Film Review: Name: Kim Ngọc Thảo Nguyên
Film Review: Name: Kim Ngọc Thảo Nguyên
Film Review: Name: Kim Ngọc Thảo Nguyên
FILM REVIEW
The United States is considered to have one of the most advanced educational systems in
the world. Additionally, school life in the US is a hot topic that several people are concerned about.
One of the most famous and typical movies about high school in US is “Mean Girls”. This teen
comedy film was produced in 2004 and promptly became a hit in the movie industry. Many young
actors and actresses became popular after starring in the film such as Lindsay Lohan and Rachel
McAdams. The film partially takes the inspiration from the Rosalind Wiseman’s fiction book that
describes social life of high school students and their problems. “Mean Girls” not only is a teen
film made for entertaining but also contains a large number of meaningful lessons for viewers.
Among these lessons, always stay true to yourself is an important message of the producers for
everyone especially youngster who are at the same age as the characters.
In “Mean Girls”, the main character, who stars Lindsay Lohan, is sixteen-year-old Cady
Heron. She has been a homeschooled girl for a long time before returning to the US for high school.
On the first of public school, Cady makes friend with two classmates who are Janis and Damian.
Janis and Damian warn her to stay away from the popular and mean group of girls called the
“Plastics”. However, Cady is finally in “Plastics” group and friend of three infamous girls in school
that are Regina the Queen Bee, wealthy but shaky Gretchen and simple Karen. After several
dramas, Cady decide to support Janis’s revenge plan to Regina by being an infiltrator. Cady tries
to destroy Regina life in every aspect in the same way that Regina does to bully other people. After
recognizing what Cady did behind her back, Regina publics the “Burn Book” which contains
several secrets of girls and teachers at school. The whole school believe that Cady is the one who
publics the content of the book and isolate her. The truth is finally discovered and the time of being
From the film we can learn that staying true to yourself plays an important role in life
because not being that can be considered as the key reason why all the dramas happen. In the first
place, the true personality helps to attract right people into life. Normally, people tend to be with
someone who has similar characteristics and same perception. Cady in “Mean Girls” also does
that. In the beginning, she makes friend with Janis and Damian who have quite similar
backgrounds and personalities as hers. However, after getting into the “Plastics”, Cady gradually
forces herself to match with the other girls and turns into a typical mean girl in high school that
bully school mates. Being in “Plastics” makes Cady forget about her true personality and do what
her peers usually do. Fortunately, in the end, Cady still returns to her original person and has a
happier life surrounded by right people. Secondly, being yourself help you gain your clarity.
Indeed, discovering the inner part of oneself is a long and time-taking process which requires lots
of awareness of point of view, emotions and self-management. With the knowledge about yourself,
personal boundaries can be defined easily. Cady in “Mean girls” experiences this process in a very
special way. No matter how complicated her process is, Cady finally gains her clarity, not being a
“plastics” girl, not an infamous girl, but just Cady. Finally, the true personality helps to love
yourself. Pretending to be others does not make people love you more. Perhaps, a desired image
is useful to learn from and get better. However, trying to be others can lead to negative effects,
especially copying someone you hate. In Cady’s case, she is just a homeschooled girl who is
unfamiliar with public school environment. She is dragged to a group of girls who are popular and
mean and acts like them. Cady actually acknowledges that they are the girls who should be avoided
and all their actions are unacceptable. On the other hand, she still continues to follow them and
In conclusion, “Mean girls” provides viewers especially teenagers with several valuable
lessons in life. The story in the movie is an example for why it is so important to stay true to
yourself even when there are social media, communication channels, hot trends and peer pressure
convincing everyone to change in order to fit in. Even though, the movie was made more than ten
years ago, the lessons from the movie can be still helpful for many people.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Girls
https://www.thetalko.com/15-life-lessons-from-mean-girls/
https://www.nerdycreator.com/blog/why-is-it-important-to-be-true-to-yourself/