She thought of herself as two different people, "the rancid-butter-smelling Edith of the day shift", and "the rose-scented Edith wriggling into a party dress", she wanted to forget about the rancid butter Edith, the only Edith she wished to be was the rose-scented Edith. She wanted a "perfect" job, appearance, home, family, but she didn't realize that nothing would ever be perfect unless she made it perfect, not by changing who she was, but by changing how she saw herself and other people. Manipulating the way she talked, dressed, and acted did nothing for her. Even after spending all her money on clothes, perfume, a wristwatch, and books on etiquette, Edith still didn't fit in, all she did was make herself stand out even more than she did in the first place. In order to forget who she was, Edith created an alter-ego of herself, and tried to become that alter-ego, she never really knew the difference between what was important, and what wasn't.
For most parents and their little girls it is just good fun. They do not take the beauty pageants seriously. For a few parents the beauty pageants become an obsession. This is when beauty pageants for children can suddenly become very harmful. “Critics of the industry warn that the stresses of competition, coupled with an extreme focus on physical appearance, can have a negative effect long before these girls will be eligible for Miss America.” (Triggs, West and Aradillas 160-168) The loss of self-esteem, the inability to show a full range of emotions, the fear of failure, the extreme focus on physical image, and the discord with or fear of parents are a few of the symptoms those little girls will suffer from.
There is a popular television show called Toddlers and Tiaras that documents what goes on during these child beauty pageants. There was one episode where these seven year old girls had to do a very provocative dance routine at a pageant. At the beginning of the episode the pageant moms were completely against it but their daughters dance coach convinced them that they would have to do if they want to win. The girls ended up winning the pageant. These girls had on barely any clothing and a lot of makeup and they are only seven.
Kat is a very strong, independant and opinionated person who never lets her opinions go to waste, whether they are aimed at her teachers or her fellow peers. She is against dating and often "sneers at the idiocy of teenage social life". She is cynical about many things, and does not believe that she needs to be like most teenagers that she is surrounded by. She says, “You forget I don’t care what other people think”, which directly shows us that she doesn't care for others opinions on her. She strongly dislikes her sister’s eagerness to fit in at school and tells Bianca, “You don’t always have to be what other people want you to be”, which shows us that she thinks Bianca should be herself and not follow in the path that her fellow school mates take.
It could also be viewed as the plastic meaning suffocation and overpowering material goods that are not needed but somehow are the most important subjects to these women. These respectable women however in Duffy view are artificial and fake. They only talk about trivial subjects because, language embarrassed them. This could mean a literal language such as swearing or a subject which is rude or not talked of in high society. Or meanings that they are uneducated or cannot express themselves well and therefore find it hard to communicate with each other.
Rather than just being rude, she obviously has her opinions about certain things and sticks to them. For example, when asked about Bogey Lowenstein’s party Kat explains that people go to the party’s “in hopes of distracting themselves from the pathetic emptiness of their meaningless consumer driven lives”(10 Things). In this scene, she clearly describes how she feels and how that is the reason she does not go out to be with other people or parties. This gives us audience an insight to how Kat has real opinions and being hardheaded is why she is hated and so considered rude. Even though this is different than the play itself, I felt that this was a good adaption of the character for the film.
Where as a natural pageant the girls are not allowed a flipper, spray tan, rhinestones, headpieces or they could be disqualified. The majority of the girls that participate in beauty pageants are spoilt brats. They are forced into a lot of things by their parents that pay ridiculous amounts on dresses, flippers, make-up and the rest. Most take tantrums if they do not get their way and mostly care about money. There are also girls outside beauty pageants like Poppy Burge,
When she was younger, she didn't fit in at school, and she doesn't want her fans (or anyone for that matter) to feel like she did - so she created a 'space' for them. A space where they could be free to be who they truly are, just like herself. Some may say Gaga's songs have no meaning and they are just mindless auto-tuned pop songs. They actually have meaning The Fame Monster is about conquering her fears and people can relate to this. She expresses how she feels and doesn't care what people think.
She dances in the rain. She plays a ukulele during lunch every day and sings "Happy Birthday” to students she doesn’t even know, she attends other peoples' funerals and, during sporting events, cheers for both teams. Her behavior is so odd and so unlike anything, anyone at the school had seen before that the student’s at first did not know what to make of her. One student, the popular Hillari Kimble, states, "She is not real." Leo starts to gain a crush on her and refuses requests of his best friend, Kevin, to put her on their show 'Hot Seat'.
There was a survey taken in a school, of 5-12th grade girls, and the results were 59% were unsatisfied with their bodies, 47% wanted to lose weight because of magazines. It is also known that 73% of 8-12-year olds dress and talk like teens. These examples show that some try to do so much just to fit in and belong, even when it’s not their real identity. In the novella, Frankie changes, as she bought a new dress that was for older women; Berenice said that it didn’t suit her, but she didn’t care.