Mean Girls

[Lanolin]

In NZ high schools, we have positions Head Boy and Head Girl.
They are the most popular boy and girl senior who have leadership skills. They are good at academics AND sports and are generally friendly, popular students with the teachers as well as their classmates. It was the teachers who decided who is Head Boy and Head Girl.

We didn't really have any self-appointed mean Queen Bees in my high school, but there were certainly a few who seemed to have it all like the Plastics did. And they did kind of have their cliques, but maybe it was because they'd known each other since primary school. I was out of area, and didn't go to the same schools they had gone to, so I was like the new girl in their friend groups.

But lucky I did have a friend who went to the same Intermediate as me and we would go together to class and we were nearly joined at the hip because she was my friend, I wouldn't say best friend but a good friend. Till we grew apart but we didn't fall out like what happened with Regina and Janis.

my friend did eventually have boyfriends and made other friends and I did too, but I had a very bad fall one year and was out of school for a while. When I came back some had moved on and I did feel a bit lonely and isolated. Thankfully I wasn't hit by a bus. I accidently fell off a high stool. It was very traumatic for me and I still have the scar to this day.

I am sharing this with you on the forum because, well, I can now appreciate my high school years after seeing this movie, it wasn't as bad as in the film, (no burn book in my year) but some of the same things went on with the girls.

 

[Godsgirl1983]

What's a movie without pop corn?

 

[tourist]

Who was the meanest girl in the Bible?

Martha to Mary?
Miriam? She totally bullied Moses.
I vote Sarah.
Penninah came close though.
Why was it in those days women competed for how many babies they could have? As for sharing a husband - Rachel and Leah - I can't conceive of how that ever worked.

Doesn't that also break the rules of feminism? But it was ok in the Bible?

The ladies that fought over their child and Solomon just answered cut up the baby. Then you can both have it.

I think that the meanest girl in the bible is Herodias, wife of Herod, who instructed her daughter to request the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

You gave some meanest girls of the bible too.

 

[Lanolin]

I think that the meanest girl in the bible is Herodias, wife of Herod, who instructed her daughter to request the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

You gave some meanest girls of the bible too.

Meanest mother maybe...? She wasn't a regular mom, she was a grool mom.

 

[Lanolin]

I have to post the honest trailer. I love these.

 

[tourist]

Meanest mother maybe...? She wasn't a regular mom, she was a grool mom.

...and, apparently, a cruel mom.

 

[2ndTimeIsTheCharm]

I thought Jezebel was the most cruel woman in the Bible. She spawned Athalia who tried to kill off Jesus's royal line. But God wasn't having that and protected one of them!


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[Lanolin]

Jezebel - Queen JB --aka Regina ---hit by a bus....no, eaten by dogs ---cool mum to Athalia ----whore of Babylon---wore pink, I mean purple --King Ahab ---Aaron Samuels --can't do math

 

[2ndTimeIsTheCharm]

Okay. I got a good deal for Paramount+. I have it for 2 months at $2.99 each month. I can get it for cheaper over the summer, but I don't mind it for a liitle more right now.

So I was able to see Mean Girls.

It is too mean! I really didn't enjoy it. Cady retaliates on their level. She learns to do better but it didn't have to get so bad. The whole violence could have been avoided.

I wonder how the 90s teen movies for 90s teenagers were affected? If you are one, please post how they influenced you.

I'm was an 80s teenager, so what influenced me were John Hughes' teenage movies like Pretty in Pink, 16 Candles, and Breakfast Club. My ultimate favorite was Some Kind of Wonderful. It was the male version of Pretty in Pink, but with the correct ending! It was gentle, sweet and so romantic!

Here's the trailer. The quality isn't as good as the actual movie.

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Official Trailer SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL
(1987, Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson)

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And the movie is free with ads for a limited time on YouTube:

Some Kind of Wonderful

"You look good wearing my future."


​

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[Lanolin]

Aw yea, it's mean.

I was a teen in the 90s so I saw Clueless - see other thread. It was an influence, the fashions, the girls all wanting to be supermodels (and actual song/track in the movie) everyone aspired to be living in LA, Beverley Hills was the zip code...Alicia Silverstone had THE hair.

Even though Cher was Queen Bee of her school, she was actually sincere. Things didn't go so well for new girl Tai, but Tai didn't set out to take Cher down. Well not intially. There was a little falling out at the end but was only about 9 minutes, not the entire movie, and the girls apologised and forgave each other.

