A new version of the Mean Girls movie was released at the beginning of 2024, sparking the attention of both teens and adults. The 2004 Mean Girls was a big hit movie in the early 2000s and is still popular on streaming platforms such as YouTube, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. The new movie hit the theaters on January 12th, 2024, and fans were quick to watch it and note the comparisons between the two productions. One notable difference was the musical format of the remake, based on the Mean Girls Broadway production.
“The musical definitely made it different from the original. I think changing it to a musical was for the worst but it was good if you think about it as a separate movie as opposed to a remake of the original,” Maddie Jones (11) said.
The change to a musical created a different atmosphere around the movie and definitely created an entertaining environment, but did change some iconic parts of the original movie. This includes memorable lines from characters that were removed in the place of songs, which eliminated important parts of the original Mean Girls movie that many know and love. An example of this is the line, “How many of you have ever felt personally victimized by Regina George?” This was an iconic part of the scene where Ms. Norman tries to convince the girls to get along with each other.
While many agree that the change in the movie made it different and possibly worse, some argue that the new movie was an interesting change for the better.
“I thought this movie was actually good. I love the way they interpreted social media and more modern things that we see in high school now. I do think that there were a couple of flaws such as the portrayals of the plastics, costumes, and lack of energy in songs,” Maggie White (11) said.
Opinions of the movie seem to vary based on age or generation. The MHS librarian, Mrs. Gary-Michel, has a lot to say about the new movie and its representation of Gen Z. She believes the new movie has a better representation of how teens should act, slightly kinder than the brutal girls depicted in the original Mean Girls movie.
“As adults, we look at the new movie and think these new teens are kinder and gentler, which is how we want teens to act in the world,” Mitchell said.
She also explained that some of the characters in the new movie are more representative. This can create a stronger movie that is more realistic for people to see and truly relate to.
“I love that the new Regina George is not the Barbie stereotype that we get sometimes, and she represents more girls,” Mitchell said.
With different opinions surfacing, a survey was conducted of MHS’s opinion on the old vs. new movie. 96.1% of people voted for the original Mean Girls as the better movie over the new movie. That left a mere 3.9% of people that chose the new Mean Girls movie over the original movie.
