Island of Lost Men and Mean Girls

Island of Lost Men and Mean Girls

By Nada Kabbara

Analyzing a Film
The Movie Island of Lost Men is told in a linear fashion; with each event taking place one after the other. The fade-in and out techniques are used to change from one setting and scene to another. The Movie Mean Girls is told in a linear fashion; with each event taking place one after the other and little use of flashbacks to the protagonist’s past to compare her past situations to her recently occurring situations.
Plot
Island of Lost Men opens up with an Asian woman, called China Lily, singing at a restaurant. From the very beginning the element of racism is made apparent when a woman commented on China Lily’s European dress and Western tune. China Lily is later introduced to Gregory Prin who is best known as the King of the River, where he immediately falls in love with China Lily. Unfortunately Gregory Prin does not know how to appropriately show his affection towards her, he expresses his love through rude comments where he bluntly tells her she has a bad singing voice. After a long conversation China Lily made it evident that she is running away from the law and needs a place to hide. Prin reveals to her that he knows of an island where men go to when they are hiding from the law. He then tells her he will take her to his island as his girlfriend. In the next scene the island is shown to be inhabited by natives who work together with the men in hiding to create a better atmosphere for Prin and his demands. There is a noticeable difference between Prin’s and his men’s attire compared to the villagers of the island’s attire. Prin and his men are wearing a full suit and are seen to be well groomed while the male villagers are wearing skirts bearing a naked chest and the woman are wearing skirts and covering their chests. Two characters are introduced at the Trading Post, Professor and Herbert. Herbert, who is seen as Prin’s help, begins to associate himself with China Lily, where he later speaks of her to his friends, mentioning she is of a Chinese decent and her name is Lily. One of Prin’s men is later arrested and brought back to Prin where he hopes that one day he is able to work with much more civilized men even though it may mean no freedom. Prin’s bossy and overconfident behavior illustrates a sign of superiority where he is able to boss everyone around without any problems. In continuation he then introduces China Lily to three men, one of which is named Cheng. Once he and Lily made eye contact, it was like their eyes were glued together, like they had a secret past together and do not want anyone else to find out, especially Prin. As the scene continues to dinner China Lily begins to compliment Prin and his flowers. Prin took offence to her comments as she apologized and took them back. After dinner Cheng and China Lily were speaking outside revealing to the audience that they were at the island for the same reason, to find her father. Prin walks up to them and invites them in for coffee, they refuse. This refusal sets off Prin and he tells them “you are my guests and will do as I say” and forces them to walk inside to have coffee with him. Later that evening China Lily watches Prin through a window investigating what he has hiding in his room. He opens a locked cabinet where the camera reveals a stolen stash of money and jewelry. Prin then appoints the Professor to law enforcement officer and sends him up the river, where the professor is replaced by Cheng to look for China Lily’s father, General Ling an important Chinese man. Prin realizes what has happened and ordered the natives to block him off half way and kill him. The camera switches shows the audience that one of Prin’s men, the Professor, heard everything he said. The Professor, who is deceiving Prin, approaches the native and orders them not to kill Cheng. This scene reveals that the natives are planning with him to destroy and replace Prin with the Professor. China Lily then sneaks into Prin’s room and steals the stash of money that she finds out was originally her father’s money. When Cheng returns his identity is revealed as a secret agent from China who went to Singapore in hopes of finding Gregory Prin. Prin finds out that the police are on their way up the river looking for China Lily. The professor returns to the scene with a bag and dumps it in front of Prin. One of Prin’s men, Forbineas, was murdered and beheaded, the professors exact words was “This is the first time a white man’s been killed on the river without Prin’s orders.” Prin decides that matters can only be fixed if he does things himself and took China Lily, whose real name is Kim, with him to Tanwack. Herbert’s monkey was screaming and pointing under the welcome mat on the porch of the bungalow. He and the professor were wondering what he was trying to tell them when they removed the mat to reveal a trapdoor in which they found Ballistar, a man who has threatened Prin for $150,000, floating