By Weston Kelly, Blake Kim, and Wyatt Spears
The iconic Mean Girls gives an insight into how popular girls sabotage each other in order to gain status, and how popularity draws you in like a vacuum. The nervous protagonist, Cady, played by Lindsay Lohan, ends up in a new school, previously homeschooled in Africa, and gets invited to hang out with the popular but seriously mean girls. As Cady steps into her new world, you can see her struggle to navigate high school, trying to understand the unwritten rules of the ‘plastic’ world she’s entered. Soon, she fits in with the mean girls, and slowly but surely becomes one of them. She pushes away her closest friends and even family, all for higher status and popularity. Eventually, she realizes her mistakes, and makes up with them, reuniting with her old friends and making peace with the mean girls.
The three of us thought this was a 10/10 movie. Despite our snack selection struggles, every scene had funny jokes, all of them making us giggle. The creative lines in Mark Walter’s glorious movie make it great; from “She doesn’t even go here!” to “On Wednesdays we wear pink,” Mean Girls truly cements itself as an instant classic. Even with her many quick and witty lines, Tina Fey occasionally scripts words that are outdated by today’s standards. This inappropriate diction does not age well, but does not take too much away from the film as a whole. Regardless of the hurtful language, Mean Girls teaches many important lessons, changing our lives completely.
First, the importance of empathy and understanding. Most people think Regina, the judgmental antagonist, is just a mean, mean girl, but deep down, why does she act the way she does? Does she have some kind of conflict at home or something in her childhood that she may have struggled with? Us plastics think that no matter the situation, Mean Girls teaches that people need to look at every perspective, not just the one that seems right. The spectacular movie also illustrates the importance of kindness. When Cady reaches out to Regina with kindness and empathy, Regina’s heart completely changes and she looks at high school with a new perspective. Another hidden theme is the addiction to attention all the plastics acquire after aspiring to matter. Cady also falls into this unforeseen trap and vies for Regina’s attention, while leaving her true friends behind. The popular girls themselves crave the student body’s affirmation and do their best to become as trendy and popular as possible, disregarding grades and family. But the students are not the only ones who get a hit from attention. Regina’s mom tries to be “hip” and cool with the kids by letting them do whatever they want, without actually parenting. Walter’s engaging and even educational movie enlightens his viewers about the importance of friendship and kindness.
Mean Girls, the astounding film directed by Walters, gets a 10/10 from us mean boys. Opening Netflix and watching the preview, we did not expect much, but now, our lives and perspectives on the world have completely changed. We admire the many mistakes the formerly nervous Cady made, slowly but surely changing into the woman we know now. Clearly, Mean Girls teaches important lessons, and anyone seeking entertainment should watch it. This transformative movie calls for one word and one word only: fetch.