I have been reborn into Generation Z, and I have a shocking confession. Three days ago, late on Friday night, I watched Mean Girls for the very first time. Not for the first time all-the-way-through, not for the first time with good audio, not for the first time in awhile. I watched it for the first time, ever. If you asked me how I liked it, I'd show you my google search history from today (you'd see "Mean Girls themed home decor" searched multiple times).
I watched it alone, on my laptop, through earbuds. My roommate was sleeping. I'm surprised I didn't wake her with my laughing and "mild tearing-up".
What took me so long? Was I avoiding it because it's so mainstream popular? Heck no, I wouldn't deprive myself of deservedly well-liked work like that. Was I scared it wouldn't live up to the hype? No, I knew it was in good hands (Tina Fey). Did I forget it's something I needed and wanted to do? No, it was definitely on my radar. I was saving it. I knew I would never be able to watch it for the first time twice, so I was hesitant to use up the experience. But on Friday I was suddenly hit with an impulsive and burning desire to finally watch it, and I'm so glad I was.
I was amused and moved and astounded that it could be so wildly popular, hold such larger-than-life cultural relevance, but still be so personal. I felt like being a fan of this movie could be "my thing" while still being "everyone-in-my-generation's thing". It's not just my generation either, of course. It's a high school tale that reaches easily beyond the age group that makes up the world of the movie. And it's truly incredible how melded into pop culture it is. Before I saw it, I knew all the big quotes, I knew "you go Glen Coco" and "on Wednesdays we wear pink" and "you will get pregnant and die" and "get in loser we're going shopping" and "she doesn't even go here" and "I'm a cool mom" and "I'm a mouse, duh" and "raise you're hand if you've ever felt personally victimized by Regina George". I knew all these quotes and I knew they were from Mean Girls, I just didn't know the context. That's eight quotes I knew from a movie I'd never seen. I don't even know that many Star Wars quotes.
Earlier today I read an interesting article on Catalogue Magazine's website (you can read it here). I liked the article's mention of someone describing Mean Girls as "nutritious and delicious", richly entertaining and undeniably meaningful. The article also gave a brief description of the general plot, followed quickly by an assurance that although it's main characters are high schoolers and the plot revolves chiefly around high school, it is in no way a typical high school "chick flick". I was struck by this because although it is indeed a story of high-schoolers, in high-school, complete with locker-hallway scenes and a pretty-girl squad, it never once even occurred to me in the slightest, in my three days of ruminating over it, that it could ever be described as "a high school chick flick". I'm confident I don't even need to back that up either, you likely agree. It's deservedly and universally recognized as an American Classic, and I finally feel I'm a less oblivious member of my generation and heck, nation.
At the end of the movie, there was a little voice in my head that whined "nooo, why'd everything have to be so perfect, why are they all cool and happy and hunkey-dorey, why couldn't there be some dramatic, unresolved falling-out or lasting tension or maybe Cady's tragic demotion to loserdom?", but that voice is a complaining, confused cynic. The end of the movie never demands that everything is hunkey-dorey, or that the problem of cliques is thereafter resolved (remember the new plastics, the juniors)? Instead it's comforting, reassuring. It says "hey, some problems do resolve, they're allowed to resolve". Just like the plastics, the trials that seem so permanent and absolute at the time aren't made of stone. Like plastic, problems, insecurities, and high school reputations can all break, thank goodness.
On one hand I certainly regret not seeing it earlier, but on the other hand I think I watched it at a good time; not before or during high school, but right after it. Watching it now put into lovely perspective the knowledge that in high school, and in general, trials don't all stick, some really are just plastic. Plus, it was fun to see actresses I knew from later works in an earlier movie. For example, I'd seen Lindsay Lohan in The Canyons and Just My Luck, Amanda Seyfried in Mamma Mia and Les Misérables, Lacey Chabert in Elevator Girl and Anything is Possible, and I hear Rachel McAdams does car commercials......in Japan.
