, but Cady didn't understand why they were upset. Teenage girls are so incredibly self-absorbed that they lose sight of the kind of person they want to be. Eventually Cady identifies her flaws and makes up with her original friends. 

One would expect for something bad to happen to Regina George in the end, but Tina Fey puts a twist on the movie and emphasizes the positivity of individuality. Regina picks up aggressive sports, like lacrosse, that help get her anger out in a constructive way. Cady returns to her original friends, but there are no hard feelings between The Plastics (who no longer exist) and Cady. Everyone is friends with everyone, which shows that girls do not have to be enemies. Everyone can be their own person while still having all the friends in the world. 

All in all, Fey was successful in using irony in an attempt to enforce social reform amongst high school girls. I remember after watching the movie myself, I was more aware of how I treated others and did my best to treat everyone around me as I wanted to be treated.