Mean Girls Connection to Belonging

In Mean Girls, Mark Waters films the journey of Cady Herring (Lindsay Lohan) searching to find her place in the social ranking of High School. Her desire to belong to the popular group puts the few friendships she has on edge. The film discusses the over desire and temptation of belonging and how it isn’t always a positive thing to achieve.
One of the key scenes in the movie that relates to belonging is when Cady has made two friends who don’t rank high in social status, as Cady is going to sit at their table the popular girls speak to her. The groupings of tables are used to specify indicate the differences between groups. In the scene before this we are introduced to the three girls in long distance shots and close ups. Dialogue is used in sync with the shots to give an overview of these girls, describing them as the stereotypical popular high school girl. This is purposely done to highlight their social ranking. The target audience are teenagers these techniques are effective because they are able to relate with the characters and their motives. Costume is a technique used to place focus on their social ranking. Obvious differences are shown between the popular girls and the unpopular girls by the length of their skirts, tops and brand names. Cady is asked to sit with the popular girls shots are quickly interchanged between the two groups highlighting the decision that has to be made. Surrounding the popular girls are a lot of moving dark blurred bodies, this is used to show how the girls see themselves as a hierarchy, they are unaware of their surroundings and the movement doesn’t bother them as they see themselves above it. The girls juxtapose their background, they are brightly coloured, still and clear. In contrast Cady’s friends are moving and wearing darker clothes this is linked to the dark background of people and how her friends are just like those kids, in the back ground, not important and don’t belong. Another key scene is in the gymnasium when