The core of the mean girl’s identity is rage.
The onscreen Mean Girl is usually a young woman with a lot of potential who’s bored with her life.
Mean Girls: “That book was written by a bunch of stupid girls who make up rumors because they’re bored with their own lame lives”
She turns to relational aggression because her culture doesn’t offer young women enough constructive outlets.
Heathers: “I use my grand IQ to decide what color gloss to wear and how to hit three keggers before curfew.”
The mean girl is often the Queen Bee of her school—in part because she’s beautiful and rich—but most of all because of her savvy yet cynical understanding of how the system works. She’s ahead of the curve, embodying the cutthroat attitude, skill for manipulating public opinion and materialist standards we expect from power players in the adult world.
But the mean girl’s restrictive social hierarchy actually makes her miserable…
Heathers: “Heather told me she teaches people real life. She said real life sucks losers dry”
She just chooses to perpetuate a toxic cycle because she can’t conceive of a life outside it and at least this way she’s on top. Ultimately, the Mean Girl is the high school version of the cautionary tale that power corrupts.
Jawbreaker: “I made you and I’m God. That’s all you need to know.”