I have to admit that my high school experience is vastly different from ones portrayed in film, TV and movies. First of all, I had to take the subway to school (which was why “The Princess Diaries,” the books, not the movie, jibed with me), and a bus. Second of all, my high school was located smack dab in Manhattan, but in fact so removed from all the fun parts of the greatest city in the world that it’s pretty boring. If it weren’t for the Forbidden Planet and a few movie theaters nearby, I’d probably transfer to my local high school in Queens and used the time commuting to study for my SATs. No, I’m just playing with you. I wouldn’t be studying. I’d get my own teenage gang together and wreak havoc on the streets of Flushing.
So when movies like “Mean Girls” came out, I couldn’t really relate. There were some cliques here and there in my high school, but not so distinctive that people in those cliques don’t mingle with ones outside their own. I myself bounced from group to group. There weren’t any apparent bullying either, just a bunch of really focused teenagers trying to hone their craft. It might have a lot to do with the fact that I went to an art high school with a special concentration on architecture and commercial arts. From what I gathered, these fine people I graduated with are functional members of society, most of us still pursuing our dreams of being an artist or have attained that near-impossible goal. So, “Mean Girls” is a largely fictional piece of entertainment in my book and I genuinely feel bad for people who DID have to deal with horrible people in terrible situations because I myself have been spared of such trauma. Still, I did have fun painting this version where the girls were all slutted up to go to a Halloween party except for Cady, who didn’t get the memo. And also Janis, the only voice of reason in the high school jungle.
