MEAN GIRLS' NOSTALGIA BUT WITH A NEW TWIST
Get in losers, it's time for the reboot! Mean Girls celebrates its 20th anniversary with the release of the theatre adaptation today.
Popcorn, coffee and a Time Out wafer. On Monday morning, I eagerly sat amongst 10 other journalists in Soho Hotel, London to watch the new Mean Girls movie and was ready to truly immerse myself and pig out. Only for me to realise that everyone else around me had notebooks and pens out ready to review the film from production, music, casting and more.
Whilst there were 100 seats available in Studio 1, far too many of us congregated in the centre, tragically my popcorn went untouched, I couldn’t possibly make so much noise when they were busy critiquing the film. Thankfully, every musical number meant I could slowly eat my Time Out without making too much of a crunch.
The pop culture film follows Cady Heron, the homeschooled new girl who came from Kenya to America and befriends the popular girls at school, known as “the Plastics”. Lindsay Lohan played the character at the height of her career in 2004, and Australian actress Angourie Rice, 23, previously in Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, reprises the role.
Our Queen B, Regina George is played by Reneé Rapp who starred in the Broadway version in 2019. She collaborated with rapper, Megan Thee Stallion, for a soundtrack called “Not My Fault”, reaching 11 million views in 5 days.
This time around we have a diverse cast with Avantika Vandanapu, 18, playing Karen Shetty, a dimwitted but loveable character, played last by Amanda Seyfried and lead actress in Moana, Auli'i Cravalho, 23 cast as Janis Sarkisian, Heron’s best friend in the movie.
Last year, clips and memes from Mean Girls went viral on Tiktok and brought back iconic moments like ‘On Wednesdays, we were pink’ and ‘You can’t sit with us!’ back onto our screens. It’s no surprise this new movie has been closely followed and evidently, most of the campaigns to advertise the film were focused on social media promotions as opposed to our typical billboards and posters scattered around the station- I haven’t seen any.
“When I think about my high school years, there's no way I'd want to go back but there are some really clever aspects of the film that show you're not alone and that does resonate with everyone,”
Image of Tina Fey as Ms Norbury in Mean Girls 2024
Image of Tina Fey as Ms Norbury in Mean Girls 2024
“I think the fans will see it, even if they're a bit sniffy and disappointed that it is a musical. On social media, it will get a lot of attention,” she added.
Author and professor at Kingston University, Will Brooker, 53, mentioned that there is a risk when producers see something popular on social media and think it’s going to be profitable. His book ‘Never-Ending Watchmen’ looks closely at the graphic novel, Watchmen and the theories of adaptations and applies his thesis to the Mean Girls franchise.
“What we mostly have is franchise extensions, sequels and reboots as it's a tried and tested product, but you're putting it back on the market in a slightly new form for a younger audience, because otherwise what's going to happen? You're not going to get women in their 30s going to Mean Girls or teens coming out for the original. So you need to do something different to put the product back on the market”, he said.
Social media has kicked off with groans of disapproval from newbies and fanatics that the movie wasn’t advertised as a musical but that hasn’t put a strain on box office success according to Variety, the film’s debut made $32 million over the weekend in America. In comparison, the 2004 hit made £130 million box office, a relatively small number at the time. No one knew the long-lasting impact the original movie would have for years to come and evidently, even with disgruntled fans, it seems the new one is succeeding too.
“It's possible that people would dress in pink to see Mean Girls. If that doesn't take off and it bombs in cinemas, it could come back as a cult. At home, you're going to sing along with it as a fun thing with friends. So things can fail in the cinema but have an afterlife like Mean Girls did. Popular culture is very complex right now.” Brooker added.
Professor Shelley Cobb, 52, Head of Film at Southampton University, teaches feminist media studies and said, “Teen films often resonate with teens at the time, or with older people who remember their formative years whether you love them or hate them. I think Mean Girls gets into that as the movie is based on a sociological study about how these things are happening amongst girls in high schools today.”
The film focuses on bullying, cliques and the constraints of a hierarchy system which continues to prevail in society today, not just in schools, but in a working environment.
“It sticks with people and then that resonates in the wider culture and teen girls are always an issue in the wider culture with concerns around body image.”
The iconic first film led to the inevitable success of the Broadway production in 2017 with music from Jeff Richmond, Fey’s husband. It’s coming to London for the first time in June 2024. In the meantime, the musical production of the film will be buzzing on social media, both good and bad.
Image of the Mean Girls Poster at Vue, taken by Sharin Hussain
Image of the Mean Girls Poster at Vue, taken by Sharin Hussain
CREDITS
© 2023 Par. Pics. for all the images from Mean Girls and the trailer of the film.
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Image of Mean Girls 2024 poster on the tube provided by TFL Press team.
Image of Mean Girls 2024 poster on the tube provided by TFL Press team.
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