Saturday, May 2, 2009

Julius Caesar/Mean Girls

So many of Shakespeare's plays are similar to films today. Watch this four minute comparison of Julius Caesar and "Mean Girls." After viewing the clip, do you agree that they are simliar or does the comparison not work? Also think of other films that you think might make for a better comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTDzAAZc2dk&NR=1

Have Fun

73 comments:

Unknown said...

After watching the clip it was interesting to see how closely both Mean Girls and Julius Caesar resemble eachother. I do think that the creators Mean Girls purposely tried to portray Julius Caesar based on the actions shown in the clip, and when the student stood up and read aloud her paper on Julius Caesar which is ironic as well.

-Alex Abramovich

Unknown said...

weird i have never watched mean girls so i had trouble understanding the video at all but i did like how it quoted julius caesar though.

Brian Barr said...

After watching the comparison, it was funny noticing the strong similarities. Mean Girls seemed to be a remake of Julius Caesar in different circumstances. I think it showed the similarities when the girl read her paper about Julius Caesar. I can't really think of any other films that would make a better comparison than this one.

Vince Licata said...

I do not understand. I am reading MacBeth, not "Julius Caesar/Mean Girls". I watched both clips, and everyone has their own opinion. so...





~Vince~

craig said...

This is Craig Leugers and I think that there actually is some similarity between Julius Caesar and Mean Girls. Julius Caesar and Regina are both arrogant dictators who rule like kings, and treat their peers like trash, and they both are betrayed by the people thought to be their best friends. I can't think of any other movies that have the sort of storyline like these two.

Chelsea said...

Chelsea Byrnes

At first I thought comparing the two were a little weird, considering I love the movie Mean Girls but Julius Caesar completely bores me, but after watching the clip all the way through I could really see some similarities. It kind of made it seem like the creaters of Mean Girls meant to make characters like those in Julius Caesar.

lexey said...

After watching the clip, I really did notice how they resemble each other a lot. I never really thought about by breaking down different pieces of a movie could relate to something else so much. But, I really don't think the makers of the movie Mean Girls meant to resemble Julius Caesar at all, but was just making a movie about teenage drama.

katie alsip said...

First it seemed weird to compare the two, but they are actually very simalar. It kinda seemed like julius caesar and mean girls were kinda meant to be the same.

Nick Turner said...

I would never have thought to compare Julius Ceaser to Mean Girls but I can pick out the similarities. It was cool to see them compare some of the characters from Julius Ceaser to the ones in Mean Girls.

ty knab said...

After watching the clip it made sense how they were similar because I have never watched mean girls. I never really have thought about modern films resembling Shakespeare but it became clear when I watched the video.

Tristan Wolfe said...

I agree that Julius Caesar and Mean girls have many similarities. I have never thought about comparing the two but the comparison does work. I can't think of any films that would make a better comparison.

Garrett Keeling said...

After watching the clip, I can see how the comparison works. A few times she stretched it a little too far, but for the most part the comparisons were right on. I thought it was funny how the one girl who read the essay freaked out.

Katie Asbury said...

I love mean girls. Watching the clip really helped me understand what is going on in Julius Caesar considering the play is so boring. Now that I can actually relate to something up to date it seems become clearer...only a little though.

Saige Miller said...

I never noticed the similarities before, but after watching this clip it is funny to see how such an old story and a newer one although very different follow a similar story line. I think that most movies today are updated versions of older movies and books and this is a prime example.

Zac Harford said...

Mean Girls does seem to have similarities with Julius Caesar, but I don't think it was the movie was meant to portray the play, I think it was just a common theme.

Thugenberg said...

Although it the book and Mean Girls can be compared, they are not complete parallels of each other. I have seen the movie and I can definitely see a connection to how all of the girls in the school turn into a massive mob after that book gets made public. I'm not sure of a better movie to compare the book to.

Ginny Shafer said...

Wow, as many times as I've watched this movie I never realized that Julius Caesar and Regina we're similar.I've never thought anything of Gretchen reading her paper other than her venting about how she felt about Regina through Julius Caesar.But,you can tell the writers created it along a basis of the play.

Anonymous said...

Mean Girls was the last movie I would have expected Caesar to be compared. While i was watching the clip the comparison made sense. The characters in Mean Girls were similar to the characters in Caesar because it was like the mean girls group was trying to take out the head girl just like the conspirators were trying to take out Caesar.

Kevin Hetrick said...

the movie and the play are actually surprisingly similar which is something i wouldn't have expected. The way the actress in the movie resemble the characters in the play isn't something i would have expected. I think that the fact they resemble one another is only coincidental.

erin creelman said...

erin creelman

At first, I thought that the comparison betweent Julius Caesar and Mean Girls would be strange. But when I saw the video clip I realized just how much they both resemble eachother. I also found it ironic that in Mean Girls, Gretchen was making a speech about Julius Caesar. I think that the creators of Mean Girls thought about the play Julius Caesar and the comparison of the two.

nathalie said...

I have never reallly thought of Mean Girls as being similar to Julius Caesar before but this clip convinced me. I think the creators may have done it on purpose and then put the scene with the girl reading about caesar in as a clue or something.