Plus the romance between Josh and Cher was kind of sweet, though some thought it was a bit incestuous.

Iconic outfit - the yellow plaid with knee highs. Even her chewing gum matched.

Mean girls took Clueless premise and turned it into something else. Janis would have been the Amber figure.
I recommend you watch Clueless for a comparison.

Also, Cher's house or mansion may have been bigger than Reginas, (off the scale wealthy) but her car was just a jeep and she couldn't drive it. Regina had a Lexus and told Cade 'Get in loser, we're going shopping'

Whereas Cher just let Tai have her clothes as a gift since she had so many, she was still a little jealous that Tai had eyes for Josh.

 

[Lanolin]

If you thought Mean Girls was bad...don't watch Heathers. That came out in the 80s.

I liked Pretty in Pink and Sixteen, Candles and only in the last year saw Breakfast Club. I remember liking Pretty In Pink even though Molly Ringwalds pink polka dot dress was terrible.
That her parents could forget her 16th birthday was a bit relatable, like how Kevin's family totally forgot him in Home Alone..but then he had like 10 other siblings...

 

[Lanolin]

Not seen Some Kind of Wonderful, but nice to know it had a happy ending. Yea Pretty In Pink they changed the ending.

Lilo made some other movies, and then had a terrible time personally getting into trouble after the success of Mean Girls, she got really wild. DUIs, jail-time, too much partying.
Her best movie IMHO was the remake of the Parent Trap. Recently she has been in Freaky Friday 2 (not seen yet) FF was a good movie too.

 

[2ndTimeIsTheCharm]

If you thought Mean Girls was bad...don't watch Heathers. That came out in the 80s.

I liked Pretty in Pink and Sixteen, Candles and only in the last year saw Breakfast Club. I remember liking Pretty In Pink even though Molly Ringwalds pink polka dot dress was terrible.
That her parents could forget her 16th birthday was a bit relatable, like how Kevin's family totally forgot him in Home Alone..but then he had like 10 other siblings...

Heathers came out in 1989 and was very different from all the other teen movies of the 80s. I looked up the AI analysis for it which said that Heathers actually paved the way for the 1990s counter-culture:

-=<>=-​

Heathers (1989) is widely regarded as a film that paved the way for 1990s counter-culture rather than fitting into the typical 1980s teen genre, serving as a pitch-black satire that subverted the "rose-colored glasses" of John Hughes' era. While released in 1989, the movie introduced a cynical, dark, and violent tone that predicted the disillusionment and alternative aesthetic of the coming decade, effectively marking the end of the 80s teen movie template.

Key distinctions between Heathers and traditional 80s teen films include:

• Subversion of Tropes: Unlike the redemptive arcs of 80s films where problems were solved with a kiss, Heathers featured murders, suicide, and toxic masculinity, presenting high school as a "war movie" rather than a romantic comedy.
• Cultural Timing: The film captured the Gen X sentiment of the early 90s, acting as a bridge between the "carefree" 80s and the grunge and alternative sensibilities that defined the 1990s.
• Legacy: It directly influenced later 90s and 2000s films like Clueless and Mean Girls, which are described as "Heathers for modern times" or spiritual siblings that retained the satire but softened the darkness.

The film's sardonic commentary on high school hierarchies and its focus on smashing the patriarchy resonated with the MTV Generation, making it a cult classic that felt more relevant to the 1990s than the 1980s, despite its 1989 release date.

-=<>=-
​

I was a young adult of 1990s so my show was Friends and my movies were Reality Bites, Singles, Clerks, Slackers, Mall Rats. I liked Friends but I didn't really like these movies at all!


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[Lanolin]

Heathers had school shootings. I thought Heathers was disturbing.
But it's true Heathers rule the school. I had two Heathers working at the Primary School when I was there. One was the Principal. The other was a receptionist.
There were also two Heathers at church. One was a librarian lol

John Hughes movies are referenced in To All the Boys I loved Before
And Easy A.

Friends came out when I was in my late teens, early twenties. I only saw Clerks. I think it was true at the time for those Gen Xers that your job was a joke, you're broke, and your love life is DOA.

Mean Girls came out 2005, so I was in Uni then. I do remember Christina Aguilera was popular at the time, especially the song Beautiful. I think I saw it later when it came on TV. Some of the high school students I knew 'came out' after they had left school. At uni nobody cared what orientation you were, whether you dated or not. There were all kinds of relationships. If you did get married, you might qualify for student allowance or extra loans, but in general, nobody I know married or planned to marry. The only one that did, was a Christian girl who's dad was an associate pastor, and she was determined to marry young and have a family.

