Mean Girls is a cult classic and grossed in $129 million worldwide. It’s abut a new girl, Cady Heron, who moves to America and to high school for the first time. She befriends social outcasts Janis and Damian, who convince her to pretend to be a Plastic (a group of mean girls that rule the school) to destroy them from the inside out. It was released in 2004, and it was turned into a Broadway musical of the same name in 2018, 12 years later. And now, in 2024, 20 years after the original was released, a new reboot movie based on the original movie and the Broadway musical has released. Like all reboots, some changes are made. These are the 4 most important changes made
1. It’s a Musical
In the original movie, the soundtrack features popular songs from the 2000s (the era that the movie takes place in). Examples of this are “Milkshake” by Kelis, “God Is A DJ” by Pink, and “One Way or Another” by Blondie. They play in the background, and the only time that anyone sings is during the schools’ talent show. The new movie, on the other hand, is a musical.
The new movie is based on both the Broadway musical and the original movie. They have all the songs from the Broadway musical, except for “It Roars,” “Where Do You Belong?,” “Fearless,” “Stop,” “What’s Wrong With Me? (Reprise),” “Whose House Is This?,” “More Is Better,” “Someone Gets Hurt (Reprise),” and “Do This Thing.” 2 new songs are featured, “What Ifs” and “Not My Fault”, although “Not My Fault” only plays during the end credits.
2. Reason for the Mean
In the original movie, we don’t know much of why the Mean Girls are well, mean. We see Regina George’s house and parents, where she has permissive parents (parents that let their kids do whatever they want, whenever they want). Regina basically controls her parents, which makes it understandable that she controls the school. Gretchen is shown to love Regina, and that’s why she follows her.
In the new movie, Regina and Gretchen have songs that show vulnerability and explain them better. Regina has the song “Someone Gets Hurt”, which explores her relationship with Aaron Samuels and how she feels used (“I truly cared. Was I the fool?”). It also says that her untouchable and beautiful persona is all a lie (“This is performance”).
Gretchen has her song, “What’s Wrong With Me?”, that has lyrics that lead us to believe that her love of Regina stems out of insecurity. The lyrics that allude to this are “Mama called me beautiful. Don’t believe her anymore”, “Tell me what’s wrong with me. My body, face, my hair”, and “What’s wrong with me? Could it be you? It’s probably me”.
3. Janis’ Sexuality
In the original movie, one of the major plot points centers around Janis’ sexuality. Janis was rumored to be a lesbian by Regina George in middle school and became an outcast because of it. At the end of the movie, we hear Janis said that she’s Lebanese, leaving us to believe that Janis told Regina that she’s Lebanese and Regina misheard. In the new 2024 movie, Janis actually is a lesbian. Janis became an outcast because she was an “obsessed lesbian” who was creepy and loved Regina too much.
4. Social Media
In the original movie, rumors get spread through word of mouth. For example, when Regina is spreading the gossipy pages of the Burn Book all around the school, she does so by printing out the pages and throwing them around the halls. In the new movie, rumors get spread through social media, mirroring life now. Now, Regina does still spread the pages of the Burn Book, but they mostly get spread by people taking pictures of them and posting them online. A lot of the rumor-spreading changes, showing people making videos and posting them online for the word to continue.
All in all, Mean Girls (2024) is a new and fresh reimagining of the classic story. These changes add more to the story more than they take away from it. Some people dislike because it’s a musical, some people dislike it because it will never match the original, and some people prefer it over the original. It’s all about your preference. But before you watch it, just know that it is the same story but in a different time, and therefore changes will be made.
RELATED STORIES –
https://people.com/how-mean-girls-movie-differs-from-to-the-original-8425263
https://time.com/6555029/mean-girls-differences-from-original/
TAKE ACTION –
Watch Mean Girls (2004) and Mean Girls (2024) back to back to catch all of the changes made.
