What If Mean Girls Were Made Today?
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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Savannah Sher
What if Mean Girls were made today? For this video, we'll be looking at how we imagine a modern version of this movie would work. It may be hard to believe, but this movie came out way back in 2004 - and times have changed.
It may be hard to believe, but this movie came out way back in 2004- and times have changed. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be looking at what would happen if “Mean Girls” were made today.
For this video, we’ll be looking at how we imagine a modern version of this movie would work.
Probably the biggest agent of change in a current iteration of this high school story would be technology. In 2004, some teens had cell phones, but smart phones certainly weren’t a thing yet and social media as we know it now basically didn’t exist. Sure, MySpace was beginning to take off but the general population didn’t have Facebook, there was no Instagram, no YouTube and certainly no Snapchat or TikTok.
So to start with, there’s no way that Regina’s Burn Book would be an actual physical book. Cyberbullying has taken on a number of different forms, and there are a few ways that Regina would likely spread her hatred online instead. She would possibly make a secret Twitter account when she finally wanted to share the content of the Burn Book and would post anonymous updates about the students of North Shore High School on there.
One thing technology would definitely change is the fact that there’s no way Aaron Samuels would have to ask Cady what day it was. Considering the fact that all of our phones quickly show us the date now, this extremely important interaction never would have happened. And tragically, that would mean that October 3rd would no longer be known as “Mean Girls Day”.
One of the scenes in “Mean Girls” that feels adorably out of date is when Regina calls Cady and tries to get her to talk about how she really feels about Gretchen, only to find out that Gretchen has actually been on the line the entire time. We’re pretty sure teens don’t use the phone for actual calls anymore, let alone trick their friends into three-way calls. The Plastics would obviously have a group chat and Regina would “accidentally” forward messages from Cady to Gretchen instead.
Of all the girls, Regina would definitely have the best handle on social media, and would know how to use it to her advantage. She’d find a way to become a minor influencer and would likely gain some sponsorships and be posting annoying #ads for weight loss teas and subscription boxes - that is, when she wasn’t talking about how #blessed she was to be so rich and popular. In fact, she’d probably be hawking Glossier products that show off her “natural” beauty and offering 10% off to anyone who orders through her affiliate link. Even Gretchen would probably have a significant following, because in the updated version her father would probably be the inventor of Halo Top or White Claw instead of Toaster Strudels.
Regina would be all over the activity on Aaron’s Instagram account, and if she ever saw him liking a girl’s photo you can be sure there’d be hell to pay. Not to mention the terror she would unleash if a girl dared to comment on one of his selfies.
Of course, she’d also know how to manipulate her friends via Instagram by posting celebratory Insta Stories for Karen’s birthday but not Gretchen’s. When she really wanted to get revenge, she’d tag Cady and Karen in posts about “best friends” but leave Gretchen out. And of course, if she was ever hanging out with one of her friends, she’d be sure to post about it to make the others jealous and wonder why they didn’t get an invite.
Now Regina’s enemies could also use social media to their advantage, and if Janice and Damian managed to get a hold of her iPhone they could publicly post all of her most embarrassing and unflattering selfies from her “recently deleted” folder onto her Instagram. Damian would have to take a break from running his Billie Eilish fan account to do it, but he knows it would be worth it for the take-down. Speaking of tormenting Regina, when Cady wants to make her gain weight, perhaps she’d suggest the low carb keto diet, or a green detox cleanse, and insist that the Queen Bee eats a quarter pound of butter every day, while simultaneously lying to her about what foods actually contain carbohydrates.
It’s fun to imagine who might play our favorite characters if the movie were shot today. Who would play Cady? What about Lana Condor from the “To All The Boys” franchise? Or Amandla Stenberg? Florence Pugh is one of the hottest actresses right now and we think she’d make the perfect Regina. Although a good alternative would be “Riverdale”’s Madelaine Petsch, who nails that queen bee vibe. The idea of the ideal male has definitely changed, and we can imagine someone like Timothée Chalamet playing the love interest (who is obviously more into Cady than Regina). We could see Beanie Feldstein playing Janice. And how perfect would it be if Rachel McAdams came back to play Ms. Norbury? As a brunette, she’d be almost unrecognizable!
