Mean, Meaner, Meanest

"Women would run the world if they did not hate each other." Interesting words uttered from the mouth of Chris Rock but also very true. Where ever you look examples of girl on girl hate is prevalent; books, TV, film and music, we are all party to seeing young women treating each other badly. These are issues that author and educator, Rosalind Wiseman tackies in her book, Queen Bees and Wannabees where she looks at ways of handling aggressive girl behaviour. She also goes into the secret world of school cliques and breaks them down into six categories: Queen Bees, Wannabes, Messengers, Bankers, Targets, Torn Bystanders. Queen Bees and Wannabees is an important book because not only does it give us an insight into the socio-political inside of girl world it is also the inspiration for Mean Girls. Defined as a combination of Heathers meets Clueless, Mean Girls was released in 2004 to critical acclaim and is now regarded as one of the best teen films of all time. The success of the movie might have had something to do with the hotness of Lindsay Lohan at the time but Mean Girls is truly all about Tina Fey and her brilliant script writing skills.


Mean Girls was Tina's debut as a writer and actor in a feature film and I supposed you can say that it was also a semi bio project as the movie touched on a lot of things that she experienced at high school. The cast also includes performers from Saturday Night Live of which Tina is an integral part of. This teen dramady is the story of Cady Heron played by Lindsay Lohan, a teenager who moves to a new school after having an idyllic upbringing in an African country. New to the social rules of high school she finds herself an object of interest by The Plastics ie the Mean Girls who run the school. The Plastics are headed by Regina George played by Rachel McAdams and they take her under their wing and she finds herself escalating into the school popularity ranks. However, unknown to The Plastics, Cady is secretly plotting with social outcasts Janis Ian played by Lizzy Caplan and Damien played by Daniel Franzese to bring down Regina. As she becomes immersed in life as a Plastic Cady usurps Regina to become the new Queen Bee but pretty soon she gets addicted to her new found power and starts to neglect her real friends.


The character of the Queen Bee runs similar in a lot of films and TV shows from Heather Chandler in Heathers, Taylor Vaughan in She's All That and Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl. Rosalind Wiseman defines the the Queen Bee below:

"She holds the combination of charisma, strong will, looks, money, force and manipulation. She is the centre of the group not because she is well liked but because of the fear that she holds over the group. She sets all the rules and changes them to suit her own purposes."

As enjoyable and funny as Mean Girls is, the film also has a steely edge that is a tad bit disturbing. As Tina Fey describes, the film shows how girls know how to mess with each other. Talk about art imitating life.

Retro Review: Clueless

So now I know where the phrase, 'My Bad' came from. After years of hit and miss I decided to watch Clueless today and I am so glad I did because I feel like I have just fitted the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Clueless is based on Emma which is a novel written by super scribe Jane Austen and it features Cher Horowitz played by Alicia Silverstone, a sweet natured Beverly Hills princess who is just a tad bit pampered and self involved. This film is one of many adaptation of novels penned by Jane Austen and William Shakespeare that hit the scene in the 90s. Remember Romeo + Juliet and 10 Things I hate About You - films that were based on popular period dramas and were given a modern twist. Well Clueless led the pack of films aimed at the MTV Generation and is now revered as the ultimate teen comedy.

Cher and her best friend Dionne played by Stacey Dash are the most popular girls in school which is fitting as they are both named after the singers. Cher lives with her lawyer father in a big mansion and her life is picture perfect although it is marred slightly by a short visit by her former step brother, Josh played by Paul Rudd. Josh and Cher are poles apart as he is a deep thinking intellectual while Cher's deepest challenge is sussing out which pair of shoes to wear. The banter between the duo is very entertaining and serves as a focal point for the film as Josh's comments about Cher's superficiality leads her to become less involved. She becomes something of a match maker by setting up her two teachers on a date and while doing this she develops a taste for helping people. So when new girl, Tai played by Brittany Murphy joins the school Cher takes her under her wing, giving her a makeover which escalates Tai's popularity. Meanwhile she becomes so wrapped up in sorting out other people's love lives that she does not notice that she has an admirer of her own.

