Descriptive Analysis Essays

Words: 874
Pages: 4

Descriptive Analysis The motion picture Mean Girls, produced by Mark Waters and Tina Fey, is a high school reality shaped into a comedy. Lead actors Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried play the roles of Cady, Gretchen, and Karen, a group of judgmental and mean girls. Cady was innocently new to the high school, freshly moving from Africa, and interested in making new friends. She was quickly taken into the group of girls at school that were classified as the most popular, also known as “the plastics.” These girls were not interested in her friendship, but in the advances this new addition would do for their social standards. As pictured, Karen and Gretchen are shocked at the way Cady expresses her confidence as well as her lack of interest to be “plastic.” Through this photo, there is obvious nonverbal communication of things that Cady’s new friends have in mind. Evaluating Cady, Gretchen, and Karen’s clothing is necessary for this analysis. Cady is dressed in a long sleeve wedding dress, long white veil, ratty black wig, and her make up is pale with dark eye liner and bloody read lip stick smeared around her mouth. Noticing all the costumes and pumpkins in this picture, Cady’s costume isn’t very far off, considering it is a Halloween party. Her dress suggests her enjoyment of participating in this holiday as well as her confidence in portraying an “ex wife.” Gretchen is dressed in a tight black body suit exposing her chest, and wearing cat ears on her head to pull together the costume. Her outfit expresses the importance of looking hot or sexy, rather than scary or thought through. Gretchen’s dress sends a message of her personality and attitude about her social standing. Karen is dressed in a small black dress, long dangling earrings, and grey fuzzy bunny ears. This outfit is appropriate for her considering that she is simply absent minded, but also is concerned about looking hot in order to keep her friends. Cady’s clothing is drastic and scary, which signifies her misunderstanding of what is socially acceptable and misplacement of social group. The proxemics and kinesics presented in this picture are extremely forceful. Proxemics is the study of how people use space, and kinesics is the interpretation of body language such as facial expressions and gestures. In this picture it seems as though this is the first look at Cady’s costume. Gretchen skips the eye contact and seems to be scanning Cady from top to bottom with a look of confusion and disgust. One shoulder is turned toward Cady, but Gretchen is not giving her full body attention. Although they are standing less than two feet apart, her body language towards Cady communicates her response fully. In this photo, Karen immediately makes eye contact with Cady, expressing her concern and confusion in her attire. Even though she is standing about three feet away, expressing personal level, Karen is giving Cady full body attention and is making a nonverbal connection to help her understand that she too is concerned but in a sense there for her secretly. Lastly, after seeing the forceful expressions of her friends, Cady is caught with a misunderstood look on her face. She seems to feel attacked and confused from her friends. Her hands are folded at her waist, as a sign of innocence and she is giving both of her friends her full body attention. This nonverbal communication is intense and shows both