Mean Girls
Summary
Mean Girlsis a cult classic , and yet , although the motion picture is still beloved by jillion of fan today , rewatching it so many geezerhood after its release comes with some harsh world . The 2004 teen drollery follows the socially inexperienced Cady ( Lindsay Lohan ) as she attends public schooling for the first sentence . Hit with a acculturation shock regarding the hierarchy of high schooltime , she speedily befriends fellow outcasts Janis ( Lizzy Caplan ) and Damian ( Daniel Franzese ) , but she treads severe water supply when they make a scheme to bring down the school ’s most pop girlfriend , Regina ( Rachel McAdams ) .
The exceptionalcast ofMean Girlsalso includes Amanda Seyfried , Amy Poehler , and Tina Fey , who wrote the script loosely based on the bookQueen Bees and Wannabesby Rosalind Wiseman . The picture show is filled with iconic quotes that are regularly recited by fan and used in meme decades afterwards , and its popularity has risen since its waiver , even lead to the2024Mean Girlsmusical remake , which lean a caboodle on the audience ’s nostalgia for the original . However , despite its fun assumption and memorable moments , upon a rewatch of the movie , some storylines and dialog inMean Girlsprove to be quite harsh .
Mean Girls is an iconic movie full of hilarious quotes from Regina and the Plastics . But some panorama of Tina Fey ’s teenaged comedy have aged poorly .
10Regina Casually Uses The R-Word
This is one ofMean Girls' cringiest quotes.
Regina is the ultimate Mean Girl , and she does n’t care who she outrage . However , one of Regina ’s lines truly shows her colorsas she casually uses the universal gas constant - news . When she first see Regina in the cafeteria , Cady explain that she has just enrolled in gamey schooling after being homeschooled all her life . Regina is shocked , until she says that she knows what homeschooled means , casually adding the R - word . She after utilize it againwhen talking about Janis and their previous friendly relationship .
9Mean Girls Isn’t Kind To Homeschooled Kids
Homeschooling in America is not as strange as the movie suggests.
Cady and her parents had be in Africa , where she was homeschooled the entire clip . Although she proved to be a gifted pupil who liked to learn , Mean Girlsis patronizing homeschooled kid . Cady ’s dad treats her as if she ’s in kindergarten , and everyone around her in schooling acts stunned that she was homeschooled . In reality , homeschooling is n’t as disgraceful asMean Girlsmakes it voice , andhomeschooled kidskin are n’t always socially bunglesome or completely unaware of pop culture .
8Mean Girls Includes A Lot Of Social Separation
The movie’s cafeteria scene is the most problematic.
Shortly after it begins , Mean Girlscasually insults several minorities and misrepresents eating disorder with a undivided quote . The description of various type of eminent schoolhouse students includes " unfriendly black hotties , Asian nerds , nerveless Asians , girls who eat their feelings , girl who do n’t eat anything . “Mean Girlsis not openhanded on variety , give that all the Plastics are exclusively clean , but the fact that it seems like all the categories of high shoal students are put together , and they only sit down with each other , screams societal segregation and is one of the things that toss off up the most during a rewatch of the picture .
The Mean Girls stamp is one of the main reasons the film has remained so popular since its release in 2004 , and several actors are still stars today .
7The Fat Shaming In Mean Girls Isn’t Funny
Scenes derogatorily focused on weight and size prove the movie was a product of its time.
WhenMean Girlswas release in 2004 , the looker ideal was tight-fitting model , but that does n’t defend up today . There are many instances of adipose tissue shame inMean Girls , and Regina George losing her " hot bod " lead to her losing her popularity . Not even her friends accept her when she gain weight , and she commence assume sweat pants . Gretchen makes a giving hand out of it , despite Regina explain that it ’s the only turnout that fits her , invoking one ofMean Girls ' Plastic rulesand telling her she ca n’t sit with them due to their dress code .
This perpetuates the idea that girls had to be skinny to be liked and be popular , and it ’s one of the abrasive realities unearthed when rewatchingMean Girls19 years later . There are many instances inMean Girlswhen words of sizing are used as revilement , including the one in the cafeteria shot about " girl who eat their intuitive feeling , " hinting at their size , and the film talks a lot about body weightiness . Although that is a unwashed affair in teenage films , this storyline is cringey during a rewatch .
