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00:00Evil takes a human form in Regina George.
00:08Mean Girls icon Regina George is the undisputed ruler of North Shore High.
00:13The Queen of the Plastics has all the trappings of a monarch.
00:16Her name Regina is Latin for Queen, and she wears the spring-fling crown.
00:20Thirteen royalty.
00:21But in fact, the tyrant Regina is not a queen by rights.
00:25As her arch-nemesis Janice Ian tells us when we're first introduced to her,
00:29Regina George is an evil dictator.
00:31If we break down Regina's techniques of controlling her fellow students,
00:35we get insight into the anatomy of a dictator.
00:38She's power-hungry, manipulative, glamorous, angry, and totally compelling.
00:44That's really interesting.
00:46And in fact, it makes sense that Mean Girls chooses to offer up
00:49this portrait of a despot in a high school setting.
00:52After all, for most of us, adolescent social scenarios
00:55are defined by terror and tyranny.
00:57Mom?
00:58Can you pick me up?
00:59I'm scared.
01:00So if we look closer at Mean Girls on the 15-year anniversary
01:03of Tina Fey's iconic comedy, we can discover a fascinating analysis
01:07of how dictatorships rule, why people help them maintain their power,
01:11and how we can overthrow the Regina's in our lives,
01:14in high school and beyond.
01:16Before we go on, we want to tell you a little bit about this video's sponsor.
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01:49Dictatorships thrive on the cult of the leader,
01:52and when Katie Heron enters junior year at North Shore High,
01:55Regina George is a near-mythical figure in the school.
01:57I hear her hair is insured for $10,000.
01:59I hear she does car commercials in Japan.
02:03In addition to being hated and feared, she's revered, loved, and admired.
02:08So she encapsulates the complex combination of feelings
02:11a dictator inspires in her subjects.
02:14The weird thing about hanging out with Regina was that I could hate her,
02:16and at the same time I still wanted her to like me.
02:19When she's hit by the bus, we're told,
02:21The more people are scared of you, the more flowers you get.
02:23Regina isn't a goddess, though.
02:26Her myth and her rule are entirely calculated,
02:29and we start to see the strings when Janice,
02:31a political dissident who was once in favor
02:33but has been oppressed by the current regime,
02:35We were best friends in middle school.
02:38I know, right?
02:39It's so embarrassing.
02:40decides to stage a campaign of non-violent civil resistance.
02:43Now how do you overthrow a dictator?
02:46You cut off her resources.
02:48Janice gives us a logical dissection of this ruler's key resources.
02:53Her high-status man candy,
02:56technically good physique,
02:59an ignorant band of loyal followers.
03:02In fact, academics Johannes Krzyzewski and Wolfgang Merkel
03:06also frame dictatorships as resting on three key pillars,
03:09which are legitimacy,
03:11co-optation or co-option,
03:13and repression.
03:15If any one of these is compromised,
03:17the regime becomes unstable and theoretically can be overthrown.
03:20So let's look closer at how each of these three pillars operates in Regina's reign of terror.
03:27Since a dictator does not inherit power through a monarchy or existing laws,
03:32after taking control they need to establish the legitimacy of their rule.
03:36Regina's legitimacy is accomplished through the first two items on Janice's list,
03:41her man candy, Aaron Samuels, and her hot body.
03:44The ideal partner is an extension of the dictator's carefully curated cult of personality.
03:49I hear Regina George is dating Aaron Samuels again.
03:52Dictators regularly choose attractive, outwardly gentle consorts
03:57to soften their public image and appeal to the masses.
04:00As a handsome, well-liked, athletic senior guy,
04:03Aaron Samuels functions like a badge of validity.
04:05If this perfect guy chooses her,
04:07that reinforces that she is the most perfect girl in school.
04:11Regina doesn't actually appear to be in love with Aaron Samuels.
04:14Ah, lip gloss!
04:16Privately, she's more attracted to Shane Omen.
04:19But Regina has evidently decided that Shane is a less ideal public partner
04:22to support her regime.
04:24And so she makes a cold, tactical choice to perform romance with Aaron
04:28while keeping her authentic whims private.
04:32Regina's technically good physique is also a part of her legitimacy.
04:35It's an accepted rule in this culture that the leader must be conventionally attractive.
04:40As she puts it,
04:41The spring fling queen is always pretty.
04:43One of the first things that strikes Katie about Regina is her glamour.
04:47I'd never seen anybody so glamorous.
04:50The student body finds Regina's physical perfection aspirational.
04:53Regina George is flawless.
04:56The other girls want to be her.
04:58Being with the plastics was like being famous.
