An 80's Classic

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2013)

Director John Hughes created a timeless film about five high school students and one day of detention. The typical stereotypes of high school are represented by each character: the athlete, Andrew Clark, played by Emilio Estevez; the brain, Brian Johnson, played by Anthony Michael Hall; the criminal, John Bender, played by Judd Nelson; the princess, Claire Standish, played by Molly Ringwald; and the basket case, Allison Reynolds, played by Ally Sheedy.Detention begins with each person believing the stereotypes strictly define themselves as well as the others around them. Principal Richard Vernon, played by Paul Gleason, has them write a paper describing who they think they are. As they address each of the roles they "play" in school they grow to realize each role is the same in some way or another. As students they have all been cast in every role at some point or another in their lives. Similarly in Mean Girls, the characters learn that they fit in each of the stereotypes produced in a high school setting, despite the original role they were given by their peers. By the end of the movie the kids have figured out that they are not against each other because it's who they are but rather protagonists and antagonists for each other because of the role they have been cast in. In the end they have reached a friendship that is for them to share even though it may not be seen in the halls of the school. The use of dialog and a single shoot location create the real feeling of high school and thus the characters. Hughes allowed the actors to ad lib and create much of their own dialog, giving each actor the ability to pull from their own experiences, making it a more authentic experience for the audience. The simplicity of one location, a high school library, forces the audience to focus on the stories being told and the characters themselves. Each of us can relate in some way or knows someone like each of the characters that Hughes introduces us to in this amazing film. More than likely each of us can see ourselves in each of them. In the paper that Brian ultimately writes he echoes that sentiment, that each of them are an athlete, a brain, a criminal, a princess, and a basket case.