Does the New Mean Girls Need to Exist?
A more inclusive cast of characters and a musical spin might not have been enough to justify a remake
Still to this day, Mean Girls (2004) is a movie that feels fresh and relevant to the experience of being a teenager. Even though it’s 20 years old at this point, its deconstruction of the power dynamics and politics between teenage girls in high school is so biting, smart, and hilarious that its clear early aughts aesthetic doesn’t hamper the message of the film. But a lot has changed since 2004, a time that had features and artifacts that don’t really align with how the world functions nowadays — even in high school. So while tribalism is still rampant, the aggressive level of bigotry that plagued American society two decades ago has gotten a bit better — at least between peers in progressive parts of America. So it makes sense that a studio would want to reboot this classic with a more internet influenced, less homophobic, and more racially diverse cast, but hopefully with that same message about the pitfalls of putting popularity over your friends. But are those reworks enough to justify the existence of a film that maybe didn’t need to be remade in the first place?
This new Mean Girls isn’t actually a straightforward remake of the original film — itself being inspired by the…