05:01People looked at you all the time and everybody just knew stuff about you.
05:04In many authoritarian regimes,
05:06the appealing nature of the life of the dictator
05:09is part of what helps to keep them in power.
05:11If North Shore was Us Weekly, they would always be on the cover.
05:15Because she's so successful at asserting legitimacy as a ruler,
05:19like many dictators,
05:20Regina enjoys formal and ritualistic displays of affection by her public.
05:24She's the uncontested winner of popular votes.
05:27She always wins spring fling queen.
05:29Who cares?
05:30I care.
05:31And she creates continuity through traditions that her populace privately doesn't really like.
05:36They do it every year.
05:37But still feels obligated to exuberantly cheer.
05:41The second pillar, co-option, is the act of dampening potential opposition
05:45by inviting prospective challengers to join forces with the dictatorship.
05:49Okay, we should just know that we don't do this a lot,
05:52so this is like a really huge deal.
05:54We want to invite you to have lunch with us every day for the rest of the week.
05:58And this is exactly what Regina does with Katie.
06:01On first viewing, we might wonder why Regina befriends Katie.
06:05She doesn't even like you that much.
06:07But look at the context of this first meeting.
06:10Regina notices Katie being hit on by Jason.
06:13Is your muffin buttered?
06:15What?
06:16Gretchen Weiner's crush, whose lack of loyalty repeatedly embarrasses Regina's number two,
06:21and by extension Regina herself.
06:22You were supposed to call me last night.
06:23Jason, you do not come to a party at my house with Gretchen,
06:28and then scam on some poor innocent girl right in front of us three days later.
06:31Regina makes the snap judgment that Katie's good looks
06:34and interesting backstory are a threat.
06:36You're like really pretty.
06:38So you agree?
06:39What?
06:40You think you're really pretty.
06:42So she subsumes this new girl into the plastics
06:45to negate the threat and keep her under close control.
06:48Damn, you are so lucky you have us to guide you.
06:51By absorbing potential opponents into the fabric of their state,
06:54dictators get insight into their preferences and weaknesses.
06:57So, have you seen any guys that you think you're cute yet?
07:00When Regina finds out that Katie is interested in her ex-boyfriend Aaron,
07:04she realizes that this potential coupling with Katie's looks and Aaron's cultural cachet
07:08could usurp her spotlight.
07:10So she acts quickly to protect her cult of personality
07:13and stop this symbol of her legitimacy from being stolen.
07:16Gretchen Weiner's and Karen Smith, too, are part of the plastics because of co-option.
07:21Karen is another pretty face who could be a problem if not brought into the fold.
07:25Regina even says herself,
07:26I mean, the crazy thing is that it should be Karen,
07:28but people forget about her because she's such a slut.
07:31Since the spring-flame queen is expected to be pretty,
07:33Karen has a more legitimate claim to the crown due to being even prettier than Regina.
07:38Boo, you whore.
07:39Meanwhile, Gretchen is a rich heiress.
07:41She's totally rich because her dad invented toaster strudel.
07:46This reflects how dictators often give the wealthy, prestigious positions
07:49to bring gravitas and resources to their regime,
07:52while minimizing any danger of competition.
07:54The magic of co-option is that people feel invested in the despotic state
07:59the more they participate in it.
08:01I bet she sells drugs on the side to pay for a pathetic divorce.
08:04You let it out, honey.
08:05Put it in the book.
08:07So Regina even makes the regular citizens complicit in her role
08:11by drawing on her immense charisma and ability to make people like her.
08:15Oh my god, I love your skirt, where did you get it?
08:18The recipients feel special to be singled out
08:21by these brief moments of attention from the great leader.
08:24Even if people don't like her, they still want to be involved with her.
08:28One time, she punched me in the face.
08:31It was awesome.
08:32As the only thing worse than being in the burn book
08:34is not being in the burn book.
08:36You're not in it.
08:37Those bitches.
08:39Reception has its risks, however.
08:41Once welcomed into the hierarchy of rulership,
08:44new members might use that status to overthrow the dictator.
08:47Was I the new queen bee?
08:49And the third pillar is repression,
08:52the part we all remember about dictators.
08:54The despot keeps her subjects in line through means of fear,
08:57violence, and punishment.
08:58Regina tasks her enforcers with doing her dirty work.
09:01Oh no, you can't like Aaron Samuels.
09:04That's Regina's ex-boyfriend.
09:05Like digging for information and resolving conflicts.
09:08Regina's number two, Gretchen, knows everything about everyone in their society.
09:12That's why her hair is so big.
09:14It's full of secrets.
09:16And this might make us think of a dictator's secret police.
