Tearjerking moments in Mean Girls.
- When Damien asks Janis if she’s bothered by the Plastics using her original choreography for Jingle Bell Rock, it’s played for laughs. But it doubles as a tear jerking moment when you remember how much Regina’s bullying actually changed Janis. She went from creating cute dances with her best friend to being the brunt of homophobic jokes that forced her into home-schooling for the rest of Eighth grade.
- Cady eating lunch alone in the bathroom on her first day of school.
- The little moments showing Cady's genuine confusion regarding normal teenager interactions, like when Jason asks her if she wants her muffin buttered and the table of boys sitting behind her snickers. Cady's clearly aware that there's something more to the question than what she's getting but it's obvious she doesn't know how to react to the situation. Shows just how confusing school must be for her.
- Gretchen breaking down and admitting to Cady how miserable she's been around Regina can count as one, especially where her voice breaks as she says, "If you knew how mean she is..."
- There's also the small line where she says that Regina wouldn't let her wear hoop earrings. And then her parents got her a beautiful pair for her Hanukkah present, but because of the rules she had to pretend she didn't like them. She sounds especially sad as she says that.
- Janis' "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Cady. But what really clinches it is her throwing the painting of herself, Damien and Cady at Cady's feet in disgust, and Cady's teary eyes afterwards.Janis: Here, you can have this. It won a prize.
- Take a peek inside the car as it drives away. Immediately after throwing the painting at Cady, Janis flops down in the seat with her knees curled to her chest and her face hidden against them. The reason Damien speeds away is so that Cady and the rest of the partygoers won't see Janis cry.
- It's even worse in the musical. There, she's still angry, but she's mostly just sad. She's lost yet another friend.
Janis: I hate Regina's guts, but here's what you don't comprehend. At least she has the guts to not pretend to be my friend!
Cady: (spoken, quiet) Janis...
Janis: IT'S FINE! Really, fine! - When all the girls are fighting each other after seeing the pages of the Burn Book, there's a shot where the camera zooms out from Regina as she watches the chaos with glee. Everybody else in the shot is fighting each other... except for one girl, who's just sitting on the steps, crying — presumably about whatever she read about herself. Also, in the background, another girl is crying while her friend hugs her.
- The boy who calls his mom, asking her to pick him up, because he's scared. Unlike many of the characters in the film, his soft-spoken voice, nerves, and fairly understated appearance suggests that he was one of the gentler high school students, and certainly has done nothing to deserve the danger that's going on around him. His mom is likely one of the parents who called Duval asking if there had been a shooting.
- When Cady doesn't own up to anything she's done to contribute to the mess in the school, Ms. Norbury simply says this to her: "I'm really Disappointed in You, Cady."
- Karen has a couple, notably she seems fully aware of how much of a ditz she is. Cady tries to comfort her saying she's not stupid, Karen just replying "No, I am actually". Additionally, when she finds out Regina called her a slut and her reaction to "boo, you whore" is the only time we see her genuinely offended.
- When she finds out Regina called her a slut and claimed that's why no one likes her, she's genuinely hurt, and seems shocked that her "friend" would say something like that behind her back. Gretchen also doesn't seem to enjoy telling her, and only let her know because "she has a right to know" what Regina is saying.
- It's really hard to watch Cady being cast out by the whole school after the "intervention". Soon after that, not only did she have to deal with the rumor that she was the one pushed Regina in front of a bus, but then in order to keep Ms. Norbury from being fired, she confesses to being involved writing that stuff in the "Burn Book", and in order to protect Karen and Gretchen, she takes the blame all by herself.
- While it is Played for Laughs, Gretchen's ending is quite depressing when you think about it. As noted above, she was completely miserable as Regina's Beta Bitch but is clearly too frightened to operate outside of a clique, so she gloms onto a new one, having apparently learned nothing.
- Slightly mitigated by the fact that she is shown wearing the hoop earrings that Regina had forbidden her to wear, which might be a hint that she is taking baby steps toward regaining her self-esteem.