I will admit that the reason why I did not rush to see this film when it was released back in 1995 was because of the title which sounded like a lightweight comedy. By god was I wrong, Clueless is iconic in so many ways and way ahead of its time. Without this film there would be no Legally Blonde (which is really the naughties version of Clueless), and there would definitely be no Mean Girls. That snappy dialogue that had everyone keeling over set the benchmark for how teen comedies should be. Director, Amy Heckerling certainly did her homework here and conveys pop culture in the most accurate form.

Language
It was the first film to portray how teenagers spoke to each other. Hence phrases such as 'Whatever,' 'Totally,' 'As If,' and of course 'My bad.'

Fashion
The film was full of cute plaid suits, baby doll dresses and over the knee socks, all of which became the rage in the mid 90s.

TV Series
The success of the film led to a spin off TV series which starred a few of the key characters. Cher was played by another actress.

Books
A collection of books were released after the film came out.

There is no doubt in my mind that Clueless is a pop cultural phenomenon.

In case you are a Clueless fanatic you can buy the special DVD edition, Clueless Whatever holds interview with the cast and delves into the fashion and trends from the film. You can purchase it here.

The Brat Pack

I am a kid of the 80s and I totally love the era; the cool music, the wonderful films and ever so glam TV. Ok the fashion was a bit iffy, what with the over sized t-shirts, the leggings and shoulder pads but man those were some great times. One of major things that came out of that decade were coming of age movies such as The Breakfast Club, St Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The themes tended to be middle class teen or early twenties angst set against a backdrop of a large city. The stars in these films were Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson and Demi Moore who were dubbed The Brat Pack in reference in the 1950s Rat Pack. Last week I had an 80s movie marathon and watched Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club and St Elmo's Fire. Pretty in Pink stars Molly Ringwald, a beautiful boho who is from the wrong side of the tracks who falls for one of the rich guys at her school. The Breakfast Club is a story of five teenagers who represent a different clique from their school who are forced to spend Saturday in detention together. After telling stories, insulting each other, dancing and opening up, the group discover that they have a lot more in common then they originally thought. St Elmo's Fire is a slightly more sophisticated film, that features a group of friends who have just graduated from University.

While watching these films it became apparent to me how influential these movies were on the industry. The Breakfast Club is ranked number one on Entertainment Weekly's list as the 50 Best High School Movies and has had a huge impact on the teen film genre and popular culture. The theme song, 'Don't You Forget About Me' by Simple Minds was a massive hit and reached number one in the US. With no Pretty in Pink, there would be no Clueless, Legally Blonde and Mean Girls. Also the close knit friendships of the characters in St Elmo's Fire is akin to those in Friends and Sex in the City. The colourful characters and wonderful dialogue in all films appears as funny and fresh as ever and you have to pinch yourself to make sure that you are watching a film from 20 years ago.

Chick Flicks

Glam.com have published their list of the best chick flicks of all time. 25 films have been listed with Clueless heading the list. With the news that Hollywood studio bosses are planning an output of Chick Flick titles for this year, it looks like the genre is finally getting its dues. According to this article in The New York Times, filmmakers are even going as far as to aiming the titles at men as well as women. This is great news for me as I am an avid fan of chick flicks and along with many Sophie Kinsella fans, I am awaiting the release of the film Confessions of a Shopaholic later this year. Till that date arrives I have the Rough Guide to Chick Flicks to keep me instead. The book is an entertaining guide to the films millions of women round the globe love; from rom coms, bio pics, melodramas and thrillers - it is all here to savour. Divided into sections such as the history of chick flicks, the must sees - the lowdown on 50 essential women's films, the faces - a profile on the sheroes and heroes of chick flicks, chick lits and chick flicks - looking at the fascinating relationship between books and films, women of the world - featuring fantastic material from across the world.

The Rough Guide to Chick Flicks is written by Samantha Cook who uses these words to describe the genre, "The chick flick. Most of us recognise one when we see one but as a genre it is difficult to define. Regarded more of a guilty pleasure than as an art form, it is a breed of movie that's given little attention in comparison to other more recognised genres. Mention chick flicks and people come over all condescending, bandying words around like light, frothy formulaic. This book dosen't knock froth. In fact it thrives in it. What, afterall would a cappuccino be without froth, or a bubble bath" This title is a really fun read as it teaches you the ins and outs of the genre and also points out a few titles that make essential viewing. Check out the website here.