Cady's Heroine's Journey as seen in Mean Girls

 Our class viewing of Legally Blonde sparked a chain reaction which caused me to watch several new movies from genres that I had previously left unexplored. Starting with Legally Blonde’s sequel, I worked my way through Legally Blonde 2, Clueless, and Mean Girls. Each of these respective films featured strong female protagonists undergoing their own heroines’ journeys. Although all of these films are worthy of an in-depth blog post, I have chosen to focus on the most critically acclaimed of the three: Mean Girls. 

Mean Girls follows high school junior Cady Heron, who is enrolling in a public high school (in the Chicago suburbs?) after being homeschooled in Africa for her whole life. Her illusion of the perfect world is displayed in her confidence heading into her first day of public school. Cady self-identifies as a “normal” homeschooled girl—not a stereotypical homeschooled nerd or religious fanatic. This sense of normalcy makes her overly optimistic about her chances of fitting in with her new peers. Her realization occurs when attends her first day of school where it becomes immediately apparent that she does not fit in. In her first class, she’s unable to find a seat and accidentally runs into her teacher. Throughout the rest of the day, she is repeatedly berated by teachers for not knowing proper school etiquette (such as using a bathroom pass). She eats lunch alone in the bathroom and makes no friends in her “stressful, surreal blur” of a first day.

Her awakening and preparation for her journey comes the following day when she befriends two classmates, Janis and Damian. These two take Cady under their wing, explaining the school cliques and overall class dynamic. This newfound friendship becomes complicated Cady is invited to each lunch with the popular girls (known as “the plastics”), a group that Janis and Damian had explicitly cautioned her to avoid. She agrees to become one of the plastics in order to infiltrate the friend's group and share inside information with Janis and Damian. Being a member of the plastics prevents Cady from expressing herself fully because the plastics leader, Regina, is very judgmental and enforces countless social rules to control her friends. This fear of self-expression indicates the descent phase, specifically when Regina Sabotages Cady by embarrassing her in front of her crush, Aaron (also Regina’s ex), at a Halloween party. Regina gets back together with Aaron solely to assert dominance over Cady, revealing the perilous nature of being with the plastics. 

Undaunted by Regina’s power play, Cady (with encouragement from Janis and Damian) resolves to subvert Regina. They aim to take away her popularity, attractive appearance, and loyal friends. As the school years progresses, Cady achieves all of these objectives, causing Regina to gain weight by feeding her calorie packed bars, subliminally turning Regina’s best friend Gretchen against her, and exposing her for cheating on Aaron. Her eye of the storm moment occurs when Aaron breaks up with Regina and she is simultaneously expelled from the plastics for breaking their code of conduct. With Regina out of the way, Cady becomes the new leader of the plastics, leading to overconfidence and snobby superiority.

Consumed by overconfidence, Cady blows off Janis and Damian to throw a house party. At her party, Cady confesses to Aaron that she has been lying to him in order to spend more time with him. Aaron, Janis, and Damian are all disgusted by her behavior and accuse her of becoming a true plastics—“no better than Regina”. Additionally, Regina leaks a secret book containing gossip to the whole school and accuses Cady of being the author. Abandoned by both groups of friends and outcast from her class, Cady experiences her moment of death (all is lost). Her unlooked-for support comes from her math teacher, Mrs. Norbury, who convinces her to pursue Mathletes (an opportunity that she had turned down much earlier in the year to become popular). 

Despite her status as an outcast, Cady is able to use her math skills to win the Mathlete state championship, finally channeling her personal talents and embracing her “nerdy” side. After the competition, her peers unexpectedly elect her to be the highly coveted spring fling queen. This emergence as both a math champion and dance queen evokes a “master of two worlds” progression like that seen in the hero’s journey. Mustering up her courage, Cady makes a speech to her classmates, apologizing for her actions and reconciling with Janis, Damian, the plastics, and Aaron. 

Finally, the return to the perfect world occurs in a flash forward to Cady’s senior year. The plastic clique has disbanded, and each member has found a new group of friends and began nurturing new personal talents. Cady has preserved her friendships with Damian and Janis and is in a successful relationship with Aaron.