- After being called out for breaking the rules by wearing sweatpants on a Monday, Regina replies, in a rather hollow voice, that "these sweatpants are the only thing that fits me right now." It's probably the only time we hear her real voice, rather than the affected, smugness she usually uses. She's shallow, vapid, and manipulative, sure...but she also genuinely doesn't understand what's happening to her and instead of having friends to turn to, she's being pushed away.
- It's also a sign that she still hasn't made the connection between her weight gain and the "weight-loss" bars Cady gave her. You can read it as her being too stupid to figure it out, or that she's so confident of her control that it doesn't occur to her that her minions are capable of undermining her...or as a sign that she genuinely trusts Cady to the point that she's the last person she'd suspect.
- Sort of Fridge Sadness here — Karen and Gretchen both seem to genuinely consider Cady to be their friend, and are for the most part nice to her. Karen's never mean to her at all, and the only truly mean thing Gretchen did was tell Regina that Cady liked Aaron. Even her claiming Cady had a crush on Kevin and teasing her about it came off as more friendly ribbing than anything. Hell, Gretchen even chooses to confide in Cady about how miserable she is being Regina's friend. And Cady is only interested in destroying Regina. She's still nice to them for the most part, and even seems to like them, but it's still pretty sad to think of how Cady's using them (especially Gretchen) while she's in the process of becoming a Plastic.
- Helped a little by the last scene that shows Karen in Cady's group on the lawn, implying they remain friends.
- In the musical, when various students are being spotlighted to talk about Cady in the same awed way they used to talk about Regina, Karen shyly states, "She's nice to me," as if that's something rare
- From the musical, Gretchen's solo song, "What's Wrong With Me?" Being Regina's friend has utterly destroyed her self-esteem, and she doesn't know how to function without Regina and is constantly afraid of losing her approval. And worst of all, Gretchen knows the relationship isn't good for her, but she's too scared to leave.Mama called me beautiful... don't believe her anymore. Now, I listen to you. What do I do that for?
- "It Roars" from the musical is mostly a cute song showing Cady's Adorkable optimism and excitement to go to school for the first time, but this part is a little sad.Cady: Everybody wants connection. Yes, I know they have their friends, but what is one friend more?
Students: No!
Cady: 'Cause I know they know this feeling... so I brush off their rejection. At our core...
Students: Just ignore her.
Cady: We can't ignore...
Students: Just ignore her...- Even worse? A lot of fan-made animations have Cady wiping away tears and forcing a smile after being rejected. Poor girl.
- Depending on your interpretation, the "I don't hate you because you're fat. You're fat, because I hate you" apology could be viewed this way. Obviously, it is sad for the receiver that she has been binge-eating because of the other girl's intense bullying, but it also could be seen to be sad for the culprit, as she now realises what terrible things she has done, and the consequences.
- Gretchen just wants to be admired. Her boyfriend Jason seems to be friends with several girls, who he hangs out with to make Gretchen jealous. Gretchen always gets jealous and this is understandable. She never has the guts to end things with Jason, and her only confrontation at Jason is at Cady’s get-together and she ends up tripping up due to being drunk, humiliating herself. When Taylor Wedell, Jason’s friend who he is spending time with walks away with disdain Jason at least has the decency to help Gretchen up and console her, but this is likely just an attempt to wriggle out of the situation. He and Gretchen are later seen making out in Cady’s bathroom, showing he is attracted to Gretchen and will treat her well when he feels like it, but he takes making her jealous to an extreme level. As well as her bad boyfriend getting to her, Gretchen is also not given as much attention as Regina due to Regina being more confident. Regina makes fun of anyone she pleases, and nothing and nobody frightens Regina. But Regina can easily worry about other girls she views as rivals. As well as Cady being recruited to join the Plastics as Regina viewed her as a threat, it is possible that this was the case with Gretchen. Regina might have seen Gretchen as a threat to her status as Queen Bee, and so she made Gretchen the second most popular girl in exchange for Gretchen’s loyalty, and while Regina did this she also stopped Gretchen wearing hoop earrings as she looked good in them and possibly attracted more attention than Regina in them.
