Read on Twitter
Mean Girls clarified a lot about the world for me, more than probably 95% of books I've read. I often amuse friends by quoting it when talking about international relations (you can't sit with us!)
Eg:
1. Outsiders are capable of seeing things and thinking thoughts that insiders are incapable of. This explains why Cady fought back against Regina, and why startups repeatedly unseat industry incumbents
2. Low-ranking members of high-status groups will tolerate and do anything to stay in the group. This is why the Plastics endure abuse from Regina, and (partially) why middle-class voters vote against their own interests / choose to be prejudiced rather than build coalitions
3. Being a real potential threat to the top dog in a given context will lead to them subsuming you. This explains why Regina assimilated Cady into The Plastics, &why Twitter acquires the best tweet-aggregating apps before discontinuing them. Also why Wall St buys the best lawyers
4. All rules are arbitrary methods of control; the existence of a rule implies an enforcer who is ultimately able to operate outside of them. Regina invents rules to control the Plastics, the ruling class... well, you get it. The uberwealthy are the world's true anarchists
I wrote an essay about this once, you might enjoy it: https://medium.com/@visakanv/an-analysis-of-power-in-mean-girls-a55c6dff0884
The reason Mean Girls is such a bloody good film is because the script is based on a guidebook written to help teenage girls deal with bullying & the complexities of social reality. Interestingly, these realities seem to be similar for both teen girls and nation-states
Empires, nation-states and teenage girls have a lot on common
If you control the language, you control the scene https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1062652801237508097?s=21
You can’t sit with us! https://twitter.com/tictoc/status/1143187722518978566?s=21
international court: america, you have committed serious crimes against humanity, and for that you will have to- https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1185526687657709570
https://twitter.com/paulwsj/status/1216034452037611520?s=21 https://twitter.com/paulwsj/status/1216034452037611520
https://twitter.com/scottlincicome/status/1223391848032620544?s=21 https://twitter.com/scottlincicome/status/1223391848032620544
