For those who are having difficulty understanding the issues in Europe right now with Brexit and the Refugee Crisis, bear no fear! I have the perfect analogy to help you catch up! The best way to describe the European Union is a high school, there are cliques, gossip, and a whole lot of back stabbing, and some of these countries have close bonds with the characters of Mean Girls.
*Disclaimer- This is an analogy in my eyes, not all of this is based off of fact
1. The Popular Kids
Think of the European Union as this, Europe itself is the High School. This is where all of the countries go to school. And like High School, there are the popular kids, but in Mean Girls, there are different types of cool kids,
there are the Jocks (Sweden and Russia), the Preps (Luxembourg, Denmark and Italy), and the Burnouts (Greece and Spain). Greece and Spain's economies can simply be described as this
Some countries REALLY want to be apart of the cool kid's , and will do anything they to join, the best example being Serbia.
2. The Plastics
The most popular of Europe High School are the Plastics, and their names are Germany (Karen) , France (Gretchen) , and the European Union (Regina). The Plastics are the Supremes of Europe, but you especially do not want to mess with the EU. Their cafeteria table (Brussels, Belgium) is the Headquarters for the EU, anything that happens in Europe is controlled by her and her posse of popular kids, Germany and France are the most involved.
France is always the EU's go to girl, but the EU can be really passive aggressive sometimes. They act like friends, but France really does not like her at the end of the day. She thinks we should totally stab the EU.
Germany is the friend in the Plastics that will do anything, literally anything. EU tells her to bring in 400,000 refugees? Done. The EU wants you to give free college when you are in $2 trillion in debt? Done. Her life is falling apart, but she always looks on the bright side of life!
3. Cady (Great Britain)
GB is the new girl in town. When she first entered Europe High School, she became good friends with Norway and Iceland, they were different and didn't follow the European Union. Great Britain joined the Plastics and always stood out some how. She was into weird things like having her own currency and driving on the opposite side of the road, but the Plastics wanted her in. She complied, and began doing odd activities that began to confuse her parents, England and Wales.
Long story short, Great Britain wanted out, and she had to do it the hard way. GB wasn't happy with the EU always stomping on her, like forcing her to accept laws without her approval. A part of Cady loves being with the Plastics, but another part of her wants to be out of the limelight, kind of like her two friends,
4. Damien and Janis (Norway and Iceland)
Damien (Norway) is known to be one of the happiest countries in the world (he's too gay to function) and Janis (Iceland), the EU used to be pretty tight with her, but rumors started to spread, like she used to be into some pagan stuff. Neither of them are in the EU Club, and other countries make fun of them for it, but they can handle it.
There's also Switzerland (Glen Coco), who's not in the EU posse, but everyone seems to like him, and he's got it together!
5. The Burn Book (Refugee Crisis)
Remember how the burn book totally tore apart North Shore High School? That's the refugee crisis. Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at first, but once it came into initiative, hell broke loose,
and there are the poor countries like Liechtenstein not wanting to be apart of this.
And while this is happening, the EU is ignoring it and pretending like she never did anything
6. Ms. Norbury and the teachers (The Rest of the World)
The rest of the world wants Europe to just get along, so they propose a meeting for everyone in Europe to get their feelings out. Turkey wants everyone to get along like they did in Middle School, and she wished she could make a cake made of smiles and rainbows, and that everyone could eat it and be happy... there's just one problem...
Let's just hope everything in Europe will be grool soon.
