By Madeline Nieves ‘24
Mean Girls, the teen comedy that became popular with its humor and unforgettable quotes, remains a timeless classic, offering a satirical yet relatable exploration of teenage life. This film was released in 2004, directed by Mark Waters, and written by Tina Fey.
The movie takes the audience along to view the life of Cady Heron, played by Lindsay Lohan. Cady, a former homeschool student, moves to the USA from Africa and experiences what being a highschool student is like. Cady meets the most popular group of teenage girls on her first day of school. Regina, Gretchen, and Karen welcome Cady to their group, and from there they grow closer. The main conflict in the movie is Regina’s hatred and jealousy towards Cady, which motivates them to get revenge on each other, like by creating a burn book that exposes everyone in the school’s secrets. Throughout the film, Cady finds herself falling into the teenage stereotypes, but finds it difficult to stop.
The film is still very popular till this day, though it was released in 2004. Many people still quote scenes from this movie such as “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” or “She doesn’t even go here.” The comedic quotes and scenes are what makes this movie so memorable. Not only does the director do a good job writing the scripts to be iconic, but he also did a good job picking out the characters to say specific lines. We gained a better understanding of the characters’ personalities based on their choices of words and decisions during the movie.
The choice of costume and aesthetic also fit the movie perfectly. The style when the movie was created is a lot different compared to now, and the director was able to find a style for each character. Costumes were an important part of the movie, because it distinguished the different groups of students and their personalities. We see the girls wear a lot of pink which makes their “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” quote so memorable. When people dress as characters from the movie or try to fit the aesthetic, they tend to wear pink because that’s the color associated with the movie. Without the specific choice of costumes, the movie wouldn’t have been as memorable.
While the movie is comedic and does a good job entertaining the audience, it also does a good job making the audience feel connected. High school can be a rough time in our lives, and the movie shows what trying to fit into the “popular” kids standards may look like. It shows how different teenagers are from each other and how these differences can either make or break their reputations. It also is a good reminder to be yourself though because we see that being the “popular” or “cool” kid might not be what you think it is.Mean Girls isn’t just a movie, it’s a classic that keeps the audience laughing and quoting lines constantly. While high school may be over for some, the movie is a throwback, relatable to others experiencing the high school life.