History YMMV / Meangirls

%%* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Time has not been kind to Janis, with many viewers finding her to be among the bitchiest characters in the movie. The entire plot is driven by her desire to get revenge on Regina -- including some schemes that involve manipulating Gretchen's very low self-esteem and tricking Regina into gaining weight. It's for this reason, in fact, that a popular fan theory speculates that Janis was Regina's BetaBitch back when the two of them were friends, and was just as mean as her, or that Janis was the AlphaBitch and Regina was a naive girl (like Cady) who gradually evolved into a mean girl, betraying her best friend and getting her unpopular.

* {{Fanon}}: It's an accepted fan theory that Gretchen [[InformedJudaism downplays her Jewish heritage]] in order to better fit in with Regina.

* FirstInstallmentWins: The first film is considered a pop culture classic, extremely quotable and a FountainOfMemes. The second is considered a weak effort overall and quickly forgotten. The musical is likewise seen as SoOkayItsAverage at best.

** Hearing Mr. Duvall say "I got parents calling me on the phone asking, 'Did someone get shot?'" ends up becoming unsettling to hear due to the increasing publicity given to school shootings.

* HollywoodPudgy: Regina's weight gain is almost entirely informed. Wardrobe allegedly stuffed Creator/RachelMcAdams's sweatpants and gave her an oversized hoodie to give her the appearance of having gained weight... but her upper half is swimming in the hoodie, and the pants only appear to be a trifle snug. Presumably it's a mockery of this trope, as Regina is considered fat because she can't fit into a size 5 dress.

** Even as Cady dips into bitch territory, it's hard not to feel some sympathy for her, seeing how much she was manipulated and mistreated before. She really hits the pinnacle when even her own ''parents'' think she pushed Regina in front of the bus. Thankfully, she gets better.

** The portrayal of Janis and Damian illustrates how attitudes towards LGBT people among teenagers were evolving in the early-mid '00s. Regina suspecting that Janis is a lesbian was enough to get her to kick Janis out of her social circle and spread rumors about her sexuality, leading to her present outcast status, while the Plastics list Janis in the Burn Book as a "dyke" and Damian as "too gay to function". This sort of casual homophobia on their part was shown as a sign of their AlphaBitch tendencies even in 2004, but characters with such tendencies from the 2010s onwards would be portrayed as downright bigoted rather than merely callous, given that nowadays, homophobia is seen by teenagers as roughly on a par with racism. It illustrates how, while tolerance of LGBT people was growing, full equality and acceptance was still a ways away (this was the year when Massachusetts became the first US state to legalize same-sex marriage, an occasion that sparked controversy and [[MediaScaremongering moral panic]]), and being gay, or even MistakenForGay, could make somebody an outcast. This is partially acknowledged in the musical adaption. Whereas in the film Regina makes it clear that Janis wasn't invited to her party during middle school because of her alleged homosexuality, in the musical she ''pretends'' it's just because she was only allowed to invite six people.

** Ms. Norbury saying that girls calling each other sluts and whores opens the door for guys to call them sluts and whores. The idea that a girl being called a slut would ever be her own fault, as well as the idea that girls should base their behavior solely on how guys will respond, falls into the "outdated" category.
** Cady laughs along with Ms. Norbury's snide assertion that none of the boys on the opposing math team are attractive. The movie then cuts to a shot of the three boys, inviting the audience to laugh at their ugliness. This comes one scene before Cady's big speech in which she shows her personal growth by praising the appearance of disabled and plus-sized girls in her class. The double-standard is not exactly enlightened.

* When Cady, Karen and Gretchen are being questioned by Principal Duvall about the Burn Book, one of Gretchen's excuses for why they're the only girls in the school not mentioned there is because they're well-liked. We're clearly meant to see this as a last ditch and laughable explanation. However, it is perfectly reasonable that students who didn't have conflict with its writer might be spared from being written about. Mr Duvall's assumption that this means the girls wrote it, while technically true here, is unfair and not based in sufficient evidence.

* JerkassHasAPoint: When Cady, Karen and Gretchen are being questioned by Principal Duvall about the Burn Book, one of Gretchen's excuses for why they're the only girls in the school not mentioned there is because they're well-liked. We're clearly meant to see this as a last ditch and laughable explanation. However, it is perfectly reasonable that students who didn't have conflict with its writer might be spared from being written about. Mr Duvall's assumption that this means the girls wrote it, while technically true here, is unfair and not based in sufficient evidence.

* JerkassHasAPoint: When Cady, Karen and Gretchen are being questioned by Principal Duvall about the Burn Book, one of Gretchen's excuses for why they're the only girls in the school not mentioned there is because they're well-liked. We're clearly meant to see this as a last ditch and laughable explanation. However, it is perfectly reasonable that students who didn't have conflict with its writer might be spared from being gossiped about. Mr Duvall's assumption that this means the girls wrote it, while technically true here, is unfair and not based in sufficient evidence.

*** Also, her full name, "Regina George"... King George III, anyone?

** The movie follows [[Creator/LindsayLohan Cady]] as she falls in with the wrong crowd and goes from a mild-mannered nice girl into a party-happy temperamental bitch. Lohan's constant arrests and trips to rehab afterwards have led to the [[MemeticMutation widespread idea]] that Regina got the last laugh on Cady in the end. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mean_girls_xl_05--film-A.jpg This shot]] has become surprisingly prophetic.[[note]]Yes, that is Lohan in the garbage bin.[[/note]]

*** Granted, seeing that kids would probably get alcohol some way or another, letting them have a bit at a safe place is a wiser decision.