Survey: A STUDY ON HOW FEMALE COMPETITION/RIVALRIES IN FILM INFLUENCE WOMEN’S FRIENDSHIPS AND IDENTITIES

You are invited to participate in a research study examining how portrayals of female friendships and rivalries in film influence women's perceptions of womanhood, female relationships, and gender expectations.

Participation in this study involves completing an online survey.

You will be asked to read 2 differently worded summaries (with one neutrally worded control) from 2 different movies and give your opinion. There are no wrong answers but you will be required to write at least one sentence per question.

Your participation is entirely voluntary. You may choose to withdraw from the survey at any time. No personally identifying information will be collected unless you voluntarily choose to provide it. All responses will be kept confidential and used solely for academic research purposes.

>>>You are at least 18 years of age.

>>>You identify as a cis/trans woman, female, or femme.

>>>You have read and understood the information provided above.

>>>You voluntarily agree to participate in this study.

Version A: Raise the Red Lantern (Tragic Drama) - Following her father's death, nineteen-year-old Songlian is forced to leave her studies behind and marry into the wealthy Chen household as the Fourth Mistress. Within the estate, the master's wives live under a rigid system in which their comfort, status, and security depend entirely on receiving his attention, symbolized by the lighting of a red lantern outside their residence. As Songlian adapts to the household, she witnesses the harsh social structure that reinforces the constant competition for the master's favour. The First Mistress has accepted her fate, the Second Mistress isn't the friend Songlian thought, and the Third Mistress tries to find some meaning in her life through a secret affair. Before long, Songlian joins the rivalry herself, making the desperate decision of falsely claiming pregnancy in hopes of securing stability. The emotional strain of the household's oppressive structure gradually erodes her sense of self, leaving her isolated after her lie was exposed, disillusioned, and psychologically devastated.

Version B: Raise the Red Lantern (Tragic Drama) - After her father's death, nineteen-year-old Songlian abandons her education and marries into the wealthy Chen family as the Fourth Mistress, joining a group of women who spend their lives ruthlessly competing for the attention of a single man. Their cushy lives are all determined by which concubine's house receives the ceremonial red lantern each night. The mistresses constantly scheme for advantage, gossip, and undermine each other in pursuit of status and privileges. The First Mistress quietly accepts her fading relevance, the Second Mistress is a classic two-faced older catty woman, threatened by Songlian's looks, while the Third Mistress gets into a steamy, risky affair while still mooching off their husband. Songlian quickly becomes just as willing to play the game, faking a pregnancy to outdo the others, until she is rightfully exposed. As jealous hysteria consumes the household, Songlian becomes bitter and crazed, unable to escape the consequences of the competition she embraced.

Version A: Mean Girls (Teen Comedy) - Cady Heron, a painfully naïve home-schooled newcomer, stumbles into high school and immediately gets absorbed into its most obnoxiously enviable group of popular girls, “The Plastics”, including the cattiest and bitchiest of them all, Regina George, the school’s self-appointed queen bee, and her interchangeable sidekicks, Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith. Cady is easily recruited by the scorned and unpopular Janis Ian into a petty revenge mission against her arch nemesis, Regina. In typical dramatic teen girl fashion, things get really ridiculous after Cady lets slip that she has the hots for Regina’s ex-boy toy, Aaron Samuels, really ruffling the drama queen's feathers. What starts as a supposedly clever infiltration quickly morphs Cady into everything she was meant to destroy. She starts obsessing over becoming Regina 2.0 and competing for Aaron when he clearly doesn't want either of them anymore. Regina, predictably unable to tolerate competition, retaliates with her usual mix of manipulation and social cruelty. By the end, the girls have fully exposed how quickly “friendship” collapses when it’s built on the desperate need to be liked.

Version B: Mean Girls (Teen Comedy) - Cady Heron arrives at high school as a socially inexperienced outsider and is quickly pulled into its rigid and confusing hierarchy. She is introduced to “The Plastics,” led by Regina George, alongside Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith, who represent the school’s most visible but heavily constrained version of popularity. Encouraged by Janis Ian and Damian Leigh to infiltrate this group, Cady quickly draws Regina's ire when she falls for Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels. Regina's insecurities wouldn't let Cady have him, so she got back together out of the need to maintain her social status, leaving Cady feeling betrayed. Initially believing she is a simple observer of the Plastics' toxic dynamics, Cady finds herself a victim of the pressure of keeping up inhumane perfection like Regina, internalizing the same expectations she is trying to resist just to please everyone else. Even after Cady overthrew Regina for a short while, they still develop a certain mutual respect and understanding as they eventually leave the never-ending popularity contests behind.