Plastic, popular, and pure evil, Regina George is arguably the pinnacle of high school bullying. She is synonymous with the film title, Mean Girls, and the film follows her reign of queen bee coming to an end as newcomer Cady Heron dismantles the hierarchy of cliques with the help of certified loser Janis Ian.
But Regina is a scapegoat for the true evil, backstabbing, and manipulation that happens in the film. Yes, she is no angel (she even is written with the classic demeanor of a dictator), but Regina’s downfall points back to the pitfalls of the patriarchy. As Janis helps Cady infiltrate Regina’s life through her plastic cronies, Karen and Gretchen, it becomes clear that EVERY GIRL in the film is a mean girl in their own right – even Cady.
Cady and Janis are evil in a different sense. They feel that because they have been pushed down to the lowest rung of the social ladder, the bad things they do are justified. But for anyone who’s ever unfortunately witnessed friend group drama, you know that there are rarely any innocent survivors. In that sense, this teen comedy has enough depth to pose a philosophical question to viewers. Are you any less terrible if you’re self-aware about it? On one hand, you are aware of your flaws and are actively choosing to not make any changes. But in contrast, people like Cady and Janis are so infuriatingly blind to their shortcomings that they could never even fathom themselves as being the “bad guy.”
Mean Girls speaks to two larger statements about society: First, the more attractive you are, the more ready people are to tear you down – especially if you know the worth of your beauty. But in a world where so little is given willingly to women, is it really that wrong to weaponize how you look?
Second, no one tears down women more than OTHER WOMEN. It’s such a saddening reality that we live in. Not only are we cursed to live in a man’s world, we feed into it by attacking our sisters. It’s explicitly said in the movie through the character of Ms. Norbury, a divorced teacher unintentionally caught in the crossfire of high school cat fights. When mediating the schoolwide frenzy, she says something that has always stuck with me. Her words come to me every time I get mad. No matter how angry I ever get at another girl, I never use these words, and I wish more people shared this sentiment.
“You all have got to stop calling each other sl*ts and wh*res. It just makes it ok for guys to call you sl*ts and wh*res. Who here has ever been called a sl*t?”
Pretty simple, but exceptionally gutting when you have to reflect on these words. Take a scroll through TikTok for me and count how many times you see the words, “pick-me,” “basic,” or “annoying” in a young girl’s comment section. Now do me a favor and go back and see how many of those comments were written by other women. Scary, right? Mean Girls and Regina George specifically should be a lesson for all us crazy girls: Use your crazy for good – not to knock down others.
Shreya,
The first time I read your blog, I immediately thought of Regina George! Mean Girls is such a classic, and it wouldn’t be as popular as it would be without all the stereotypes that it highlights and works to destroy. You do a great job highlighting how Mean Girls reflects reality, and your post makes me want to rewatch the movie (You go Glen Coco!)
Sam
Hey Shreya!
I’m so happy you talked about Mean Girls because I love the musical version. Also I think it’s hilarious that the idea came from that parenting book. As always, I appreciate how you take a look at the deeper underlying principles that are represented in media / the Mean Girls movie in this case. I’m really impressed by your ability to put seemingly insignificant moments/quotes from movies into the much deeper context that makes them seem socially acceptable. Great job again this week!
Dearest Shreya,
You know that I am devastated that we are no longer in the same English class; I miss seeing your beautiful face every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:10am in the business building. However, you cannot imagine my joy this morning when I found out we would be commenting on blogs from section 2! I am obsessed with your passion blog, and I think the Mean Girls entry is extremely strong. I 1000% agree with the fact that women spend a lot of time tearing other women down, largely due to jealousy and confusion about how to handle it. I think Mean Girls exemplifies this perfectly. Yes, Regina is a horrible person. She is mean to literally everyone except for her posse. However, Cady and Janis’s desire for revenge and the fact that they carry it out makes them stoop just as low as Regina in my opinion. I was always bothered by the protein bar incident in the movie, in which Cady gives Regina protein bars which end up making her gain a lot of weight. As girls traditionally have body image issues, that felt like a really unethical way to get revenge on Regina for being a mean person.