Into the Wild

The movie I thought had a very fitting soundtrack to it was Mean Girls. It was all about a girl Kady Herron who moved from Africa and was going to public school for the first time, a far more vicious place then Africa. She found herself struggling with keeping her real friends and staying true to herself, and being a part of the “plastics” –the most popular girls in school.

            The first good song was “Milkshakes”, which was playing when Kady went to Regina George’s (the most popular girl in school and leader of the plastics) house for the first time. This song was very fitting because it is a silly and inappropriate song, and the situation at her house was similar. Her mom walks around wearing a track suit, had just gotten surgery to enlarge her breasts, and gives them virgin drinks but offers to put alcohol in it. She tries so hard to be young and has no rules in her house. This song wasn’t necessarily being used to add a pace to the movie and definitely wasn’t being used to slow it down. But instead, it was setting a mood for that scene and was showing in a way why Regina was the way she was. It especially makes sense when Regina’s little sister is dancing tastelessly to the song. More so, this song sets a mood for the rest of movie. It is a seductive song, and most of the movie is seductive in different ways. When I say seductive it does not necessarily mean sexually, although Kady does try to sexually seduce Aaron Samuels (Regina’s ex-boyfriend) many times. But the movie is also seductive because Kady is trying to seduce the plastics into liking her so that she can get revenge for her friend Janice. And so caught up in the attention she then tries to coax the whole school into liking her.

The next song used is “Jingle Bell Rock”. This song I felt was more an ironic use of music because it is such a happy song that is heard at Christmas time, a cheerful time of year. In this section of the movie Gretchen Wieners is cracking and fed up with Regina cutting her out of the group. She did not get a candy cane from Regina but both Kady and Karen had received one from her, she was kicked out of fixing Kady’s hair one time, and right before the song she was moved from Regina’s left side even though she was always on the left side. Then in the middle of their talent show performance Gretchen messes up the routine and accidently kicks the CD player. The music freezes and in a desperate attempt to fix her mistake she kicks the CD player off the stage. Kady then comes sweeping in and sings the song to save their performance. In a way this happy, cheerful music is used because it is the beginning of how Kady’s plan is coming together. With Gretchen frantic to find friendship she is spilling secrets left and right and now Kady has the right tools to take down Regina.

The last song used is probably the most accurate for the scene it was it. Kady throws a party after she had finally taken down Regina and invites Aaron. Regina walks in on them in the bedroom together and is extremely upset. She then pulls a bar from her purse and begins to eat it. Her new boyfriend tells her that the bar she was eating to lose weight was actually a bar he uses to gain weight for his sport. She loses it, thus “One Way or Another” begins playing. She quickly gets home, still screaming from how angry she is, and pulls out her burn book. Thinking that she is going to put Kady in there, the movie throws in a plot twist and she actually puts herself in the book. Beginning her revenge on Kady, and setting a very evil and plotting mood for the rest of the movie.