The initial scene in Mean Girls shows parents saying goodbye to their daughter and hoping she has a great first day of school. The mother is crying because her sixteen-year-old daughter is starting traditional schooling for the first time, after being homeschooled since birth.
Theme stated: "I had numerous friends in Africa. However, until now, I have yet to make any in Evanston." This particular line serves as a hint towards her current lack of friends at her new school...
This suggests that she will encounter unfamiliar acquaintances and people, and we must be patient to find out their identities and see how events progress.
In the setup, we are introduced to Caddy, the main character of the movie, who has recently relocated from Africa. Previously, she and her parents resided in Africa until her
...mother was offered a position at Northwestern University and made the decision to move. During their crossing of the road, Caddy narrowly escapes being struck by a school bus, causing visible fear in her parents. This event emphasizes their worry and apprehension for her well-being. At present, Caddy is embarking on her initial experience in a traditional school after having been educated at home.
The protagonist has distinct features such as orange hair, natural beauty, and intelligence. She becomes acquainted with two new friends called Janis and Domain (who refer to themselves as "too gay to function"). These friends give her a tour of the school and create a seating arrangement for all the different cliques, including freshmen, ROTC guys, preps, JP Socks, Asian nerds, cool Asians, varsity Socks, unfriendly black hotels, girls who eat their feelings, girls who
don't eat anything, desperate wannabes, burnouts, sexually active band geeks, Janice and Domain (also known as the greatest people you'll ever meet), and the "plastics".
The plastics consist of three girls named Regina George, Karen Smith, and Gretchen Wieners. They are the dominant group at Rosewood High and are known for their popularity. According to Janice, Regina George is known for being selfish and deceitful. Karen Smith is considered to be extremely unintelligent. Gretchen Wieners is well-informed about everyone's personal lives. Janice reveals that she has a strained relationship with Regina due to a false rumor that she spread, which negatively affected someone named Seance.
The story takes place in a school, featuring different locations like the outdoors, classrooms, hallway, bathroom, gym, and cafeteria. The catalyst occurs when the plastics extend an invitation to Caddy to join them for lunch. Meanwhile, Janice and Domain are waiting for Caddy to join them but get confused upon seeing her with the plastics. The plastics inquire about Caddy's background and are astonished to discover that she has never attended a real school before. Regina ultimately decides that she wants Caddy to sit with them throughout the week and does not give her a chance to refuse.
Additionally, they clarify that allowing anyone to join them is a rare occurrence.
Debate: Initially, Janice becomes enraged upon realizing Regina's manipulative nature and is reminded of a past incident that further angers her. However, as time passes, she begins to find amusement in the situation and is entertained by Loris's perspective. Janice speculates that if Caddy had spied on them and informed her about the ongoing teenage drama, it would be
interesting, akin to an experimental project. Eventually, Janice becomes confused but ultimately decides to proceed with the plan as she feels she has no other choice.
The break into two occurs when Caddy witnesses Regina kissing Aaron as she is leaving the party. In this moment, Caddy's perception of Regina changes, realizing that she is not as innocent as she seemed and is instead promiscuous and manipulative. Caddy admits to Regina that she had feelings for Aaron, who happens to be Regina's ex-boyfriend. Surprisingly, Regina claims to be okay with it and promises to have a conversation with Aaron.
B Story: In this movie, the story focuses on Caddy and Aaron's relationship. Caddy developed feelings for Aaron when they first met in math class. This is Caddy's second crush, as her previous one ended when the guy rejected her when they were five years old.
Aaron has a crush on Caddy as well. He invites her to a Halloween party and subtly expresses his interest in her by saying, "That flier admits one person only, so don't bring some other guy with you." This comment made it clear that they both had mutual feelings. Things were going well until Regina decided to talk to Aaron at the Halloween party and lied to him about Caddy. She portrayed Caddy as crazy and obsessed with him, giving examples like, "l know she's kind of socially retarded and weird, but she's my friend, so Just promise me you won't make fun of her." She also mentioned how Caddy writes "Mrs. Aaron Samuels" all over her notebook and wears a T-shirt under her clothes that says "l heart Aaron."
