The first part of the window that others see Regina George through is the open panel. This means that she sees exactly what others see. In her case, they all see that Regina is a pretty, popular, blond girl with a good fashion sense. This falls under open because Regina knows this about herself (which makes her very stuck up) and so do the people around Regina.
Another window that Regina George falls into is the Blind panel. The Blind panel is defined as any characteristics that can be seen by others, but is not known to the self. In Regina's case, others saw how sadistic and cruel she really was. She lowered other girls self-esteem on a daily basis without realizing how mean she really was. Her sadistic nature adds a lot to the plot of the movie, including the addition of the burn book. Towards the end of the movie, Regina begins to realize the power she held over the school and noticed/ came to terms with how heartless she could be, so she ended up throwing her "friend" (Cady) under the bus to make herself look better. Along with Regina, Cady also happens to fall in this panel of the Johari Window. After becoming friends with Regina as part of a plan to thwart her power, Cady turns into one of Regina's minions and turns in a cruel person without realizing it herself. Eventually this trait does fall into the open panel as Cady's friends make her aware of how she had been acting.
A few of the characters fall under the hidden panel of the Johari Window. The hidden panel is the category where characteristics that only the self can see and knows they exist fall into. Regina George was seen by other as a self-confident, stuck-up, pretty, perfect girl. Deep down she had her own problems. She was constantly worried about her weight and throughout the movie tried all kinds of ridiculous diets. Cady deep down had a want to be noticed and popular, but she hid that from her friends, Janice and Damien. She never let anyone around her know that she had this desire and when the opportunity presented itself and they wanted Cady to get in Regina's friend group to sabotage her, she jumped on it. Usually it is just personality traits that fall into the Johari window, but for the sake of example an event from the movie can be used. Cady's friend Janice let everyone see that she had an extreme hate for Regina George, but she never let anyone know why. Regina and Janice had actually been best friends, but Regina had spread a mean rumor about Janice to hide something that she had done. The fact that they used to be friends was in the hidden panel and the only two that could see that they had been friends were Regina and Janice.
The final panel of the Johari window is the Unknown. Unfortunately is is hard to make a connection for this panel as it is defined as unknown to both the self and others. No one knows what is in the unknown panel until it eventually surfaces and by the time it surfaces, it falls into another panel of the Johari Window. Cady or Regina could have many unknown personality traits such as regret for a certain thing or a love for something else, but no one will know that it is there until it moves into another panel of the Johari Window.
Mean Girls can connect to a lot of terms pertaining to communications, but it does in its own funny way. A lot can be learned from Cady and Regina, and I suggest we all absorb those lessons. Now all I can do is look at the lessons I've learned and look forward to the sequel to come out this year.
