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You *should* be terrified of politicians because this is exactly what they do. Well, the grown-up version of this. You just need to read Politico to see the gossip at play in real time.
Regina was all over this country during the politicized virus campaign BS of 2020 through 2023 - see it clearly w/ Gretchen Whitmir. I am reposting this comment again b/c the lovely bosses at the top of GAGGLE took it down/ shadow-banned me b/c of how they love to gag us, rob us of our true voice. The irony of this: We can see a video about mean girls and how female politicians are like this in RL but if you mention any names, (esp those w/ ties to the big boys' top of the pyramid system) then you are removed, silenced, canceled, controlled - just like how the top-dogs/ MEAN MEN do things. How do ya like that???
4:23 There’s a reason why Shakespeare worked brilliantly in high school/college settings: The themes were timeless and universal but also the fact that teens/young adults are complex and not just punctuating sentences with cool lingo.
Regina George is awful (at least until the end of the movie) comparable closest to Heather Chandler. Rachel McAdams is a queen and delivered this role as well as countless others throughout her career. A class act
Power - exclusive group around her with strict boundaries petty rules for her friends. Framework of rules. Once she enforced the rules that made them real. So they feel safe in the group.and she maintains control/ status of Queen Bee. Dont try to overthrow her. Certain types of gossip useful. Wants -Status & wealth by being treacherous cunning & manipulative How she'll be perceived most important Genuine friendships - a big no-no They strengthen themselves by fear of not being in the group. Kady homeschooled doesnt have the chronic low self esteem she saw her as a threat as attractive and pulles her into the plastics to mitigate the threat. Keep Kady on her side. Keep ur enemies close. But Kady eventually Undermined her power. Overthrow her as the Queen Bee.
I actually think Regina did kind of like Cady. At least as much as she can like anyone. After a while, she starts to talk to Cady in a more open and frank way than she ever does with the other two. She starts to appreciate Cady's intellect. She even trusts Cady - the bars, her weight, etc. I think that's why she gets so angry at the end.
Think what made both of them like cady was that Cady didn’t care about the queen bee culture and that she was actually way smarter than both Regina and Janis
@@yashaswinikrishnan1878well, that’s because Janice sees the beauty of cady, well because you don’t have to be so bright so as to notice that. Both perspectives can be true you know.
@@rachellejones6254 Because right now a bunch of teenagers are trying to become like Regina or Patrick Bateman or The Rock or Andrew Tate thinking it will make them happy. But none of these kids actually watched Mean Girls or American Psycho or realize that The Rock's movies are terrible.
The only reason that Regina failed is that she was too slow in getting Cady on her side, and considering that she got her hands on Cady by the second day, it's quite impressive. Janice wanted to take Regina down since middle school and the only reason she succeeded was cuz Cady got her an opening. It was literally luck that got Janice the opportunity to convince Cady to help her before Regina. Without Janice, Cady would've no doubt been absorbed into the cult of Regina.
Now that I see maybe it wasn't luck maybe it was that Janice also see the change before Regina I mean they were best friends and it's clear that they think alike and revenge plotting it's a great motivation for a sharper mind, Regina might be getting "too comfty" before Cady.
Cady wanted to be absorbed by Regina. That’s why she ignore Janice and Damian (? Sorry o forgot) at the cafeteria. Even though Janice told her before how evil Regina was. She might’ve thought Janice was making stuff up until she was a actual victim. When Regina took back Aaron. Can you imagine if Cady never got the change to speak to Janice ? Like if they had different classes. Cady would’ve turned out to be another plastic and just suffer so he rest of the school year??
Regina is quietly calculating, and gossips about people behind their back, while acting nice as pie to their faces. It's easy to see why Rachel McAdam's version became popular, while Renee Rapp's iteration is more openly nasty.
What I appreciate about this now that I'm older is how smart Regina George is. The Machiavellian nature of her character was just brilliant. As Azula would say, "that's a people person."
@@sampahpribadi That's a sharp remark, my dude. Carefull, you might puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship. Leaving thousands to drown at sea.... Because, it's so sharp.
One of Regina's strengths as a dictator is turning threats into assets. Gretchen is richer than her. Karen is prettier than her. And Cady has a more interesting background. Not only she removed turned her competitions into minions, she also used them to raise her status.
SOMEBODY ELSE NOTICED THAT GRETCHEN IS **WAY** RICHER THAN REGINA. Cady was hotter, Karen was prettier, Gretchen was richer. All threats to Regina. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. She couldn't deal with further threats, so she created a world of her own. Regina had shitty parents and was left on her own, all at the ripe age of 15/16, the poor girl. Also, y'all, remember, Janis and Regina were best friends for a reason. They were both mean bîtçhes. And when Regina got a boyfriend, Kyle, back in 8th grade, Regina discarded Janis because she didn't need her attention anymore. Janis cut all her hair off and the fake goth thing was fairly Janis pulled was fairly new. Recall Janis created the choreography for the Jingle Bell Rock. Cady got caught in the cross hairs of Janis and Regina. Even Cady pointed out that Janis used her (Cady) for her eighth grade revenge. Jania then shouted at least Regina and I KNOW we're mean, but whereas it was known that Regina was a bîtçh from the start, Janis pretended to be Cady's friend. Both Janis and Regina needed counseling. Also, Cady didn't have a more interesting background than Regina, how would Reg have known that, but Cady was WAY HOTTER/PRETTIER than Regina and Regina knew that it was after of time before she was overshadowed by Cady. Which, eventually happened anyway.
Instead of a terrible movie musical, I would love to have seen the continuation of Regina's story. She's in corporate America, dominating in her field with all the cunning and insight she used to rule a high school.
I feel like cady is the only one regina truly considered a friend. Yes she manipulated her too, but you can see her talking to cady more as "equals" from time to time. With karen and gretchen she would often roll her eyes everytime they say smth dumb. She had a genuine laugh at cady's joke when she was ranting about her teacher. She willingly approached cady to gossip about janice. She wanted cady to be beside her in dance. She was jealous of cady when she wanted aaron because she knew cady was the only one who could steal aaron from her. Regina always saw cady as an equal rather than a peasant behind her.
@@yurika_edits nah Cady was just another threat for Regina to control. She knew Cady was prettier, more interesting, and saw her as an immediate threat. Regina knew Cady could, and eventually did, surpass her, and she tried to control that. And she told Cady about Janis because the other two already knew. Also, Gretchen was acting clingy and Regina was getting sick of it. "And right now, you're getting on my last nerve. Switch." Remember when Gretchen told Cady, "Regina doesn't even like you that much." So no, Regina didn't like any of them, they were all threats: Karen was prettier, Gretchen was richer, and Cady was more interesting and "hitter than Regina". She had to neutralize those threats, especially when Regina knew Aaron liked Cady. Before that, Regina threw Aaron away and had no problem fucking Shane while she was playing with both Aaron and Cady and it eventually blew up in her face. Everyone was sick of Regina.
@@CloudsAndConstellations i never said regina didn't consider her a threat. I just said she never "looked down" on cady like she did with everyone else. And Gretchen said "regina doesn't even like you that much" because she was jealous of cady atm. Out of all the plastics, regina liked cady the most. Cady was the only one she was comfortable talking with about how Gretchen didn't deserve to be nominated. Cady was the only one regina revealed her real character to in that deleted scene where she talked about not wanting her cousin to take the toy she hated. Regina had nothing to hide with cady. She believed cady was naive so she can say and do whatever she wants with her without trying to keep her "im too good for everyone" image because cady was a good enough friend for her.
I thought it was weird how lonely they looked sitting in the cafeteria. All the popular girls I’ve seen have their inner circle of besties and the outer circle that prop up their status. The athletic guy, the rich guy, and the funny guy are usually a part of this group.
It's weird that in the first scene we see them eating lunch, the three of them are all on one side and Lohan sits on the other... So originally they just sat the three of them, one side empty and the other side all three of them?
I just thought that Regina had been around SO long, that it became where regina and the plastics didnt need any more group members since she was popular enough yk?
I never thought she was the villain. I thought that the real villain was this culture that does not allow girls to express their anger in healthy ways and put them against each other. Regina was just a girl that knew how the rules of the game and used them to get ahead. I’m a man so I’m probably not the person that knows best about this. I just wanted to give my two cents and what I took from this movie.
I like your view. It is a little too simple in my opinion because I think it isn’t just anger but your concept in general really points it out. Women and girls suffer under a lot of expectations, men definitely too but I think due to the patriarchy women received less power and to make it up for it there are a lot of mind games, manipulation and power dynamics most men don’t even see. I sometimes had to explain situations to my ex because he didn’t understand what was going on beyond the surface.
@@afrosamourai400Nad you are seeing everything in pure black and white - "nice girl = good and bad girl = evil🤪🤪" there's no nuance in what you're saying at all.
Thanks for understanding! A lot of what people do is basically rewarded or punished by society and sometimes what’s right is considered abnormal or what’s wrong is so normalized and even encouraged/praised
I remember one of my gender studies professors talking about Regina during a discussion about human aggression. Her argument was that there’s little evidence that women are inherently less aggressive than men; it’s just that we’re socialized to feel guilty and ashamed for having anger (rather than being praised for it and equating it with earned, justified power as typically happens with men). This forces girls and women into passive aggression, manipulation, and subtle social bullying instead. My professor also pointed out that because of the increased pressure on girls to be aware of other people’s emotions and take care of them, we’re uniquely armed to undermine other girls in ways that are so subtle at times that men may not even notice the war going on under their noses. It explains a lot about why Regina is so likable despite her viciousness-her open embrace of these actions is deeply subversive to both her gender and society, because she refuses to cater to the guilt and shame foisted on women for daring to be angry or aggressive in the first place, even when she’s caught out. There is very little that is passive in her aggression. She owns it. She’s evil, sure, but most women are also just a little bit jealous of her willingness and ability to engage with aggression so shamelessly, and often without consequences. That’s the one of the rare perks of girl world: deniability.
@@afrosamourai400what are you talking about? My comment doesn’t excuse bullying. It’s exploring the reasons female bullying exists and how it’s different than male bullying. Understanding the reasons why girls bully isn’t excusing anything, although it’s probably a lot more helpful toward stopping bullying than calling children and teenagers evil ever would.
@@afrosamourai400 they’re not excusing it, just explaining it. Understanding something doesn’t equal endorsing it. It’s very important to understand why a problem occurs; it’s only through knowledge that change can happen.
That's going to happen with all the remakes, they'll be forgotten, the games as well. They're just not timeless enough, especially the ones made for "modern audiences"
It’s a stretch to say that she was right. Regina was intentionally cruel and a menace. She used her intelligence, psychology and insight to take other people down. She was Queen Bee and it was not good enough for her. she is definately shrewd and has leadership skills but she abused them at the expense of her high school colleagues.
Ultimately in life this kind of person would fail even harder than the rest of us. Cause like what the video states in the beginning “Regina doesn’t make decisions based on what makes herself happy, but what will get her ahead in life” ….. all these kind of people I’ve seen, end up in depression treatment 😂😂. Cause all these sacrifices will never get anyone true satisfaction they want in the end. ppl always over anticipate their rewards when they make their sacrifices ~~ (Unless Regina actually “enjoys” what she’s doing in itself. And she doesn’t ever truly care about all those other things she sacrificed for her status. If so it’s a totally different story unlike what this video’s described. …. This kind of people do exist, AKA the typical “political animals” we see in today’s American politics. But they’re seldom the popular kids in school. Cause what they want is like too weird & deviated from the rest of us to ever get really popular. 🤣🤣 …. But a lot of them are actually academically successful nerdy kids. Cause these kind of kids focus more on what will get their ahead instead of being popular in the mere short 4-year of high school life. This is what Regina George will be like in real life 😂😂) PS. Observations based on my study of psychology & education theories
Lol comeon. it's not that she is right. It's that the world rewards people like her, thus people like her would thrive, while people prioritize kindness and good consideration of other people die off. That does not make people like her right. And should the world continue to move this direction, the world will only become worse.
That's what the video is about....that this is how society often works and how it needs to change for the better. They don't mean right as 'morally good', they mean right as in 'correct as a fact'.
