Mean Girls | Through the Shattered Lens

Ah, January.

Traditionally, as far as pop culture goes, January doesn’t get much respect. If a studio has a film that they knew isn’t going to be a hit with critics or audiences, January is where they usually dump it. The same can often be said of publishers. Everyone is so busy getting caught up on what they missed during the last few months of the previous year, chances are that they won’t notice a few bombs dropped on the cultural landscape. That’s the theory anyways.

But, you know me! I’m an optimist. And I remain convinced that, even in January, there are things to which we can look forward, And here’s six of those things!

(Why six? Because Lisa doesn’t do odd numbers.)

The Iowa Caucus

That’s right! It’s an election year! And the first contest of 2024, the Iowa Presidential Caucus, is just two weeks away! Remember how much fun we all had in 2020 when the Democrats couldn’t figure out who had actually won their caucus? Who knows what fun this year has in store for us! The Iowa Caucus will be held on January 15th.

(Okay, this may seem like a lame thing to look forward to but it’s January and beggars can’t be choosers.)

2. The Sundance Film Festival

While the 2023 race waits to be determined, the 2024 Oscar Race will begin at the Sundance Film Festival! It seems like, every year, there is at least one Sundance Film that makes it into the Best Picture lineup. In 2023, Past Lives and Magazine Dreams were huge hits at Sundance and now, it looks like Past Lives has a great chance of being nominated for Best Picture. As for Magazine Dreams ….. well, yeah. Which contenders will come out of this year’s festival? We’ll find out when Sundance opens on January 18th.

3. I.S.S. — This film, about strange happenings on the International Space Station, is set to be released on January 19th. I always enjoy a good mix of horror and science fiction. Plus, once this film comes out, maybe YouTube will stop trying to make me watch the trailer.

4. Mean Girls — The Mean Girls musical will be released in theaters on January 12th. I’m not really sure that we need a new version of the film when the original holds up perfectly well but whatever. Originally, this was going to go straight to Paramount Plus but it was decided to give the film a theatrical release instead. Normally, that would be a sign of huge confidence if not for the fact that it was given a January release.

5. The Bricklayer — For those of us wondering whatever happened to Renny Harlin, he’s got a new film set to be released on January 5th. Hey, that’s this week!

6. The Oscar Nominations — The nominations will be announced on January 23rd and I’ve got a lot of movies that I still need to watch! So I better get to it!

What are you looking forward to in January?

Mean Girls is a film that has a lot of nostalgic importance for me. It came out when I was a senior in high school and it was the last film that I saw before I graduated. So, for me, Mean Girls always brings back memories of the excitement of knowing that my “real” life was about begin. When I watch it or think about it, I’m always transported back to that time when the future seemed limitless. I knew I was going to go to college, I was going to meet the love of my life, and I was going to have a great time doing it. Thoughts of Mean Girls transports me back to one of the most exciting times of my life and, for that reason, I like to think of it.

Add to that, Mean Girls happens to still be a pretty funny and perceptive movie.

One thing that I do always find interesting about films like Mean Girls and 10 Things I Hate About You is that, even though they may be critical of the traditions of high school, they all seem to be taking place in the type of idealized high school that we all wish that we could have attended. These high schools are always huge with brightly colored walls and quick-witted students who never have a bad hair day. The rich, popular kids are always so clever with the way that they express their disdain. And even the outcasts are still pretty good-looking. Even more importantly, the outcasts are always so sarcastic and political. They don’t just accept their outcast status. Instead, they spend all of their spare time plotting ways to overthrow the system. Perhaps best of all, all of the various cliques have such clever nicknames.

From my experience, most public high schools aren’t actually like this. Then again, I went to high school in Texas and most of these films were made in California so maybe it’s just a west coast thing. The important thing about a film like Mean Girls is that, even though it takes place in a heightened reality, there’s still enough reality that anyone watching it can relate to the film’s story.

(It’s been my experience that even real life mean girls love Mean Girls, mostly because I think everyone assumes that in high school, they were one of the clever, sarcastic outcasts, regardless of whether they actually were.)

In Mean Girls, the popular clique is nicknamed the Plastics and they’re led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams). New student Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is the latest member of the clique but what the Plastics do not suspect is that Cady is actually an infiltrator who has been recruited by outcasts Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damien (Daniel Franzese) to take down the Plastics from the inside. However, as Cady goes out of her way to destroy Regina’s reputation and turn the rest of the school against her, she soon discovers that she’s running the risk of becoming just as mean as Regina…

Mean Girls is a comedy but, at its center, there rests a very important message about the need for people to not … well, to not be mean. That may seem like a simplistic message and I guess it is. But it’s still a good message to get out. The script by Tina Fey is both clever and funny, deftly mixing the message with the comedy. Finally, the film has a great cast, with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams as stand-outs and great supporting turns from Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, and Tim Meadows.

Thanks for the memories, Mean Girls!