Lauren H said...

I was really surprised by the comparison becuase when they come to mind you can see the similarities between them.I cant really think of any other movies right now that would be modeled after Julius Caesar but im sure its a fairly common thing for producers to model modern movies after classic literature.

Molly Ries said...

After watching the video, it was interesting to see how the Mean Girls and Julius Caesar compare to one another. It kind of seemed to me that Julius Caesar and Mean Girls were meant to be the same.

Emily said...

Emily Holifield

At first before watching the clip, it made absolutly no sense how these two could be remotly similar to each other. However, after watching the clip i can see how one could think the two are similar. I don't really like thinking how what modern movies resemble Shakespear because I find Shakespear completely boring. Sorry!

alliedavis said...

Hearing that there is a comparison between Mean Girls and Julius Caesar came as a shock to me. I didn't really see how they would be related. After seeing the clip, and how similar the two stories are i can now believe it. Seeing a classic story acted in a modern day movie helps me understand the story more and more.

Kayla said...

I hadnt noticed the similarities between julius caesar and mean girls until viewing this clip. However, mean girls seemed to portray alot of the circumstances as seen in julius caesar. It was also very ironic that Julius Caesar was mentioned in mean girls.

Tim C said...

After watching the clip, I think it was very neat how comparable the two are. I also think that the creators of Mean Girls tried to portray Julius Caesar in some scenes. I thought it was ironic how one of the students read a paper abou Julius Caesar.

Kayla Sanson said...

I think that they have simularities. Maybe the producers of mean girls tried to make it simular to juluis caesar. When the girl read the paper that was very simular to juluis caesar.

Zak Kocsis said...

Initially, it seemed farfetched that the two were similar. The one girl made it very clear that they truly were similar during her rant to the class. Yet, the two ideas are very different because Brutus was not just killing Caesar for power, but more so for the sake of Rome.

Kristen Ebbert said...

I think Julius Caesar and Mean Girls actually do have a lot in common. I didn't think they would at first, but after watchung the clip I can really see the similarities in the characters and their actions.

Corrie Dignan said...

After watching the clip I could actually compare the two. I never thought Mean Girls would be compared to Julius Ceasar but after watching it I realized it kinda did. I dont think the producer of Mean Girls ment it o resemble Julius Caesar.

Evan said...

No this clip does not portray Julius Caesar at all. Gretchen was going on a tangent about how Regina was acting like "Caesar" and Gretchen was "Brutus" being stomped on...But in the play Brutus did not kill Caesar because he was mad at him and Caesar was stomping on him but for the love of rome. So no this does not portray Julius Caesar well.

-Evan Anglim

Matt Pucillo said...

I didn't think they were as similar as everyone is saying. I think it is just luck that the creators of Mean Girls kind of resembled Julius Caesar. But I can sort of see the girls resembling the characters in Julius Caesar.

Kristy yager said...

After watching the comparison I could see how Caesar and Mean girls are similar in some actions through out the play and movie.

Evan said...

Do any of you guys even understand what Julius Caesar is about? Brutus does not want to kill Caesar because Caesar is STOMPING all over Brutus and Brutus thinks he is better than Caesar. I haven't seen ONE reply that even mentioned this. The video was portraying Brutus as someone who is envious which is not like Brutus what so ever...

It's like everyone read the first reply and based there answer off of it.

-Evan Anglim

Unknown said...

I have seen that movie so many times and I never noticed the Caesar comparison in the movie. It is weird to see the comparison between Mean Girls and Julius Caesar, but after thinking it does make sense. The killing of Caesar was due to factors such as jealousy, betrayal, and also intimidation. These all show up in Mean Girls

samuel john peterson said...

Most movies that are made today are made using the original story of some movie or play made long ago. Mean girls / Julius Caesar is just another example of that. Although they arent the exact same they are extremely close.

Unknown said...

It would be ironic that the two clips resemble each other, but then I think that the creators of 'mean girls' meant it to happen that way. Especially when she read her paper and showed how the situations matched each other.

Max Barden said...

I never would have noticed any similarities if it wasn't pointed out but you can definetley see how Mean Girls and Julius Caesar are very similar. It almost seems like it could have been a modern-day adaptation of the story of Julius Caesar.

keara sanson said...

Both of the clips are very similar, its weird to think that a modern film like Mean Girls can have a lot of the same features as Julius Caesar.

Robbie M. said...

i thought the clip was annoying but I can see similarites between mean girls and Julius Caesar.

garrett liggett said...

I had never noticed before how much Mean Girls resembles Julius Caesar. If you wouldn't have said anything, I probably would have never noticed.

Curt Blum said...

These two stories are very much alike. The only thing that I thought was different about them was how Caesar wasnt really mean and cruel like Regina was, he was just overly ambitious. And in the clip the person says that Brutus was jealous of Caesar, but Brutus wasn't, he was doing what he thought was right for Rome.

Brittany Vigar said...

It was cool to see how the two stories are similar. I don't think that the creators went off of Julius Caesar on purpose, I think think they made the video and that, that was just how it happened but it is still really cool how close it is.

Taryn Wellborn said...