Yes, maybe regina was right about a few things, things which are true even today at high school level. It indeed did give a 101 guide on how to be popular. But mean girls the movie was right about one thing, that facade is not sustainable. When you get too powerful, your opponents and society will beat you and cause you harm which will damage you in the long run. You ultimately are molded by the society in a way that you uphold the social fabric without too much chaos. I have not seen one high school mean girl flourish in life keeping their old persona, life somehow humbled them.
Indeed, even when you are a " nice girl" , the moment you get popularity or people just see you as threat, they will literally eat you alive. Both men and women. Men will spread rumors about you if you reject them, girls will literally bully you in the most passive aggressive ways while maintaining a devilish grin in an attempt to intimidate you and diminish your perceived power. I am not that beautiful and have never been that necessarily popular, but oh God, have I have that happen to me millions of times just because I'm confident and nice. People will even go out of their way to distort your niceness as you being fake, manipulative, overly ambitious, a sl*t, etc. I literally have phobia of any sort of fame or recognition because of several instances where others envy was literally my downfall. I tried to rationalise so many times as perhaps having done something wrong, but when I look closely I had 0 intentions of harming anybody and genuinely just wanted to be nice to people and make friends.
And also, when you treat people like garbage long enough, they stop taking it and fight back hard. I’ve never seen a mean girl flourish by acting that way either. They may get some short term gains but it eventually blows up, even if it’s only behind the scenes. Yes you need to be a little “selfish” at times by setting boundaries, going after what you want and refusing to take abuse but being a full-on Regina won’t make you happy, liked or fulfilled longterm.
Yes bcs Highschoolers tend to focus on the superficial aspects of life and then when they don’t grow out of the superficial habits of Highschool ppl tend to view them as immature or vain, it never works in their favor
Regina was right but at the same time she would not have been had she left Cady alone. Cady was not predisposed to being a queen or even a socialite. Regina manufactured her own downfall because of her insecurity and need to control everything. Had she been able to truly see Cady for who she was everything would have been fine but because one tends to see others as they see ones selves and one lack the understanding that not everyone is motivated the same way. In the end it led to the growth of all involved but it is also a cautionary tale of the limitations of one's own intelligence when combined with overthinking.
True this but overthinking comes from pride/ arrogance b/c that all resonates from being a perfectionist. Perfectionism is the kiss of death b/c no one can be perfect no matter how hard they try. So, when you do try and you try too hard, you fall into your own trap b/c you're your own worst enemy when you're THAT hungry for power.
Regina is a villain, but Rachel McAdams did such a stellar job at the portrayal, that in a way you're rooting for her. she's the school's queen, but also insecure, in herself and her body. everyone calls her a "Queen Bee", but i see her as more of a tragic figure. she surrounds herself with sycophants but had no friends, and her desire to be the Queen of the school, is just tragic. but i see Janice as worse, since Janice, it's believed was part of the in-crowd with Regina until it all fell apart, and becomes friends with Cady so Cady can gather information. Regina is bad, but Janice is worse in my opinion. Janice was happy to be a mean girl, until it fell apart, but now acts like she's all edgy, when she's just as manipulative. Regina is no saint, and leaves a trail of victims in her wake, but she's upfront about who she is. but Janice, practically pounced in Cady, who had no idea how high school worked, to do her bidding
Well, Regina isn't exactly upfront, she's deliberately deceptive most of the time. But in like, a typical fakey-nice sorta way, and mostly about things that don't matter (someone's outfit or accessory, ridiculous rumors that keep buzz going and/or makes sure that people she dislikes stay unpopular). And yet you're right that she didn't completely hide that from her in-group, at least when it came to what she really thought about those who were outside the group. . But yeah, Janice was definitely worse in some ways, because she pretended to be sincere to the girl she adopted into her own in-group, supposedly pursuing Cady's friendship for its own sake and to have only the one face, as opposed to Regina's undeniable two-faced nature. And while she was right to say Cady was acting like a mean girl towards the end when she bought into her own illusion, Janice was a hypocrite who'd set the obviously naive Cady on that path to begin with for her own personal revenge (under the guise of it being also for Cady's revenge for the heartbreak of having her crush 'stolen' by Regina). . And that doesn't get addressed or even pointed out in a throw-away line in the film. But the movie could only jam so much into one story, so it's iffy but understandable that the focus is on Cady's 'friendship' with Regina, which is really just the catalyst for growth in Cady's relationship with herself and her own identity. . Perhaps if the original cast had been able to reunite for the sequel, we'd have seen Janice's behaviour talked about (and Damien's totally going along with Janice's scheme instead of maybe dropping a hint of warning to Cady or calling Janice out her using their new friend and on the pressure she put on Cady to achieve what ultimately was originally really supposed to be *Janice's* revenge for something that happened long before Cady even showed up).
I don't think anyone was rooting for her lol are people just going to go back and pretend the movie was completely different? Janice is bad but there's no planet where Janet is worse is Regina.
@@iprobablyforgotsomething The last part you wrote that's what I have been thinking about all these times. I mean why was Damien all along with Janice? Why didn't he do something? And the fun fact is everyone questions Janice, Regina, Cady, Gretchen and even Karen's motives (who was completely clueless btw and was the most non-mean girl in the whole movie) but no one questions Damian's motive.
@@Sherlockian_Nupur - Good call! I asked this too b/c I always pay attention to the details most ppl ignore b/c of how easily ppl are so distracted by all the bells and whistles and obvious things. The Damian character seems so ignored but he is an enabler and super insecure ppl are co-dependent enablers who don't have the courage to be themselves anymore than anyone else but they need to be where the action is b/c they don't have the balls to create any of their own action. There's much more to it than this but this is a good start in analyzing him.
I agreeee! Shannen Doherty really surprised me bcs before that movie I had watched only Charmed and Beverly Hills with her. I think Heather was more cruel than Regina
no way y'all in these comments are tyrna call janis worse than regina. they're both awful and manipulative, just for opposite reaons. janis is the bully built out of poor circumstance - she's been hurt and betrayed all these years that she loses all self awareness because of her attachment to her victimhood. she prides herself on being the oppressed mariah, and uses her victimhood to manipulate cady and justify it with that. regina is awful because for her whole life she's had status and been told she's entitled to having a power hungry, abusive nature. her bullying is more "upfront" sure, but there's still a layer of deception and passive aggressiveness because she's awful, she knows it and wants people's misery so she can keep absorbing their happiness, when really she's more empty and hollow on the outside. both her and janis were bad friends to cady, regina slightly more imo because her intentions were wholly ill intent
femcels need someone to pin the blame on because deep down their iconic girlboss queen regina is a nice person inside and she's just misunderstood xoxoxo
I don’t think she’s “worse than Regina but she’s definitely not much better either Considering the fact Regina has been spoiled since birth she was probably like this since Elementary and throughout school life the fact Janis experienced and Saw what she does to people first hand and then became close enough to her to be Raginas “Best friend” definitely shows she’s not any less of a bully either she’s just the “turned nice” version of Regina after she experienced the very thing she did and watched happen to others
Regina was an evil genius. She was attractive, but honestly the other plastics were more so, just not as cut throat which kept her on top. I could see her going into politics! 😂
As a big brother, I was forced to watch this movie a lot, and it was fun and all, but I remember telling my sister “none of this matters in the absolute slightest.”
Yes, that’s exactly the point of the movie lol. You’re an awesome big brother for watching with your little sis; I made my big brothers watch shows with me all the time. 🥰
@@emmareyes8114 Because it was an accurate portrayal of high school in the early to mid 2000s. Heathers gets mentioned all the time when talking about Mean Girls, but Heathers was definitely a Gen X movie. Mean Girls is an incredibly millennial film. This is pretty rare because millennials didn't go into show business the way older generations did (just look at stuff like Fight Club, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, The Matrix, etc.). It represents a time period of life for a specific demographic you don't find anywhere else.
That is like telling a man watching a war movie “none of it matters”. It’s quite demeaning and dismissive actually. This is the female version of warfare and important coming of age developmental stage in womanhood. Another example is like’Lord of the flies’ which was required reading at this time which favors males and females were completely excluded so this film was paramount!
The new regina especially doesn't work because now a days no one would tolerate someone who's openly nasty. Ive seen more type of Rachel's Regina these days than ever and you feel just as crazy as Janice for seeing it, but others never seeing it, even though Janice was problematic in her own way.
Society pressure and environment affects everyone but not everyone decides to be a power hungry bully. As someone who has been where the victims of Regina has been, I have no sympathy for Regina. I see Regina as a humbling tale of bullying and less of a misunderstood antihero.
@TheCaliforniaboy1 -- Yeah, Regina's parentals may've sucked in their own ways, but she didn't grow up deprived or in an abusive home. Quite the opposite; she bullied her parents! She does what she wants just because she can. And while she clearly has suppressed aggression issues, there was no excuse for the way she treated others. Worse that it was all cool and calculated, even when she made the spontaneous plan with the Burn Book, not 'acts of passionate rage' impulsively lashing out self-defensively or because she was triggered or something. . There's only one admirable thing about her, and that's how she picks herself up and keeps going even after a serious injury and social upset. Which is easier to do, though, when one has a good prognosis, lots of money for the best doctors, and is still rich, pretty and influential (and then apparently a sports star). So even her worse times are easier than lower-(financial/social)-class people would have it, and she appears to never have had to apologize or change or even acknowledge her worst flaws and behaviour (at least that we saw; she certainly didn't appear humbled at the dance, and still got votes for Prom Queen, showing she still has plenty of social capital to spend). . She isn't a poor misunderstood rich girl or secret victim. She wasn't being abused or seem to be dealing with chronic physical or mental health conditions that made her act the way she did. She made others' lives miserable just as a flex of her social power, because she felt like it. And while she's an engaging character and iconic antagonist, there's absolutely nothing sympathetic or relatable about her. Which is totally fine for the story that Mean Girls is; sometimes villains really are villains at the end of the day. They can be believable or complex or nuanced while still not deserving any of our sympathy, and sometimes people go too far in excusing the bad guys of a story instead of remembering to save it for the actual victims.
Yeah everyone in the comments is retconning her as this tragic villain. No she's actually a huge bitch and awful to everyone. What makes her iconic is we ALL know someone like her. She's super relatable.
I don't think this was a Regina was right thing. Cady wasn't going to learn the cunning and devious nature it took to bring Regina down, all on her own. Regina and Janice taught her these things. Had Regina left her alone, Cady wouldn't have brought her down. Cady was smart and learned all the tools from the master herself. I think she did feel threatened that Cady was pretty. But I also think she added Cady to the group because she collects things that are pretty and therefore lend her authority over what's cool, not because she saw the evil queen bee inside of Cady that would eventually overthrow her. She underestimates people, which is what led to Regina's downfall at Cady's and Janice's hands. She never saw it coming.
Society's (and in this movie, specifically high school's) toxicity makes it easier for the Regina Georges of the world to flourish, and they definitely weaponize that toxic environment against others. But make no mistake, Regina George would've found another way to rule socially with an iron fist even if unfair social expectations and pressures didn't give her easy weak points to exploit in others. Because at the heart of her character, she's a villain. She's a mean girl, just because she can be. She's not abused, suffers no apparent health conditions, isn't growing up deprived and stressed because of it. And yet she's still a bully. And that's okay for the sake of the story; a character can be realistic, engaging and even complex and nuanced while still being unsympathetic, unrelatable and unforgivable. . Regina didn't change or make amends at the end of the story, she wasn't humbled for very long after her accident (check out the way she whacked the ish outta an opponent on the sports field). But that makes perfect sense, because the story isn't about her, which is why her lack of a personal growth arc isn't a problem. . Regina's character, and her friendship with the protagonist, was just the catalyst for evolving Cady's relationship with *herself* and her own identity that she started the story so uncertain of. And she was both a victim and became a bully -- a mean girl -- but took a hard look at herself, made some changes and grew into someone who was no longer either of those things. Let's save our sympathy and round of applause for her, not Regina.