09:19The myth of Regina as above it all captures the idea that the popular kids in school
09:24don't even know the names of the little people.
09:26But far from being royally removed from her subjects,
09:29the dictator Regina has a file on each of them.
09:32It'll be like our little secret.
09:34Hello?
09:35I know your secret.
09:36Regina is watching, all of the time, assessing every movement amongst the ranks.
09:40And when a civilian acts out, her punishment is swift.
09:44Regina's rules are petty and dramatically restrictive,
09:46Only wear your hair in a ponytail once a week, so I guess you pick today.
09:52passed down to others, generally not directly, but by her underlings.
09:55On Wednesdays we wear pink.
09:57These rules are respected and recognized by everyone.
10:00I think I'm joining the mathletes.
10:02No.
10:03No, no.
10:04You cannot do that.
10:05That's social suicide.
10:06Even those far down the social ladder.
10:07You can't join mathletes, it's social suicide.
10:10Refusing to bend the rules is a vital part of Regina's strict regime.
10:13The meaner Regina was to her, the more Gretchen tried to win Regina back.
10:17But also her downfall, as Regina herself is the only one who remembers
10:21that these rules are artificial.
10:23Whatever.
10:24Those rules aren't real.
10:25You can't sit with us!
10:30Janice's plan destabilizes Regina's rule, but it doesn't finish her off.
10:37We witness a violent power grab as Katie, however unconsciously,
10:40makes a play for Regina's place.
10:42This challenge leads to a crisis of leadership.
10:44That Katie girl is hot.
10:46She might even be hotter than Regina George.
10:49When Regina sees Katie coming for her spot and discovers Katie's sabotage,
10:53Mother!
10:54she resorts to repression to punish the would-be usurper,
10:58framing Katie, Gretchen, and Karen as the sole authors of the Burn book.
11:02She then starts a riot to punish her challenger.
11:05But the chaos brings the people together, and Regina's repressive practices
11:08are brought out into the light.
11:09How many of you have ever felt personally victimized by Regina George?
11:17Even more damaging is Janice's public reveal of the plot against Regina.
11:21We gave her these candy bar things that would make her gain weight,
11:24and we turned her best friends against her.
11:27As Janice is carried on the shoulders of her contemporaries like a revolutionary hero,
11:31this truth bomb has punctured Regina's leader myth.
11:34Up to this point, Regina has been a distant enigma.
11:37But when the girls hear proof that she's a fallible human being like them,
11:41they no longer idolize her as an untouchable god-slash-monster.
11:45The movie compares Regina to Caesar.
11:47My man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a colossus,
11:51might translate into,
11:53why is he so huge and obnoxious?
11:55Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant
11:58while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet?
12:02Just like Caesar, Regina ends up being the last dictator
12:04before a new form of leadership will emerge.
12:07And also like Caesar, she is so powerful
12:09she needs to finally be taken down by brute force.
12:13Regina isn't actually killed, but the moment is symbolic.
12:17It represents that while Regina the person survives,
12:20Regina the dictator's rule is over.
12:23Notably a school bus also almost hits Katie on her first day,
12:27but Katie, careful and nervous, jumps back.
12:29I'll be careful.
12:30Here, Regina is so sure of her strength and power
12:33that she doesn't even bother looking before crossing the road.
12:36The movie ends with the Junior Plastics,
12:38new freshman wannabe Regina's, almost getting hit by a bus too.
12:42So this ending foreshadows that one day,
12:44when they get so big-headed, they stop being careful.
12:47Their regime will meet the same fate as Regina's finally did.
12:51The student body votes Katie in as Spring Fling Queen,
12:54signaling that she is now perceived
12:56as the most fearsome figure in the class.
12:58I'm voting for Katie Heron because she pushed her.
13:01But Katie rejects this opening to replace Regina.
13:05Upon winning, she hands out pieces of the crown to her classmates.
13:08This symbolic gesture redistributes power among the people.
13:13As Regina takes a small piece for herself,
13:16she is reintegrated into the student body.
13:18Her meek thank you and regal waves signify
13:21that she accepts her diminished role as a figurehead,
13:24more or less just another student.
13:27So what does this elaborate tale of dictatorship have to do with
13:35girl world and the culture of American high school?
13:38Sarah Davies writes that Stalin himself believed in the idea that, quote,
13:41"...great individuals are only important to the extent that they reflect wider social forces."
13:46And the unattainably beautiful, wealthy, coquettishly feminine Regina reflects
13:50the social ideals teenage girls in her culture are expected to live up to.
13:54Regina's like the Barbie doll I never had.