6Mean Girls' Race Assumptions Are Uncomfortable
Multiple characters of color are used for race-based jokes.
On top of the harmful stereotype present in the cafeteria panorama , Mean Girlsmakes slipstream assumption based on appearing . During Cady ’s first twenty-four hours at schoolhouse , Ms. Norbury ( Fey ) take heed she has a unexampled student from Africa , and mistakenly receive a Black kidskin in the class , but the person reveals she is from Michigan . Later , Cady calculate around the cafeteria and commence speaking to people of color in Swahili . Karen ( Seyfried ) also ask Cady why she is white if she comes from Africa , and Kevin G. ( Rajiv Surendra ) involve Janis if she is Puerto Rican , but she is Lebanese .
5Mean Girls Shows That Girls Have To Hide Their Intelligence To Be Liked
Cady pretends to be bad at school to be more attractive.
Cady has an instant crush on Aaron ( Jonathan Bennett ) , and when the movie was first released , viewing audience may have rooted for her to get the guy . However , rewatchingMean Girlstoday , her methods come across as pertain . Aaron is interested in Cady , butthe only way she gets him to spend time with her is to fail her math class . Cady is bright , but the fact that the only style to get Aaron ’s aid is to enshroud her intelligence test how problematic the level is . There are other way to get him to spend time with her , but she lie about her word to make him feel smarter .
4Janis Ian Is Actually A Mean Girl
TheMean Girlscharacter is wrongfully treated as a good person.
Cady is hit with a civilization shock when she attends a distinctive American high schooltime , but she befriend Janis and Damian , who seem to need to help oneself her . However , Janis is also a mingy miss , just like the Plastics . Janis is patronise toward Cady at the beginning , take fun of her for being unexampled . She is also the one who be after to ruin Regina ’s life , and then she hat it when Cady pop to enjoy popularity , despite fix her on that way of life . Although Janis is n’t as apparently mean as Regina , she ditches Cady as a acquaintance after she gets lost in the plan , instead of helping her out of it .
3Damian & Janis' Kiss Is Problematic Given His Sexuality
The two friends kiss duringMean Girls' Spring Fling scene.
Damian and Janis have one of the safe relationships inMean lady friend . They stand by each other despite various hearsay and have a mountain of fun together . At the end of the film , they naturally attend the Spring Fling terpsichore together , since they have no other dates . Although Damian is always depicted as homophile in the film , one of the most problematic view learn the two osculation and are immediately disgust by that . They have a great relationship up to that point , and that added consequence of confusion is altogether unnecessary .
2Despite Being A Feminist Movie, Mean Girls Makes Sexism Women’s Fault
This issue inMean Girlsis ironic.
Mean Girls ' central message is that girl need to support each other , but the film ’s chief storyline is also about girls competing with each other , and one notable line prove to be problematic as a result . During Ms. Northbury ’s speech in the gym near the end of the film , she say girls to break calling each other names so that men will stop referring to them similarly . The citation come worse on further rewatches give what the film is all about and what it should stand for . The quote makes it seem like it is women ’s responsibility to exchange , so men will plow them with deference .
Regina George is the queen bee and the meanest of all the girls in Mean Girls and these memorable citation prove that she truly is evil in human form .
1Gay People Are Portrayed As Stereotypes Or Predators
Mean Girlsincludes a lot of homophobic jokes
There are many example where the LGBTQ+ community is misrepresent inMean Girls . Damian is mostly described as a homophile stereotype , with a dearest for pink and art , which run tothe " too gay to run " label . Although this is a joke between him and his good friend Janis , it is still a homophobic railway line , and it ’s later used as an insult added to the Burn Book .
Another depiction of queer people makes it seem that they are predators . Regina did n’t invite Janis to her pool political party in middle shoal because she feared Janis was a lesbian , andshe " could n’t have a tribade " at her political party , with other girls in swimsuits . Thanks to Regina , Janis ’s life was " ruined , " just because she was rumored to be a lesbian . There are also many instances where mass use slurs to account Janis , although it ’s after unveil that she is n’t a tribade , as she lead off dating Kevin G , solidify thatMean Girlsisn’t that fetch upon a rewatch , even as beloved as it is so many years afterward .
Cast
