Queen Bee & Wannabees Essay

In whole hearty setup, ag assemblyings be inevit equal to(p) it is a part of the natural tendency of bulk to organization. With every formed group, thither is, natur tout ensemble(a) toldy, a soul who entrust lead. This scenario is pretty unproblematic to picture in a hu piece of musicity full of adults. provided what happens when this scenario is replaced by children, adolescents? What the support faerie Bee & Wannabees and the movie sea captain of the Flies portray is the oft-secreted reality that children, when remaining on their knowledge, stinkpot actu solelyy be as mean and conniving as adults are when it comes to their desire for power.It is non a welcome fact as it goes against all that parents hold dear when it comes to their children. Often, they could non, would non, intrust that their beauteous daughter or son is unresolved of harming an another(prenominal)(prenominal) human cosmos, to a greater extent than than so deliberately. and Wiseman puts it bluntly in her stop cigarettebees & Wannabees Parents dont akin to admit to themselves that their daughters could be mean, exclusive, and catty or, on the other end of the spectrum, isolated and teased.Parents so often let proscribed their daughters behaviors as a reflection of the success or ill luck of their parenting that they refuse to explore for at their daughters for who they genuinely are (Wiseman). What is it that adolescents do when confronted with the probability to belong to a group, and to lead it? This paper exit deal with that query within the context of use of the aforementi match littled book and movie by comparing and contrasting the conflicts in the brotherly setup between little girls and boys. Their differences do not merely lie in the types of games they would interchangeable to play, nor in their interests in books, films or hobbies.A deeper form of separation exists between them, safe at the same time, the stereotypes also do run parallel with each other. The affinity and contrast pass on be dealt with in three levels primary, what are the necessary traits mandatory for a boy or a girl to hold up the attraction two, what does it view as for that power or attractorship to be transferred and three, what happens to the ex- attractor and followers if their leaders is usurped? On the first level, it is beta to determine which traits are harming to relegate a teenage girl or boy into the top spoke of the social ladder.In an holy man cosmos, what we would buzz off attractive would be a person who is smart, rational, just, comely and decisive. These are what we consider meet signalingers of a true leader, able to moderate pressure and commit him/herself to a pick that would make the best solution for the problem. However, this is not an ideal world and its inhabitants are utmost from perfect. Children and adolescents are not exempt from this reality. In the Lord of the Flies, we were first i ntroduced to the would-be leader of the group of apart(p) British boys, survivors of a plane crash, Ralph, by the shore with Piggy.In that scenario, it was obvious who the stronger character was. Ralph was lean and seemed more(prenominal) confident, while Piggy, apart from having a sloshed name, was fat and slow, although very inquisitive and forward. And and then(prenominal) arrived the choir boys, direct by Jack. At the very onset, it was make clear that he is an tied(p) stronger character than Ralph and Piggy feature to chooseher. He looked confident and strong, and he tardily towered Ralph. But at that point of entering in the film, he did not position himself as the leader of the group yet, and in fact allowed to be subjected in a votation.Gathered round on the beach, the group of the choir boys and Ralphs group then decided who go taboo be their leader to organize them while they remain stranded in the island. Ralph easily won the buttocks of power that time, main ly because he seemed the more rational one amidst all the tumult that their newly-formed group was creating. But even then, there was already a sort of resistor in Jacks character, appointing himself as the head of the hunter group. This allow for afterwards create tension and provide bring up up the beation of their organization and leadership.Meanwhile, we see on the other end of the spectrum the choosing dish out of girls in the book sissybee & Wannabees. Wiseman describes the big businessman Bee as much(prenominal) A conspiracy of the king of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and Barbie, she is a mixture of charisma, force, money, looks, strong will and manipulation. She reigns supreme, washstand silence other girls and boys with a look, and her popularity is based on fear and bear. Easily, it fanny be seen that the Queen Bee is far from the ideal leader we pictured, definitely not fair nor just, and most surely not feel for about(predicate) whats rational or not.All that is important to the Queen Bee is for her to retain the influence she enjoys over her court, and that piece of tail hardly(prenominal) be done by doing things that will reaffirm her social status among her friends. thither 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 street smart. She uses her charms to get what she wants, and if the situation does not look as promising as she would beat 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 also be good-looking. This seems to be the biggest consideration of it all. Not only must she be cool and hip and in the know about the latest fashion, she should look good in it. It was also put in the book that having cool accessories ie. boyfriends is another sure way to get to the top. unlike the boys in the movie, picking a Queen Bee does not go through the antiauthoritarian process of voting. Instead, it happens quietly, with no questions asked.The Queen Bee working her way silently among her group, carefully selecting the mint whom she would like to surround herself with, filtering out those that do not meet her own mellow standards of who should deserve to be in her comp any(prenominal). Its a cruel process that ends up alienating others, but thats on the dot the point there, because it is in this practice of insanity and separation that the Queen Bee is able to pay back her power and leadership over all the other girls. However, not all stiff fine and well in the richly court of the young leaders. As in any political setup, there will be opposition.Here, we take a look at how power washbasin be revoked in the two settings. In the movie, Ralph started losing control over the group when the bonfire they had created burn out. It was meant to serve as a sess signal for potential rescue, and originally, it was J ack and his group who were assessed 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 they 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 given 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 beach. What became the straw that broke the camels back was how Jack successfully made the rest of the hunter group believe that he is a much bump leader because unlike Ralph, he appreciates their case of bringing the pig home, and being physically strong, he can be even more useful to them.Loyalties quickly changed, and Ralph curtly found himself to be deposed and stripped of his le adership because of that event. In the book, it is found that there is a lot of cattiness involved among the girls. at that place is also a tug-of-war into play when talk of the town about group loyalties, same as with the boys in the movie. However, it can be give tongue to that the girls can just be as aggressive as boys, and even more. It can be a very snarky milieu in the girl clique, with the girls just development each other to get what they want, and after(prenominal) 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 captures herself thrown out of the social circle. Once that she no continuing has a juicy benefit to oblation to her peers, then she is more likely to be dumped. She whitethorn bump herself the victim of a vicious rumor spread about by one of her very own friends, and if there is no one to correspond or back her up, then she may find herself from hero 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 speak, is a grounds for deposition. What happens then to those kicked out of the group and their followers? No interrogative sentence they are put in a very humiliating state. Their former group now perceives them as outcasts, while the bystanders, as Wiseman would call it, are afraid to in public 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 depiction of violence culminating with the deaths of Simon and Piggy.But the real difference is how this violence is actually carried out. In the movie, it was merely depicted that the boys will interlocking it out with their fists. A scuffle here, a cheered-on fight there, and in the unfortunate case of Simon, a mob mentality beating him up because of mistaken identity. But in the misfire knowledge base, the rules for violence are different. Yes, they may get into catfights, pulling at each others hair at most 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 worst enemies. Because of all the information th ey 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 recognize that the setups between the boys club and the Girl World are different, particularly 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 absolutely 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 direct adults, but on top of all that, they were put in a less than enviable situation, left with no shelter, no food, no safety in the set 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 a nd pleasing the Queen Bee so they may be included in her group, or if lucky, perchance 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 the same time, there are certain standards that differ from each other (ie. the mode by which power is enacted, and how violence is carried out).What the Great Compromiser constant 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 proceed the harsh world out there. whole kit and caboodle CITED Talbot, Margaret, Girls Just Want to Be Mean, FASLink, Research, Information, foul & 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, neb (dir. ), Lord of the Flies, Continental Distributing, Inc. , Jan. 1963.