Queen Bee & Wannabees Essay

In any social setup, separateings be inevitable it is a part of the natural propensity of peck to organization. With every fixed group, there is, naturally, a person who forget lead. This scenario is pretty easy to picture in a beingness integral of adults. moreover what happens when this scenario is replaced by children, adolescents? What the disc poove Bee & Wannabees and the movie Lord of the go portray is the oft-secreted reality that children, when left on their aver, give the bounce actually be as mean and conniving as adults are when it comes to their desire for force play.It is non a welcome fact as it goes against all that parents hold in force(p) when it comes to their children. Often, they could non, would not, be lieve that their beautiful daughter or son is capable of harming an separate(prenominal) human being, more so deliberately. But Wiseman puts it bluntly in her book Queenbees & Wannabees Parents dont like to admit to themselves that their daugh ters could be mean, exclusive, and catty or, on the former(a) end of the spectrum, isolated and teased.Parents so often see their daughters behaviors as a reflection of the success or failure of their parenting that they ref procedure to saying at their daughters for who they really are (Wiseman). What is it that adolescents do when confronted with the opportunity to belong to a group, and to lead it? This paper pass on deal with that query within the stage setting of the aforementi whizd book and movie by comparing and contrasting the differences in the social setup between girls and boys. Their differences do not merely lie in the types of games they would like to play, nor in their interests in books, films or hobbies.A deeper form of separation exists between them, simply at the same time, the stereotypes excessively do run parallel with distri entirelyively other. The comparison and contrast will be dealt with in three levels set-back, what are the necessary traits nee ded for a boy or a girl to become the loss draw two, what does it take for that power or leadership to be transferred and three, what happens to the ex-leader and followers if their leadership is usurped? On the first level, it is beta to determine which traits are attractive to relegate a small girl or boy into the top rung of the social ladder.In an ideal world, what we would find attractive would be a person who is smart, rational, just, elegant and decisive. These are what we consider proper markers of a true leader, able to take for pressure and commit him/herself to a choice that would make the best firmness of purpose for the problem. However, this is not an ideal world and its inhabitants are off the beaten track(predicate) from perfect. Children and adolescents are not exempt from this reality. In the Lord of the Flies, we were first introduced to the would-be leader of the group of stranded British boys, survivors of a plane crash, Ralph, by the shore with shote. In that scenario, it was obvious who the stronger character was. Ralph was lean and seemed more confident, while Piggy, apart from having a laughable name, was fat and slow, although very inquisitive and forward. And then arrived the sing boys, conduct by goofball. At the very onset, it was made clear that he is an veritable(a) stronger character than Ralph and Piggy combined together. He computeed confident and strong, and he substantially towered Ralph. But at that request of introduction in the film, he did not present himself as the leader of the group yet, and in fact allowed to be subjected in a votation.Gathered round on the b apiece, the group of the choir boys and Ralphs group then decided who will be their leader to organize them while they remain stranded in the island. Ralph easily won the seat of power that time, mainly because he seemed the more rational ace amidst all the ruckus that their newly-formed group was creating. But up to now then, there was already a sort of opposition in Jacks character, appointing himself as the head of the huntsman group. This will later create tension and will shake up the set upation of their organization and leadership.Meanwhile, we see on the other end of the spectrum the choosing military operation of girls in the book Queenbee & Wannabees. Wiseman describes the Queen Bee as such A combination of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and Barbie, she is a mixture of charisma, force, money, looks, strong will and manipulation. She reigns supreme, can silence other girls and boys with a look, and her popularity is based on fear and control. Easily, it can be seen that the Queen Bee is far from the ideal leader we pictured, definitely not fair nor just, and most sure as shooting not caring ab disclose whats rational or not. alone that is important to the Queen Bee is for her to retain the influence she enjoys over her court, and that can totally be done by doing things that will reaffirm her s ocial side among her friends. There is no denying however, that she is smart. Not necessarily in the book-smart kind of way, though (in fact thats a point against), but more of roadway smart. She uses her charms to get what she wants, and if the situation does not look as promising as she would sop up wanted, she uses manipulation to ensure that she will get the deal closed, and that it will be in her favor.But not only that, she must excessively be good-looking. This seems to be the biggest consideration of it all. Not only must she be assuredness and hip and in the know about the latest fashion, she should look good in it. It was also put in in the book that having cool accessories ie. boyfriends is another sure way to get to the top. Unlike the boys in the movie, select a Queen Bee does not go through the democratic process of voting. Instead, it happens quietly, with no questions asked.The Queen Bee works her way silently among her group, carefully selecting the people w hom she would like to surround herself with, filtering out those that do not meet her own high standards of who should deserve to be in her company. Its a ferocious process that ends up alienating others, but thats exactly the point there, because it is in this practice of alienation and separation that the Queen Bee is able to honour her power and leadership