Mean Girls: Difference between revisions

* [[Billing Displacement]]: When a ''Mean Girls'' game came out for the [[Nintendo DS]] in 2010, [[Lindsay Lohan]], the film's star, wasn't on the cover. The tabloids [http://perezhilton.com/2010-04-12-fill-in-the-blank-330#respond had a field day with this.]

* [[Blatant Lies]]:

** Most of Regina's behavior fits this trope.

* [[Blondes Are Evil]]: Regina. Subverted with Karen, who is actually pretty nice.

* [[The Brainless Beauty]]: Karen (see [[Dumb Blonde]]).

* [[But I Digress]]: [[Lampshaded]] in the Spring Fling scene.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Regina George, the butt of all of Cady's (technically Janis's) tricks and pranks. [[Jerkass|She probably deserves it, though.]]

* [[California Doubling]]: As [[Roger Ebert]] [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040430/REVIEWS/404300306 put it], "She enrolls in Evanston Township High School -- which, like all American high schools in the movies, is physically located in [[Toronto]]"

* [[Corrupt the Cutie]]: This is half the plot.

* [[Curse Cut Short]]: Regina.

* [[Cut a Slice, Take the Rest]]: During the time when Regina is unknowingly being manipulated into gaining weight, she can be seen cutting off the end of a loaf of French bread and biting the loaf. Tina Fey notices this on the first time during the [[DVD Commentary]] and actually remarks that [[Bugs Bunny]] [[Golden Age of Animation|used to]] [[Zany Cartoon|do that]].

* [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]: Gretchen is forced to change her usual place in "Jingle Bell Rock". As a result, [[Epic Fail|she stumbles on Cady, then on the stereo that starts skipping, and kicks the thing on her crush's face.]]

* [[Flamboyant Gay]]: Damian is "too gay to function," though to be fair he is only mildly flamboyant.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: A narrating Cady, with regards to her immediate crush on Aaron:

** Another one, foreshadowing the exact same event, comes at the very beginning, when Cady {{spoiler|is almost hit by a big yellow school bus}}.

* [[Former Friend of Alpha Bitch]]: Janis to Regina.

** Opposite-Sexed Homosexual Life Partners: Janis and Damian.

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]

'''Janis''': [laughs] Buddy, you're not pretending anymore! You're plastic! Cold, shiny, hard plastic! }}

** Of course, [[Hypocrite|Janis qualifies just as much]], and even caused Cady's example to start with.

* [[High School Dance]]: Spring Fling at the end.

* [[Homeschooled Kids]]: Cady is one. The opening scene also parodies the stereotype of home schooled kids being either ultra-[[Nerd|nerds]] or [[The Fundamentalist|religious whackos]].

* [[Hormone-Addled Teenager]]: Most of them, but since the movie's a comedy it's mostly [[Played for Laughs]].

* [[Important Haircut]]: Off screen. After Regina spread the rumor in middle school that Janis was a lesbian, Janis dropped out of school for the rest of the year; when she returned in the fall, "all her hair was cut off, and she was totally weird."

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Incredibly Lame]] [[Visual Pun]]: At the Halloween party:

'''Cady:''' "An ex-wife!" }}

* [[Indulgent Fantasy Segue]]: Cady fantasizes about beating the crap out of Regina over a boy that they both like.

* [[My Card]]: {{smallcaps| Kevin Gnapoor: Math Enthusiast/[[Badass]] MC}}

* [[My Nayme Is]]: It's spelled "Cady," not "Katie."

* [[Naive Newcomer]]: Cady.

* [[Nerd Core]]: Kevin's rap.

* [[No Dress Code]]: The plastics get away with performing in a school pageant wearing sexy Santa outfits that are closer to lingerie than costumes.

* [[No Social Skills]]: Up until she came to the school, Cady lived in Africa and was home schooled, thus winding up with absolutely no clue about how things worked in 'Girl World'. Her parents appear to be clueless every time they appear. Here is an unusual case where we get the message via dialogue rather than non-verbally:

'''Dad''': [[Completely Missing the Point|Are they not allowed out when they're grounded?]] }}

* [[Not So Different]]: Though Janis wants revenge on Regina, she's as spiteful and manipulative as she is when it comes to Cady.

** But then arguably played straight when {{spoiler|she hooks up with Kevin at the end.}}

* [[Parents Walk in At the Worst Time]]:

* [[Peer Pressure Makes You Evil]]

* [[Pink Means Feminine]]

* [[Playing Gertrude]]: 32-year-old [[Amy Poehler]] playing the mom of Regina, despite being just five years older than Rachel McAdams. [[Tina Fey]] even mentions this in one of the [[DVD Bonus Content|featurettes]]. Justified, in that a) she's Regina's ''step''mother, and was probably picked up as a young trophy wife, and b) it's implied that she has had excessive plastic surgery, her "hard-as-rocks" boob job being just the tip of the iceberg.

* [[Popular Is Dumb]]: Karen obviously, and arguably Gretchen and Regina who seem somewhat unastute. Regina, despite being able to manipulate most of the female half of the school into becoming her pawns, frequently shows herself to be rather [[Book Dumb]].

** Don't forget that, as a rule of Girl World, you have to dumb yourself down to appeal to boys. It's more than likely that, with the exception of Karen, all the girls are [[Obfuscating Stupidity|pretending to be much dumber than they actually are]].

* [[Professional Butt-Kisser]]: Gretchen. At the end of the film, Gretchen {{spoiler|joins the Cool Asians now that the Plastics have broken up, and attaches herself to Trang Pak the way she did Regina. Her last scene has her brown-nosing in Vietnamese, with her hair straightened to look more like her Asian friends.}}

* [[Twisting the Words]]: Regina uses this to undermine people's confidence: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex51QJfN1d8 "So you agree? You think you're really pretty?"]

* [[Verbal Backspace]]: Principal Duvall, [[Running Gag|repeatedly]].

* [[Wet Sari Scene]]: How Karen "predicts" when it's going to rain.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: In the original script Gretchen was envisaged as plain-to-ugly (with a "sniveling whiny face") and part of the in-crowd solely for her wealth. Obviously this was dropped when the very pretty [[Lacey Chabert]] was cast in the role but traces of the original perception of the character can still be seen in the film in Regina's obvious surprise that Gretchen was nominated for Spring Fling Queen.