Blog #7- Scene Deconstruction

The scene I have chosen is the scene from Mean Girls where Regina gets hit by a bus. Since the movie is copyrighted, there aren't really any videos online, so I found this little clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT7os-ymfW4

I believe the theme of the movie is that being mean to people gets you nowhere, and being nice gets you everywhere. This is exemplified in this scene (the full version) because literally, as Regina is crossing the street yelling at Cady, she gets hit by a bus. It's almost as if Karma came back to her for everything she had been doing. which proves that being mean will do no good. The theme of the movie is quite didactic, as Cady, the narrator bluntly states that being mean didn't get her anywhere towards the end of the movie. The way the movie actively shows the theme is through repeated actions of mean-ness followed by negative consequences (the burn book, for example.)

Line plays a big part in this scene. It begins with a view down the middle of the road to foreshadow what is about to happen. It then cuts to a shot of Regina right next to a pole, to represent rigidity and stuffiness. When the bus then hits her, it comes in sideways to contrast the straight pole/rigidness, and eventually is what causes her to change. The next shot shows affinity in line with parallel lines drawn between the lines on the side of the bus and the yellow line down the middle of the road.

Movement has a lot to do with the theme in this scene. Regina walked out in front of the bus herself, rather than a bus just coming from out of nowhere and hitting her. This reinforces the theme, and the fact that Regina sort of got herself into the mess and now has to pay the consequences. Tension and release is a big part of the movement in this scene. The tension is created by foreshadowing the bus by showing a long shot of the road, and then is heightened when Regina moves out into the road. Even if a viewer had never seen the movie before, they would understand what is about to happen, and that the filmmakers purposely tried to create tension between the characters and between Regina and the road by having her walk into the street. The release then obviously comes when she gets hit by the bus.