over all the other girls. However, not all remains fine and well in the high court of the young leaders. As in any political setup, there will be opposition.Here, we take a look at how power can be revoked in the two settings. In the movie, Ralph started losing control over the group when the balefire they had created burned out. It was meant to serve as a smoke signal for authority rescue, and originally, it was Jack and his group who were tasked to make sure it doesnt go out. However, Jack had other plans. He led his group to hunt down a pig and successfully returned to their site expecting praises. Upon returning, what th ey found instead was an angry Ralph and Piggy because the bonfire did go out, and so they missed an opportunity for rescue when a plane passed overhead.Of course, Ralph had every reason to be angry. It was the first task give to Jack, and already, he showed his tendency to become insubordinate, showing off to their peers that he does not just follow orders from a leader selected on the b for each one. What became the straw that bust the camels back was how Jack successfully made the rest of the hunter group believe that he is a much better leader because unlike Ralph, he appreciates their effort of bringing the pig home, and being physi dealy strong, he can be even more useful to them.Loyalties readily changed, and Ralph soon found himself to be deposed and stripped of his leadership because of that event. In the book, it is found that there is a lot of cattiness involved among the girls. There is also a tug-of-war into play when talking about group loyalties, same as with the bo ys in the movie. However, it can be said that the girls can just be as aggressive as boys, and even more. It can be a very snarky environment in the girl clique, with the girls just using each other to get what they want, and after which, dispose of the used girl.That is why it is important that the girls on their own prove themselves useful to the others, especially the Queen Bee, lest she finds herself thrown out of the social circle. Once that she no longer has a au jus benefit to offer to her peers, then she is more likely to be dumped. She may find herself the victim of a vicious rumor spread near by one of her very own friends, and if there is no one to de tolerate or back her up, then she may find herself from scrapper to zero. As mentioned earlier, having a cool boyfriend is also a must.It has been found in the book that dating a guy beyond par, so to spill, is a grounds for deposition. What happens then to those kicked out of the group and their followers? No doubt th ey are put in a very injure state. Their former group now perceives them as outcasts, while the bystanders, as Wiseman would call it, are afraid to publicly embrace them for fear of backlash from the Queen Bee and her court. For Ralph and his remaining group, being kicked out meant being left alone to fend for themselves in the island, without the help of the hunter group.There was no group to speak of any longer, just factions, and he belonged to the loser side. The effects on the kicked out members, both in the world of the Queen Bee and in the island in the movie, do run parallel. They are now excluded, and have become the subject of ridicule, even violence. Of course, in the non-fiction world of the Queen Bee, the violence can also go to great lengths such as doing physical harm on the Targets (chosen bullied ones), but it does not come any close to the movies characterisation of violence culminating with the deaths of Simon and Piggy.But the real difference is how this violen ce is actually carried out. In the movie, it was plainly depicted that the boys will fight it out with their fists. A scramble here, a cheered-on fight there, and in the unfortunate case of Simon, a camp mentality beating him up because of mistaken identity. But in the young woman World, the rules for violence are different. Yes, they may get into catfights, pulling at each others hair at some point in time, but more often than not, the violence is emotional and physical.Wiseman observes that the girls can be very loyal friends, able to share intimate secrets with each other. But at the same time, this intimacy is what will make them their own welt enemies. Because of all the information they have on each other, good or bad, they become all the more potentially powerful because they can use it against each other later on. The bigger the secret, the bigger the damage. Of course, it should be recognise that the setups between the boys club and the Girl World are different, particu larly in this paper, because one group is fictional and the other is real.However, that delineating mark ends there, because we see that it is short possible to find the same results in real life. Although, for the boys in the island, they can be defended with the reason that they were pushed against the wall, having been pressured not only by an absence of point adults, but on top of all that, they were put in a less than enviable situation, left with no shelter, no food, no rubber eraser in the forest on a deserted island. The girls, meanwhile, do have within adults in their plane.But even the adults are filtered out so that their clique can go about their business of backstabbing each other and pleasing the Queen Bee so they may be included in her group, or if lucky, maybe even grab the power of the Queen Bee for herself. At the end of the day, what we do find in this paper is that there are certain universal standards in teen groups (ie. filtering who is in or out), but at th e same time, there are certain standards that differ from each other (ie. the method by which power is enacted, and how violence is carried out).What remains unvaried though is the truth that man indeed is a social animal, and it is a matter of survival for him or her to be included in a social group in order to survive the harsh world out there. WORKS CITED Talbot, Margaret, Girls Just Want to Be Mean, FASLink, Research, Information, Support & Communication, 24 Feb. 2002, http//www. faslink. org/GirlsJustWantToBeMean. htm, (retrieved 20 Nov. 2008). Wiseman, Rosalind, Queen Bees & Wannabees, Crown Publishers, London, 2002. Film Brook, Peter (dir. ), Lord of the Flies, Continental Distributing, Inc. , Jan. 1963.