Social butterflies stay caterpillars

By: Margaret Goldberg

Posted: 9/9/08

We're all aware of stereotypes. This is Brandeis, after all. We've all known about them since before middle school, but I think we can all agree that it's in high school that grouping people into superficial, loosely defined social categories is a priority for many. Why we still bother trying to figure out who should be president of the Harry Potter and the Lord of the Star Treks Club or who fits the cliché head cheerleader/prom queen/blond bimbo persona is beyond me.

We persist in this practice even now. We deny it because we're not in high school anymore. It doesn't apply to us since we're big, bad, oh-so-mature college students. But we just graduated from high school. Some of us enjoy the nostalgia, and some of us act like we never left. So please, don't pretend like you've forgotten social structure entirely.

The thing is, we're not the only ones who rank people in that hierarchy. In multiple studies, psychologists grouped together students who were considered popular, average, rejected and neglected. It's good to know that anyone in doubt of their social status can have it evaluated by a team of medical professionals.

The psychologists did, however, have a stroke of genius when they took a look at how various groups fared after the proms and pep rallies were over. According to a New York Times article, the social queens and those considered "socially dominant" with an "aggressive, selfish streak" didn't do so well.

Wow. Now there's a concept. People don't want to put up with peers who are rude, pushy and self-centered? Who would have thought?

This is not to say that everyone who is popular is going to be a failure in life or even that they are not nice people. This only applies to the stereotypical mean girls and guys.

Of course, that isn't to say that every mean girl is going to end up friendless. I mean, look at Regina George, the queen bee from 2004's Mean Girls. She turned out OK in the end. Then again, you'd have to wonder what would have become of her if the burn book didn't turn all the girls into crazed animals, resulting in an intervention, which then caused Regina to storm outside and get hit by a school bus.

I suppose, though, the idea of change is at the heart of that far-fetched, though extremely entertaining, series of events. Regina changed. If a mean girl doesn't stop being mean, people are going to get sick of it eventually.

Noticeably, focus on the queen-bee mentality is waning and giving way to mildly nerdy and loser esque characters. Though shows like Gossip Girl and The Hills still endure (both of which I am and will always be in love with), popular movies such as Napoleon Dynamite and Juno have begun to change the face of "teen movies."

The reason for this can be found as the basis of part of the popularity study. Students were asked if they would rather be stuck with the nice, likeable nerdy kid or the popular one, and the majority preferred the nice, likable kids.

As movies like Superbad come out, people enjoy watching these characters in wacky schemes, such as their quests for beer, not merely because of the humor, but because the kids are genuinely pleasant, if not somewhat misguided. I mean, honestly, who didn't absolutely love McLovin? He got a fake ID from Hawaii, chilled with the cops and got with a girl in the end and his name was McLovin! That is hard-core.

It's always interesting to see how the stereotypes actually play out, to see how the "in-crowd," the hot guys and the popular girls function and how the not-quite-losers spend their time. But the hot guys don't always stay hot, there's no one to call the girls popular once high school's done and the losers may never have really been losers in the first place.

And really, who would you rather be stuck with, Regina George pre-freak bus accident or McLovin?