Josh Karthikeyan Week 15 - Mean Memories
Watching the American High School rendition of Mean Girls was an outstanding experience. I really enjoyed the musical thoroughly and it made me remember the importance of memories.
One of the common themes in the story was trying to remove their past, their younger memories. The characters decided those old moments were not a proper representation of themselves anymore. They wanted to forget it forever. For instance, Cady tried to let go of her past in Africa. She changed how she dressed and her personality; pretending to be less smart and hoping to be more attractive.
However, she realized her mistakes when talking to Aaron.
There was such a memorable scene at Cady’s party where she was upstairs with Aaron. Cady was drunk and opened up about her past. She talks about her experiences in Africa, closing her eyes with her mom to identify how many bird species she can hear. Cady constantly emphasizes how she does not do it any more again in America, adding “obvs”, to highlight how it is normal to stop doing past activities. It resonated with me because society tries to dictate to us what is normal and what is not as time progresses. As we become older, we are supposed to stop doing our previous activities and often cannot anymore due to some external limitation. Sometimes, we are even embarrassed about them and try to conform to the “acceptable” normal that society places.
The two argue about whether “more is better.” Cady thinks that having more friends, more popularity, more known is what is necessary to live a high quality life. While Aaron describes how being alone is actually fine because you are able to think and understand yourself better. This contrast between the two characters describes how some prefer materialistic value when others believe that one’s character is more important.
Overall, in my personal opinion, this rendition was a masterpiece. As a person who did not watch the original movie, I questioned how I did not watch such a classic that shaped American society and culture today.
Were we all collectively absent when society voted on what was cool and what was not? Who decided what is truly “‘acceptable’”? Why is it that if you do something that slightly deviates from the norm, you will be socially banished to the unpopular table (wait what did they call it again)? Wearing sweatpants? Oh, the horror! Not wearing pink on Wednesdays? Crimes against humanity right there. And, oh, god forbid, having INTERESTS of your own that others don’t? Banishment to Siberia. I think the play touched on themes of social acceptance, especially during our teenage years in high school, really well in terms of how that sometimes conflicts with identity. I love your juxtaposition of Cady and Aaron, but I do disagree on one point: I think Cady was conditioned to like “more” of stuff only after she moved from Africa, due to Regina’s thought processes rubbing off on her. I found it funny that there are societal expectations that we have to enforce societal expectations that many in society did not create. Indeed, I think many of these expectations, especially today with social media, stem from online culture, where seeing a dude photoshopping a picture of himself with abs and a bugatti makes us feel like that is the bar for success. In your writing, I think your juxtaposition of the ideas between Cady and Aaron highlight the tension between societal expectations and identity, and your anaphora with the word “more” mechanically illustrates more of mores (if that makes any sense), which to me enhanced the point you were trying to make. Thank you for a fantastic piece!
ReplyDeleteHi Josh! I thought that this take on Mean Girls was really interesting. When watching the play I definitely focused more on the feminist side of the play but never considered the theme of erasing memories. I can definitely see where you are coming from though. For example, you bring up the point that when Cady and Aron are talking the night of the party Aron asks about Cady’s life in Africa and Cady mentions how she is not trying to do things like that in America. Although I agree that this is an example of how Cady is trying to “erase her memories” or put her old life behind her, I think this more fits with her trying to fit into a different society and not necessarily forget the past. This can be seen later on with her stating how she misses looking at the stars.
ReplyDeleteI do have to agree with you that this rendition was a masterpiece and I would highly recommend watching the original movie. Make sure it is the old version and not the 2020 version because the 2020 one does not do the story justice. I can’t wait to read your next blog!
I 100% agree with your interpretation of Cady’s “before and after” mindset in the musical. She is so eager to shed her former self for an entirely new persona, when in fact she could have blended her past and present experiences together in a way that helped her grow.
ReplyDeleteTo add on, I appreciate the musical showing that no individual person in the story is entirely to blame, as everyone is nuanced and cannot simply be labelled as “bad guy” or “mean girl.”
That being said, I HATE AARON SAMUELS!!!! I am friends with Arunav Sharma (who played Aaron Samuels), so I can’t slander too much, but my goodness does that character make my blood boil. During the first act, Aaron technically has the moral high ground over Regina because she had been cheating on him. Did Regina treat him unfairly? Yes. Has he now found another love interest that is nicer to him? Yes. What logically follows is that Aaron Samuels should get together with Cady and drop Regina. Does he do this? NOoooOOooo~~ all Regina has to do is cry a little and blow a kiss at him for Aaron to come running back like a DESPERATE CLOWN! I’m piling up a lot of Aaron Samu-fool hate right now, but I promise it’s relevant. Aaron’s behavior in the musical demonstrates that even though he advises Cady to follow her own heart, every character in the story, including himself, struggles to abide by this advice. Everyone presents a false version of themselves in some way, and for Aaron, this false version projects itself on the person he chooses as his partner. I personally think that he gets with Regina in part due to her popularity since, as a jock, he is pressured to date popular girls.
Thank you for your insightful piece today! You have presented many ideas which I had never considered before. Also, I highly recommend watching Mean Girls 2004!