I agree with you that she's just mean, however, judging from what little we see of Regina's family life I wouldn't say she isn't damaged. Giving kids anything and everything they want (in my opinion in this scenario to make up for lack of emotional connection), you end up with a Regina; spoiled, entitled and miserable. Emotional neglect is still neglect and she absolutely acts like someone with attatchment and abandonment issues. I dunno, just my two cents. Edit to add; now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know if she knows how to have a healthy relationship of any type. Forgive me, it's been a hot minute since I saw the movie but I don't think we ever see her father, do we?
@malice4777 -- Valid point about neglect and emotional distance, and attachment issues. What I meant was that she wasn't actively deliberately or indirectly (like as a result of a parent having unmanaged mental health conditions or severe trauma reactions) abused. Not in the ways that usually result in the kind of damage that turns a kid into a defensive, volatile, severely paranoid or easily panicked or etc. sort of person that's prone to going to extremes (be it emotionally, physically, financially, whatever) to protect or avenge themselves against attacks, real or imagined, big or small. You know, the usual antihero or grimdark superhero backstory. . Regina's neglect etc. may make her withdrawn and untrusting emotionally, and maybe even likely to regard others as organic inanimate objects she need not respect. But she isn't seen being overtaken by the kind of trauma reactions that explain lashing out, and she is smart enough to 'know better' with regards to how society says we are to treat others and behave like a decent human being. She decides to act the way she does and do whatever she wants anyway, calmly and without regret. What she suffered at home doesn't line up logically as tending toward producing the type of person who does the things we see her do. . Regarding her father, we see him briefly, being not happy about Regina's slut-bunny (Cady's words, paraphrased, not mine) Halloween costume that she models for him and her excitedly-cooing mother, but is too much of a rug (to be walked all over) to actually protest or enforce any rules despite him clearly finding the outfit inappropriate at Regina's still-a-minor age. Says a lot about the kind of disciplinarion he is (which is to say, not one at all). I can easily imagine him being an absentee father due to his wanting to avoid conflict with the stronger willed ladies in the family.
In the real world nothing would happen to Regina and ultimately she’d probably be a really successful business woman with a bob and marry an equally successful super rich husband. She’d win.
@iprobablyforgotsomething just need to say first off, thanks for nerding out with me. What her folks did is create someone with pretty serious antisocial behaviors. In layman's terms, a sociopath. She totally understands what she does is messed up, but it gets her what she wants and doesn't ever seem to have any guilt for it. She probably excelled as a CEO, realistically. Edit The saddest part is people like her rarely ever end up truly content and they usually leave a massive trail of casualties in their wake.
Regina is a reflection of how she is raised to compete with others for everything in her life. That's not healthy. She treats her friends like shit because they are not friends, they are her enemies. The old saying, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. She's gotten to the top by stepping on people, but once at the top, she has to maintain that level constantly so there is no off day of thinking about what she really wants. It's about maintaining status all the time. That's constant stress. There is not one minute for herself. What Regina gets is that this is what life outside of high school can be like for her. It's about maintaining that 'perfect' image and holding onto the status that has been hard fought for. Sadly, she already has the wealth and connections through family to get what she needs to be successful. She's still a kid but acts like she's much older. She's been sexualized too young as well. I don't think writers actually understand the psychology of the 'mean' girl. I remember sitting in a Starbucks a few years ago and across from me were two women who had brought their daughters with them. The daughters had to be below the age of 11, possibly 9-10 range. I usually don't pay attention to other people, but it was the convo between the girls that struck me. They were talking about dieting and how they look. I listened to the vapid convo the moms were having about their daughters. This is how someone like Regina is raised.
Regina enjoyed being cruel so I still lack sympathy for self inflicted evil on herself . no she wasn't right and tormenting other isn't justified by being unhappy inside seek accountability Regina
Something I will always wonder is how Janice acted before all this when her and Regina were friends. Was she the same just totally mean and back then Regina didn’t care to hide her meanness as well or was jadis just kind of like Regina and did a 180 flip once whatever happened, happened to their friendship. Is jadis really even black haired because I can see her looking like a mean girl under all that eyeliner and things.
The actress who plated Janice is apparently a brunette. What's wilder, though, is this quote by her in her imdb profile: "I think being mean to people in high school is healthy. It's sort of like you're in this situation with all these other kids and sometimes you need to get your aggression out. And if you'd had people be mean to you before, it really does build character." Like, dude, wtf? Apparently she's a bit of a mean girl in real life.
@@thatvalensteingirl I think this is correct, although Janis is as smart as Cady. I think that may have been what messed up their friendship. Regina couldn't exert control over Janis through manipulation because Janis was smart enough to recognize what Regina was doing. At the same time, Janis didn't have the social skills Regina did to one-up her and become queen bee. They're both shitty people and it says a lot about both of them that they were once best friends. I think Regina has always been the way she's been as seen in the movie, even in elementary school. We see her parents absolutely spoil her rotten. For Janis to encounter a person like that and make them her best friend just says that Janis is also a bully.
The idea that Cady walked in on her first day not knowing anyone, and basically said hi to Regina. Causing Regina to then think, "she will one day usurp me, if I don't bring her into the fold and under my heel" is silly.
Tina Fey actually said this is true of the character’s motivation. Regina immediately “attacks” Cady with a three-way phone call to take her down a notch and bust her self esteem. So she caught her in the web and immobilized her.
Regina sees Cady as a threat. Not that she thought she could take me over kind of thought but KADY IS ATTRACTIVE more than me kind of thought. She threatened the threat
Regina is not motivated by “wealth” but by power. She IS wealthy, but leverages her wealth as one of many tools to achieve political power. (Popularity) This is an important distinction.
Probably because of "Heathers" influence(that movie is even closer to "Macbeth", though still loose- eg. Veronica might be seen as Macbeth, Lady M. to some extent and Macduff at the same time).
Yeah let's not praise this type of character. I wish the video would have spent more time emphasizing the issues she was trying to hide like her parents marital issues and her not dating the guy she actually wanted to date because she wanted to keep up appearances.
She's not praising this type of character but acknowledging that these people thrive because the world not only let's them but rewards them. Regina George is just the teenage version of Trump, every other CEO, most of Congress and every single billionaire you can think of. These people have always existed and will continue to unless or until people have the courage to stand up to them and live their lives they way they want instead of being a pawn in someone else's game.
When I first saw this film not long after it came out I said it was one of the greatest films of it's generation. I stand by that. It's so much more than just another high school movie and I don't think it's female specific. Men do exactly the same in different ways.
I think if Regina had left Kady alone 100% then Kady wouldn’t have been persuaded to hurt Regina or challenger at all. Kady seemed to be content with minding her own business until Regina personally hurt her.
Well.. just because she's intelligent and entertaining, doesnt mean she was actually "right" in a general sense. she did have a few wake up calls toward other characters who act as if they're in a better position than she is (i.e Cady) which shows she isn't the only one with villainous tendencies, but she wasn't "right" at all for what she did just bc shes smart when it comes to building a social standing. Regina is a great, smart character but she's also a villain. They can coexist even if she isn't the only one. i usually like this channel's videos but i don't really get the revisionism of regina or other mean girl characters. they're just mean.
Excellent text, however, may I add, they are vile, perverse and discusting. There is no justification for the Regina Georges and Maddy Perezes of this life to be like they are. Even people from very difficult backgrounds grow to be amazing, kind, successful people. Evil cannot be tolerated, nor even celebrated like in this video, but to be fought against.
I would say that another thing that I believe is one of Regina's mistakes when dealing with kady was Aaron Samuels and how she handled it. Kady probably wouldn't have went all "betrayer" on her if she would have tried a little better to manipulate kady, or aaron or both into disliking each other in secret (her pulling the strings behind the scene). Kady was literally talking herself into liking and trusting Regina more until she saw that kiss......
I’ve always wondered what a “technically good physique “ means. Does that mean “I don’t really like her looks but yes men will love it “ ? Just curious
The board behind her says "hot body". I think she goes with the more convoluted term so people wouldn't think there was truth to what Regina had said about her feelings towards her.
Truth is Janice is as manipulative as Regina George is , Cady was used be both of them, then saw right through what they were doing to her and played the same game they played , they both thought they could use Cady as a tool until they realized she had a brain and was making fun of their game this whole time. And good exemple of the player getting played.
Also Janis is a BULLY and just as manipulative as Regina!!! She was part of the circle at one point. Regina may have seen her as a threat and had to cut her out of the circle. Not know that was gonna be biggest downfall. Janis also manipulated Cady into doing her dirty work!
"Sure, Regina lies, manipulates and is obsessed with power... but she's really good at it" are you serious 😂😂 She never does anything good in the whole movie; she's always ready to humiliate and bury anyone else, not just for power but for fun. (What did the girl in the vintage skirt ever do to her?) She doesn't have any intellectual or creative interests. She cheats her bf without thinking twice. She thinks that butter is a carb and can't do basic math. Altogether, she's a bit pathetic and seems quite unhappy and tense. If it wasn't for Rachel McAdams, and ofc the brilliant script, Idk if she would have been so memorable, let alone a cult character. I agree that Janis is manipulative too - that's obvious. The character I always found interesting and a bit overlooked is Gretchen. Like it's said in the video, Gretchen appreciates the system and the order more than she appreciated Regina. That's evil, but to me even more interesting that Regina's motivation. And she stays consistent til the end, when she even finds herself in a new clique! What makes a person pursue the role of the leader's dedicated assistant? Cult leaders always have such people around themselves and they tend to be the most efficient enablers.
Being smart and calculative doesnt justify the things she did and do. Im kind of tired of seeing people always uplift these kinds of people at the end of the day. Just say you think shes hot and move on nothing will justify anything she did
I want true sequel with Regina as a politician, Cady as a professor/advisor, Janice as an unwilling secret service agent/security, Gretchen as an entrepreneur/campaign partner, Karen as a Journalist. I want to see them bicker and backstab their way into the White House or the Senate.
Listen, if Regina gave Janis a chance, she would treat her the way that she treats Cady, which is covert narcissism. Regina was not feeling the vibes. Very wise for someone her age. She's absolutely right: why is she so obsessed with her? It's not conceited, she's just pointing out a reality. She also has the right to feel creeped out by that. And if she feels creeped out, why wouldn't she tell people? She wants to be safe.
Right, like Regina thought Janis was a lesbian, yes it was a misunderstanding, but she said what she heard. If Janis knew she wasn't a lesbian herself, why didn't she deny it or kept her chin up knowing that it was a meaningless rumor? I think Regina's problem was that she was too honest at times with the ones close to her. But she also knows how to influence people & deal with them. That's a great skill honestly.
I like this channel. Your videos are very well done. That being said, as a target of bullying myself for years and having battled depression because of such turmoil, I refuse to watch this. This is the second character, who is vile and disgusting, that you emulate as "being right" and "she knew how the world goes", after Maddie, the over-rated, whining bullying "queen bee" of Euphoria. Bullies are not worthy of any respect, compassion or even the slighest of consideration. Like a certain French philosopher said, "le pouvoir corrompe, et le pouvoir absolu corrompe absolument". And bullies are rotten to the core. We do not need rotten creatures, we need good decent people.
@ananascimento8434 -- Yeah, people often get confused about bullies in stories and think that them being complex or realistic or logically understandable is the same thing as being excusable, forgivable or sympathetic. They give their sympathy to the villain instead of the actual victim of the story. It's especially frustrating when the bully doesn't even have to make amends or change -- certainly Regina was no more humble or sorry or better a person at the end of the story than the beginning. And after her injury heals, we see her own the sports field whacking the sh*t out of an opponent (in what was probably an illegal move and definitely was painful for the other girl, who showed up to play a game not expecting to have to go to war against a girl with the repressed rage and aggression issues Regina seems to have for no discernable reason, given she has no known abuse or health condition history). So it's safe to say she's no nicer and very likely not even more subtle than before. . I wish more people remembered it's okay to find a villain interesting or an antagonist engaging without making excuses for or downplaying the wrongs they do. And to save the sympathy for the victims, and the praise for the protagonists that take a stand against the bad deeds and/or bad guys of the story.
