Structural Balance in Mean Girls
Source: https://medium.com/@visakanv/an-analysis-of-power-in-mean-girls-a55c6dff0884
In Mean Girl’s North Shore High, there exists a few social components of the entire high school network. The first (and most notable) is the Plastics, a network containing Karen, Gretchen, Regina and Cady. The second network I will analyze is one consisting of Cady, Damien and Janis. The source I read above explains the analysis of power and its exchange that happened throughout the movie. The social dynamics that occurred were not coincidental, but rose from the fact that new girl Cady is beautiful—in this case, social capital. Thus, Regina sees her as a threat and “recruits” her, in an effort to keep her enemy closer. If Cady were to roam the high school as a free agent, she could take all the attractive men—in this movie, romantic capital. This social manipulation that “Queen Bee” Regina abuses is what leads to the tumultuous relationships she has with her friends and later a rivalry with protagonist Cady. However, Cady seems to be in a stronger position as she is shrewd and has another network of friends, Damien and Janis, to fall back on. Below, I will focus on the structural balance of the different networks in the beginning of the film and how it serves as an important foundation for the development of the aforementioned social dynamics.
When Cady first attends class, she runs into Janis and Damien, a lackluster duo that become her first friends. In this group of friends, there are three positive edges, creating a structurally balanced network. When Cady passes by the Plastics in the dining hall, she quickly is inducted to the group. Originally, Regina as Queen B, has the ultimate say in this Plastic trio and mistreats Karen and Gretchen; thus I would say that her edges with Karen and Gretchen are both negative. Since Karen and Gretchen seem harmless and clueless, I would say that their edge is positive. Therefore, at the start, the Plastics is a structurally balanced network. But now, with the induction of Cady, Regina and Cady have a positive edge, leading to a network between Regina, Cady and Janis. Janis and Regina have a negative relationship from middle school drama, thus their edge is negative. On the other hand, Janis and Cady have a positive edge and Cady and Regina share a positive edge; this means that this network is structurally imbalanced, foreshadowing conflict. With an imbalanced network it makes perfect sense that all the aforementioned drama ensued. As soon as Cady’s loyalty shifts towards the Plastics, her relationship with Janis becomes sour, so the network consisting of Janis, Damien and Cady becomes imbalanced and breaks down. As she has no other friend group, Cady finds herself stuck with the Plastics. Her sudden incoming as an outsider causes the Plastic network to become all negative—imbalanced—and ultimately leads to the group’s collapse. With the collapse of two networks that Cady tied together, she realizes that she has no positive ties and is thus (temporarily) an outsider.