Director: Mark Waters
Writer: Tina Fey
Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan
Synopsis: Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
Wednesday, April 30th isn’t just any other Wednesday, it’s a day to celebrate the early 2000s coming-of-age comedy Mean Girls. This is a film that has held onto my life since the moment it was released with its quotable catchphrases, of the times fashion, and its relatable growing pains for young women. A quintessential movie that is not only filled with legendary performances from the geeks to the plastics but also captures how hard it truly is to be a teenage girl finding your place in the world. Now let’s put on our favorite pink shirt, hit play on the soundtrack, and take a stroll down memory lane.
As I was writing down notes before diving into this piece, there was a memory from my childhood that stuck out. It was Halloween of 2004, and I had just been invited to a sleepover at my best friend’s house, but there was an urgency to this invitation. It wasn’t the usual sleepover; my best friend had managed to get two of the most popular girls in school to join. They wore all the best clothes from the mall, their parents let them wear makeup, and they were both positively perfect… at least in my mind. Being 10 years old at the time and rather awkward in both my attitude and my appearance, it’s needless to say that these girls were the plastics of my world, and I was the odd one out. While packing my bag for the weekend, I panicked about whether I should bring my emotional support stuffed animal or not, but one thing I made sure to stuff into my bag was my rented copy of Mean Girls; if the snacks I brought didn’t impress them, I knew this was my Holy Grail.
Looking back at this memory makes this film even more special to me, and its importance all the more clear to me. It’s the first film I remember showing to others, outside of my family, that made me pay attention to how others reacted to art. Seeing the reactions from my best friend and the popular girls in school showed me that although we come from different walks of life and privilege, we can bond over a film that encapsulates our girlhood. Through Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) and eventually her gang of Plastics, we learned that there are girls who come in all shapes and sizes, and although our interests in life vary, and the way we dress might seem odd to one another, there’s no right or wrong way to express our femininity as long as it’s inclusive.
It’s easy to root for a character like Cady, especially when she is played by Lindsay Lohan, an icon of the times. She’s a fish out of water coming from an entirely different country and culture that she inevitably finds out is far from that at North Shore High School. Cady is representative of all girls who are wandering through new surroundings trying to find their place. High school is hard enough with its cliques and the constant pressure girls have that come from all fronts, but Cady coming in as a new student from another country makes her stick out even more. As she enters school, she’s true to herself and her style, wearing her bright red hair in a ponytail and clothes that she’s comfortable in that lack the “in” style that the other girls at her new school are sporting. Lohan gives Cady a naive spirit that shines, especially in the first few acts of the film, showing how girls’ youth is often short-lived as we grow into our bodies and minds, and society doesn’t allow us to be young for long. As the film progresses and she enters the world of The Plastics, the Cady we connected with in the beginning starts to fade as she dons new clothes and sheds her intelligence to fit in with those who want to change her.
Mean Girls works as well as it does thanks to Tina Fey’s script that is equal parts hilarious comedy and social commentary on how absolutely dreadful high school is. Her inspiration for the film comes from her own lived experience as a teenager growing up and going to numerous different high schools in her formative years. She also credits Rosalind Wiseman’s book titled Queen Bees and Wannabes as a large inspiration for her Mean Girls script. What makes her script so refreshing is that it feels so organically real. Her ability to inject the film with moments we’ve all experienced while capturing all those uncomfortable feelings makes each scene that much better. Wading through a lunchroom of your peers desperate to find a spot to sit that won’t ruin your social standing or sitting through sex education class and hearing all about how sex will kill you while hormones rip through your body.
Fey fully fleshes out each character of the film, whether they are main characters like Cady or secondary characters that pop up here and there in the film, such as Kevin G (Rajiv Surendra). Even with small bits of screen time, his character goes on his own journey. Or the fiercely loud and artistic Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and her gay sarcastic best friend Damian Leigh (Daniel Franzese), who are some of Cady’s most true friends. Both are flawed characters who are jealous of Cady even through their friendship with her and have a desire to take down the Plastics. The best character work in the film, hands down, is the Plastics, who serve as, at times, the villains of the film. Led by the flawless Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and her sidekicks consisting of the nosy Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and the bubbly Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried), thistrio acts as the arbiters of what and who is worthy of being deemed cool.
Each one is distinctly different from the other. The trio all look for validation from one another, giving no leeway to shortfalls because that’s so not fetch. The Plastics have their own issues they are working through; Regina strives for the perfect life, perfect body, and the perfect relationship. Karen is the most innocent of them, easygoing almost to a fault, showing the naivety young women have as they grow into maturity. Gretchen brings the drama, being the gossiper of the group; often, her cruelty comes at the request of Regina. Throughout the film, all three show themselves to be deeply self-conscious characters, and even with their seemingly perfect lives, being popular takes a toll on the mental health of young women. Regina is the film’s constant reminder of this, someone who hyper-focuses on her appearance. From our perspective, she’s got all the physical traits of someone who is conventionally attractive, but her reflection shows her someone who needs to look better. McAdams shines the most in the trio; her portrayal of Regina gave young girls the ability to register behaviors in their own lives. She plays this character so incredibly well by showing the manipulative ways girls torture one another.
Mean Girls has stood the test of time not only for its legendary character work, but also because it remains a film that has some of the most quotable and memorable scenes. Each Wednesday that goes by I still find myself looking for something with a pop of pink to wear. Gretchen with her need to make “Fetch” happen, and Regina’s need to put her down. What sticks out the most is The Burn Book, which caused replicas to pop up throughout the nation. A book that holds the nastiest and most hurtful comments made by The Plastics towards their classmates all wrapped up in a pretty pink book with ransom letters littering the front. Mean Girls worked its way into society allowing young girls to take the lessons of the film and work them into their real life, but also giving them an outlet to express their love of the film through its many catchphrases.
Director Mark Waters pulls together each piece of the film to make it stick out still two decades later. He doesn’t make the film reliant on comedy but rather blends the film’s comedy and drama to make it truly memorable. When there is comedy in the film it’s not played as a joke with a punchline; he allows each of the film’s actors to develop their own timing so nothing feels forced for laughter. Waters focuses on developing the characters throughout the film, leaving hints of change through conversations and actions. Mean Girls is the perfect mixture of Fey’s incredible screenplay and Waters’ direction, where he allows actors to lead their characters the best way they know how throughout the film with their performances.
Mean Girls now feels like a celebration for surviving high school as much as it was a strategy guide for me when I was younger. Viewing it with adult eyes reminds me of the young girl I was when I saw it, and the lessons it taught me to break the cycle of being harmful to other girls around me. The film’s relevancy has stood the test of time with not only its iconic quotes just at the tips of our tongues, but because the team behind it crafted something truly special with its snappy script and prolific performances.