The video is not about how she is right about how the world works and we should see her as an example of how to be. It's about that it's not right that this is how the world works and we need to change it. They don't mean right as 'morally good', they mean right as in 'correct as a fact'
Strict rules to abide by (like wearing the same thing) and focus their energy on so they feel the safety of their position in the hierarchy and don't try to overthrow her... Are other people thinking of military too?
While it’s true that men get more prestige and social capital from being tall, attractive, and muscular, it’s not where their value comes from. Their value comes from money because money equals power. So you can be a total old codger but if you’re a billionaire, then you’re on top of the world. For women, our looks and appearance are our social capital so it doesn’t matter what we do. So a man could actually have various interests and hobbies and life pursuits that make them money which means they can look any old crusty way while they do it. Regina could become a famous lacrosse player, but her accomplishments would only mean something to her, alone. Long story short, if your life doesn’t incorporate the male gaze and internalized misogyny, then you will become a “nobody“
I don’t thinks so, if you have money and power as a women you can have freedom and can also date younger and hotter. I just think soemetimes women think too much about men, who cares if men think you are attractive, there is so much more to life than being considered attractive. And once you stop caring what men think, you will see that it doesn’t matter.
@@tefu3621 I think it matters to women who are attracted to men, who hope to marry and form families with men, and who don’t have the willpower to be a very independent person. Some people play the game while others don’t want to. But there is definitely an advantage to women who choose to play the game.
People think way too much into this movie. All it is about is a bunch of teenagers backstabbing each other. That's it. That's the entire movie and the plot. Nothing else
Rachel mcadams is a truly great actress, she can play the meanest b*tch and also the sweetest girl and you forget they are portrayed by the same person. That's truly amazing!!👏
It is not encourging it, it is saying that Regina was right that this is how the world works, and that that is a bad thing because that's not how the world should work.
I've never seen this movie, but I found this analysis very interesting & thought provoking. I always notice when the Take assigns this particular narrator to a piece. I appreciate her work; it's a subtle thing, but I like the way she reads the copy like she wrote it herself. It's a very genuine voice.
She's "right" if you see ruthless ambition, a need to control others, and a manipulative personality as positive traits. They may be useful traits within a toxic cultural fabric, but that doesn't make them intellectually or morally "correct."
Regina George has eerily always reminded me of Jodi Arias from the straight blonde hair, the cold eyes, and the soft voice which don't hide her manipulative and sociopathic ways. 😅
Does anyone else watch the scene of the sports team dog piling Regina after her winning lacrosse shot and think, "Don't jump on her! She was in traction for her neck and back!"😂
I loved Regina's character. She was such a b**** 😂 But really she was angry. Angry at her parents and the way they were raising her and her sister. Angry at her silly friends. Hangry from dieting. Angry she has to be perfect all the time. Angry she can't be with he boy she really likes in the open. Angry she does not have real friends. And then she gets to take her anger out on something healthy and starts to feel better. Regina shows you can be beautiful, popular and mean and get your way or be beautiful, popular and nice and get your way. Cady on the otherhand is pretty AND smart and Regina admires her for it. But they are different. Regina is carefree she will never really have to work if she chooses not to, or work and put her people skills to great use. She could marry wealthy or remain wealthy. She will always be admired due to her looks. Cady on the otherhand will use her smarts to benefit her and her looks are an added bonus. Regina shows her that there is more than one way to make it in the world and don't be ashamed of how you look or your femininity. As an adult I actually admire Regina more for being so iconically bad and unapologetically herself. As a real life person she would be a thing to behold but as a character she was a male lead badass! Only she was a girl!! Loved it
What's the point of being a mean girl? Nothing, because no one likes you. The profit will be enormous if you are kind, helpful and empathetic. Think Melanie in Gone with the Wind. She ruled everything and everyone with a soft hand, pleasant voice and lack of hidden intentions. Yes, on the surface sometimes. She had a firm eye on everyone and could sometimes be strict but fair. How many can behave like that these days? People are so afraid of being taken advantage of if they are kind and helpful. But look how the world looks with Regina as a role model!
As Horrible of a person that she is this is a clear example of don’t hate the player hate the game the fact this is the fastest way to get status in life definitely says smt about society as a whole
Interesting. I believe there's just one main aspect of the character that seems to be missing, Regina's low self-esteem. She has learned to get things by manipulating people, most likely because of divorced parents who didn't pay any attention to her growing up due to their own issues. She avoids just focusing on happines because she probably believes she doesn't deserve it and is too afraid to let people see her how she is. She doesn't believe she can get there by being who she is, and let's face it, she probably would be at the top of the social pyramid, either way (she's still rich, beatiful and, not that is particulary needed if you are that, but also smart and cunning). It's only when she loses everything, when her worst fear comes to pass, that she realizes that she can actually focus on being happy and gets to a better place. Some people are just evil, but I don't think its the case for this character, I think she's a very smart person who learned to survive and thrive in a hostile enviroment and forgot who she was and what she wanted in the process (just like many adults while pursuing things they never actually wanted like looks or money).
I always believed this was the reason Regina ‘lost’ to Cady. Her own accurate insight and reason to be threatened by Cady’s character became sealed when she first invited Cady to sit with the plastics. She trained Cady with everything she needed to be as popular and cool as her. True, without Janet, who put the thoughts to overthrow Regina in Cady’s head and made her sabotage her in the first place, she’d probably end up mindless like the rest of Regina’s followers until she would wake up and rebel at some point, just not as soon without Janet as the catalyst. But if Cady was never invited to Regina’s table, Janet would have never had the chance to groom and use Cady either while Regina would be doing the same on the other side of the curtain. They both created a monster not individually, but together, and I think Cady would not have become the threat Regina feared if she was never invited to Regina’s table, and that Regina’s own fears sort of dug her own grave from the start. As for Cady, if she never met Regina, I think she would have mostly stayed true to herself, aside from the occasional rebel influence from Janet and Damien like being tricked into skipping class.
I'm writing my thesis about Regina and how she brought a somewhat needed hierarchy and rules in the Northshore High, my prof said go crazy so I will 🤭🤭! I loooove Regina's somewhat mature and realistic view of not just the community in their school but also the society as a whole.
What a lot of teenagers don't realise is that high school isn't a real example of how life actually works. That's why a lot of popular kids fail after high school because if they aren't genuine at school, they carry that so-called power into the real world and then life smacks them in the face. There is always someone bigger and meaner and more manipulative than you, especially the adult working world. And when you start working and you're on the bottom of the totem pole, acting like a wanker and throwing your weight around, your boss will tear you down in one sentence.
Thanks for watching! Up next, check out our video on why Gilmore Girls' Rory was wrong about so many things ( th-cam.com/video/DTVrEoobwVo/w-d-xo.html ) or our video analyzing why millennials seem to be aging so slowly ( th-cam.com/video/6aT8mDxuq4U/w-d-xo.html )
Can you make a Video talking about the character of women in a movie they are not real and stronger than men
Women in the real world don't feel that these women represent them. A bad writer and these women are like men
She got redeemed in the end.
Y'all are Legends and that's on brand, not a secret. (In my opinion of course).
totally agreed, i loved rory in s1 so bad
Regina would have been a terrifying politician
She DID become that - all ya gotta do is look at the evil governor of Michigan - Gretchen Whitmer. I call her 'Witch-mer' .
A lot of Regina types are in position already.
Omg, I can only imagine. 😂😂😂
You *should* be terrified of politicians because this is exactly what they do. Well, the grown-up version of this. You just need to read Politico to see the gossip at play in real time.
Regina was all over this country during the politicized virus campaign BS of 2020 through 2023 - see it clearly w/ Gretchen Whitmir. I am reposting this comment again b/c the lovely bosses at the top of GAGGLE took it down/ shadow-banned me b/c of how they love to gag us, rob us of our true voice. The irony of this: We can see a video about mean girls and how female politicians are like this in RL but if you mention any names, (esp those w/ ties to the big boys' top of the pyramid system) then you are removed, silenced, canceled, controlled - just like how the top-dogs/ MEAN MEN do things. How do ya like that???
4:23 There’s a reason why Shakespeare worked brilliantly in high school/college settings: The themes were timeless and universal but also the fact that teens/young adults are complex and not just punctuating sentences with cool lingo.
I love when Gretchen gets so mad & yells “YOU CANT SIT WITH US!!” 🤣
"I DON'T GET WHY WE DON'T JUST KILL CAESAR!"
LOL she squeaks like a mouse
@@chantoya17 nah she shouted. It echoed.
Regina George is awful (at least until the end of the movie) comparable closest to Heather Chandler. Rachel McAdams is a queen and delivered this role as well as countless others throughout her career. A class act
Karen is my favorite 💅 "*coughs* i'm sick"
The fact that regina confused lebanese with lesbian was the root cause of why she started Janice's lesbian rumour 😂
She's not dumb she knew the difference but still started the rumour
@@idontsm0ke how do u know that ?
She started the rumour when they were still kids she probably didn't know it
I never watched this show , but more and more things are showing up and I'm just too lazy 😔
Power - exclusive group around her with strict boundaries petty rules for her friends. Framework of rules. Once she enforced the rules that made them real.
So they feel safe in the group.and she maintains control/ status of Queen Bee. Dont try to overthrow her.
Certain types of gossip useful.
Wants -Status & wealth by being treacherous cunning & manipulative
How she'll be perceived most important
Genuine friendships - a big no-no
They strengthen themselves by fear of not being in the group. Kady homeschooled doesnt have the chronic low self esteem she saw her as a threat as attractive and pulles her into the plastics to mitigate the threat. Keep Kady on her side. Keep ur enemies close.
But Kady eventually
Undermined her power. Overthrow her as the Queen Bee.
I have a complaint
I feel personally victimized by Regina George
Two beers wasn't enough!
I actually think Regina did kind of like Cady. At least as much as she can like anyone. After a while, she starts to talk to Cady in a more open and frank way than she ever does with the other two. She starts to appreciate Cady's intellect. She even trusts Cady - the bars, her weight, etc. I think that's why she gets so angry at the end.
unlike Janice who just uses her
@@yashaswinikrishnan1878 I think both janice and regina genuinely liked cady in some way, even if they were both manipulative towards her too
@@kid-ava you think so? i personally feel that from the moment janice saw her, she sought to use her as a tool
Think what made both of them like cady was that Cady didn’t care about the queen bee culture and that she was actually way smarter than both Regina and Janis
@@yashaswinikrishnan1878well, that’s because Janice sees the beauty of cady, well because you don’t have to be so bright so as to notice that. Both perspectives can be true you know.
Oh wow, Regina was an Instagram influencer before Instagram Influencers were Instagram Influencers
Duh
@@mlw9195 Shut up, I is not very smart! Let me alone!!!
Lol I agree…. I have loved this movie for the last 20 years but… What is the point of this? Especially after two decades…😕
@@rachellejones6254 Because right now a bunch of teenagers are trying to become like Regina or Patrick Bateman or The Rock or Andrew Tate thinking it will make them happy. But none of these kids actually watched Mean Girls or American Psycho or realize that The Rock's movies are terrible.
Oh they always existed, they just didn’t have instagram yet to use to their advantage
The only reason that Regina failed is that she was too slow in getting Cady on her side, and considering that she got her hands on Cady by the second day, it's quite impressive. Janice wanted to take Regina down since middle school and the only reason she succeeded was cuz Cady got her an opening. It was literally luck that got Janice the opportunity to convince Cady to help her before Regina. Without Janice, Cady would've no doubt been absorbed into the cult of Regina.
Now that I see maybe it wasn't luck maybe it was that Janice also see the change before Regina I mean they were best friends and it's clear that they think alike and revenge plotting it's a great motivation for a sharper mind, Regina might be getting "too comfty" before Cady.
I think Cady finally joined janice because Regina made a move on that guy she liked
Cady wanted to be absorbed by Regina. That’s why she ignore Janice and Damian (? Sorry o forgot) at the cafeteria. Even though Janice told her before how evil Regina was.
She might’ve thought Janice was making stuff up until she was a actual victim. When Regina took back Aaron.
Can you imagine if Cady never got the change to speak to Janice ? Like if they had different classes.
