Jawbreaker: An Analysis of ‘The Mean Girls’

With the Mean Girls Musical right around the corner, why don’t we take a close look at Jawbreaker, as well as a comparison and contrast to its predecessor and successor: Heathers and Mean Girls…

Heathers and Jawbreaker set the stage for Mean Girls a cool five years earlier with its central plot line for one character – the breaking in and initiation of a new member to an established group. That all three films feature such a plot line makes it clear that adding a new member makes this group more interesting than its existing complement.

Jawbreaker focuses on the fall of one such clique, led by Courtney Shayne (Rose McGowan). Marcie “Foxy” Fox (Julie Benz) and Julie Freeman (Rebecca Gayheart) are her loyal followers, while Elizabeth “Liz” Purr (Charlotte Ayanna) is their best friend and Courtney’s chief rival for Queen Bee in their group. As a prank, celebrating Liz’s seventeenth birthday, the trio kidnap her, gag her, and dump her in the trunk of their car before heading out – only to find that the jawbreaker that they used to gag her with has caused her to choke to death. Perhaps the duct tape didn’t help matters much.

Trying to solve the fallout, the group concocts an elaborate scheme to stage Liz’s death as the accidental result of a kinky sexual encounter. Events spiral out of control when they are discovered by a nerdy nobody, Fern Mayo (Judy Greer), while moving Liz’s body. From there, the three induct Fern into their group and newly rechristen her as Vylette. But already, the cracks in the group’s foundation are beginning to show, and Vylette surges to the top as a true rival Queen Bee to Courtney, leading to chaos as the group tries to navigate what they have done.

Like the earlier Heathers would focus on revenge, sought by a girl and boy ostracized by the titular mean-girl clique, and Mean Girls, which gives a deep dive into the kind of dynamics that such a group needs to survive, Jawbreaker took a darker turn. With Liz’s death, the metaphorical hive deteriorates quickly, with vicious infighting and betrayals galore. That Mean Girls is the only one of these films that lacks a member of the group dying, it’s clear that, despite its analytical nature, it is parodying the tropes present in Heathers and Jawbreaker.

As has become enshrined by Mean Girls, Jawbreaker features a trio of girls that each fit a certain niche. Courtney is the beautiful, popular, and rich Queen Bee. Her word is order, and crowded hallways part without her needing to even give a glimpse their way. Fear and intimidation are her chief skills, but that does not mean she lacks intellect or the ability to use emotional manipulation – her analysis of social dynamics allowed her to nearly effortlessly create a popular girl from the ashes of Liz’s death. It was nearly out of thin air, at that.

Next, we have the second-in-command, Julie Freeman. She is the cool and collected member who is closest to Liz. Unlike Gretchen Wieners, who was fanatically loyal to Regina George until pushed too far, Julie isn’t friends with the Queen Bee in her group, as Liz was the only one keeping her apart from the group. Still, based on her position in the group, Gretchen and Heather Duke are the closest analogue to the character of Julie Freeman. How these three differ in response to the group’s collapse is of true interest, Gretchen flocks to Cady as a lifeline, while Heather Duke quickly rushes to increase her own powerbase, while Julie steps back in an effort to find a way to like herself again. In fact, how Heather Duke treats Heather McNamara is reminiscent of the treatment that Gretchen and Julie receive from their Queen Bees when the group is down to three members.

Third, we have Foxy, the idiot of the group. Like Heather McNamara and Karen Smith, she is beautiful and dimwitted – though she is meaner than either, for she does not need her Queen’s direction to unleash her cruelty. She is also the least developed of the group featured throughout the film. When the heroes seek their vengeance, Foxy isn’t even taken down as an afterthought. Heather McNamara may have actively sought redemption, putting her close to Julie Freeman, it is her close adherence to Heather Chandler’s orders which puts Foxy as a comparable character in Jawbreaker.

Unlike Mean Girls and Heathers, this entry begins with a fourth member, Liz Purr, who is the nicest of their group. Despite her kindness, one has to wonder why she was friends with Courtney and Foxy in the first place. Through some flashbacks, we are given a glimpse into the kind of person she was next to her friends. She was nice to everybody around her, which is why Fern idolized her.

Finally, we have Vylette, who is inducted into the group. Whereas Cady Heron was sent to infiltrate the group by her two friends after an invitation, and Veronica Sawyer began the film as a newly brought-in member of the titular Heathers, Vylette is brought in solely to silence her. Vylette is quiet, shy, and meek, but through Courtney’s brief training and Julie’s departure from the group, Vylette evolves into a truly vicious member of the Flawless Four.

Jawbreakers has a horrifying crime at its center, but because they’re high school students, how they react to each clearly indicates their motives and priorities. Julie is more concerned with her guilt because of her part in Liz’s death, and it continues to eat away at her throughout the film, drawing her closer to drama student Zack Tartak (Chad Christ). In contrast, Courtney is more focused on her status and how their accidental murder of Liz could impact her. She spends a portion of the film finding a suitable patsy for Liz’s murder – the Stranger (Marilyn Manson) – framing him for Liz’s rape and murder. The film’s latter half shows Courtney consumed with envy and wrath as Vylette overshadows her. Because of this, Courtney becomes incredibly single-minded, spending all her energy on destroying Vylette rather than what’s still happening around her, ultimately leading to her final comeuppance. Then, there’s Foxy and Vylette. Rather than fret about the situation, the pair independently seek how to use it to their advantage. Foxy does so because she clearly doesn’t know any better, and then only after firmly believing that they would get away with it. Vylette, on the other hand, just becomes intoxicated with popularity and is swept up in it all.

How Heathers, Jawbreaker, and Mean Girls handles the collapse of its mean girl clique varies in execution. While Heather Duke rises up to take power in the wake of Heather Chandler’s death, the civil war between Courtney Shayne and Vylette is center stage for Jawbreaker, and Cady and Regin’s war is the plot for the second half of Mean Girls. Yet, in each film, the group is never the same, whether its completely dismantled or merely restructured, they are merely a shadow of their former glory by the time the credits roll.

The adults in the cast are a star-studded entourage from some of the 70s greatest films and include William Katt and P.J. Soles (from Carrie – Tommy Ross and Norma Watson, respectively) as Mr. and Mrs. Purr, Liz’s parents. We also have Pam Grier (the Foxy Brown) as Detective Vera Cruz. Mr. Fox, Foxy’s father, is played by Jeff Conaway, perhaps best known as Kenickie from Grease. Their principal was played by Carol Kane, who would see a resurgence in recent years.

Jawbreaker acts as a dark middle-ground between Heathers and Mean Girls. While the heroes plotted the murder of Heather Chandler in Heathers and Mean Girls, which involves the accidental mowing down of its Queen Bee Regina George, this film centers on the accidental murder of one of the clique’s members. Perhaps the new ‘20s will feature another original dark comedy focusing on the popular girl clique outside of the Mean Girls Musical. There’s certainly enough time.