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On Wednesdays, we wear pink! Like, are you obsessed with me? *cough cough* I’m sick. You will get pregnant, and die. These quotes are said without citation, warning, or need of either, because Mean Girls is beloved by all and quoted by those who haven’t even seen the movie. Don’t get me wrong, Mean Girls is great. It is beyond quotable and its message is fine. Plus, Lindsey Lohan was doing pretty well at that point in her life, and that’s nice to see. However, Clueless is so much better than Mean Girls, and it saddens me that more people don’t see that.
Alright, at the beginning of the movie we have Cher who is entitled, superficial, and a girl with high standards. Then there is Cady, who is naive, somewhat nice, and super-duper smart. The characters in both of these films are funny and all, but Clueless hits home when it comes to a more diverse cast and that is important.Â
Then we have the plot. Mean Girls does a great job portraying what high school is like for our generation. Seriously, that cafeteria scene where Janis and Damian describe each of the cliques to Cady is on point. I was not in high school in the 90’s so I won’t even comment on whether or not Clueless does a good job of that. What Clueless does do a great job of doing, however, is it takes a girl who has some potential to be a more well-rounded person, and she works to become better. Cady is naïve to the reality of high school and becomes a worse person. She doesn’t have any direction, cares too much about what people think of her throughout the entire movie, then only starts to be herself again when she is seriously called out and becomes shunned and hated at school.
Cher is goofy and ditzy, and would probably have to be reminded to not text and drive in this day and age, but she identifies when she’s unfair or unkind to people and she chooses to better herself. She’s motivated to be a better person after the cool feeling she gets *selfishly, at first* going out of her way to play matchmaker to two of her teachers.
Cher starts doing charity work, because she sees what kind of joy it can bring to her life. She’s the Regina who invites the new girl into her clique and genuinely befriends her and wants to make it her mission to push others to be their best self. She also makes mistakes throughout her new endeavor of being a more selfless person, and takes time to soul search throughout the movie more than once.
While Mean Girls does a good job of portraying our high school years, it does a poor job of portraying the way girls treat each other. And it goes right down the movie’s name: Mean Girls. Maybe it was just my high school experience, but the guys treated others just as poorly as the girls did. Girls and guys were also equally just as kind to one another, just in different ways. I understand that Mean Girls is a parody of high school that exaggerates how it all goes down, but it also perpetuates the idea that girls are mean, and above all, that they are mean to each other. That’s not what I’m about. I’m about women empowerment and support.
That aside, Cher could never be personally victimized by Regina George. Cher would A) mind her own business and B) simply not let that happen.
Clueless is also very quotable, too. In case you forgot…
Brilliant.
Same.
IDK what a “heifer” is, but, #relatable.
It’s called a California Roll, baby.
I’m not sure why I don’t say this more.
Humor, fashion and dating advice, tips for better grades, and feminism all in one neat package. This is why Clueless is better than Mean Girls, and why it deserves its own National holiday.Â