Mean Girls- Textual Analysis

The film 'Mean Girls, opens with a black background, with the names of the production company, film and lead actor appearing on the screen. We then see the dad giving Cady (the main character) her lunch and he starts to take pictures of the mother hugging her, and then there is a cut to the parents dropping Cady off at her new high school. She enters he classroom and we meet the characters who will become her close friends later on in the film. The opening sequence gives information and creates interest for the audience through the use of genre, editing, signifiers, camera, sound, setting/ iconography, lighting/ colour, costume/ make- up, the characters and relationships, the representations of men and women, the use of props, casting, and themes/ ideas.

The genre of the film is teen comedy chick flick, and the audience is able to identify the genre in the opening sequence, as it id narrated by a teenage girl, and includes jokes, for example, when she is talking about home- schooled children being freaks, one home- schooled character says "And on the third day, God created the rifle, so that man could fight the dinosaurs... and the homosexuals.", this amuses the audience, because the children were taught to believe this story, and suggests the stereotype of Americans from the deep south, and this lets them know that this is a light- hearted film. The weather is sunny and pleasant as it is the beginning of the school year, and there are shots of many different teenage social groups suggesting that teenagers will feature heavily in the film and the parents will not feature many times in the film.

We see in the editing of the opening sequence that there aren't many quick cuts at the beginning of the sequence before she gets to her new school, as Cady is calm and relaxed while at home, however the audience's interest is kept because the voice over by the main character begins. There are stills as the dad takes pictures of the daughter and mother together, and the audience is amused as the mother starts to cry hysterically, and we see a still of the daughter hugging the mother whilst looking at the camera with an exasperated expression, and this looks like a photograph. As we are introduced to her new high school, the cuts become more frequent as Cady enters the school grounds, suggesting that she is nervous, and that her heart pace may have quickened, which tells the audience that she is anxious about her first day of school.

The signifiers in the opening sequence give many messages to fill in little details to deepen the audience's understanding, for example, there's a car in the driveway next to the large front porch of Cady's home, and the family is all together in front of the house, portraying a traditional view on families, and suggests Cady's innocence, because we will see later in the film how she acts less innocent in order to be accepted by the 'mean girls'. When Cady says that home schooled children are usually weird, there's a cut to a group of young boys from the deep south of America, they all look gormless and behind them are sandbags with shooting bull's- eyes stuck to them, which suggests to the audience that their pass times include shooting, and that they do not bother themselves with the deeper issues of their country, amusing the audience as this is a typical stereotype of this part of America.

The camera shots gave information and created interest in the opening sequence due to the framing, positions and movement. For example, a point of view shot is used when the parents are talking to the camera as if we were the character 'Cady', then a low angle shot looking up at the parents is used which puts the audience under the impression that they are talking to a small child, however the camera then slowly rises upwards, and we see that they are actually talking to a teenage girl. When we see an over the shoulder shot of Cady, this puts the audience under the impression the daughter is a young child, and when we see that she isn't one, we realise that this is how her parents still think of her. When Cady goes to talk to the character she thought was the teacher, a point of view shot which is looking up at the tall character suggests the authority that we think she must have over the class, but we then discover that she is a student, and this shocks and amuses the audience. However when the actual teacher enters the classroom, Cady and the teacher are filmed in a two- shot, showing that the teacher feels she is equal with her students, and so we instantly gain respect for her, but then feel for her when she spills her coffee on her shirt and has to take it off, which the results in her getting her vest stuck to her shirt and revealing her bra, whilst the head teacher walks into the classroom, and this is amusing to the audience. The film is about the power that teenagers have, and therefore the teachers are portrayed affectionately and humorously.

There's not a lot of diegetic sound in the opening sequence, but it does include a school bus sounding the horn as it zooms past Cady, because she is almost hit by it, and there's background noise of the students chatting as Cady walks across the path towards the school. The non- diegetic sound begins when the production company and lead actor names appear, whilst a sinister piano instrumental is played, suggesting that the film will not be completely positive throughout the duration. When the name of the film appears, a drum begins to play an African- based riff, and we will see later on in the film that Cady compares the wild with school social life, therefore this informs the audience that this is how she perceives high school. The voice- over is the main character who narrates the film, and in the opening sequence she explains a quick background story for the audience, letting us know what has happened prior to where the films begins, such as, the fact that Cady used to live in Africa and was home- schooled, so this is her first experience of a mixed school system. Furthermore, as soon as she enters the school grounds, upbeat pop music is played, which shows the contrast between her old way of life and the beginning of her new experience.