unconscious in the water. Ballistar regains consciousness and he, Herbert and the professor jump on a speed boat to find Prin. Prin reveals to China Lily that he has found out her identity and pulled out a gun to kill her. In this time the three men showed up on the speed boat and saved Kim. Ballister takes Prin back to the Bungalow to seal the deal of $150,000 where Prin finds that the money is gone. Herbert is blamed for the stolen money, but Kim tells Prin that she took it. Prin is filled with anger as soon as he found out that Kim took the money and the monkey revealed where Herbert’s body was. He took out his shot gun and killed the monkey. After this series of events the Professor revealed to Prin that the natives are turning against him and reveals the two skulls on sticks placed outside his door. These skulls were placed in the way that told Prin he has two minutes left to live before they attack him. Cheng then returns with the lie that Kim’s father is dead. He later tells Kim that he is alive and that they will run away with the money and save her father. Prin tries to trick Cheng and Kim by giving them a boat that is half way filled with gas, when the boat stops he ordered his men to kill them and bring back the money. The professor speaks to the natives about their plan in killing Prin, and then reveals to Prin what has been happening behind his back and that he filled the boat’s tank the rest of the way so that Cheng and Kim arrive to Tanwack safely. Prin, angry that he had lost everything, shot the professor. He and Ballister are left alone to fight the natives. Prin then finds out that he is left defenseless when he finds a note in his gun case from Herbert saying that he had thrown out all of his guns. Ballister later kills himself with the last bullet leaving Prin alone to be tortured and killed by the natives.
Mean Girls opens up with a close low angle shot of Cady’s (pronounced Kate - y) parents holding a lunch bag and preparing her for her first day of school. The camera then slowly moves into an eye-level shot revealing that Cady is a 16 year old teenage girl who has been homeschooled for her entire school life. The scene then turns into a long shot while her father is taking pictures of his daughter and his wife for her first day of school. Before going to school, Cady talks about her life in Africa using the flashback technique. A new scene is opened revealing Cady being dropped off at school by her parents. Close up shots are used to reveal the emotional separation of parents and daughter. As she enters high school she is exposed to the difficulties of student life and the different cultures that the students have. The close up shots are continued with revealing Cady’s expression and emotions as she walks through the halls of school and finally finds her class. It is evident with the use of this shot that the audience is able to connect with Cady’s character and her emotions. Her first interaction with a fellow peer was not a comforting one. As the scene continues she is guided by two people, Janice and Damien, telling her where it is safe and not safe to sit in class. The camera moves in her perspective around the room until she bumps into her teacher and spills coffee on her. She is then introduced to the class by the principal. She describes her first day as a stressful surreal blur where she got in trouble for ‘strange’ things like getting up in class to go the washroom. She ended up sitting a washroom stall eating her lunch on her first day. Her second day Cady is officially introduced to Janice and Damien where they take her to her next class in the back building. The two then take her outside to play hookie instead and ended up telling her that the back building burnt down, she asked “Wouldn’t we get in trouble?” And they answered “Why would we get you into trouble? We’re friends.” Cady is then introduced to the Plastics (the popular girls) by Janice and Damien; they inform her of the school kingdom and who everyone is. The second day in the cafeteria she is asked to sit with the Plastics after them saving her from a boy who was harassing her. Later she spoke to her friends Janice and Damien where Janice tells her to hang out with her. Janice then creates an experiment to hang out with the popular kids and report back to Janice and Damien what they talk about. Later that day in math class she met a senior boy, named Erin, and has an instant crush. The scene turns into a flashback of Cady’s first crush when she was 4 in Africa. Cady then explains that “Having lunch with the plastics was like leaving the actual world and entering girl world. And girl world has a lot of rules.” From the beginning it is evident that Regina George (the leader of the plastics) is envied and hated by many. The Plastics explain the rules to Cady and if she breaks any of the rules she is not allowed to sit at the table for the day. As the movie unravels conflict begins to occur within hierarchy of the Plastics. Gretchen