Regina even suggested that Caddy saved a Kleenex Aaron used and planned to use it for some kind of African voodoo to make him like her. After hearing all these lies, Aaron became freaked out (though it was evident he liked Caddy) and started dating Regina. However, he offered to tutor Caddy afterwards and agreed not to tell Regina because she might get mad. During the tutoring sessions, they kissed but ultimately stopped because Aaron found it unfair to Regina.
Caddy hosted a large party, and many people, including Aaron, attended. While in Caddy's room, Aaron discovers a photo of a younger Caddy riding an elephant. The sight of it brings a helpless smile to Aaron's face, and a song begins playing. As the events unfold, Aaron smiles again when Caddy decides to embrace something new and refrain from gossiping about others. When Caddy achieves a score of 98 on a math test, Aaron playfully calls her a "nerd" with a smile. It is evident that Aaron is still interested in Caddy. Finally, towards the end of the movie, Caddy ends up with the boy she had always dreamt of, Aaron. They share a slow dance, kiss, and have a wonderful time.
Fun and games: The fun and games involve ways to sabotage Regina George. Caddy initially doesn't believe Janice when she speaks ill of Regina, but eventually realizes that Regina is not as she seems. Aaron asks Caddy to a Halloween party, which makes Regina jealous. In response, Regina starts talking badly about Caddy in order to make her appear as a stalker. Regina notices Caddy's gaze on her and kisses Aaron to
further infuriate her. This causes Caddy to realize how mean Regina is, prompting her to leave the party and seek comfort at Janice's house. Tearfully, Caddy arrives at Janice's house and Janice devises a plan for revenge against Regina.
Janice labels Regina as the "evil dictator" and devises a plan with three actions to eliminate Regina's advantages. Their aim is to sever ties with Aaron Samuels, her attractive physique, and her group of loyal followers. Caddy agrees with Janice's negative assessment of Regina. They now set out to seek revenge, with Caddy feigning ignorance for their plan to succeed. Regina mentions having a skin issue, prompting a response from Julie about a cream she has to alleviate the problem.
She and Janice attempted to create a cream using foot cream and various ingredients, believing it would have negative effects. However, their plan backfired when the cream ended up making her smell like peppermint, which Aaron found attractive and led him to kiss her more. During gym class, Janice sneaked into the locker room and cut two circles in each of Regina's tank top boobs sections in an attempt to embarrass her. Unexpectedly, Regina was unfazed by this action, and the following day, all the girls showed up to school with two cut-out circles on their tops. Despite their efforts, nothing seemed to be going right, causing frustration for the girls.
Caddy realizes that cracking Gretchen would give her access to all the information about Regina. Due to Gretchen's extensive knowledge about everyone, this would make it easier to bring down Regina. While speaking with Regina, Caddy discovers that she doesn't actually send candy grams,
but instead receives them. To gather more information, Caddy purchases three candy grams: one for herself with Regina's address (though it is actually from Caddy), one for Regina, and one for Karen with Regina's address (though it is actually from Caddy). When the candy grams are distributed, Gretchen doesn't receive any and becomes extremely nosy and jealous when Caddy gets one.
Gretchen inquires of Caddy about the sender of a card. Upon reading the card's message, "Thanks for being such a great friend. Love, Regina," Gretchen, who previously believed that Regina was angry with her, begins to reveal secrets. The secrets continue to flow until only one remains to be exposed. Finally, Gretchen divulges a secret that they can exploit: Regina is cheating on Aaron with a person named Shane Oman, and they rendezvous in the projection room every Thursday.
Now, Aaron was finally given the last piece of information he needed to uncover before deciding to leave. Caddy kindly offered her assistance in tutoring Aaron following their breakup. However, during their conversation, she unintentionally disclosed that Regina had been unfaithful to him. Consequently, Aaron ended their relationship. This revelation prompted Caddy and Janice to plot a scheme for ruining Regina's desired physique. Caddy began feeding her specially formulated Killeen bars that were designed to induce rapid weight gain. Interestingly enough, these bars had previously been utilized by Caddy's mother to aid malnourished children in Africa in gaining weight. Later on, Regina and her friends went to a store where she had placed an item of clothing on hold.