Cady would’ve turned out to be another plastic and just suffer so he rest of the school year??
well thank goodness for Janice
The one mistake was not letting Cady have the guy... That's what cracked Cady and Janice was quick to use that.
It speaks volumes that no clips from this year's "Mean Girls" were incorporated into this video. You just can't replicate a classic.
There’s a new mean girls? Oh lord. Lol.
@@afreen5058 Yes, it's the musical movie. It came out in January.
This is so tired. The movie wasn’t meant to be a remake. It was to make the musical more accessible to people who weren’t able to see it.
@@djjavonn6777I really do feel that even as a musical remake, it just doesn’t quite live up to even the broadway version.
@@djjavonn6777they literally hid the fact that it was a musical in all of the trailers 😂
Regina is quietly calculating, and gossips about people behind their back, while acting nice as pie to their faces. It's easy to see why Rachel McAdam's version became popular, while Renee Rapp's iteration is more openly nasty.
hey :)
I liked Renee’s take, but the pathos just wasn’t there. Seemed more two-dimensional.
Some classics don't need to be redone
@@dolphinsfann1991 She's a version of the Broadway Regina, so she wasn't specifically based on Rachel's Regina.
@@Gh0st_flowersand was broadway regina based on the actress herself?
What I appreciate about this now that I'm older is how smart Regina George is. The Machiavellian nature of her character was just brilliant. As Azula would say, "that's a people person."
To be fair, she's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more competent at handling people then Azula.
@@Simon-A.-Tanwhat? on what basis did you conclude that? theyre both are pretty good with people.
@@sampahpribadi That's a sharp remark, my dude.
Carefull, you might puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship. Leaving thousands to drown at sea....
Because, it's so sharp.
Lmao @@Simon-A.-Tan
@@Simon-A.-Tan Azula literally conquered an entire kingdom and is a perfectionist she is better
One of Regina's strengths as a dictator is turning threats into assets. Gretchen is richer than her. Karen is prettier than her. And Cady has a more interesting background. Not only she removed turned her competitions into minions, she also used them to raise her status.
I don't think karen is prettier than Regina , Karen has a pretty face for sure but she doesn't possess the swag of Regina George
@@Princessmiacara Yeah same but that is our opinion. The story implies she is known for her prettiness.
SOMEBODY ELSE NOTICED THAT GRETCHEN IS **WAY** RICHER THAN REGINA.
Cady was hotter, Karen was prettier, Gretchen was richer. All threats to Regina. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. She couldn't deal with further threats, so she created a world of her own. Regina had shitty parents and was left on her own, all at the ripe age of 15/16, the poor girl.
Also, y'all, remember, Janis and Regina were best friends for a reason. They were both mean bîtçhes. And when Regina got a boyfriend, Kyle, back in 8th grade, Regina discarded Janis because she didn't need her attention anymore. Janis cut all her hair off and the fake goth thing was fairly Janis pulled was fairly new. Recall Janis created the choreography for the Jingle Bell Rock. Cady got caught in the cross hairs of Janis and Regina. Even Cady pointed out that Janis used her (Cady) for her eighth grade revenge. Jania then shouted at least Regina and I KNOW we're mean, but whereas it was known that Regina was a bîtçh from the start, Janis pretended to be Cady's friend. Both Janis and Regina needed counseling.
Also, Cady didn't have a more interesting background than Regina, how would Reg have known that, but Cady was WAY HOTTER/PRETTIER than Regina and Regina knew that it was after of time before she was overshadowed by Cady. Which, eventually happened anyway.
@@Princessmiacara I think she meant canonically Karen is prettier (regardless of the actress). Regina herself said she was.
She didn't turn Janice into one of her minions tho. Ur logic flopped
Regina must have studied history. She implemented something that Louis IVX understood fully.
XIV
@ayoa1173 Thank you for correcting her!
@@phattierolls Sorry no coffee and a late night.
@@ayoa1173 Thanks
@@ayoa1173 I'm glad I wasn't the only one who paused
Instead of a terrible movie musical, I would love to have seen the continuation of Regina's story. She's in corporate America, dominating in her field with all the cunning and insight she used to rule a high school.
Trophy Blonde hair, making millions, repeating talking points she doesn't believe for "news" outlets.
YES we want a Regina George 2 not a Mean Girls 2, 3 , 4 with terrible storylines and cast
Dude, Rachel McAdams starred in a movie just like this. She played the same type of character. I forget the name. I'll have the look it up.
Passion is the name of the movie. You'll have Mean Girls flashbacks
And learns how to be a true friend.
I feel like cady is the only one regina truly considered a friend. Yes she manipulated her too, but you can see her talking to cady more as "equals" from time to time. With karen and gretchen she would often roll her eyes everytime they say smth dumb. She had a genuine laugh at cady's joke when she was ranting about her teacher. She willingly approached cady to gossip about janice. She wanted cady to be beside her in dance. She was jealous of cady when she wanted aaron because she knew cady was the only one who could steal aaron from her. Regina always saw cady as an equal rather than a peasant behind her.
@@yurika_edits nah Cady was just another threat for Regina to control. She knew Cady was prettier, more interesting, and saw her as an immediate threat. Regina knew Cady could, and eventually did, surpass her, and she tried to control that. And she told Cady about Janis because the other two already knew. Also, Gretchen was acting clingy and Regina was getting sick of it. "And right now, you're getting on my last nerve. Switch." Remember when Gretchen told Cady, "Regina doesn't even like you that much." So no, Regina didn't like any of them, they were all threats: Karen was prettier, Gretchen was richer, and Cady was more interesting and "hitter than Regina". She had to neutralize those threats, especially when Regina knew Aaron liked Cady. Before that, Regina threw Aaron away and had no problem fucking Shane while she was playing with both Aaron and Cady and it eventually blew up in her face. Everyone was sick of Regina.
@@CloudsAndConstellations i never said regina didn't consider her a threat. I just said she never "looked down" on cady like she did with everyone else. And Gretchen said "regina doesn't even like you that much" because she was jealous of cady atm. Out of all the plastics, regina liked cady the most. Cady was the only one she was comfortable talking with about how Gretchen didn't deserve to be nominated. Cady was the only one regina revealed her real character to in that deleted scene where she talked about not wanting her cousin to take the toy she hated. Regina had nothing to hide with cady. She believed cady was naive so she can say and do whatever she wants with her without trying to keep her "im too good for everyone" image because cady was a good enough friend for her.
an equal and a contender
I thought it was weird how lonely they looked sitting in the cafeteria. All the popular girls I’ve seen have their inner circle of besties and the outer circle that prop up their status. The athletic guy, the rich guy, and the funny guy are usually a part of this group.
It's weird that in the first scene we see them eating lunch, the three of them are all on one side and Lohan sits on the other... So originally they just sat the three of them, one side empty and the other side all three of them?
Because She's Always On Her Left.@@elithegaymer
I just thought that Regina had been around SO long, that it became where regina and the plastics didnt need any more group members since she was popular enough yk?
It always went over my head she was admitting Karen was the prettiest. Idk how I missed that so many times
I never thought she was the villain. I thought that the real villain was this culture that does not allow girls to express their anger in healthy ways and put them against each other. Regina was just a girl that knew how the rules of the game and used them to get ahead. I’m a man so I’m probably not the person that knows best about this. I just wanted to give my two cents and what I took from this movie.
Nah she was evil..for no reason cut with that lame defence
I like your view. It is a little too simple in my opinion because I think it isn’t just anger but your concept in general really points it out.
Women and girls suffer under a lot of expectations, men definitely too but I think due to the patriarchy women received less power and to make it up for it there are a lot of mind games, manipulation and power dynamics most men don’t even see. I sometimes had to explain situations to my ex because he didn’t understand what was going on beyond the surface.
@@afrosamourai400Nad you are seeing everything in pure black and white - "nice girl = good and bad girl = evil🤪🤪" there's no nuance in what you're saying at all.
Thanks for understanding! A lot of what people do is basically rewarded or punished by society and sometimes what’s right is considered abnormal or what’s wrong is so normalized and even encouraged/praised
Felt like it was both that culture and Regina. And of course the influence of everyone else in the school because they followed the culture too.
It’s an unfortunate fact but those skills that regina possesses are very useful for politicians😢
True
Regina George for President?
You really tryna tell me you WOULDNT vote Regina George into office?
What about bosses?
Well actually I would say even for a corporate career
I remember one of my gender studies professors talking about Regina during a discussion about human aggression. Her argument was that there’s little evidence that women are inherently less aggressive than men; it’s just that we’re socialized to feel guilty and ashamed for having anger (rather than being praised for it and equating it with earned, justified power as typically happens with men). This forces girls and women into passive aggression, manipulation, and subtle social bullying instead.
My professor also pointed out that because of the increased pressure on girls to be aware of other people’s emotions and take care of them, we’re uniquely armed to undermine other girls in ways that are so subtle at times that men may not even notice the war going on under their noses.
It explains a lot about why Regina is so likable despite her viciousness-her open embrace of these actions is deeply subversive to both her gender and society, because she refuses to cater to the guilt and shame foisted on women for daring to be angry or aggressive in the first place, even when she’s caught out. There is very little that is passive in her aggression. She owns it. She’s evil, sure, but most women are also just a little bit jealous of her willingness and ability to engage with aggression so shamelessly, and often without consequences. That’s the one of the rare perks of girl world: deniability.
Nah that's bullcrap! Bullying is evil weither mental or physical, being agressive against innocents is pure evil..
@@afrosamourai400what are you talking about? My comment doesn’t excuse bullying. It’s exploring the reasons female bullying exists and how it’s different than male bullying. Understanding the reasons why girls bully isn’t excusing anything, although it’s probably a lot more helpful toward stopping bullying than calling children and teenagers evil ever would.
Well also one can be gaslighted bc other people can deny what they said was mean or meant to be mean. They always have to be right
@@miriam8376 nope, there's no reason for bullying people, that's crap!! Some people are just evil that's it!!
@@afrosamourai400 they’re not excusing it, just explaining it. Understanding something doesn’t equal endorsing it. It’s very important to understand why a problem occurs; it’s only through knowledge that change can happen.
So I guess we all collectively stopped giving a damn about the remake, huh?
Hard to enjoy a movie called "Mean Girls" where the mean girls are not that...mean.
Let's be honest the remake one (new one) is an absolute trash 🗑️
That's going to happen with all the remakes, they'll be forgotten, the games as well.
They're just not timeless enough, especially the ones made for "modern audiences"
I mean, it wasn't a remake of the original. It was a remake of the Broadway musical, but it still could've been better.
Yep
I think the most revelatory part for me was her screaming all the way to her room and writing in the Burn book.
It’s a stretch to say that she was right. Regina was intentionally cruel and a menace. She used her intelligence, psychology and insight to take other people down. She was Queen Bee and it was not good enough for her. she is definately shrewd and has leadership skills but she abused them at the expense of her high school colleagues.
Right about society, not right about "you should actually do this"
Ultimately in life this kind of person would fail even harder than the rest of us. Cause like what the video states in the beginning “Regina doesn’t make decisions based on what makes herself happy, but what will get her ahead in life”
….. all these kind of people I’ve seen, end up in depression treatment 😂😂.
Cause all these sacrifices will never get anyone true satisfaction they want in the end. ppl always over anticipate their rewards when they make their sacrifices ~~
(Unless Regina actually “enjoys” what she’s doing in itself. And she doesn’t ever truly care about all those other things she sacrificed for her status.
If so it’s a totally different story unlike what this video’s described.
…. This kind of people do exist, AKA the typical “political animals” we see in today’s American politics. But they’re seldom the popular kids in school. Cause what they want is like too weird & deviated from the rest of us to ever get really popular. 🤣🤣
…. But a lot of them are actually academically successful nerdy kids. Cause these kind of kids focus more on what will get their ahead instead of being popular in the mere short 4-year of high school life.
This is what Regina George will be like in real life 😂😂)
PS. Observations based on my study of psychology & education theories
Lol comeon. it's not that she is right. It's that the world rewards people like her, thus people like her would thrive, while people prioritize kindness and good consideration of other people die off. That does not make people like her right. And should the world continue to move this direction, the world will only become worse.
