Tina Fey’s 2004 teen comedy “Mean Girls” has had undeniable impact on both the millennials that the film was targeted towards, and subsequent generations.
What made Mean Girls so timeless? Even today, two decades after the movie was first released, it remains extremely quotable without sounding “cringe,” and funny without being offensive.
Tina Fey admitted in an interview she struggled to find the right slang to use in the movie, as she knew by the time it aired the word would be outdated and a major turn off to young audiences. So, she decided to create her own slang. She mixed together two words to make something so camp it sounded ‘grool,’; that was the birth of ‘fetch’.
Instead of relying on trending topics and pop culture references to make the movie relatable, Mean Girls relies on the all too common adolescent experiences of fake friends and very real foes. Even with recent developments in high schooler lives, such as the advancements of social media, cliques and rumors prevail. The relatability and irreverent takes on rather serious topics (like in scenes where Cady parallels high school with the jungle) makes Mean Girls entertaining from beginning to end.
Maybe it’s the drama aspect, or the effortless transition the story made into musical theater that makes the 2018 musical adaptation such a hit. It just works. There was so much material for theatrical dance numbers and tunes, such as Janis and Damian’s ‘Apex Predator’ and Karen’s ‘Sexy’. Due to the songs being catchy and well-written, they ‘Mean Girls: the Musical’ reached stages from New York to Danville as it was chosen for Monte Vista’s 2023 Spring musical.
Junior Ella Hamilton, a cast member of last year’s production, agrees.
“It [‘Mean Girls’] is iconic… the musical is really good and I feel like the music was fun to learn.”
‘Mean Girls’ is in fact so iconic, it created a never-before-seen buzz around the annual school musical, causing every show to sell out quickly. The musical wasn’t just a ‘theater kid’ thing, it was something everyone knew and loved. The musical had a unique impact on the student body, as they could see people they knew play roles that resonated with them.
Drama teacher Mr. Connor says it was a great experience for drama to play roles closer to their age:
“Oftentimes, ninety-nine percent of the shows we do, are not really related to specific things we’re dealing with in high school. We have teenagers playing adults and to have an opportunity to do a show where the majority of the characters are already teenagers, I think there’s a relevancy to it.”
On January 12th, 2024, the movie-musical adaptation was released. It had immense hype, whether it was buzz about Renee Rapp reprising her Broadway role, or harsh remarks about the cast, script, and wardrobe. The cult-like following of the original movie caused hostility towards the idea of fixing something that was never broken.
“Was it necessary? No. … the songs were so bad, they made everything pop. It was a musical but they were afraid to make it a musical.” says junior Erin Yang, who was part of the crew in last year’s musical.
It seems as though the new remake was unable to satisfy the majority of tastes; those who came for the movie were irritated to find its musicality, and those who came for the musicality felt offended by the disparities between it and the Broadway musical.
