What meaning did this insignificant date in time have before Lindsay Lohan uttered those iconic lines … “On October 3, he asked me what day it was.” “It’s October 3.”
It’s that time of year again when we celebrate that insignificant date … and it’s a Wednesday, so you better be wearing pink, otherwise you can’t sit with us. “Mean Girls,” the hit movie based on the book “Queen Bees and Wannabees,” came out 14 years ago, and it remains one of the most quotable movies of all time. The “Mean Girls” effect continues to have an impact today, officially opening as a show on Broadway in April earlier this year.
The movie we all know and love is a series of plot twists, scheme after scheme — a devious battle fought for ultimate power in the full-tilt jungle madness that is high school. For years, tweens, teens and 20-somethings alike marveled at the genius that is “Mean Girls,” a movie with a premise that is so dramatic, yet so funny and relatable.
Don’t be fooled because many think this movie is all about the typical back-stabbing, vicious nature of the high school hierarchy that we’ve all become familiar with, when in reality, it is so much more than that. The true meaning of the movie comes from the very wise Miss Norbury, played by the brilliant Tina Fey, and it has nothing to do with telling Cady Heron that she’s a pusher who pushes people.
Quite possibly one of the most underrated lines of this cinematic masterpiece — not for how funny it is, but for how true it rings — comes near the end of the movie, right before the climax when Regina George died … no I’m totally kidding. But it is perhaps the most important line of the movie.
“You all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores.”
We love a feminist queen.
It’s a quick line, and it comes by quickly if you’re not paying attention. Perhaps the humor in how true it is disguises the gravity of what she is actually saying. In essence, this scene is all about calling out the students for their “girl-on-girl crime” — the true obstacle to feminism. When girls tear other girls down, it perpetuates a culture in which guys think it’s acceptable to do the same, and some girls even encourage it. And that is not what equality is about. WE SHOULD TOTALLY JUST STAB THE PATRIARCHY.
Graphic from tenor.com
How can women expect to truly be perceived as equals when they engage in behavior that ultimately degrades one another? Save your negative energy, feelings and hatred that you have for the women in your life and use it to build up others. Instead of viewing life as a competition with other women, use your voice to create an environment that promotes camaraderie among women.
“Calling somebody else fat won’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn’t make you any smarter … All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.”
Think about the ending on stage and how Cady Heron mended the rift created between every female at The Spring Fling; she apologized to everyone that had gotten hurt by the Burn Book, built up all of the girls at the dance, and shared her winnings with her peers. It may seem like a lot, but if every woman treated each other that way, strides toward equality would be astronomical — the limit would not exist. High school, college, life … it’s like a shark tank, but if you want to float, you must take action to destroy the toxic girl vs. girl mindset that has become so prevalent in our society.
Keep trying to make feminism happen. It’s going to happen. Happy “Mean Girls” Day, everyone!
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