That's what the video is about....that this is how society often works and how it needs to change for the better. They don't mean right as 'morally good', they mean right as in 'correct as a fact'.
Being morally right and right are not the same thing.
Yes, maybe regina was right about a few things, things which are true even today at high school level. It indeed did give a 101 guide on how to be popular.
But mean girls the movie was right about one thing, that facade is not sustainable. When you get too powerful, your opponents and society will beat you and cause you harm which will damage you in the long run. You ultimately are molded by the society in a way that you uphold the social fabric without too much chaos.
I have not seen one high school mean girl flourish in life keeping their old persona, life somehow humbled them.
Indeed, even when you are a " nice girl" , the moment you get popularity or people just see you as threat, they will literally eat you alive. Both men and women. Men will spread rumors about you if you reject them, girls will literally bully you in the most passive aggressive ways while maintaining a devilish grin in an attempt to intimidate you and diminish your perceived power. I am not that beautiful and have never been that necessarily popular, but oh God, have I have that happen to me millions of times just because I'm confident and nice. People will even go out of their way to distort your niceness as you being fake, manipulative, overly ambitious, a sl*t, etc. I literally have phobia of any sort of fame or recognition because of several instances where others envy was literally my downfall. I tried to rationalise so many times as perhaps having done something wrong, but when I look closely I had 0 intentions of harming anybody and genuinely just wanted to be nice to people and make friends.
Is it life or is it karma?
And also, when you treat people like garbage long enough, they stop taking it and fight back hard.
I’ve never seen a mean girl flourish by acting that way either. They may get some short term gains but it eventually blows up, even if it’s only behind the scenes.
Yes you need to be a little “selfish” at times by setting boundaries, going after what you want and refusing to take abuse but being a full-on Regina won’t make you happy, liked or fulfilled longterm.
Not so much as humbled. More like life either forces them to grow up or they never do and suffer the consequences.
Yes bcs Highschoolers tend to focus on the superficial aspects of life and then when they don’t grow out of the superficial habits of Highschool ppl tend to view them as immature or vain, it never works in their favor
Regina was right but at the same time she would not have been had she left Cady alone. Cady was not predisposed to being a queen or even a socialite. Regina manufactured her own downfall because of her insecurity and need to control everything. Had she been able to truly see Cady for who she was everything would have been fine but because one tends to see others as they see ones selves and one lack the understanding that not everyone is motivated the same way. In the end it led to the growth of all involved but it is also a cautionary tale of the limitations of one's own intelligence when combined with overthinking.
This is A very good observation, well said!!
💯
So true. Cady had no motivation to be a queen bee until Regina got her claws into her
True this but overthinking comes from pride/ arrogance b/c that all resonates from being a perfectionist. Perfectionism is the kiss of death b/c no one can be perfect no matter how hard they try. So, when you do try and you try too hard, you fall into your own trap b/c you're your own worst enemy when you're THAT hungry for power.
Wow! Interesting perspective. Very deep
Regina is a villain, but Rachel McAdams did such a stellar job at the portrayal, that in a way you're rooting for her. she's the school's queen, but also insecure, in herself and her body. everyone calls her a "Queen Bee", but i see her as more of a tragic figure. she surrounds herself with sycophants but had no friends, and her desire to be the Queen of the school, is just tragic.
but i see Janice as worse, since Janice, it's believed was part of the in-crowd with Regina until it all fell apart, and becomes friends with Cady so Cady can gather information. Regina is bad, but Janice is worse in my opinion. Janice was happy to be a mean girl, until it fell apart, but now acts like she's all edgy, when she's just as manipulative. Regina is no saint, and leaves a trail of victims in her wake, but she's upfront about who she is. but Janice, practically pounced in Cady, who had no idea how high school worked, to do her bidding
Well, Regina isn't exactly upfront, she's deliberately deceptive most of the time. But in like, a typical fakey-nice sorta way, and mostly about things that don't matter (someone's outfit or accessory, ridiculous rumors that keep buzz going and/or makes sure that people she dislikes stay unpopular). And yet you're right that she didn't completely hide that from her in-group, at least when it came to what she really thought about those who were outside the group.
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But yeah, Janice was definitely worse in some ways, because she pretended to be sincere to the girl she adopted into her own in-group, supposedly pursuing Cady's friendship for its own sake and to have only the one face, as opposed to Regina's undeniable two-faced nature. And while she was right to say Cady was acting like a mean girl towards the end when she bought into her own illusion, Janice was a hypocrite who'd set the obviously naive Cady on that path to begin with for her own personal revenge (under the guise of it being also for Cady's revenge for the heartbreak of having her crush 'stolen' by Regina).
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And that doesn't get addressed or even pointed out in a throw-away line in the film. But the movie could only jam so much into one story, so it's iffy but understandable that the focus is on Cady's 'friendship' with Regina, which is really just the catalyst for growth in Cady's relationship with herself and her own identity.
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Perhaps if the original cast had been able to reunite for the sequel, we'd have seen Janice's behaviour talked about (and Damien's totally going along with Janice's scheme instead of maybe dropping a hint of warning to Cady or calling Janice out her using their new friend and on the pressure she put on Cady to achieve what ultimately was originally really supposed to be *Janice's* revenge for something that happened long before Cady even showed up).
I don't think anyone was rooting for her lol are people just going to go back and pretend the movie was completely different?
Janice is bad but there's no planet where Janet is worse is Regina.
@@Aaron-kj8dvJanice would have been standing happily in Gretchen's shoes if Regina hadn't dumped her.
Let's not pretend otherwise.
@@iprobablyforgotsomething The last part you wrote that's what I have been thinking about all these times. I mean why was Damien all along with Janice? Why didn't he do something? And the fun fact is everyone questions Janice, Regina, Cady, Gretchen and even Karen's motives (who was completely clueless btw and was the most non-mean girl in the whole movie) but no one questions Damian's motive.
@@Sherlockian_Nupur - Good call! I asked this too b/c I always pay attention to the details most ppl ignore b/c of how easily ppl are so distracted by all the bells and whistles and obvious things. The Damian character seems so ignored but he is an enabler and super insecure ppl are co-dependent enablers who don't have the courage to be themselves anymore than anyone else but they need to be where the action is b/c they don't have the balls to create any of their own action. There's much more to it than this but this is a good start in analyzing him.
Heathers walked so Mean Girls could run
I agreeee! Shannen Doherty really surprised me bcs before that movie I had watched only Charmed and Beverly Hills with her. I think Heather was more cruel than Regina
Heathers (movie)>>>>>
@@95DiKarHeather Chandler was so cruel that she had to be killed 😭
That assumes Mean Girls is better. It’s not.
@@95DiKarwas she in that movie
no way y'all in these comments are tyrna call janis worse than regina. they're both awful and manipulative, just for opposite reaons. janis is the bully built out of poor circumstance - she's been hurt and betrayed all these years that she loses all self awareness because of her attachment to her victimhood. she prides herself on being the oppressed mariah, and uses her victimhood to manipulate cady and justify it with that. regina is awful because for her whole life she's had status and been told she's entitled to having a power hungry, abusive nature. her bullying is more "upfront" sure, but there's still a layer of deception and passive aggressiveness because she's awful, she knows it and wants people's misery so she can keep absorbing their happiness, when really she's more empty and hollow on the outside. both her and janis were bad friends to cady, regina slightly more imo because her intentions were wholly ill intent
femcels need someone to pin the blame on because deep down their iconic girlboss queen regina is a nice person inside and she's just misunderstood xoxoxo
I don’t think she’s “worse than Regina but she’s definitely not much better either Considering the fact Regina has been spoiled since birth she was probably like this since Elementary and throughout school life the fact Janis experienced and Saw what she does to people first hand and then became close enough to her to be Raginas “Best friend” definitely shows she’s not any less of a bully either she’s just the “turned nice” version of Regina after she experienced the very thing she did and watched happen to others
Regina was an evil genius. She was attractive, but honestly the other plastics were more so, just not as cut throat which kept her on top. I could see her going into politics! 😂
Agreed, except imo, I don’t think there’s any universe in which Lindsey Lohan or the chick from Party of Five is prettier than Rachel McAdams. 😂
Amanda Seyfried is the most beautiful of all of them anyway✨️
As a big brother, I was forced to watch this movie a lot, and it was fun and all, but I remember telling my sister “none of this matters in the absolute slightest.”
you're a good brother
Yes, that’s exactly the point of the movie lol. You’re an awesome big brother for watching with your little sis; I made my big brothers watch shows with me all the time. 🥰
You’re lucky im not ur sister then. If my bro ever said that he could’ve been begging for mercy rn
@@emmareyes8114 Because it was an accurate portrayal of high school in the early to mid 2000s. Heathers gets mentioned all the time when talking about Mean Girls, but Heathers was definitely a Gen X movie. Mean Girls is an incredibly millennial film. This is pretty rare because millennials didn't go into show business the way older generations did (just look at stuff like Fight Club, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, The Matrix, etc.). It represents a time period of life for a specific demographic you don't find anywhere else.
That is like telling a man watching a war movie “none of it matters”. It’s quite demeaning and dismissive actually. This is the female version of warfare and important coming of age developmental stage in womanhood. Another example is like’Lord of the flies’ which was required reading at this time which favors males and females were completely excluded so this film was paramount!
The new regina especially doesn't work because now a days no one would tolerate someone who's openly nasty. Ive seen more type of Rachel's Regina these days than ever and you feel just as crazy as Janice for seeing it, but others never seeing it, even though Janice was problematic in her own way.
Society pressure and environment affects everyone but not everyone decides to be a power hungry bully. As someone who has been where the victims of Regina has been, I have no sympathy for Regina. I see Regina as a humbling tale of bullying and less of a misunderstood antihero.
Thank you sir!! I'm tired of that bullshit about romanticizing power hungry bullies, being evil is a choice
@TheCaliforniaboy1 -- Yeah, Regina's parentals may've sucked in their own ways, but she didn't grow up deprived or in an abusive home. Quite the opposite; she bullied her parents! She does what she wants just because she can. And while she clearly has suppressed aggression issues, there was no excuse for the way she treated others. Worse that it was all cool and calculated, even when she made the spontaneous plan with the Burn Book, not 'acts of passionate rage' impulsively lashing out self-defensively or because she was triggered or something.
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There's only one admirable thing about her, and that's how she picks herself up and keeps going even after a serious injury and social upset. Which is easier to do, though, when one has a good prognosis, lots of money for the best doctors, and is still rich, pretty and influential (and then apparently a sports star). So even her worse times are easier than lower-(financial/social)-class people would have it, and she appears to never have had to apologize or change or even acknowledge her worst flaws and behaviour (at least that we saw; she certainly didn't appear humbled at the dance, and still got votes for Prom Queen, showing she still has plenty of social capital to spend).
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She isn't a poor misunderstood rich girl or secret victim. She wasn't being abused or seem to be dealing with chronic physical or mental health conditions that made her act the way she did. She made others' lives miserable just as a flex of her social power, because she felt like it. And while she's an engaging character and iconic antagonist, there's absolutely nothing sympathetic or relatable about her. Which is totally fine for the story that Mean Girls is; sometimes villains really are villains at the end of the day. They can be believable or complex or nuanced while still not deserving any of our sympathy, and sometimes people go too far in excusing the bad guys of a story instead of remembering to save it for the actual victims.
Feel the same about the joker. 🤮
@@iprobablyforgotsomething Your profile name is misleading bc you, fam, hit it right on the nail. Nothing was forgotten! 🙌🏾
Yeah everyone in the comments is retconning her as this tragic villain. No she's actually a huge bitch and awful to everyone.
What makes her iconic is we ALL know someone like her. She's super relatable.
So because regina is right does that mean fetch isn’t a thing?!
It's been 20 years, stop trying to make fetch happen 😂
It's never going to happen
She was mean, but was spot on about fetch. It was never gonna happen and that needed to be said. Period 😂😂
@@afrosensei5308let’s make fetch happen lol
@@oooh19 😆😆😆
This is basically the real life story of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan's drama back in the 2000s
Makes me think of the iconic photo of Lindsay (Cady) forcing herself into Paris Hilton's (Regina) car with Britney (Karen) in the passenger seat.
