Is This Kylie Jenner Photo an Accidental ‘Mean Girls’ Reference?
Sometimes a movie comes along that makes a lasting impression. Tina Fey’s Mean Girls is the perfect example. It first premiered in 2004, but it was such an accurate depiction of ‘girl world’ and what it’s like for young women growing up that it still remains relevant seventeen years later.
While it was set in modern times, it’s easy enough to look back throughout history and see how some women could have been mean girls. It’s celebrities like Kylie Jenner who get slapped with the Mean Girls label at the moment, however, and it doesn’t always have to do with vicious behavior.
So what made a movie about a bunch of teenage girls who openly harassed each other so special?
‘Mean Girls’ didn’t pull any punches
Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) was just a young teenager who had been homeschooled her whole life. She had also been living in Africa since she was a toddler. When she hit high school in a typical American town, she had no idea how she was supposed to act.
Janice Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian Leigh (Daniel Franzese) begin to coach Cady, teaching her about how things work in high school. She learns about all the different cliques, and is told to avoid the most popular group of girls known as ‘The Plastics.’ Everyone is shocked when the Plastics take notice of Cady, however, and invite her to join them for lunch.
Cady is flattered, until she asks Regina George (Rachel McAdams), the leader of the plastics, to help her get a date with her crush. When Regina publicly humiliates Cady, however, the young girl who knows nothing about girl world is ready to go to war.
After that, the girls turn on each other, and nearly tear themselves apart. From surprise three-way calls to a scrapbook blasting other girls, the movie puts all the techniques young women use against each other, and the audience couldn’t get enough.
‘Mean Girls’ revealed the truth about girl world
Mean Girls was able to have an open discussion about how young girls treat each other by introducing a young woman who didn’t know about the unspoken rules. Cady was literally an open book for Regina and the Plastics to twist into whatever they wanted. She also had to learn more about how the rules worked from Janice and Damian in order to bring Regina down.
The real impact of the movie, however, was the fact that young women watching the movie recognized themselves. There were girls from every clique represented in the film, even if they didn’t get a lot of screen time.
The way Tina Fey confronted issues like hazing, not wearing the right clothes, dating a friend’s ex, unhealthy eating habits, and the way girls sort themselves into cliques based on looks was masterful. She did so in a way that was both hilarious and tragic at the same time.
Many celebrities find themselves compared to ‘Mean Girls’
Mean Girls was such an iconic hit that many stars, especially women, now find themselves being compared to characters from the movie. While the label is often given to women who are particularly vicious towards other women, sometimes a simple photo will do as Kylie Jenner learned.
A fan of Kylie Jenner posted a picture of her to Reddit, and others began to post on the forum. Someone wrote, “Anyone else gettin Mean Girls vibes?” Other fans were quick to join in, adding more references from the film.
Kylie Jenner is not the only celebrity to find themselves compared to Mean Girls. Lisa Vanderpump, a former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, was given the Mean Girls label after she learned Teddi Mellencamp was quitting the show. Vanderpump had quite a bit to say on the subject, and none of it was nice. It was the sort of thing Regina George would do, hence the reference.
