The Morning: “Mean Girls” returns

The cultural endurance and return of the classic story.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story January 14, 2024 By Desiree Ibekwe Good morning. Nearly 20 years after "Mean Girls" was released, a new version is in theaters. Bebe Wood, left, Reneé Rapp and Avantika in the new "Mean Girls." Jojo Whilden/Paramount Pictures Rebooting a classic There's a stickiness to "Mean Girls" quotes. For a certain generation, long passages can be plucked from the mind and performed, cadence-perfect, on demand. As a child, I watched the movie over and over on DVD, and the words wormed their way into my impressionable mind. My experience is by no means unique. "It became part of my vernacular," Samantha Jayne told The Times of her teenage reaction to the film, which was released in 2004. "Every single sound bite." Jayne is a co-director of a new version of "Mean Girls," which came out on Friday. It's an adaptation of an adaptation, refashioning songs from the 2018 Broadway musical based on the movie. (It should also be mentioned that the original film was inspired by a nonfiction book.) Like its predecessor, the new "Mean Girls" follows Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), a teenager who has arrived at an American high school after being home-schooled by her zoologist parents in Kenya. She is introduced to the terrors of a teenage social hierarchy and drawn into the orbit of a group of popular girls, led by Regina George (Reneé Rapp). Along with adding musical numbers, the filmmakers updated the script to better reflect our times. Some dated and less-sensitive jokes have been retooled. And there's greater diversity: Karen Smith, played in the original by Amanda Seyfried, is now Karen Shetty, played by the Indian American actress Avantika. In the nearly 20 years since its release, "Mean Girls" has remained unshakably relevant. "It has this little net that catches girls as they pass through preteen and high school age," Tina Fey, who wrote both the original film and the reboot, said in 2014. It's clear why the film spoke to people. It took all the things I loved about teen movies — interpersonal drama, clothes, love interests, a morally satisfying ending that lets us know we're all spring fling queens — and elevated them, putting an intelligent frame around subjects other films might treat as frivolities. Fey's script is sharply funny and often crude, both silly and sinister. Watching it feels like opening a pink crushed velvet box and finding a knife inside. So, why rehash a story that people still consider relevant and special? If done poorly, the endeavor could be tantamount to desecration. Even done well, it is cause for a fair bit of existential angst — as the trailer told viewers: "This isn't your mother's 'Mean Girls.'" The response appears to be: Why not? "I have other things that I'd like to do," Fey told The Times. "But I have so much gratitude that this movie seemed to stick with people." And it seems that fans have little to worry about. In her review, the Times critic Manohla Dargis writes that despite the tweaks, Fey and the directors stay close to the original template — perhaps even too close. "Few stories, it turns out, are as comically and horrifyingly reliable as those set in high school," Manohla writes. "Few villains are as dependably hissable as a desirable young woman with an ostensibly cold heart." It may not be your mother's "Mean Girls," but it's pretty close. Read Manohla's full review here. For more The costume designer for the new "Mean Girls" said social media and fast fashion influenced his choices to give the characters a Gen Z spin. The original is a classic "along the lines of 'Casablanca,' renowned for its performances and for its dialogue," The New Yorker critic Richard Brody wrote on the movie's 10th anniversary. Rosalind Wiseman defined teen-girl dynamics and inspired Fey's cult classic. Now, she helps the adult women who can't escape high school. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS Republican Race Donald Trump Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Ahead of the caucuses on Monday, many Iowa voters are talking about the prospect of World War III and civil unrest. How do the Iowa caucuses work? Watch Astead Herndon, a Times reporter and host of "The Run-Up" podcast, explain. Donald Trump is leading the Iowa Poll by 28 percentage points. See six other numbers that shed light on the dynamics of the Republican primary. College-educated Republican voters have powered Trump's political recovery inside the party. Politics John Kerry plans to step down as U.S. special envoy for climate by the spring, after three years in the role. The Republican nominee in a special House election to replace George Santos drew scrutiny after her initial financial disclosure was missing required information. Tammy Murphy, the wife of New Jersey's governor, is running in a race for a chance to replace Senator Robert Menendez. A student Democratic group was pressured not to endorse her main rival. International Lai Ching-te Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times Taiwan's vice president, Lai Ching-te, was elected as the island's president. He will face difficult questions about how to handle Taiwan's dealings with Beijing. After American-led strikes against Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen, much of the group's offensive capability remains intact, U.S. officials said. Russia's military has regained the upper hand in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv's troops struggle. More than 50 million criminal and civil court cases are pending across India, a backlog that could take more than 300 years to clear. A volcano erupted in Iceland, prompting evacuations in a town near where a fissure opened up and spewed lava last month. Scholars long considered Chaná, an Indigenous language in Argentina, extinct. One man has spent nearly two decades trying to resurrect it. Other Big Stories An "Arctic blast" is expected to bring low wind chill temperatures to large parts of