13:56The name of Regina's group, The Plastics, neatly encompasses the world of lavish consumerism
14:01these girls live in.
14:02Get in, loser, we're going shopping.
14:05These teenagers' mating rituals take place at the mall, where they pay on plastic.
14:10Their jingle bell rock outfits are slick and shiny, like plastic.
14:14Regina is lauded because,
14:16"...she has two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus."
14:18The epitome of conspicuous consumption, and both she and her mother have had plastic surgery.
14:25Once Katie fully becomes part of this world, Janice tells her,
14:28"...buddy, you're not pretending anymore, you're plastic.
14:31Cold, shiny, hard, plastic."
14:33So to be revered as an elite in this culture, you must disdain the natural, the organic,
14:39the real, and be cold, shiny, and hard.
14:42But though she seems to have everything, it's striking that Regina George is full of anger.
14:47Once Gretchen thought Regina was mad at her, the secrets started pouring out.
14:52Katie cracks Gretchen by making her think Regina is mad at her, which works because
14:56Regina just always seems to be mad.
14:59Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen.
15:02It's not going to happen.
15:03When she was preparing for the role, Rachel McAdams built the palpable anger of Regina George
15:08by listening to Courtney Love's music,
15:10and watching Alec Baldwin's famous speech from Glengarry Glen Ross.
15:16"...F*** you!
15:18That's my name!
15:19You know why, mister?
15:20Because you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight.
15:23I drove an $80,000 BMW.
15:25That's my name."
15:28So what exactly is Regina so furious about?
15:32For one thing, her plastic life doesn't actually seem very fun.
15:35She feels she has to constantly be on a diet to maintain her physique.
15:39I really want to lose three pounds.
15:41She doesn't have any equals who can be honest with her.
15:43Oh my god, what are you talking about?
15:45You're so skinny.
15:46Shut up.
15:47And this sharply intelligent, strong person doesn't have much to do besides shop, work
15:51on her appearance, and manipulate people.
15:54So essentially, she's bored.
15:56As we enter this teen girl world through the naive eyes of outsider Katie, we get a sense
16:00of all the things that might be confusing and frustrating for American teens, like antagonistic
16:06behavior from adults,
16:07I had never lived in a world where adults didn't trust me, where they were always yelling at
16:11me,
16:12parents who don't know how to impose healthy boundaries,
16:14I'm a cool mom.
16:15Right, Regina?
16:16Please stop talking.
16:17Okay.
16:18problems at home,
16:19I mean, her parents totally don't sleep in the same bed anymore, if that's what you mean.
16:23and mixed messages about sexuality,
16:25don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die.
16:30Which is a prized aspect of popularity,
16:32Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls
16:36can say anything about it,
16:38but also a source of shame,
16:39Regina says everyone hates you because you're such a slut,
16:42and a feature of their lives from a shockingly young age.
16:44Oh, you'll get socialized, alright, a little slice like you.
16:48Most saliently, Katie observes that in Girl World you're not allowed to express conflict,
16:53so this culture of elaborate oppression is really caused by these young women's frustration
16:57at not knowing how to
16:58express your anger in a healthy way.
17:01In the end, Regina learns to harness her anger into athletics.
17:05Your physical therapist taught her to channel all her rage into sports.
17:08So the lesson isn't that teenage girls shouldn't feel angry,
17:12it's that anger can be redirected powerfully,
17:15and for good,
17:16if we learn how to find appropriate outlets for our feelings.
17:19The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves,
17:23that we are underlings.
17:25In other words, we don't have to accept being underlings.
17:28Soldiers, don't give yourselves to brutes.
17:32Men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives,
17:35tell you what to do, what to think, and what to feel.
17:38We the people put rulers in power, and we can take that power away,
17:42whether that applies to real political regimes,
17:44or the mean girls who are making us feel like we're not good enough.
17:48All the same, when we think of mean girls,
17:49it's not subdued final scene Regina we remember,
17:53but mean Regina, who exists as a cult icon celebrated by pop stars,
17:57presidents, and everyone in between.
17:59Why are you so obsessed with me?
18:01There's still something deeply compelling about Regina's power,
18:05her mystery, her manipulation, her rage.
18:08She reminds us that autocrats can look a lot more seductive
18:11and charismatic than we might think.
18:14And so, like a true dictator, her legacy lives on.
18:17Love ya!
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19:39See you next bit at the latest episode.
19:41See you next time.
19:45I will see you next time.
19:47Bye-bye.
19:50See you next time.
19:51Bye-bye.
19:51Bye-bye.
19:53Bye-bye.
19:55Bye-bye.
20:05Bye-bye.
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