I have watched mean girls plenty of times and besides the scene where Gretchen reads her take on Caesar, i never saw too much of a relation. After watching the clip i see how similar they are and i think it was definately done on purpose.

Kevin Becker said...

When I first saw the topic I didn't thing they were going to be much alike. I was surprised at how much they were alike. I don't believe that the creaters of Mean Girls had Julius Ceasar in mind when creating the film.

Unknown said...

At first I thought that there was no way that Mean Girls and Julius Ceasar could be related at all. Then after watching the clip there were stronger similarities than I thought.

Emma Norton said...

At first I thought that they wouldnt be similar but after watching the film I definently saw similarities. I think some parts were a bit of a stretch, but for the most part I found some strong similarities. Nice find Mr. Lunn.

Drew S. said...

This is Drew. I have watched the video clip and I belive the play Julius Cesar and the movie Mean Girls are very similer. Mean girls is more of a modern type of Julius Cesar.

jake lackner said...

The whole mean girls thing Julius Caeser comparison, they have a decent amount of similarities. But I dont think there is enough to really show that the story is similar.

Unknown said...

i think that julius caesar and mean girls have s few simularities.

Koty Trentman said...

After watching this clip i was very surprised with how many simularities there were. I never could have guessed that there would be any simularites between the two

Katie Ellis said...

After watching the clip, I can see how Julius Caesar and Mean Girls are similar. I liked how the girl who made the video made a comparison to a modern movie. It helped me better understand the play.

Anonymous said...

I would have never thought of relating Mean girls to Julius Caesar. It was really interesting. I don't think that the writer really tried to relate their movie to Julius Caesar, it just kind of happened that way.

alan van pelt said...

I agree that Julius Caesar and Mean girls have many similarities. I have seen the movie before and i can see how they are so alike. im not sure of a better movie to compare julius caesar to.

Pat Guanciale said...

I have not seen mean girls but after watching the clip i see how they are similar. I never realized that modern films would be so similar to Shakespeare.

Etenoever said...

Yes i though the two films were very simular,so yes the comparison does work.

Unknown said...

Gregory Stephen

The film seems similar to Julius Caesar, but primatively. Julius Caesar is more civilized than a high school drama. I see whare the similarities can be drawn, but "Mean Girls" is similar to Julius Caesar only be the nature of social politics/

cornelius sowers said...

It works because a group of conspirators, lindsay lohan, and her two friends, decide to bring down regina by different methods and different plots. It definitely works for a comparison to julius caesar.

JON AHRENS said...

The simialarity between the two clips is unbeivable. I have seen mean girls before but had complety forgot how it compared. Im pretty sure the plot of Julius Ceasar was taken and used to make mean girls in a way.

Fred Walker said...

I have never watched mean girls but it did have a lot of similarities to Julius Caesar. Mean Girls seemed to be a modern day version of Julius Caesar and a lot of the characters were comparible to the characters of Julius Caesar.

Andrea Hemingway said...

I watched mean girls several times, and i would have never thought that it would relate to Julius Caesar. I thought that Regina and Caesar were very much alike. In some ways, it looks like the directors of Mean Girls tried to have it be like Julius Caesar.

H Kraemer said...

I think that they have many similarites. I have never seen mean girls but after seeing that clip I see what other people mean by that one girl acting like a dictator. I cant think of any other movies that relate but im sure there are tons more.

Emma Searcy said...

I have seen Mean Girls a couple times before watching the clip and I thought that the clip would not relate whatsoever. Although, after watching the clip,the similarities between Regina and Caesar were very apparent.

Unknown said...

Jessica Re
I think the two are actually very closely related. Then again, the more you think about it- many of Shakespeare's plays are the foundation of several other works. This plays are all based on one common strong theme such as having an over powering friend that tries to lead everyone.

gmancz said...

Although I do not think that anyone would ever make a connection between Mean Girls and Julius Ceasar, there are many similarities. It is eerie but it was comical, a great sory from the past can be refered to a teenage drama movie, who knew?

markv said...

after thinking about it, it is very similar. i would never have thought of comparing the two, but it actually does work.

Travis Carney said...

I can see the similarities between the two but I don't know if it was intended. I can't really think of another movie to compare the play to, since I don't watch many movies.

Lyndsie 4th said...

The movie made the relation between the book and the movie during the girl's speach. But still i find it odd that i didnt get all the similarities until the end of the clip.

caleb correll said...

After watching the video I could see how Mean Girls could resemble Julius Caesar. It showed similarities when he girl read her paper in the movie. I don't think the writer of Mean Girls meant to portray Julius Caesar but it turned out to be very similar.

emily houston said...

I've never actually seen Mean Girls before, but it was interesting to see the similarities.

Matt Best said...

It's always funny how many of today's movies are based off of, or closely resemble the works of Shakespeare. Whether or not this was intentional is debateable, but the similarities still pop up. Other movies like this are West Side Story-->Romeo and Juliet, 10 things I hate about you-->Taming the Shrew, and several others.

Robbie M. said...

What an annoying movie. I wish I did'nt have to watch things like that for school. I guess the way they treated each other could possibly be similar to Julius Caesar.