20 years later a revival of one of the most classic movies has come about. The theaters were presented with the new Mean Girls on January 12, 2024, bringing the current box office tally to 50 million dollars. The original Mean Girls closed on September 9, 2004, with a total of 129 million dollars at the box office. While both movies have made millions of dollars there are some stark comparisons. The main difference is that Mean Girls 2 is a musical, and Mean Girls is not. Other than that, the original Mean Girls had many big names associated with it including Lindsey Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Amanda Seyfried. These names most likely help increase the viewership of the original. In Mean Girls 2, more up-and-comers are playing the roles, including Reneé Rapp, Christopher Briney, and Avantika Vandanapu. The newer actors in the new movie could have affected viewership a bit, but it did not stop bringing millions of dollars to the box office.
🚨 BEFORE YOU READ FURTHER BEWARE OF SPOILERS 🚨
Now let’s talk about the characters…
First up “The Plastics.” There are three members of “The Plastics,” Regina George, Gretchen Wieners, and Karen Smith. Regina George is an iconic character known for being the most popular girl at her school and being the leader of “The Plastics.” Gretchen Wieners is known as super gossipy and insecure about everything. Lastly, Karen Smith (as referred to in the original or Karen Shetty as referred to in Mean Girls 2) is the third and final member of the group and is seen as dim-witted and flirty.
All three of these characters reappear in Mean Girls 2, with some subtle changes added to them. First up, in the new movie Karen Shetty was seen as a bit more dumbed down in the new movie, with what felt like fewer lines and less of a presence in the movie. In the original she seems to have a “fifth sense” about things like the weather, but in Mean Girls 2 she has fewer lines and we don’t learn much about her. Gretchen Wieners’ character was kept relatively similar throughout both the movies. She continues to spill Regina’s gossip and have a crush on Jason, who does nothing but treat her poorly. In both Mean Girls Movies, Regina George has a strong presence. Other than being the Queen Bee of her school, she is manipulative and always finds ways to get what she wants, like when she wanted a big bedroom so she told her parents to switch with her. In the original Mean Girls, Regina is cruel and isn’t afraid to talk about someone behind their back. In the new Mean Girls, she is feared by her peers while being just as cruel. The most important thing about “The Plastics” is their BURN BOOK. Where they cut and paste pictures of girls into a book and write horrible things about them. While there is a physical copy of the book in both movies, in the original the insults are more harsh and hurtful, whereas I felt like the insults were slightly kinder in the newer movie. The burn book in the original movie was also discovered through the pages being printed and distributed around the school. In Mean Girls 2, there was a modern take on spreading information and all the girls used social media to spread the insults from the book.
Other than “The Plastics” there are four other important characters. Cady Heron, Damian, Janis Ian, and Aaron Samuels. Cady (pronounced Katie) recently moved from Africa to Chicago and will be attending high school for the first time. She becomes friends with Damian and Janis who offer to help her out around school and have her sit with them at lunch. When Cady goes to lunch she meets “The Plastics,” who become almost an obsession to her. In both the original movie and the new one, all Cady wants to do is bring down Regina George, but in the process she becomes like a plastic. Both Damian and Janis help Cady to a certain extent until it gets to be too much. In Mean Girls 2, Damian and Janis introduce the movie to the audience foreshadowing certain events, whereas in Mean Girls they are more side characters. A third important character is Aaron Samuels, in both movies he is seen being the guy Cady has a crush on and the guy who helps her with math but there are some subtle differences. In Mean Girls 2, he seems more outward about how he feels when he finds out Cady has a crush on him. Also in the new movie, he FINDS Regina cheating on him, which in the Original movie, Cady tells him and he never sees for himself.
One thing that I wish the new movie had done was show character development at the end of the movie. At the end of Mean Girls, all the characters have learned from their past mistakes. After Regina recovered from her neck injury, she joined the lacrosse team to get out her anger. Karen became a reporter for the weather station and used her “fifth sense” to predict the weather. Gretchen, moved on from The Plastics joining a new clique and fitting in perfectly. Finally, Cady ends the movie being friends with Damian and Janis reflecting on a drama-free world … until a new group of “plastics” arrive.
When asking students who have seen both movies they had some interesting feedback.
Hayden Moody (10) had a strong opinion against Mean Girls 2. She said that she “likes the original Mean Girls a lot better than Mean Girls 2 because [she] does not like musicals.”
Milla Broadwater (12) said that Mean Girls 2 was good and enjoyable BUT “it does not have the same sass as the original one.” She said it felt like they were trying to be too nice with the insults and comments.
Emma Herrin (12) commented that the new Mean Girls was good if you knew it was gonna be a musical, if you thought it was going to be like the original then it is nothing like it.
Which Regina George Do You Prefer? Sorry, there was an error loading this poll.
