The Image Conscious Controller aka regina george | Awareness

Regina George is a character from the movie "Mean Girls" who embodies the concept of image-consciousness. She is known for her popularity and influence among her peers. However, despite her outward appearance as a confident and charismatic leader, Regina often betrays her friends to maintain her social status.

Throughout the movie, Regina manipulates and undermines her closest friends, including Cady Heron and Janis Ian. She spreads rumors, engages in backstabbing behavior, and uses her power to control and intimidate others. Regina's actions demonstrate her willingness to prioritize her own image and status over the well-being and trust of those around her.

Regina's betrayal of her friends highlights the toxic and destructive nature of her image-conscious mindset. It serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of prioritizing popularity and external validation at the expense of genuine connections and authentic relationships.

The Regina George prides themselves on controlling all situations so that they and their inner circle appear flawless. Even when something goes wrong, they will shift the situation to appear as if it is purposeful, even if it appears that they have self-sacrificed (think the Burn Book).  This inner villain will likely show up with words of criticism about your physical appearance. 

In Mean Girls, Regina sees her dominance over the rest of the plastic and the high school as a self-sacrifice. She creates rules for the appearance of her friends in order to maintain this guise. She is willing to continue the self-sacrifice in order to maintain control after Kade gains control of her group.

Symptoms of this Villain: 

-Human Design: Undefined Heart Center Conditioning

-Enneagram 3

-Betrayal Wound

-Critical of appearance

-Strong desire to control

-Often may have a lot of physical or mental health issues

-Maintains a strong hold on their sense of the perfect image

-May be unable to work for themselves without burning out or to work from home without constantly needing to check in to prove they are working.

-Hard-working

-Will often appear as a persecutor or outward tyrant

Inner Magic of this Villain: Dedication

Stages:

Stage 0: Origin Villain

  • Parent/Sibling super concerned with appearance

  • Hardworking and conscientious workaholic role model

Stage 1: Internalization

  • Negation: “I cannot trust” “I can control the world”

  • People/My Body cannot be trusted

Stage 2: Diversification

  • Persecutor Villain

  • Inherited Ambition & Workaholic

  • The world will betray me so I need to control it.

Stage 3: Externalization

  • Self-sacrifice to keep the world in order

  • Increasing need for control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_dCc-9pEPM

Other Examples of the Image Conscious Controller

  • Queen of Hearts - Alice in Wonderland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEzMS0iwihg

Other Resources:

  • Lundy Bancroft’s Equivalent in “Why does he do that”

    • The Drill Sergeant: I need to control your every move or you will do it wrong. I know the exact way that everything should be done. You shouldn’t have anyone else-or anything else-in your life beside me. I am going to watch you like a hawk to keep you from developing strength or independence. I love you more than anyone in the world, but you disgust me.