Lovable characters to quirky dialogues: How 'Mean Girls' became one of the most iconic teen movies of all time
It wasn’t the pink tracks or gaudy make-up that set the American teen comedy-drama ‘Mean Girls’ apart from its counterparts, but a whole different factor which re-defined its fate, shaping it to be one of the most influential movies of all time.
Thanks to Tina Fey’s brilliant screenplay, ‘Mean Girls’ helped us look through the layers of fancy attire and an unrealistic opinion of high school, which teenagers even in the present time struggle to cope with.
The lead character Cady Heron played by Lindsay Lohan doesn’t necessarily go through a transformation in the movie but is rather struck by a life-changing realization when she stumbles upon the popular girls' bitchy burn book.
She soon realizes even a thick layer of lip gloss and high heels couldn’t protect one from the insecurities that creep into adolescence.
Besides leaving us in splits with the means girls' well-framed dialogues such as, “You smell like a baby prostitute”, “Too gay to function” and “So fetch”, the 2004 film had many life lessons to offer, which hold true to date.
In a world that has painted high school to be a place where one can only be cool or work towards becoming popular enough to turn heads, ‘Mean Girls’ sheds light on the fact that nearly everybody suffers as much only masked by a pretentious lifestyle.
The ending of ‘Mean Girls’ sees the queen of pink, Regina, channel her emotions in sports as she becomes a lacrosse player whereas Karen Smith becomes the school weather reporter who continues feeling her breasts to predict the forecast, while Cady reconciles with Janis, Damian, and Aaron.
Unlike many teenage films that like to headline the typical popular girl who meets with a tragic end, ‘Mean Girl’ shows there are better ways to cleanse one’s sins and that doesn’t include either getting killed or taking their own lives.
Along with the cast of characters eccentric in many ways and a highly captivating plotline, ‘Mean Girls’ has also given us several memorable moments to remember it for.
Fans continue to heap it with praise even years after it was first released. Recently one fan noted on Reddit, “Mean girls is a top tier coming of age movie. Tina fey is a goat for pulling that off. There’s like 7 good characters in that movie which is dope and the jokes aren’t lazy for the most part and still land 15 years later.”