In the stage musical version of “Mean Girls”, they switched up the cliques to make them more relevant today. While the JV Jocks, Sexually Active Band Geeks, and of course the Plastics remained, they added Wallflowers, Peaking-Too-Soon, Strivers and Survivors, Gangsta Whites, Woke Seniors, Junior Believers, Christian Believers, Fending Off Skeevers, Debate Team, Dance Team and Rich Stoners. We can imagine they’d add even more to a new movie, like perhaps Involuntary Celibates, Feminist Activists and Coder/Hackers.
Speaking of the musical, it’s possible that the success of the stage version might lead to some of the songs being included in the movie, which we certainly wouldn’t object to!
The music in the original film is a perfect snapshot of the early aughts, and in one memorable scene we see Regina’s sister dancing to “Milkshake” by Kelis. If the scene were recreated in the rebooted version, perhaps she’d be testing out her moves to “Please Me” by Cardi B and Bruno Mars or “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande. Alternatively, Kylie George might be too busy working on her calling as a Tik Tok star or keeping up with another Kylie via reality TV.
Mrs. George would still be a cool mom of course, which she would probably try to show off by flossing or using “cool teen lingo,” saying that Cady’s outfit totally slaps and that her daughter is “so extra”.
We have a feeling some of the characters would go through some changes to become more modern and nuanced though, namely Karen. Today, the dumb blonde trope is a bit overdone, so while Karen may stay a bit naive and clueless, we have a feeling she’d have a little more substance to her and would find a way to use her talents to her advantage - perhaps by doing daily weather updates on her Instagram stories.
In 2019, “Mean Girls” director Mark Waters spoke to Cosmopolitan UK about what might change if the film were remade today and acknowledged that back in 2004 they made some choices that were decidedly “un PC”. For example, there were asides that implied that the school’s gym coach was having inappropriate relationships with students, which probably wouldn’t be played for laughs now. We could imagine that they wouldn’t allow the school to have such woefully inadequate sex ed and might actually show the school teaching the students of North Shore high about more progressive concepts like consent instead.
We know “Mean Girls” was perfect as it was and still doesn’t feel especially dated, but we’d love to see what Tina Fey would come up with for an updated screenplay!
What do you think would happen in a reboot of the movie?
For this video, we’ll be looking at how we imagine a modern version of this movie would work.
Probably the biggest agent of change in a current iteration of this high school story would be technology. In 2004, some teens had cell phones, but smart phones certainly weren’t a thing yet and social media as we know it now basically didn’t exist. Sure, MySpace was beginning to take off but the general population didn’t have Facebook, there was no Instagram, no YouTube and certainly no Snapchat or TikTok.
So to start with, there’s no way that Regina’s Burn Book would be an actual physical book. Cyberbullying has taken on a number of different forms, and there are a few ways that Regina would likely spread her hatred online instead. She would possibly make a secret Twitter account when she finally wanted to share the content of the Burn Book and would post anonymous updates about the students of North Shore High School on there.
One thing technology would definitely change is the fact that there’s no way Aaron Samuels would have to ask Cady what day it was. Considering the fact that all of our phones quickly show us the date now, this extremely important interaction never would have happened. And tragically, that would mean that October 3rd would no longer be known as “Mean Girls Day”.
One of the scenes in “Mean Girls” that feels adorably out of date is when Regina calls Cady and tries to get her to talk about how she really feels about Gretchen, only to find out that Gretchen has actually been on the line the entire time. We’re pretty sure teens don’t use the phone for actual calls anymore, let alone trick their friends into three-way calls. The Plastics would obviously have a group chat and Regina would “accidentally” forward messages from Cady to Gretchen instead.
Of all the girls, Regina would definitely have the best handle on social media, and would know how to use it to her advantage. She’d find a way to become a minor influencer and would likely gain some sponsorships and be posting annoying #ads for weight loss teas and subscription boxes - that is, when she wasn’t talking about how #blessed she was to be so rich and popular. In fact, she’d probably be hawking Glossier products that show off her “natural” beauty and offering 10% off to anyone who orders through her affiliate link. Even Gretchen would probably have a significant following, because in the updated version her father would probably be the inventor of Halo Top or White Claw instead of Toaster Strudels.
