Apr 04,2005
| nudity | There is no sex, but the teenagers do talk about sex and going to various "bases" with other guys. Vanessa tells her friend Stacey about how she went to first and second base with a former boyfriend, and a little bit of third base (although the meanings of those terms are never discussed.) Later, while talking about Vanessa, one of the mean girls says, "She's barely in a bra, and already, guys are unhooking it." Vanessa is accused of flirting with a boy at school and being slutty. At one point, a guy passes her in the hallway and says "Slut at work!" Vanessa is examining her body in her bathroom mirror at home, and she's wearing only a bra and underwear. Nothing other than her chest above the bra is shown. |
| violence | None. |
| profanity | Terms such as "whore" and "slut" are used more than once. We also hear "bitch," "pissed off," "hell," "dumb ass," and "crap". Many of these derogatory terms are used extremely harshly to describe young teenagers by their peers. A teenage boy calls two girls "lesbos" after they are seen greeting each other with a hug. This may be considered offensive to some. The term "PMS" is used to describe a teenage girl's nasty attitude. An acidically cruel song is made up about Nessa by two of the nastiest girls. The lyrics, sung proudly and loudly in the school cafeteria with crude expressions, are 'Nessa was a nice girl, now she's a slut. A dumb-ass bitch with her head up her butt. Hits on Stacey's boy 'cuz she thinks she's all that. Beats up her best friend, quick as a rat. Used to brag straight A's, now it don't matter, 'cuz we're Stacey's crew, and we're comin' hard at her!" At one point, one of the nicer girls consoles Nessa about her now nasty friends and says that her class reenacted "Moby Dick" with Nikki, the head nasty girl, playing the title role. The girl jokes, "We needed someone to stick a harpoon in her ass". Later in the film, after Nessa ends up in the hospital after being pushed to drastic measures by her peers' cruelty, some of the kids unbelievably send taunting messages to her computer making fun of her near death. One of her kids calls Nessa a "crazy bitch", another a "psycho ho". |
| alcohol | Vanessa takes a pill overdose, and when the mean girls at school hear about it, one of them jokes, "Oh my gosh, she's a druggie too?" A father teaches his young son (who looks to be about 9 years old) about how men deal with confrontations amongst one another. The dad explains that while girls tend to be brutal and hold grudges, men just smack each other and get it over with, then go out for a beer together. |
| frightening | The bullying among the teens in this movie is very intense. The "mean girls" shamelessly gang up on Vanessa, saying cruel things to and about her, even after **Spoilers** she tries to kill herself. During gym class, Nikki gets in Vanessa's face and calls her a wuss, a whore, and a slut. This causes Vanessa to run off the field in tears. After overhearing the mean girls talking about how "porky" she has been getting, Vanessa locks herself in her bathroom at home and examines her stomach in the mirror. Then she takes a pair of scissors and starts chopping her hair off. However, the tone of the scene, set to the music, is very dark and leads you to believe she might do something else. It can be intense to watch. Two of the mean girls, Nikki and Tiffany, make up a bad song about Vanessa and sing it on school grounds (although they are never caught by an adult). The lyrics are brutally cruel (see the Profanity section for them). Thankfully, Nessa never hears about it. Vanessa is invited to a party that doesn't exist. When she finds out, she gets so upset, she starts crying and has an emotional breakdown when she gets home. The intensity of "online bullying" is shown in detail. Some undisclosed sources even create an "I Hate Vanessa" website, where they post embarrassing pictures of her and call her derogatory names. Vanessa has a near-death experience after the bullying at school goes too far. She swallows a bottle of pills, and her mother finds her face-down on the bathroom floor. She is rushed to the emergency room and ends up being okay, but she has to remain in the hospital for a few days. Vanessa receives some very cruel instant messages on the computer, where certain classmates are calling her names such as "crazy bitch" and "psycho ho." They also reference her suicide attempt by saying things like "Too bad you can't finish what you started." Vanessa doesn't read these because she is in the hospital at the time, but her mother sees them and prints them for the school principal to read. If you are watching this with your teenager or younger child, be prepared to discuss the following with them: 1) The emotional and sometimes physical impacts of bullying. 2) How bullying comes in different forms (example: face-to-face versus online, via instant messaging and such). 3) Appropriate ways to involve teachers and adults in dangerous bullying situations. It may also be wise to talk about how the staff and administration in this film didn't do anything about the problem at first, and why they may have been reluctant to take action with the bullying students. 4) How to protect oneself and fellow peers from being bullied. 5) Tiffany's role in the movie. Note that she was made fun of early in the film, but she suddenly became part of the group when the time came to target Vanessa. Discuss how this happened and why girls are willing to go along with it, as well as how Tiffany's cowardice differs from Emily and Nessa's behavior when they receive cruel treatment. 6) How Nessa first acted around Stacy and Nikki when she was still friends with them and saw their immoral behavior. She rarely spoke against it, but showed a visibly different attitude that didn't include their malice. |
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