Wiener (one of the Plastics) backstabs Cady and tells Regina that Cady likes her ex-boyfriend Erin, where Regina then three-way called Cady to expose her and create conflict between Cady and Gretchen. Throughout the movie Cady is faced with constant conflicts like being harassed everyday about joining the Mathletes, which is seen as social suicide, living a double life of being friends with Janice and Damien and pretending to be with the Plastics and trying to win Erin’s heart. Cady relates everything she sees back to Africa and the animals by the water hole. Regina continues to reveal her evil side by calling a girl, Taylor’s, mother pretending to be Susan from Planet Parenthood telling her, her daughter’s test results are back. Regina invites Cady and the rest of the Plastics back to her house where they stumbled upon their old scrapbook called Burn Book where they wrote mean things about all the girls in their grade. After reporting back to Janice, Janice tells her to steal the book so they can reveal the book to others. As the school year progresses Cady continues to speak to Erin where he then invites her to a Halloween party and told her not to bring anyone else. The Halloween party is where the conflicts begin to unravel. Regina talks to Erin about Cady liking him and sees that he is interested in her as well. She then manipulates him into thinking that she is weird and to get become her boyfriend again, where they later kiss. Before this moment Cady thought Regina to be a nice girl. Cady storms out of the party and goes to Janice’s house where they then begin to plot a Total Plastic Sabotage. Janice claims that Regina George is an evil dictator and in order to overthrow an evil dictator you must cut off all their resources. Regina’s resources include her boyfriend, her good physique and her loyal followers. Cady, Janice and Damien later gave her foot cream for her face and cut holes in the front of her shirt to reveal her bra. All these plans made Regina more desirable to her boyfriend and made her more popular and created a fashion statement. Their next plan was to crack Gretchen Wiener and get the two against each other. This was done by Cady buying Candy Canes for herself and the other Plastic Karen ‘from Regina George’, as soon as Gretchen found out that she did not receive one from Regina Gretchen started pouring out secrets to Cady and getting Karen against Regina as well, thus completing the plan in cracking her loyal followers. Cady accidently told Erin (Regina’s boyfriend) that she is cheating him, thus completing the task in getting rid of her boyfriend. Finally they made her eat Kaltine bars, which makes one drastically gain weight and claimed that these bars make one lose weight, thus ruining her physique. As the movie comes to a close Regina was told she cannot sit with them because she broke a rule and Cady becomes the new Queen Bee of the group. Cady then ditches Janice and Damien by lying to Janice that she has to go with her parents to a concert the day of her Art Show and lied to her parents in telling them she was going to Janice’s Art Show so she can have a get together with all her new friends. The get together turned into a party and Regina found out she was not invited. Cady drunkenly tells Erin some of her secrets which made him lose interest in her and Regina finds out the Kaltine bars make her gain weight. Janice and Damien then stop by her house and find out she was lying and drove away from her angrily. The next day at school Regina George photocopied the Burn Book and took it to school and claimed that Cady, Gretchen and Karen were the ones who wrote it, after spreading all the sheets around all the junior girls started to fight in the hallway. All the girls were taken to the gymnasium and were forced to confront each other and go through a workshop. At the end of school Regina and Cady were arguing while walking as Regina stopped and turned around to face Cady in the middle of the street she got run over by a bus. The next day Cady confessed to writing the book all by herself and told her teacher and Erin she’s trying a new thing where she does not talk about people behind their backs. Her teacher then gives Cady her own personal punishment and made her join the Mathletes, which takes place the same day of the Spring Formal. After winning the Mathletes Cady and the Mathletes crew went to the Spring Formal where she was crowned queen. She gave a phenomenal speech in apologizing to everyone and broke the crown into pieces and through it in the crowd claiming that everyone at the Spring Formal was Royalty. That was a significant part in the movie because it ended all conflict and resolved everything with everyone. After apologizing to Janice and Damien Erin came up to Cady and they started a new chapter to the ending of a school year. The next year there were no more Plastics, everyone spoke to everyone and the four girls Regina, Gretchen, Karen and Cady found their own place in the School Kingdom.