Everyone else was, let's play around first, or find out who we are before being tied down. Some girls got pregnant, but I think that was only about 3 that I know. It's interesting how times have changed, and the things people joked about back then, would not fly today.

My favourite teen movie when I was growing up was actually Grease, because I liked the songs, and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) had the best voice and dance moves. Also she was sweet and innocent before she turned into Sandy 2 and started smoking cigarettes and wearing leather lol. They also had a clique where they wore pink - The Pink Ladies of course. And they made fun of Sandy, but it wasn't that cruel, it was just kind of teasing, they were friends with her still.

She was the new girl again - from Australia, where they do the Kangaroo Bop.

 

[Lanolin]

Going back to something @seoulsearch posted earlier...the Queen Bee of CC is @blue_ladybug (though she doesn't seem to post in the Singles Forum) with the most number of posts, and 2nd place goes to @Magenta (occasionally posts here) 3rd place goes to @ZNP who I've not seen post here.

The member with the most posts who also posts in Singles is... @tourist ! And he is never mean. Also he's a King not a Queen.
Then it's @Lynx and third is @zeroturbulence ...so we don't have many Queen Bees in this particular forum, but I think it would go to @Magenta seeing she posts the most everywhere and is maybe the oldest member since CC started.

I don't quite get the magenta colour, maybe it signifies Royalty...?

 

[Lanolin]

@Magenta gets the highest reaction score, am not sure what that even is...

And the points I don't get either, seems the most anyone gets is 113. A lot of people have that, even I have that and I don't keep count.

 

[Michaelarc]

Ok I have seen the movie and thought this would make a good topic of discussion. Maybe its better off in the ladies forum but I figured maybe a male POV might be good to consider as well

If you've seen the original, with Lindsey Lohan, or the musical with Renee Rap or the broadway version...basically it's about cliques and being popular and girls bullying each other under the guise of friendship.

so the new girl goes to school where she doesn't know all the rules of how to behave and make friends - she's been homeschooled up to then. Not christian homeschooled but living in Africa homeschooled - and she goes to the US as her parents are now transferred from their antrhropology studies and it's her first day of school and it's a complete culture shock.

Isn't this what it's like when you join a church for the first time, and you are single and on your own? You don't have family or friends already there and it's kind of like sink or swim.

You make friends instantly perhaps as people are curious about the new girl. But how do you navigate the gossip, the cliques and the unwritten rules of social behavior? Unlike in the movie, where Cady Herons breaks the rules of feminism or the Plastics by going out with Regina's ex boyfriend, what happens if you break the rules of the church patriarchy, and unknowingly sabotage your salvation, and perhaps hopes of getting married or making true friends or whatever.

Discuss...

ps. I personally do not know if other christian women have done this, like stolen somebody else's ex, but the movie was also about other things, like changing yourself or being made over to fit in. Is there like a 'Plastics' clique in your church? Did people gossip about you? Have you ever had a friendship failure in church or been taken advantage of?

Taken advantage of too many times as a guy. I want a wife but straight up. I feel torn. I want but trust issues too. It's weird. The want of a companion and the same time, what's there motive if interest strikes? You talked to me a few times. Cause of this thread. I think I will stop complaining on here! A mess like me is not good for someone yet. I see the light! It burns!! I feel better about the wait even though it drags! Thanks sissy

 

[Lanolin]

hmm
taken advantage of in church.
Well there was one mean girl who pretended to be friends with me but ended up just using me so she could get a free plane ticket back to her homeland. I don't like to drag up past hurts/wrongs, but I never forgotten it and made me distrustful of certain church people who are TOO friendly when you first meet them.

 

[Michaelarc]

hmm
taken advantage of in church.
Well there was one mean girl who pretended to be friends with me but ended up just using me so she could get a free plane ticket back to her homeland. I don't like to drag up past hurts/wrongs, but I never forgotten it and made me distrustful of certain church people who are TOO friendly when you first meet them.

Your right. I got used for 47000 3 women. Christian websites. I was dumb and desperate! No again Amen!

 

[Lanolin]

Your right. I got used for 47000 3 women. Christian websites. I was dumb and desperate! No again Amen!

That's a lot of $$
Scammers are gonna scam.

They probably think Christians are easy to fleece.