The setting/ iconography of the opening sequence begins with Cady's house which is large, suggesting that she is from a middle class family. There is a large front porch made of dark wood, with many green trees around, because they live in the suburbs. She attends a typical large American high school, and her registration classroom is decorated with neutral colours as to not seem too intimidating to Cady herself, or the audience, and this lets the audience know that the film is not going to be a gritty or social drama.

The lighting/ colour of the opening sequence is positive as it is sunny because t is the beginning of a new school year, and there is a lot of brown' the trees, the house. There's a lot of green also; the leaves of the trees, and the houses in the background, therefore surroundings have very natural colours, which are welcoming, and they contrast to when Cady gets to high school, because of the unnatural orange and white bricks of exterior of school, and this lets the target audience identify with the genre of the film.

The costume/ make- up in the opening informs the audience on the personalities of the different characters. For example, Cady's wearing a green shirt and a red t- shirt underneath it, with jeans and trainers, suggesting that she's a laid back easy going character, as her hair is tied back into a relaxed pony tail, and she has very natural make- up on, telling us that she does not worry about her appearance much, however we will see later on in the film that she's transformed completely in the way in which she dresses and acts, because appearance in particularly important for young teen girls in today's culture. As Cady gets to school, most of the other students have casual every day clothing on, with natural make- up, and she soon meets two characters which will later on in the film become her close friends. One of the friends, Janice, has hints of gothic costume, as she has a lot of eyeliner around her eyes, black hair, and black clothing.

The characters and relationships create interest for the audience, as Cady is eager to try new things because she has never been to school before, and her dad's proud and excited for his daughter going to school, so he takes pictures and gives her lunch money. Whilst the mum is proud but also worried, so she starts to cry hysterically while hugging her daughter, so we can see that Cady is close to her parents. Janice is a defensive but welcoming character, who doesn't mind helping out the new student, and Damien, who doesn't say anything in the opening sequence, in the less forward of the pair, but we can see instantly that he's friends with Janice, because they have similar postures and movements, suggesting that they are close friends. The contrast between these characters creates interest for the audience, because we see how their differences bring them together more as friends.

The representations of men and women may be a little stereotypical in the opening sequence of 'Mean Girls', because women appear to be more emotional and clumsy, as the mum cries hysterically when taking photographs for Cady's first day of school, and she screams when Cady is nearly hit by the school bus, and Cady's clumsiness is shown here also. However women are also represented as more hospitable, because Janice gives advice to Cady about where to sit in the classroom, and the teacher does not mind when Cady causes her to drop everything that she was carrying and spill coffee all over her front. The men seem to be more refined in portraying their emotions, because as the dad takes pictures, he is smiling, and is happy to let his daughter go to school for the first time, and Damien does not have any lines when we first meet him, which suggests that he is less outgoing than his friend Janice.

The use of props in the opening sequenced deliver little details for the audience, for instance, the dad gives Cady a paper bag which contains her lunch, which is an old fashioned portrayal of a school student, and this suggests that the parents have not sent her to school before as she is home- schooled, and it also suggests the dad's character role of the father of the princess, a role suggested in Vladimir Propp's character theory. The dad takes pictures with a big old- fashioned black camera, and we soon find out that they have been away from civilisation for 12 years, and this idea is reinforced by the camera the dad uses, therefore this prop is used as a binary opposition.

The casting for the opening sequence will create a lot of interest, as Lindsay Lohan plays the main character, and she's a very well- known actress and would have brought a lot of attention to the film, hence an increase in audience. The other characters are not as well known as the main actress, however the dad's played by the actor who also plays tone of the regular characters in the popular comedy programme 'Scrubs', and Tina Fey, who plays the teacher, is now in a very well known comedy programme '30 Rock' which she writes and stars in, and this reinforces the genre of the film.

The themes/ ideas instantly inform and create interest, as Cady's the new girl at school, and has no experience of other modern day American teenagers, so she will be educated in the way of today's high school students, and therefore find that they are not as innocent as she is in the beginning of the film.