The Color Pink
Mean Girls is dominated by the color pink. The Plastics wear pink every Wednesday as part of their social rules. As Cady begins to become a member of the The Plastics she trades in her earth-toned clothes for pastels, mostly in pink. Pink symbolizes girlish innocence and sexual purity. The Plastics wearing pink furthers the idea of a social facade, The Plastics are manipulative, cruel and promiscuous, but present themselves in pink to play up a qualities of innocence and purity.
The Animal Scenes
Cady grew up in a supportive, family-centered home in South Africa, where she had been home-schooled for all of her life. When Cady enters a mainstream American high school she is shocked by the way the girls handle their problems. She must adapt to “The Plastics” way of dealing with problems. One of the important motifs in “Mean Girls” is the strategically placed animal scenes within the film. The scenes take place in the mall and in the cafeteria of North Shore. The scenes signify that the American high school is like a jungle, and that the teenagers are animals; violent, predatory, and very primal.
The Bus
The climax of Mean Girls is when queen bee Regina George is hit by a bus. On Cady’s first day of school she crosses the street confidently, only to be stopped by a bus. This is a warning of sorts, Cady is about to center a new world, “girl world,” where she must change to survive. Later in the film Regina strides out onto the crosswalk, only to be hit by the bus. Regina is under fire at this point in the film, she’s lost her power, and the bus symbolizes her complete loss of image, just as before Cady loses her true self when entering the American high school system.