The movie “Mean Girls” is a teenage comedy that scrutinizes the formation of high school cliques and the negative impacts cliques have on teenagers. The “plastics” are considered the most popular girls in the junior class. Regina and her two cronies are the plastics because they are abreast with the latest trends and are unbothered by the actual purpose of attending school. A new girl, Cady Heron has been home-schooled her entire life by her zoologist parents and is trying to adjust to the socialization of attending a public high school.

Upon befriending the plastics, Cady experiences the harsh realities of the laws of high school popularity which ultimately forces her want to destroy the plastics. Initially, the issue between Cady and Regina began when Cady noticed the ex-boyfriend of Regina. Cady attempts to achieve Regina’s ex-boyfriend through first becoming friends with the plastics, and a series of stunts to send Regina to her demise. An example of one of Cady’s stunts included feeding Regina protein bars that increased weight, when Regina was trying to lose weight for an upcoming dance. Undoubtedly, this movie embellishes on the issues of peer pressure and social development in a high school setting. The purpose of this review is to not only pinpoint the areas of peer pressure and social development, but to acknowledge ways to work with the characters and her friends in the eyes of counselors, and to provide potential prevention and intervention resources to help the issues of peer pressure and bullying discovered in this movie.

As Cady attempted to sabotage Regina, Cady emerged as the main character. She unknowingly became a product of the plastics because of her sneaky and hurtful antics to hurt her friends, but began to embody the negative behaviors such as bullying associated with the plastics. As Cady embodied the negative behaviors of sabotaging Regina, Cady turned into a victim of negative peer pressure. When Cady first entered the school, she was unaware of the various high school cliques and did not know how to fit in. Therefore, Cady found a purpose with the goal to destroy Regina and secure the ex-boyfriend. Although the motive was based on negative peer pressure to be popular, ultimately the goal leads to her demise. Peer pressure is a feeling that one has to attempt to do as people of a certain age or social group with hopes to gain respect (Walker, 2012). Negative peer pressure is the negative influences of peers which causes unwarranted behaviors.

Because Cady became a victim of negative peer pressure, she felt the need to mirror those actions, and resulted in the inability to form a healthy social development. She became so enthralled with being the most popular that she could not adapt to peers outside of the plastic clique, and she could not focus on her school work. Social development includes the knowledge, skills, and values that enable the effective contribution to the family, school, or community (Matter, 2016). Cady experienced unhealthy social development because she was ineffective to her family and school because of her narcissistic attitude. Cady also did not practice skills to be an active member of the community or the school, instead reinforced negative behaviors for her peers to model. Cady also fell deeper into her demise as she had received feedback that catered to her ego, which shaped her self-concept on how to be the most popular of her class. Cady had limited social experience and developed an unhealthy social development because of the need to survive in a cliqued high school.

In the case of Cady and Regina and the plastics, a school counselor can provide an intervention to possibly prevent the issue of bullying to escalation. For example, the counselor can change the girls’ classes and lunch times to encourage mingling with other peers. Also, the counselor can introduce the school groups or clubs that may interest the girls to derive all of their attention from being popular. Lastly, the school counselor can outline the negative results of the teenagers’ behavior in attempt to curve the negative behavior to positive behavior. It is important when counselors and teachers are aware of negative behaviors that affect the overall social development of the school. It is also important that when these behaviors are noticed, that a peer mediation is scheduled to determine the root of the issue heal the problem. At the end of the movie, one of the teachers conducted a trust exercise, and encouraged all the girls of the junior class to find an individual who they have hurt knowingly or unknowingly to apologize to begin the healing process of the entire class. Having an individual such as a teacher, or counselor is beneficial to ensure that the feelings of each side are acknowledged and to find a method of resolve.

Toward the end of the movie, a teacher introduced a math group to Cady to curve her negative behavior as a member of the plastics. Being a member of the math group helped Cady to understand her ability to complete math problems, and it also introduced her to other members of her class who shared similar abilities. The incorporation of Cady into the math league allowed Cady to realize of her social circle was small and it enlightened her to more opportunities. The teacher noticed the negative behavior of Cady early in the movie, and she could have mentioned the information to Cady and to her parents. Teachers can also be involved in bullying prevention efforts by creating a program of primary source bullied victims to increase awareness of bullying in schools. Bullying in the school should also be assessed thoroughly, parents and students should be engaged, staff and students should be educated on how to identify bullying, and the school should provide a safe environment for learning (Bullying, 2016).

There are three levels that interventions should happen in the school system in regards to bullying: school-wide level, classroom level, and individual-level intervention (Pagel, 2011). At the school-wide level, assemblies and forums can be used to address the issue. The school-wide level should address the staff, students, and parents that bullying is a problem within the school. The school-wide level can inform parents to speak to their children about being victims of peer pressure and bullying. The classroom level interventions can illicit activities to prevent bullying, and it is a method to establish rules and regulations on bullying policies for the school in a manner that the children can easily comprehend. The classroom activities can include how to demonstrate positive peer pressure such as being a study buddy or seating with a person who is sitting alone. The individual level intervention involves speaking with students individually about the bullying. At the individual level, the counselor should gather information about whether the child exhibits bully traits or is being bullied.

Overall, the “Mean Girls” movie was very good and thought provoking. It provided an interesting outlook to the cliques and bullying that plague high schools world-wide. The movie showed how the main character Cady had been introduced to negative peer pressure, which allowed for unhealthy social development. There were also prevention suggestion methods from school counselors to improve the negative outcome of the main character, and prevention and intervention methods to improve social interaction.