Conflict of Resolution
The conflict that is faced in the Movie Island of Lost Men is man vs. man. This conflict is made evident through the antagonist of the movie, Gregory Prin who is a successful and powerful business man. Gregory Prin and his relationship between his staff, the natives of the island, China Lily and her father was not a healthy relationship, where Prin will overpower and control everyone using aggressive force in his speech. In result the conflict was resolved when China Lily and the undercover detective made their escape and Gregory Prin loses everything he has worked for where he later dies at the hands of the villagers. There are several conflicts in the plot of Mean Girls which reveal man vs. man. First being Cady trying to find out who her real friends are, second Cady having to pretend to be friends with the Plastics and sabotage them and third Cady having a crush on Regina’s (the head of the Plastics) ex-boyfriend. The conflicts are resolved through manipulation and lie where the tension continues to build up throughout the duration of the movie until it eventually blows up and out of control leading to Regina being hit by a bus. After this situation happened, everything settled down and the hierarchy in the high school culture no longer took place.
Viewers
The film cues reactions on the part of viewers through sound in Island of Lost Men by incorporating sounds that influences the audience’s mood of that particular scene. This can be seen in several scenes, for example in the end when Prin was screaming “You can’t disobey me, my word is law I am king of this river!” The music playing in the background was intense which created a tense mood and hinted to the audience something was going to happen. In addition, this movie also incorporates sound that reflects the cultural background of a significant character. On several occasions when China Lily enters the scene Chinese gongs are played in the background, this is the same for the villagers of the island but with drums. Characterization in this movie illustrates dominance in the male gender while the female is seen as delicate and inferior. On numerous occasions China Lily is seen as a delicate flower that is unable to take control of certain situations, except in taking back her father’s money. In contrast the males, such as Cheng, the villagers and Pring, are seen as dominant characters throughout the movie. They are able to manipulate situations that will be in favor to themselves, a particular situation is when Cheng and China Lily fooled Prin as he walked in on them whispering. The villagers can be seen taking control in replacing Pring’s position with another man and finally Pring being able to control several characters through threats and word of mouth. It is evident that the characterization of each group is reflected on their social rank and ethnicity. This is evident with Pring being the wealthiest of all males, which puts him in a higher social rank than the other males. In addition the white man is seen as more dominant than the villagers and Asians, and males are seen as superior while females remain inferior. The camera movements in Island of Lost Men are simple yet effective. There are many close ups on characters to reveal the emotion on their face and allow the audience to connect with each character in their moments of inferiority and superiority. For example a close up on China Lily’s face illustrating inferiority is when Prin revealed to her that he knows her real name, Kim, and her true identity. As he reveals this information China Lily’s eyes quickly shift from looking straight ahead to looking down at the floor. In contrast to this scene of weakness, China Lily has her moments of superiority. She illustrates this when taking action and stealing her father’s money back from Prin. When Prin found out his money was stolen by her, it put China Lily in a higher position than Prin because she was able to fool him.