I don't think this was a Regina was right thing. Cady wasn't going to learn the cunning and devious nature it took to bring Regina down, all on her own. Regina and Janice taught her these things. Had Regina left her alone, Cady wouldn't have brought her down. Cady was smart and learned all the tools from the master herself. I think she did feel threatened that Cady was pretty. But I also think she added Cady to the group because she collects things that are pretty and therefore lend her authority over what's cool, not because she saw the evil queen bee inside of Cady that would eventually overthrow her. She underestimates people, which is what led to Regina's downfall at Cady's and Janice's hands. She never saw it coming.
Society's (and in this movie, specifically high school's) toxicity makes it easier for the Regina Georges of the world to flourish, and they definitely weaponize that toxic environment against others. But make no mistake, Regina George would've found another way to rule socially with an iron fist even if unfair social expectations and pressures didn't give her easy weak points to exploit in others. Because at the heart of her character, she's a villain. She's a mean girl, just because she can be. She's not abused, suffers no apparent health conditions, isn't growing up deprived and stressed because of it. And yet she's still a bully. And that's okay for the sake of the story; a character can be realistic, engaging and even complex and nuanced while still being unsympathetic, unrelatable and unforgivable.
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Regina didn't change or make amends at the end of the story, she wasn't humbled for very long after her accident (check out the way she whacked the ish outta an opponent on the sports field). But that makes perfect sense, because the story isn't about her, which is why her lack of a personal growth arc isn't a problem.
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Regina's character, and her friendship with the protagonist, was just the catalyst for evolving Cady's relationship with *herself* and her own identity that she started the story so uncertain of. And she was both a victim and became a bully -- a mean girl -- but took a hard look at herself, made some changes and grew into someone who was no longer either of those things. Let's save our sympathy and round of applause for her, not Regina.
I agree with you that she's just mean, however, judging from what little we see of Regina's family life I wouldn't say she isn't damaged.
Giving kids anything and everything they want (in my opinion in this scenario to make up for lack of emotional connection), you end up with a Regina; spoiled, entitled and miserable.
Emotional neglect is still neglect and she absolutely acts like someone with attatchment and abandonment issues.
I dunno, just my two cents.
Edit to add; now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know if she knows how to have a healthy relationship of any type.
Forgive me, it's been a hot minute since I saw the movie but I don't think we ever see her father, do we?
@malice4777 -- Valid point about neglect and emotional distance, and attachment issues. What I meant was that she wasn't actively deliberately or indirectly (like as a result of a parent having unmanaged mental health conditions or severe trauma reactions) abused. Not in the ways that usually result in the kind of damage that turns a kid into a defensive, volatile, severely paranoid or easily panicked or etc. sort of person that's prone to going to extremes (be it emotionally, physically, financially, whatever) to protect or avenge themselves against attacks, real or imagined, big or small. You know, the usual antihero or grimdark superhero backstory.
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Regina's neglect etc. may make her withdrawn and untrusting emotionally, and maybe even likely to regard others as organic inanimate objects she need not respect. But she isn't seen being overtaken by the kind of trauma reactions that explain lashing out, and she is smart enough to 'know better' with regards to how society says we are to treat others and behave like a decent human being. She decides to act the way she does and do whatever she wants anyway, calmly and without regret. What she suffered at home doesn't line up logically as tending toward producing the type of person who does the things we see her do.
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Regarding her father, we see him briefly, being not happy about Regina's slut-bunny (Cady's words, paraphrased, not mine) Halloween costume that she models for him and her excitedly-cooing mother, but is too much of a rug (to be walked all over) to actually protest or enforce any rules despite him clearly finding the outfit inappropriate at Regina's still-a-minor age. Says a lot about the kind of disciplinarion he is (which is to say, not one at all). I can easily imagine him being an absentee father due to his wanting to avoid conflict with the stronger willed ladies in the family.
In the real world nothing would happen to Regina and ultimately she’d probably be a really successful business woman with a bob and marry an equally successful super rich husband. She’d win.
@iprobablyforgotsomething just need to say first off, thanks for nerding out with me.
What her folks did is create someone with pretty serious antisocial behaviors. In layman's terms, a sociopath.
She totally understands what she does is messed up, but it gets her what she wants and doesn't ever seem to have any guilt for it.
She probably excelled as a CEO, realistically.
Edit
The saddest part is people like her rarely ever end up truly content and they usually leave a massive trail of casualties in their wake.
Regina is a reflection of how she is raised to compete with others for everything in her life. That's not healthy. She treats her friends like shit because they are not friends, they are her enemies. The old saying, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. She's gotten to the top by stepping on people, but once at the top, she has to maintain that level constantly so there is no off day of thinking about what she really wants. It's about maintaining status all the time. That's constant stress. There is not one minute for herself. What Regina gets is that this is what life outside of high school can be like for her. It's about maintaining that 'perfect' image and holding onto the status that has been hard fought for. Sadly, she already has the wealth and connections through family to get what she needs to be successful. She's still a kid but acts like she's much older. She's been sexualized too young as well. I don't think writers actually understand the psychology of the 'mean' girl. I remember sitting in a Starbucks a few years ago and across from me were two women who had brought their daughters with them. The daughters had to be below the age of 11, possibly 9-10 range. I usually don't pay attention to other people, but it was the convo between the girls that struck me. They were talking about dieting and how they look. I listened to the vapid convo the moms were having about their daughters. This is how someone like Regina is raised.
Truest comment
Regina enjoyed being cruel so I still lack sympathy for self inflicted evil on herself .
no she wasn't right and tormenting other isn't justified by being unhappy inside seek accountability Regina
Something I will always wonder is how Janice acted before all this when her and Regina were friends. Was she the same just totally mean and back then Regina didn’t care to hide her meanness as well or was jadis just kind of like Regina and did a 180 flip once whatever happened, happened to their friendship. Is jadis really even black haired because I can see her looking like a mean girl under all that eyeliner and things.
I sincerely believe Janis would have been Gretchen if Regina hadn't dumped her as a friend.
The actress who plated Janice is apparently a brunette. What's wilder, though, is this quote by her in her imdb profile:
"I think being mean to people in high school is healthy. It's sort of like you're in this situation with all these other kids and sometimes you need to get your aggression out. And if you'd had people be mean to you before, it really does build character."
Like, dude, wtf? Apparently she's a bit of a mean girl in real life.
@@NotAFanOfHandles She needs help
@@thatvalensteingirl I think this is correct, although Janis is as smart as Cady. I think that may have been what messed up their friendship. Regina couldn't exert control over Janis through manipulation because Janis was smart enough to recognize what Regina was doing. At the same time, Janis didn't have the social skills Regina did to one-up her and become queen bee. They're both shitty people and it says a lot about both of them that they were once best friends. I think Regina has always been the way she's been as seen in the movie, even in elementary school. We see her parents absolutely spoil her rotten. For Janis to encounter a person like that and make them her best friend just says that Janis is also a bully.
The idea that Cady walked in on her first day not knowing anyone, and basically said hi to Regina. Causing Regina to then think, "she will one day usurp me, if I don't bring her into the fold and under my heel" is silly.
Tina Fey actually said this is true of the character’s motivation. Regina immediately “attacks” Cady with a three-way phone call to take her down a notch and bust her self esteem. So she caught her in the web and immobilized her.
Regina sees Cady as a threat. Not that she thought she could take me over kind of thought but KADY IS ATTRACTIVE more than me kind of thought. She threatened the threat
Femcels misinterpt Regina George as some antihero like Incels treat Joker and Travis Bickle.
People really think this nasty bish had a point? Humanity is doomed lmfao
Literally the same with Amy Dunne
@@chinazaamagwula3864 fr
I have to agree
no, this analysis isnt about how regina is a "good person" it is about how she knows the worlds rules and uses them to her advantage
Regina is not motivated by “wealth” but by power. She IS wealthy, but leverages her wealth as one of many tools to achieve political power. (Popularity) This is an important distinction.
4:27 Idk but ‘Mean Girls’ reminds me of ‘Macbeth’ so much.
mean girls was heavily inspired by shakespeare’s play julius ceasar, definitely macbeth too!
Probably because of "Heathers" influence(that movie is even closer to "Macbeth", though still loose- eg. Veronica might be seen as Macbeth, Lady M. to some extent and Macduff at the same time).
I think the reason why Regina was so popular was because you actually could meet a Regina in your real life. She’s a very realistic character
Regina’s the main antagonist for a reason.
Yeah let's not praise this type of character. I wish the video would have spent more time emphasizing the issues she was trying to hide like her parents marital issues and her not dating the guy she actually wanted to date because she wanted to keep up appearances.
She's not praising this type of character but acknowledging that these people thrive because the world not only let's them but rewards them. Regina George is just the teenage version of Trump, every other CEO, most of Congress and every single billionaire you can think of. These people have always existed and will continue to unless or until people have the courage to stand up to them and live their lives they way they want instead of being a pawn in someone else's game.
@@sharr630exactly 💯👏🏼
She was right about the means for power. Not morality
When I first saw this film not long after it came out I said it was one of the greatest films of it's generation. I stand by that. It's so much more than just another high school movie and I don't think it's female specific. Men do exactly the same in different ways.
Regina = Trump
They follow the same playbook!
I think if Regina had left Kady alone 100% then Kady wouldn’t have been persuaded to hurt Regina or challenger at all. Kady seemed to be content with minding her own business until Regina personally hurt her.
Well.. just because she's intelligent and entertaining, doesnt mean she was actually "right" in a general sense. she did have a few wake up calls toward other characters who act as if they're in a better position than she is (i.e Cady) which shows she isn't the only one with villainous tendencies, but she wasn't "right" at all for what she did just bc shes smart when it comes to building a social standing. Regina is a great, smart character but she's also a villain. They can coexist even if she isn't the only one.
i usually like this channel's videos but i don't really get the revisionism of regina or other mean girl characters. they're just mean.
Can i have a Amen?
Excellent text, however, may I add, they are vile, perverse and discusting. There is no justification for the Regina Georges and Maddy Perezes of this life to be like they are. Even people from very difficult backgrounds grow to be amazing, kind, successful people. Evil cannot be tolerated, nor even celebrated like in this video, but to be fought against.
i cannot wait for people in the 3000s doing analysis on the mean girls in english class and using this as a cheat sheet
I would say that another thing that I believe is one of Regina's mistakes when dealing with kady was Aaron Samuels and how she handled it. Kady probably wouldn't have went all "betrayer" on her if she would have tried a little better to manipulate kady, or aaron or both into disliking each other in secret (her pulling the strings behind the scene).
Kady was literally talking herself into liking and trusting Regina more until she saw that kiss......
I’ve always wondered what a “technically good physique “ means. Does that mean “I don’t really like her looks but yes men will love it “ ? Just curious
It means conventionally attractive..
I think it was Janice not wanting to admit something good about Regina...
@@if3359exactly
The board behind her says "hot body". I think she goes with the more convoluted term so people wouldn't think there was truth to what Regina had said about her feelings towards her.
@@plpl2020good point 💯👏🏼
Truth is Janice is as manipulative as Regina George is , Cady was used be both of them, then saw right through what they were doing to her and played the same game they played , they both thought they could use Cady as a tool until they realized she had a brain and was making fun of their game this whole time.
And good exemple of the player getting played.
Also Janis is a BULLY and just as manipulative as Regina!!! She was part of the circle at one point. Regina may have seen her as a threat and had to cut her out of the circle. Not know that was gonna be biggest downfall. Janis also manipulated Cady into doing her dirty work!
"Sure, Regina lies, manipulates and is obsessed with power... but she's really good at it" are you serious 😂😂
She never does anything good in the whole movie; she's always ready to humiliate and bury anyone else, not just for power but for fun. (What did the girl in the vintage skirt ever do to her?) She doesn't have any intellectual or creative interests. She cheats her bf without thinking twice. She thinks that butter is a carb and can't do basic math. Altogether, she's a bit pathetic and seems quite unhappy and tense. If it wasn't for Rachel McAdams, and ofc the brilliant script, Idk if she would have been so memorable, let alone a cult character.
