Mean Girls is a 2004 film written by and costarring Tina Fey. It stars Lindsay Lohan and featured several Saturday Night Live cast members, including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. Its director, Mark Waters, younger brother of writer Daniel Waters, described the movie as Clueless meets Heathers [1], the latter of which was written by his brother. It was based on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes, which describes how female high school social cliques operate, and the effect they can have on girls.

Tagline: Watch your back.

The movie is about Cady Heron (played by Lindsay Lohan) who moves to a Chicago, Illinois suburb in the United States after being raised in Africa by her zoologist parents; Cady's family moved there after her mother got a job at Northwestern University. The first friends she makes at her new school, North Shore High School, are Damian and Janis, two unpopular kids in the "out-crowd." She later encounters The Plastics (Regina, the Queen Bee, played by Rachel McAdams; Gretchen, played by Lacey Chabert; and Karen, played by Amanda Seyfried) at her new school - three beautiful and popular girls who invite Cady to become their friend. Initially reluctant, Cady joins the group so she can learn their dark secrets at the behest of Damain and Janis. However, when Cady falls in love with Regina's ex-boyfriend, Regina takes revenge by taking Aaron back. Cady, Damian, and Janis plot together to bring Regina down and remove her of her high social status.

In an interview about the film, Fey noted, "Adults find it funny. They are the ones who are laughing. Young girls watch it like a reality show. It's much too close to their real experiences so they are not exactly guffawing" [2].

The role of Janis poked fun at many lesbian stereotypes. For example, the actress who played her, Lizzy Caplan, bore a strong resemblance to Nancy McKeon (McKeon's character on The Facts of Life, Jo Polniaczek, has been parodied in pop culture circles for the last twenty years as being the epitome of "butch dyke"). Coincidentally, the character's full name is Janis Ian, a nod to the lesbian singer-songwriter of the same name.

Also see

• Cliques
• Adolescence

External links

• The film's official website