the United States. Quaker Oats recalled several more products over possible salmonella contamination after initially recalling 43 products including cereals and snack foods. FROM OPINION Despite strict rules around cigarette ads, no one is stopping influencers from peddling nicotine to children on social media, Emily Dreyfuss warns. It's a mistake to treat Nikki Haley as an establishment candidate, instead of the Tea Party maverick she is, David Brooks writes. The Sunday question: Is Trump's lead in the primary safe? Unlike Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who cultivate their messages to try to appeal to voters, Trump "doesn't have to run in a 'lane.' It is enough for him to be himself," Rich Lowry writes for Politico. But as candidates like Chris Christie drop out of the race, their voters are more likely to back Haley than Trump. If she can keep close behind in the polls, "the GOP race could be blown wide open," The Globe and Mail's Konrad Yakabuski writes. All of The Times. All in one subscription. Enjoy unlimited access to everything we offer — with this introductory offer. You'll benefit from more of the insights that you find in The Morning, every morning. MORNING READS Junjun Chen "Sleepunders": Some parents, anxious about their child staying in someone else's home, are picking kids up just before bedtime — or even staying over with them. Not like "The Sopranos": Hit men are easy to find in the movies and on TV. Real life is another story. Getting real: We asked experts to explain what diets can (and can't) actually do for our health and long-term weight loss. Vows: They met through a dating app at a time of transitions in their lives. Lives Lived: The immigration lawyer Leon Wildes fought for more than three years to keep the U.S. government from deporting John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono. He died at 90. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE Andreas Malm Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado By David Marchese I spoke with the author and radical climate activist Andreas Malm about his upcoming book "Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown." Explain the term "overshoot." The simplest definition of "overshoot" is that you shoot past the limits that you have set for global warming. But the term has come to mean something more in climate science and policy discourse, which is that you can go over and then go back down. So you shoot past 1.5 or 2, but then you return to 1.5 or 2, primarily by means of carbon-dioxide removal. And your argument is that overshoot provides cover for business as usual? Yes. What's happening now is that you see Exxon Mobil or Occidental or ADNOC — these companies are at the forefront of expanding DAC [direct air capture] capacity. So we can continue to have fossil fuels; we're just going to take down the CO2 that we emit by DAC. It isn't a reality. Which of your arguments are you most unsure of? I cannot claim to have a good explanation for what is essentially a mystery, namely that humanity is allowing the climate catastrophe to spiral on. One of my intellectual journeys in recent years has been psychoanalysis. Once you start looking into the psychic dimensions of a problem like the climate crisis, you have to open yourself to difficulty in understanding what's happening. Is it possible for you to summarize your psychoanalytic understanding of the climate crisis? On the far right, you see this aggressive defense of fossil fuels that verges on a desire for destruction, which is part of Freud's latent theory of the two categories of drives: eros and thanatos. Another category in the psychic dimension is denial. Denial is as central to the development of the climate crisis as the greenhouse effect. Read more of the interview here. More from the magazine There is more speeding, plowing through intersections and intoxicated driving on U.S. roads than we've seen in a long time. Why are American drivers so deadly? Read the full issue. BOOKS Hisham Matar Ellie Smith for The New York Times ​Doomed to fail: In his new novel, Hisham Matar​, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his memoir, "The Return," turns to the untranslatability of exile — and friendship. Our editors' picks: "The Other Side," about female artists who embraced spiritualism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and eight other books. Times best sellers: Ashley Elston's thriller "First Lie Wins" is new on the hardcover fiction best-seller list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Whip up a quick French toast. Find more uses for a butter warmer. Write with a Wirecutter-approved pen. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, the longest-serving monarch in Europe, will formally complete her abdication today. Tomorrow is Martin Luther King's Birthday. The Republican presidential Iowa caucuses are tomorrow. The Emmy Awards are tomorrow. The ceremony is normally held in the fall, but was postponed because of Hollywood strikes. The global elite will gather in Davos, Switzerland, tomorrow for the start of the World Economic Forum. A trial to determine defamation damages against Trump in relation to the writer E. Jean Carroll is set to begin on Tuesday. The Sundance Film Festival begins on Thursday. What to Cook This Week Andrew Purcell for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Carrie Purcell. The post-holiday lull is a great time to stay in and cook, Emily Weinstein writes in her Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter. If you're feeling the same way, she has some recipe ideas for you, including blistered broccoli pasta with walnuts, sticky coconut chicken and rice, and a cheesy frittata, which Sohla El-Waylly will teach you to make in this YouTube video. GAMES Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was megaplex. Can you put eight historical events — including Paris streetlights, the Iowa caucuses and the world's oldest trees — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. 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