Regina encountered a problem at the store where they only had dresses in sizes 1, 3,
and 5. Unfortunately, the dress she had put on hold was a size 5 and no longer fit her. This situation caused Regina to feel frustrated and curious. To ease her worries, Caddy fibbed and claimed that gaining water weight first was part of the process before it turned into muscle. However, this fabrication did not prevent Regina from losing her desirable physique, her relationship with Aaron Samuels, and her group of friends known as her "army of shanks". Gretchen and Karen confronted Regina when she broke one of the dress rules by wearing sweatpants on a Monday. As a consequence, they instructed her to eat elsewhere.
Regina is taken aback when she exclaims that Mimi can walk home. Shortly after, Regina accidentally collides with a significantly overweight girl who angrily shouts, "Pay attention to where you're going, fats!" This causes the entire cafeteria to erupt in laughter.
The turning point of the movie occurs when Caddy becomes the popular girl. As Caddy leaves the school, Gretchen and Karen inquire about their weekend plans. Caddy appears perplexed and mentions her obligation to go to Madison with her parents. The girls feel let down and bewildered, while Caddy offers a possibility of trying to change her situation.
Caddy realizes she is now the center of attention as the bad guys close in. Instead of going to Mailman's Walt nerd parent's house as she was supposed to, Caddy got out and threw a party to be with the plastics (Gretchen and Karen). However, she had not invited Regina, Janice, or Damian. Unbeknownst to Janice and Damian, Caddy ditched them for people who were not her true
friends. When Regina hears that Caddy had a party and did not invite her, she becomes furious.
Caddy and Aaron were in Caddy's room when Aaron realizes Caddy is basically a clone of Regina. Caddy has transformed from the sweet innocent girl into a bitchy one. She now believes she is cool and can control anyone she wants. However, Caddy makes a foolish mistake by telling Aaron she can't talk to him because he belongs to Regina as her property, and tells him to be quiet. Suddenly, Caddy ends up vomiting on him as Regina walks into the room and catches them together, exclaiming "what the hell" in shock. Aaron quickly departs, and although Caddy chases after him outside, he refuses to turn back. Caddy has become everything she had never wanted to be.
She began abandoning her former friends Janice and Ian in favor of girls who showed no concern for her. Despite her efforts, her attempts were futile and she ultimately transformed into someone superficial. Janice and Domain drove to Caddy's place after Janice showcased a picture she made of Caddy, Domain, and herself at an art show. Upon arrival, they spotted Caddy outside and during the party, Janice confronts her by calling her a "dirty little liar." Caddy defends herself by insisting it's not what it appears to be. She explains how she couldn't invite them because she had to maintain the facade of being superficial. In response, Janice asserts, "hey, buddy, you're not pretending anymore."
Caddy stopped pretending and revealed her true harsh nature, becoming like a plastic. Caddy questioned why Seance and Damson were so infatuated with err, which greatly
angered them. Plastics mistakenly believe that they are universally loved, but in truth, everyone despises them. As a result, Caddy is abandoned by Seance and Damson, who drive away, leaving her behind. On her way home, Region becomes even more upset when her boyfriend Shame asks why she is eating Killeen bars, as his coach used to require the football team to consume them in order to gain weight.
Regina's anger reached its peak and she decided to take action. Filled with rage, she returned home and vented her frustration by screaming and hitting her lamp. In her fury, she retrieved the burn book, which contained vicious comments written by Regina and her friends about others. She selected a photo of herself, cut it out, and added a scathing note on a page, labeling herself as the most despicable and untrustworthy person. To emphasize her point, she glued the photo onto the page. The following day, tears streaming down her face, Regina presented the burn book to the principal, claiming she discovered it in the bathroom. Surprisingly, Gretchen, Karen, and Caddy were the only individuals not included in the book.
In this scene, the girls are summoned to the principal's office because they are accused of not owning the book, which actually belonged to Region. Unfortunately, everything seems to be going wrong as Regina had made copies of every page and dispersed them throughout the school during class time. She strategically placed them in the hallways, on lockers, and under classroom doors. When the bell rings, chaos ensues as students pick up these papers and read rumors about themselves and others. Fights break out as
they try to figure out who is behind these rumors and they become increasingly angry. Meanwhile, Regina stands at a distance, finding amusement in observing everyone's reactions.
