Semotic Analysis
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Semiotics is the study of signs. The iconic sign represents the relationship between the signified and the signifier which is based on likeness or similarity, the indexical sign indicate or point to something else and finally in the case of symbolic signs the sign and the signifier have no natural link, the relationship is based on culture, context and conversation. Using aspects of semiotics this essay will analyse the 2004 movie entitled “Mean Girls”.
“Mean Girls” is a teen comedy about the survival of the fittest in the world of teenage girls (Mean Girls). This film follows the life of a teenage girl name Cady who moves from the African bush country to the cruel halls of a public high school in America. Cady joins the Queen Bee of her high school and becomes an official “mean girl” but quickly learns being popular is less important than being a good friend. Through the analysis of how the producers conceived the work and intended the film to be interpreted as compared to how the film was received by viewers, the functioning of the film is revealed.
The producer of the film “Mean Girls” is Lorne Michaels, which the screenplay writer and one of the main actresses in the film is Tina Fey. Both Michaels and Fey have collaborated on many projects, including the famous late night comedy show, “Saturday Night Live” (Mock). Fey sourced background information for her screenplay by examining an article published by the New York Times called, “Girls Just Want to be Mean”, by Margaret Talbot (Mean Girls: Release). This article was an expose revealing the real life experiences of a teenage counsellor named Rosalind Wiseman. As a counsellor, Rosalind provided support for teenagers who were dealing with issues related to cliques, gossip and pretentiousness within the high school domain. Following the publishing of this article Rosalind Wiseman decided to publish a book of her own based on her experience with mean teenagers (Mean Girls: Release). As stated in a 20004 interview with people magazine, “After writing a film script based on Rosalind Wisemans book Queen Bees and Wannabes, Fey makes her first movie pitch to Lorne Michaels, who agrees to help produce Mean Girls” (Mock). This work was conceived by Fey as a way for her to depict what most of us already know through our own high school experiences that, teenage girls are mean (Mean Girls: Release). While using outside sources to provide a basis for her creation, she also incorporated her own high school experience with mean girls in the production (Johnson). Both Tina Few and Lorne Michaels chose to use a comedic twist to bring to life the difficulties teenage girls of today, in particular, face and how they affect them individually. Both aspects of being part of the “in crowd” as well as the “out crowd” are addressed so that teens and even parents can experience the linguistics, slang, fashion and music that the teenagers of this generation hold in high regard and incorporate into their daily lives (ILILM).
Mean Girls utilizes semiotics as well as numerous symbols, metalingual cues, and contextual cues to provide social and cultural meanings. Looking at Mean Girls as a text in itself, the different languages, music, oufits, social activities, along with other prominent signs, are used to represent social status and person value to enhance interpretation and understanding of the meaning of the film. The slang used by the characters in the film, for example, such as referring to the popular girls as “the plastics” is an example of metalingual cues and symbolism prominent in the popular culture of todays teenager. Aditionally, signifiers such as big houses, fancy cars and expensive clothing come to signify the importance of wealth and social status in the personal values of these Mean Girl teenagers and many of the parents who raise