In comparison the movie Mean Girls uses sound to cue particular reactions on the part of the viewers incorporating African drums, sounds of elephants and African singers playing in the background every time Cady’s childhood is brought to scene. In addition the movie incorporates sounds such as the xylophone, piano, violin and drums to incorporate anticipation, love at first sight and exploitation and vengeance. The editing in the movie is excellent, it reveals an exaggeration of high school life with minimal censorship. The way the film was edited was in a way that the viewer could relate greatly not only with the characters but the atmosphere and scene that the movie evokes. The characterization is opposite of Island of Lost Men in the aspect that the female gender is seen as more dominant than the male. The male is seen as an object of affection a boy toy while the females are dominant in the school kingdom with the Plastics (popular girls) on top of the kingdom and the nerds at the bottom. An example of this is when Janice draws Cady an outline of the school cafeteria illustrating where everyone sits and who to sit with and who not to sit with. The camera movements played a significant role in connecting with the audience. With a smooth flow from scene to scene and character to character the audience was able to view the situations through the eyes of the protagonist, antagonist or as a third party viewer. An example of this is when Cady enters the cafeteria for the first time, the camera movements are shown in her perspective as it moves about the room and from table to table, creating a nervous atmosphere and an emotion of insecurity.
Setting
The setting in Island of Lost Men can be seen as realistic because the location gives evidence that the characters are on an island. This can be seen by the water under the house, large trees and bushes, the type of house built (a bungalow) and the river and ocean. In relation to the setting the atmosphere plays a big role to it. From the very beginning the atmosphere changes, it opens with a vibrant upbeat atmosphere at a restaurant where China Lily was singing and, as the plot continues to unfold after Prin brings China Lily to his Island, the tension begins and becomes worse by the end resulting in the death of Prin.
The setting of Mean Girls begins with a short timeline in Africa and continues on to a high school in America. Although the majority of the movie’s setting is placed in the high school the setting does alternate from the mall, home and friend’s houses. It is evident that these settings are seen as realistic because the movie is about high school life, in which the audience can greatly relate with their real life in school. Although it is an exaggeration of high school life the situations the protagonist is put in are very similar situations many of the audience has been or are put in everyday. The protagonist of the movie illustrates the innocence of elementary school life and childhood being tarnished by adolescence and the so called ‘real world’. The atmospheres of the movie begins with a relaxed feel, but as Cady begins her first day of school the audience beings to feel nervous for her which adds on to the tensions that will occur later when she is introduced to the Plastics (the popular kids).
Characters
The characters in Island of Lost Men are viewed with a bias. The White men are seen as high in social rank and are dressed in suits or in dress pants and dress shirts. Furthermore, depending on the social rank like Prin and Cheng, the characters are thus seen dressed up in suitable attire, a full suit, and are kept well groomed throughout the duration of the movie. The men of a low social standing are seen wearing a casual shirt and khaki pants sporting a jungle hat, while the villagers (whom are of the lowest social rank) are seen wearing close to nothing. This appearance illustrates the villager’s as barbarians. In contrast China Lily is seen dressed in both traditional conservative Chinese attire to reveal her cultural background and in Westernized clothing to illustrate her transformation from a traditional Chinese woman to being at Prin’s side. In comparison to Mean Girls Cady begins school life in unflattering laid back clothing. Her appearance would change as the movie unraveled and Cady started hanging out with the Plastics to more of a popular chic look. The Plastics, Teen Royalty, were always seen wearing the trendiest youthful outfits, while anyone under their heir was wearing far less fashionable clothing to the point where some characters are seen wearing close to rags. This illustrates social hierarchy with the Plastics being at the top of the clothing trend. An example of this is when one of the students was being interviewed she mentioned that Cady was wearing “army pants and flip-flops” so she went out and bought a pair of “army pants and flip-flops”. The males in the movie are dressed in the similar preppy and jock attire while the.
