Analysis Of Relationships in the Movie "Mean Girls"

Mean Girls

For this extra credit, I watched Mean Girls which was released in 2004. I enjoyed watching this movie and trying to analyze and apply the concepts I have learned throughout this course. The two relationships in the movie that I will discuss and analyze are; Regina/Janice and Regina George/Aaron. To begin, Regina and Janice were best friends back in elementary, but they became enemies in high school. There are three attributes associated with close friends which are affection, communion and companionship (Miller, 2018, p. 208).

Regina and Janice might have had those attributes when they were best friends however, they didn’t exhibit any of those qualities during their high school years. Janice’s relational value was low and therefore Regina no longer valued her as a friend. I would say that Janice had an insecure attachment style because she became obsessive of Regina when Regina got her first boyfriend. Janice’s insecurity pushed Regina away. Based on table 10.1, researchers have classified the degree to which we may be included or excluded by others. Janice felt maximal exclusion when Regina never invited her to the party and on top of that Regina called her a lesbian (Miller, 2018, p. 304). According to Miller, maximal exclusion is when others abandon us and never want to be around us (Miller, 2018, p. 304).

On the other hand, friendship and love differ in many ways. Love is more than liking someone because it involves much more complex feelings. Love is also associated with sexual desire and more exclusivity. Individuals in love relationship feel more obligated to help their partner than friends and be more loyal (Miller, 2018, p. 208). Moreover, Regina and Aron have a weird relationship where they break up and then they get back to together. Their romance is based on infatuation. Infatuation has strong passion and no intimacy or commitment (Miller, 2018, p. 243). Physical attraction matters when choosing a romantic partner. In general, couples in romantic relationships tend to have matching physical attractiveness (Miller, 2018, p.84). Since Regina is popular and attractive she can get any guy to be with her. Miller (2018) mentions that popular and attractive people tend to be less lonely and happier.

Another concept that the book talks about is the comparison level for attractiveness which describes the consequence we face if we were to end our current relationship (Miller, 2018, p. 173). If people know that they can get a better result from elsewhere they are more likely to end their relationship because people want the absolute best thing . On the contrary, others might decide to stay in a relationship even if they are unhappy because they don’t have a better alternative.