Janice discovers that Domain is being criticized as "too gay to function" and is angry because she believed only she was allowed to say that. She informs Caddy about this, knowing that Caddy is responsible for writing it in the book. The girls become hysterical, pushing each other, calling names, and Ana is screaming. The principal witnesses the chaos, and despite finding it unappealing, Ana notices a girl's hood hanging off a doorknob and tries to help her, but instead gets kicked by her. This causes the principal to become furious, leading him to pull the emergency fire alarm and demand that all the girls gather in the gymnasium.
During the dark night of the soul, all the girls were filled with anger because of the burn book's hurtful actions. To address this issue, Ms. Nurture, who is Caddy's math teacher, decided to talk with the girls. She asked them to participate in a series of exercises which included closing their eyes and raising their hands if they had ever experienced gossip as victims. Surprisingly, every single girl raised their hands. Afterwards, Ms. Nurture told them to do the same exercise but this time raising their hands if they had ever participated in gossip themselves. Once again, every girl raised their hands.
Regina expressed her unwillingness to participate by stating, "Can I Just say that we don't have a clique problem at this school? And some of us shouldn't have to take this workshop, because some of us
are just victims in this situation." Ms. Nurture responded by instructing the girls to raise their hands if they had ever felt personally victimized by Regina, resulting in everyone, including the teachers, raising their hands. Following this exercise, Ms. Nurture instructed the girls to write apologies to the individuals they had hurt and read them aloud in front of everyone. During this process, Janice went up on stage and delivered her apology, which revealed the truth.
Janice discusses her plan with her newfound friend Caddy to intentionally disrupt Region's life. She reveals that Caddy pretended to be friends with Region but would then go back to Seance's house and mock the things Regina would say. Janice confesses how Caddy kissed Region's boyfriend, persuading him to end their relationship. They also schemed to make Regina gain weight by giving her special bars. Additionally, they turned Regina's friends against her and deceived her by replacing her face wash with foot cream. The crowd rejoices as Janice shares this revelation. Following the shocking confession, Regina storms out, and Caddy follows her.
Regina begins by expressing her dislike for Caddy, describing her as a peculiar and less attractive version of herself. A gathering forms outside, witnessing Regina being struck by a bus. Speculation spreads that Caddy pushed Regina, resulting in her head spinning around. As a consequence, Caddy's mother now despises her and she is struggling with her math class. Caddy confesses to writing in a burn book about her teacher, Ms. Nurture, being involved in drug dealing which led to a police search of her house. While unimpressed, Ms. Nurture forgives Caddy on the condition that she joins the
matchless, a math competition against other schools.
The matchless event coincides with spring fling, and Caddy emerges as the winner by correctly answering the final question, breaking the previous tie. Despite being grounded, Caddy's matchless team and teacher persuade her to attend the spring fling as she deserved it. Caddy and Shame triumph at the spring fling and during her speech, she expresses remorse for the hurt caused by the burn book and acknowledges that everyone deserves respect, dismissing the significance of a meaningless crown.
She divided the crown into pieces and distributed them to Janice, Regina, and others. Her parents observe her action and smile because they are proud of her. Caddy successfully wins the attention of the boy she likes. The group of popular girls (known as the plastics) break up. Regina engages in sports to release her anger, while Karen takes over the role of announcing the weather alone. Karen starts a new clique called Ana Decade Ana Tuna, with a new queen named Dee serving as its leader. Aaron continues his education at Northwestern University, but Caddy still manages to see him on weekends. Caddy returns to living a normal life as an ordinary human being, and Janice finds herself a boyfriend. All the conflicts and drama from the previous year no longer hold any importance, and the world of high school girls is now peaceful.
The last image shows the new set of Junior plastics avoiding a bus accident. Caddy is relieved to see that girl world is finally at peace. She jokingly contemplates taking care of any freshmen who dare to disturb this peace. This contrast with the opening
image, which portrays a group of unprepared girls starting their journey together.