Shots
The shot distances that are used in Island of Lost Men are the short, medium and long shots. The short shots are used when there is one character seen talking or when there are two characters having a conversation in one shot. The medium shot is used when there is a group of people talking, like in Gregory Prin’s dinner scene with China Lilly and his three men. In addition the long shots are used to establish the setting of the scene (continuing with the dinner scene), the videographer established that the men were standing in a fancy dining room and that a special occasion was taking place, considering the characters attire and the dining room being decorated neatly. There is a noticeable movement from longer to shorter shots. This movement could have been done in a softer and slower motion to create a smooth flow of the camera zooming in or out in each particular scene. In comparison the shot distances used in Mean Girls are short, medium and long, each shot distances serve different purposes. Short shots are used for close ups, interviews or when one or two characters are talking. They are also used when viewing a significant object, for example, when the camera zoomed in on Janice’s chalk board and list of diabolical plans in her room. The medium distances are used when more than one significant character are in the scene and when a group of characters are in conversation, this is seen at the cafeteria table with the four girls talking. In addition the medium shot is partly used to establish the setting, opening up the scene when Janice and Cady were at Janice’s work the camera angle started at Cady and curved to view Janice behind the counter still including Cady in the shot. Long shots are used to establish the setting of the scene and to view the whole scene and characters, an example of this is when Cady was walking in the mall with the Plastics, the camera moved to show a long shot of the mall’s atrium and the significant characters.
Camera Angles
The information the camera angles provide about the characters is that the person is either superior, inferior or at the same level of each other. Through the duration of the movie the camera angles are at the “eye-level” angle where the audience is on the same eye-to-eye level as the character and may encourage the audience to identify themselves within the characters. Another angle that is used within the film is the “point-of-view” shot where the camera will be looking at a character in another character’s point of view. An example of this is when the General is speaking to China Lily and looking down at her, illustrating a “high angle” shot. Another example is when China Lily is looking up at the General from a seated position illustrating a “low angle shot”. These shots guide the viewer’s eye to noticing details such as danger and threat in the scene where the General learns the police are on their way. It also encourages the audience to align their perspective with each character and where they are looking and how they are feeling in that moment.
There are several different camera angles that take place in the movie Mean Girls such as eye-to-eye level which is used when the videographer is interviewing fellow students and when viewing from a perspective of a character when they are speaking to another. This level allows the audience to identify with the characters and allow them to view the situation from their perspective. Low-angle shots are used when the camera is in perspective of the audience during the scenes of the talent show and when Cady was crowned Spring Formal Queen. This angle illustrates dominance and importance of the character on the stage, this angle can also be seen in the opening scene of the movie when Cady’s parents are talking to her about her first day of school allowing the audience to view in the perspective of a child. The low-angle shot is also used in the movie when Cady was looking down at the audience when giving her speech at the Spring Formal. Lastly the birds-eye view is used to establish the setting of the scene, for example when the camera was moving through the cafeteria tables when Janice was explaining where everyone sits.


Camera Movements
The camera movements in Island of Lost Men function in three particular ways, moving from scene to scene, one character to another and following a character while he, she or they are walking. These movements illustrate the importance of the particular character(s) in the scene and provide information as to where the setting is located and how important certain setting objects may be, such as the shot gun the General pulls out. The camera movements focus solely on the movement of the characters and the scene, with these movements, the camera does not align the viewer’s perspective with that of a character but may guide the viewer’s eye to particular details like the trap door on the porch. Comparing the functions of camera movements to Mean Girls, this movie allows the audience to view the scene and other characters in the perspective of the protagonist. In addition the camera also discloses the setting of each scene with a long or medium shot and slowly moves from one significant area of the scene to the other. The camera movement reveals the emotion and various different actions of each character with a short shot and allows the audience to align with the character’s perspective. An example of this is when Cady walked into one of the Plastic’s room, the camera moved from one significant point of the room to the other (illustrating Cady’s perspective) then went to a close shot on her face to reveal her disbelief.