Regina would be all over the activity on Aaron’s Instagram account, and if she ever saw him liking a girl’s photo you can be sure there’d be hell to pay. Not to mention the terror she would unleash if a girl dared to comment on one of his selfies.
Of course, she’d also know how to manipulate her friends via Instagram by posting celebratory Insta Stories for Karen’s birthday but not Gretchen’s. When she really wanted to get revenge, she’d tag Cady and Karen in posts about “best friends” but leave Gretchen out. And of course, if she was ever hanging out with one of her friends, she’d be sure to post about it to make the others jealous and wonder why they didn’t get an invite.
Now Regina’s enemies could also use social media to their advantage, and if Janice and Damian managed to get a hold of her iPhone they could publicly post all of her most embarrassing and unflattering selfies from her “recently deleted” folder onto her Instagram. Damian would have to take a break from running his Billie Eilish fan account to do it, but he knows it would be worth it for the take-down. Speaking of tormenting Regina, when Cady wants to make her gain weight, perhaps she’d suggest the low carb keto diet, or a green detox cleanse, and insist that the Queen Bee eats a quarter pound of butter every day, while simultaneously lying to her about what foods actually contain carbohydrates.
It’s fun to imagine who might play our favorite characters if the movie were shot today. Who would play Cady? What about Lana Condor from the “To All The Boys” franchise? Or Amandla Stenberg? Florence Pugh is one of the hottest actresses right now and we think she’d make the perfect Regina. Although a good alternative would be “Riverdale”’s Madelaine Petsch, who nails that queen bee vibe. The idea of the ideal male has definitely changed, and we can imagine someone like Timothée Chalamet playing the love interest (who is obviously more into Cady than Regina). We could see Beanie Feldstein playing Janice. And how perfect would it be if Rachel McAdams came back to play Ms. Norbury? As a brunette, she’d be almost unrecognizable!
In the stage musical version of “Mean Girls”, they switched up the cliques to make them more relevant today. While the JV Jocks, Sexually Active Band Geeks, and of course the Plastics remained, they added Wallflowers, Peaking-Too-Soon, Strivers and Survivors, Gangsta Whites, Woke Seniors, Junior Believers, Christian Believers, Fending Off Skeevers, Debate Team, Dance Team and Rich Stoners. We can imagine they’d add even more to a new movie, like perhaps Involuntary Celibates, Feminist Activists and Coder/Hackers.
Speaking of the musical, it’s possible that the success of the stage version might lead to some of the songs being included in the movie, which we certainly wouldn’t object to!
The music in the original film is a perfect snapshot of the early aughts, and in one memorable scene we see Regina’s sister dancing to “Milkshake” by Kelis. If the scene were recreated in the rebooted version, perhaps she’d be testing out her moves to “Please Me” by Cardi B and Bruno Mars or “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande. Alternatively, Kylie George might be too busy working on her calling as a Tik Tok star or keeping up with another Kylie via reality TV.
Mrs. George would still be a cool mom of course, which she would probably try to show off by flossing or using “cool teen lingo,” saying that Cady’s outfit totally slaps and that her daughter is “so extra”.
We have a feeling some of the characters would go through some changes to become more modern and nuanced though, namely Karen. Today, the dumb blonde trope is a bit overdone, so while Karen may stay a bit naive and clueless, we have a feeling she’d have a little more substance to her and would find a way to use her talents to her advantage - perhaps by doing daily weather updates on her Instagram stories.
In 2019, “Mean Girls” director Mark Waters spoke to Cosmopolitan UK about what might change if the film were remade today and acknowledged that back in 2004 they made some choices that were decidedly “un PC”. For example, there were asides that implied that the school’s gym coach was having inappropriate relationships with students, which probably wouldn’t be played for laughs now. We could imagine that they wouldn’t allow the school to have such woefully inadequate sex ed and might actually show the school teaching the students of North Shore high about more progressive concepts like consent instead.
We know “Mean Girls” was perfect as it was and still doesn’t feel especially dated, but we’d love to see what Tina Fey would come up with for an updated screenplay!
What do you think would happen in a reboot of the movie?