I agree that Janis is manipulative too - that's obvious.
The character I always found interesting and a bit overlooked is Gretchen. Like it's said in the video, Gretchen appreciates the system and the order more than she appreciated Regina. That's evil, but to me even more interesting that Regina's motivation. And she stays consistent til the end, when she even finds herself in a new clique! What makes a person pursue the role of the leader's dedicated assistant? Cult leaders always have such people around themselves and they tend to be the most efficient enablers.
Regina: This can't all be about the choreography?
Janice: Of course it's all about the choreography!
Being smart and calculative doesnt justify the things she did and do. Im kind of tired of seeing people always uplift these kinds of people at the end of the day. Just say you think shes hot and move on nothing will justify anything she did
I want true sequel with Regina as a politician, Cady as a professor/advisor, Janice as an unwilling secret service agent/security, Gretchen as an entrepreneur/campaign partner, Karen as a Journalist. I want to see them bicker and backstab their way into the White House or the Senate.
Are weather anchors considered journalists?
Listen, if Regina gave Janis a chance, she would treat her the way that she treats Cady, which is covert narcissism. Regina was not feeling the vibes. Very wise for someone her age.
She's absolutely right: why is she so obsessed with her? It's not conceited, she's just pointing out a reality. She also has the right to feel creeped out by that. And if she feels creeped out, why wouldn't she tell people? She wants to be safe.
But that didn’t give Regina the right to spread a rumor about her
I know exactly what you mean
Right, like Regina thought Janis was a lesbian, yes it was a misunderstanding, but she said what she heard. If Janis knew she wasn't a lesbian herself, why didn't she deny it or kept her chin up knowing that it was a meaningless rumor? I think Regina's problem was that she was too honest at times with the ones close to her. But she also knows how to influence people & deal with them. That's a great skill honestly.
Aaron was right when he said that we all have bad in us but Regina is just more upfront about it
I like this channel. Your videos are very well done. That being said, as a target of bullying myself for years and having battled depression because of such turmoil, I refuse to watch this. This is the second character, who is vile and disgusting, that you emulate as "being right" and "she knew how the world goes", after Maddie, the over-rated, whining bullying "queen bee" of Euphoria. Bullies are not worthy of any respect, compassion or even the slighest of consideration. Like a certain French philosopher said, "le pouvoir corrompe, et le pouvoir absolu corrompe absolument". And bullies are rotten to the core. We do not need rotten creatures, we need good decent people.
I totally agree with you we should never justify power hungry bullies..fuck them evil people!!
👏👏👏👏👏
@ananascimento8434 -- Yeah, people often get confused about bullies in stories and think that them being complex or realistic or logically understandable is the same thing as being excusable, forgivable or sympathetic. They give their sympathy to the villain instead of the actual victim of the story. It's especially frustrating when the bully doesn't even have to make amends or change -- certainly Regina was no more humble or sorry or better a person at the end of the story than the beginning. And after her injury heals, we see her own the sports field whacking the sh*t out of an opponent (in what was probably an illegal move and definitely was painful for the other girl, who showed up to play a game not expecting to have to go to war against a girl with the repressed rage and aggression issues Regina seems to have for no discernable reason, given she has no known abuse or health condition history). So it's safe to say she's no nicer and very likely not even more subtle than before.
.
I wish more people remembered it's okay to find a villain interesting or an antagonist engaging without making excuses for or downplaying the wrongs they do. And to save the sympathy for the victims, and the praise for the protagonists that take a stand against the bad deeds and/or bad guys of the story.
The video is not about how she is right about how the world works and we should see her as an example of how to be. It's about that it's not right that this is how the world works and we need to change it. They don't mean right as 'morally good', they mean right as in 'correct as a fact'
Mariah Carey "and I was like, why you so obsessed with me?" Mariah LOVES this movie! Tina Fey interviewed Mariah about it during quarantine 😅💕🌷
Strict rules to abide by (like wearing the same thing) and focus their energy on so they feel the safety of their position in the hierarchy and don't try to overthrow her... Are other people thinking of military too?
So regina is a narcissist. That's never a good thing so....
narcissistic and sociopathic 😵💫
While it’s true that men get more prestige and social capital from being tall, attractive, and muscular, it’s not where their value comes from. Their value comes from money because money equals power. So you can be a total old codger but if you’re a billionaire, then you’re on top of the world.
For women, our looks and appearance are our social capital so it doesn’t matter what we do. So a man could actually have various interests and hobbies and life pursuits that make them money which means they can look any old crusty way while they do it. Regina could become a famous lacrosse player, but her accomplishments would only mean something to her, alone.
Long story short, if your life doesn’t incorporate the male gaze and internalized misogyny, then you will become a “nobody“
I don’t thinks so, if you have money and power as a women you can have freedom and can also date younger and hotter. I just think soemetimes women think too much about men, who cares if men think you are attractive, there is so much more to life than being considered attractive. And once you stop caring what men think, you will see that it doesn’t matter.
@@tefu3621 I think it matters to women who are attracted to men, who hope to marry and form families with men, and who don’t have the willpower to be a very independent person. Some people play the game while others don’t want to. But there is definitely an advantage to women who choose to play the game.
People think way too much into this movie. All it is about is a bunch of teenagers backstabbing each other. That's it. That's the entire movie and the plot. Nothing else
Rachel mcadams is a truly great actress, she can play the meanest b*tch and also the sweetest girl and you forget they are portrayed by the same person. That's truly amazing!!👏
Agreed. 👏🏼💯 She is an amazing actress
Nurses are dealing with an epidemic of these types but sure, let’s encourage it. 🤦♂️
It is not encourging it, it is saying that Regina was right that this is how the world works, and that that is a bad thing because that's not how the world should work.
You just described: Sociopathy.
I can’t wait until we have an honest conversation regarding Janice!!!
I've never seen this movie, but I found this analysis very interesting & thought provoking. I always notice when the Take assigns this particular narrator to a piece. I appreciate her work; it's a subtle thing, but I like the way she reads the copy like she wrote it herself. It's a very genuine voice.
She's "right" if you see ruthless ambition, a need to control others, and a manipulative personality as positive traits.
They may be useful traits within a toxic cultural fabric, but that doesn't make them intellectually or morally "correct."
Oh, so she's like Janice?
@@thatvalensteingirl was janice an evil ambitious bully?
@@thatvalensteingirl Janice wasn't the one picking on every single girl in her year lmao
Of all the girls, Regina was the smartest, but, not the luckiest
OMG, this movie had the ultimate pretty girl cast
what about jojo siwa
@@ev07272 Karma is a bleep 💀 never effed around 💀
@@ev07272 who tf is talking about jojo siwa
@@onlycows726 i thought she was in the movie
@@onlycows726 ??? Wasn't she a kid or something when this movie was released?
High EQ characters that use it for their own ends arr aleays such a delight in a love to hate kind of way
I love that Regina's own homophobia is what ultimately caused her downfall.
That is amazing! I have never looked at Regina that way. This knowledge will make watching that movie again so much more fun
Exactly 💯💯👏🏼👏🏼
Regina George has eerily always reminded me of Jodi Arias from the straight blonde hair, the cold eyes, and the soft voice which don't hide her manipulative and sociopathic ways. 😅
Americans and their obsession with school!! I'll never get it!!
Regina is actually a greatly intelligent and smart girl
Does anyone else watch the scene of the sports team dog piling Regina after her winning lacrosse shot and think, "Don't jump on her! She was in traction for her neck and back!"😂
This reminds me of the Kardashian kulture OMG.
Regina is a bad person don't try to convince me otherwise. Same with Sharpay, Cheryl Blossom... and other antiheros.
I loved Regina's character. She was such a b**** 😂 But really she was angry. Angry at her parents and the way they were raising her and her sister. Angry at her silly friends. Hangry from dieting. Angry she has to be perfect all the time. Angry she can't be with he boy she really likes in the open. Angry she does not have real friends. And then she gets to take her anger out on something healthy and starts to feel better. Regina shows you can be beautiful, popular and mean and get your way or be beautiful, popular and nice and get your way. Cady on the otherhand is pretty AND smart and Regina admires her for it. But they are different. Regina is carefree she will never really have to work if she chooses not to, or work and put her people skills to great use. She could marry wealthy or remain wealthy. She will always be admired due to her looks. Cady on the otherhand will use her smarts to benefit her and her looks are an added bonus. Regina shows her that there is more than one way to make it in the world and don't be ashamed of how you look or your femininity. As an adult I actually admire Regina more for being so iconically bad and unapologetically herself. As a real life person she would be a thing to behold but as a character she was a male lead badass! Only she was a girl!! Loved it
What's the point of being a mean girl? Nothing, because no one likes you.
The profit will be enormous if you are kind, helpful and empathetic. Think Melanie in Gone with the Wind. She ruled everything and everyone with a soft hand, pleasant voice and lack of hidden intentions. Yes, on the surface sometimes. She had a firm eye on everyone and could sometimes be strict but fair. How many can behave like that these days?
People are so afraid of being taken advantage of if they are kind and helpful. But look how the world looks with Regina as a role model!
The point is not people liking you, it's people envying and being afraid of you
As Horrible of a person that she is this is a clear example of don’t hate the player hate the game the fact this is the fastest way to get status in life definitely says smt about society as a whole
Interesting. I believe there's just one main aspect of the character that seems to be missing, Regina's low self-esteem. She has learned to get things by manipulating people, most likely because of divorced parents who didn't pay any attention to her growing up due to their own issues. She avoids just focusing on happines because she probably believes she doesn't deserve it and is too afraid to let people see her how she is. She doesn't believe she can get there by being who she is, and let's face it, she probably would be at the top of the social pyramid, either way (she's still rich, beatiful and, not that is particulary needed if you are that, but also smart and cunning).
It's only when she loses everything, when her worst fear comes to pass, that she realizes that she can actually focus on being happy and gets to a better place. Some people are just evil, but I don't think its the case for this character, I think she's a very smart person who learned to survive and thrive in a hostile enviroment and forgot who she was and what she wanted in the process (just like many adults while pursuing things they never actually wanted like looks or money).
was Regina George awful? yes! but am i obsessed with her? yes!!
Anybody could be like Regina, as long as they lack scruples and morals of any kind
I always believed this was the reason Regina ‘lost’ to Cady. Her own accurate insight and reason to be threatened by Cady’s character became sealed when she first invited Cady to sit with the plastics. She trained Cady with everything she needed to be as popular and cool as her. True, without Janet, who put the thoughts to overthrow Regina in Cady’s head and made her sabotage her in the first place, she’d probably end up mindless like the rest of Regina’s followers until she would wake up and rebel at some point, just not as soon without Janet as the catalyst. But if Cady was never invited to Regina’s table, Janet would have never had the chance to groom and use Cady either while Regina would be doing the same on the other side of the curtain. They both created a monster not individually, but together, and I think Cady would not have become the threat Regina feared if she was never invited to Regina’s table, and that Regina’s own fears sort of dug her own grave from the start. As for Cady, if she never met Regina, I think she would have mostly stayed true to herself, aside from the occasional rebel influence from Janet and Damien like being tricked into skipping class.
I'm writing my thesis about Regina and how she brought a somewhat needed hierarchy and rules in the Northshore High, my prof said go crazy so I will 🤭🤭! I loooove Regina's somewhat mature and realistic view of not just the community in their school but also the society as a whole.
That sounds amazing, good luck with your thesis!
Cool 👏🏼💯
the only difference between regina and janice was their popularity and self expression
So she's a sociopath. Got it.
What a lot of teenagers don't realise is that high school isn't a real example of how life actually works. That's why a lot of popular kids fail after high school because if they aren't genuine at school, they carry that so-called power into the real world and then life smacks them in the face. There is always someone bigger and meaner and more manipulative than you, especially the adult working world. And when you start working and you're on the bottom of the totem pole, acting like a wanker and throwing your weight around, your boss will tear you down in one sentence.