Music
Music play a specific purpose in the film of Island of Lost Men to cue particular reactions on the part of the viewers by playing upbeat music, when appropriate, to create a vibrant atmosphere, when China Lily, an Asian woman, was singing in the restaurant in the beginning of the movie. Later when Prin takes China Lily with him to his island the sounds turn to suspenseful music as the characters begin to plot and scheme. The music’s purpose in the film is to create a sense of connection and to influence the audience’s emotions to match those of the scene, character or situation. The purpose of the music in the film Mean Girls cues particular reactions on the part of the viewers in the way of beginning the movie with an African beat illustrating the innocence of Cady, the protagonist. As Cady enters real school, Cady makes a transformation from the “innocent homeschooled girl” to the average teenager, the music changes beat and turns into top 40 and hip hop style music of that time. The purpose of this type of music in the film is to create a youth like atmosphere. Whereas in the beginning of the movie the purpose of the music was to create a feel originality and innocence, for example when Cady was talking about her life and went into a flashback of her childhood there was an African beat playing in the background. The African music helps shape our interpretation of this image by illustrating to the audience Cady’s homeschooled life in Africa and the innocence of a child. The youth like music helps shape the audience’s interpretation of the image by illustrating Cady’s transformation from an innocent African homeschooled girl to the everyday life of a normal teenager at school. An example of this is when Cady was walking down the hall at school with a transformed appearance from laid back clothing to chic in a matter of weeks.
External Conditions
Social conditions influence the film Island of Lost Men by denoting the social class as dominant and inferior. The characters that are a part of the dominant social class are those who associate themselves with Gregory Prin and of the White culture. The characters that are a part of the inferior social class are the females, those who work for Gregory Prin and his men and who are a part of the villagers of the island. This situation influenced the storyline of the film by unraveling certain ideological tensions in how the White man treats the villagers and different cultures with disrespect. Social Conditions influence the film Mean Girls by creating an exaggeration of the female world in a high school atmosphere. It reveals a dominant female culture in which the Plastics are far superior to the rest of the girls that lie in the lower social ranks of the high school kingdom. It is evident that in this atmosphere there is a reign of power from the Plastics. This influences the storyline of the film by revealing female’s intentions to sabotage others and bring down the reign in high school.
Ideology/Cultural Tensions
Island of Lost Men follows the ideology of dominant gender and race. It is evident that the White man is dominant throughout the movie; he is superior and wealthier than the other cultures. Not only is it evident in race it is evident in gender, the men in the film are seen as more dominant and powerful than the woman, whether she be a native or China Lily. China Lily is viewed as a delicate flower that is always in need of assistance and a man to guide her through the Island’s surroundings. An example of the White culture to be more dominant than the rest is when Cheng and China Lily respectfully declined the offer to have coffee with Gregory Prin, leading to Prin insulting the Chinese culture by stating that it is not of Chinese manners to decline their host. Cultural tensions are greatly illustrated within the movie of Island of Lost Men.
Mean Girls critiques dominant ideologies by adding a comedic twist to it. The producer critiqued everyday high school life and transformed it into an over exaggeration by relating the mall, students and the school to a watering hole in Africa. Further stating how the animals would act the similar to teenagers in the same situations that Cady and her fellow peers are in. For example when Regina (the head of the Plastics) found out she had a crush on Erin (Regina’s ex-boyfriend) she got back together with him to spite Cady. In that situation Cady had a flashback as to how it would be handled in the animal world at the watering hole. This ideology reflects cultural tensions within the high school culture by taking what people may or do go through in high school and put an exaggerating comedic twist to it.
Final Reflections
This comparison essay allowed me to view two completely different movies yet see many similarities in cultural situations and dominance. Both movies used the arrogant character approach to illustrate dominance and power with the particular cultures. Though these movies were created in complete different times these ideologies are very similar to each other. In contrast with the two films, Island of Lost Men filmed in 1939, illustrated ignorance of cultures and genders in viewing the non Westernized cultures and woman as inferior while Mean Girls, filmed in 2004, viewed woman as superior and strong willed. The women in this movie do not need a man’s assistance, as can be seen in Island of Lost Men with China Lily. Women in Mean Girls are idolized and are seen as superior than men, especially in creating and fighting the conflicts in which arise throughout the duration of the movie.