Last night I saw the movie 'Mean Girls.' It was funny - I think Lindsay Lohan gets a bad rap just because she's cute and has likely already had plastic surgery at the age of 17. She's actually a decent actress. The supporting cast.... was OK. Some ups and downs. I do think the casting director had a bad case of what I call 'the WB syndrome.' That is, making everyone of high school age absurdly, incredibly attractive, with like one or two minor exceptions (comic relief.) Even the 'ugly' people would still have been lusted over in real life. As far as I can tell, the only piece of entertainment that I'm familiar with that has accurately portrayed high schoolers in the dorky way that they look and act is 'Degrassi'.
Anyway, what I did like about the movie was the way it captured the truly evil, Machiavellian struggle that is the social world in high school. Now, admittedly it's been a while since I was in high school (i'm starting to get perilously close to my 10th year reunion) but I have a pretty good memory, and I still remember most of the bullshit that went on there. My question is - why? Not in the specific sense; I actually got along pretty well with most people in high school. But why are people that age so particularly susceptible to the worst aspects of social interaction? A minor social transgression like wearing something a year out of fashion is enough to warrant permanent social exile. Consciousness of social status changes from a novelty to a raison d'etre. And people begin to regularly employ tactics to climbing the social ladder that would make politicians blush.
So are teenagers in high school just acting out the basest aspects of human nature because they're unconstrained by the social graces that most of us have assimilated by the time we've "grown up"? Or is that point in everyone's life really just a phase that we (thankfully) eventually grow out of? I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on this question.
Anyway, what I did like about the movie was the way it captured the truly evil, Machiavellian struggle that is the social world in high school. Now, admittedly it's been a while since I was in high school (i'm starting to get perilously close to my 10th year reunion) but I have a pretty good memory, and I still remember most of the bullshit that went on there. My question is - why? Not in the specific sense; I actually got along pretty well with most people in high school. But why are people that age so particularly susceptible to the worst aspects of social interaction? A minor social transgression like wearing something a year out of fashion is enough to warrant permanent social exile. Consciousness of social status changes from a novelty to a raison d'etre. And people begin to regularly employ tactics to climbing the social ladder that would make politicians blush.
So are teenagers in high school just acting out the basest aspects of human nature because they're unconstrained by the social graces that most of us have assimilated by the time we've "grown up"? Or is that point in everyone's life really just a phase that we (thankfully) eventually grow out of? I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on this question.
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Now, when I go into a client environment, like an office, I see the same thing playing out in the adults. Every one seems essentially the same type as they were in HS.
I never went to college, so I can't say about that. But the reason I didn't go, was when I got out of HS, it was like getting out of jail. I hated it so much, I wasn't going back.
But it's like I said, HS is where you get stamped, because now the idea of having a real job ( as opposed to contracts ) is about as disgusting to me as HS was then.