Can a contemporary adaptation of Mean Girls the Musical successfully captivate Generation Z?

Mean Girls, the iconic cult classic, is returning to cinemas after twenty years in the form of a musical adaptation. Tina Fey, the creator of the 2004 film, has developed a screen adaptation of the Mean Girls musical that had its Broadway run cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The film is set to be released on January 12. The release of the first trailer for the film has sparked a flurry of discussion among fans. Some have questioned why the trailer does not indicate that the new film is a musical. To address this, Paramount Pictures has released a shorter clip with snippets of songs. The opening titles of the trailer explicitly target Gen Z fans, stating that "this is not your mother's Mean Girls." However, this move has been met with mixed reactions from millennials who grew up watching the original film. Despite the passage of time, Mean Girls has remained popular and continues to dominate social media with its memorable quotes and references. The original film still holds a significant place in popular culture, as seen in various adaptations and references. From Ariana Grande's parody music video in 2019 to a recent Walmart advertisement featuring three of the original cast members, Mean Girls remains deeply embedded in contemporary pop culture. However, while the film continues to attract new fans, it is often seen as a time capsule of the high school experience in the early 2000s. To viewers in 2023, it serves as a period piece that catapulted Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried to stardom. The new trailer, set to Olivia Rodrigo's music, includes a TikTok scene with Coach Carr, who famously delivered a cautionary speech about the consequences of sex. This detail, along with other indicators, has surprised some fans who expected the film to be set in the early 2000s. They feel that setting it in the present day is inappropriate and forced. Some fans believe that the new adaptation of Mean Girls will fail to capture the essence of the original due to the significant cultural changes that have taken place since then. A 22-year-old woman expressed concern that attempting to modernize the story could lead to disaster since the original film was so closely tied to early 2000s culture. The movie posters for the new film bear the slogan "plastic is forever," and Tina Fey and Tim Meadows will reprise their roles as teachers. However, much has changed since the reign of the Plastics, the notorious bullying trio from the original film. The themes of diet culture, slut-shaming, and female stereotypes were integral to the plot of the 2004 film. Cady Heron's plot to sabotage Regina George involved manipulating her weight through nutrition bars designed for malnourished individuals. Storylines like this, which often faced criticism for sexism and fatphobia, were characteristic of the early 2000s. For instance, the 2001 rom-com Shallow Hal depicted its lead character falling in love with a plus-size woman only after being hypnotized to see inner beauty. While the Mean Girls Broadway show was set in 2018 and incorporated social media from that time, its overall plot, characters, and aesthetic remained true to the original film's noughties vibe. However, more recent high school stories have approached the concept of teenage cliques from fresh angles. For example, the 2023 Netflix series Sex Education features a progressive group of socially aware students who challenge the stereotypes seen in Mean Girls. Teen Vogue describes them as a "coven" at Cavendish College, representing a new Gen Z trope of politically aware bullies. Similarly, the 2022 comedy film Senior Year portrays a character played by Rebel Wilson who wakes from a 20-year coma to find that high school's rules have dramatically changed. Her competition for the queen bee title is an "authentic, socially conscious, body positive, environmentally aware, and economically compassionate" influencer. While some fans are excited about the new Mean Girls film and the casting of Reneé Rapp, who starred in the Broadway musical, others believe it's time to let the franchise be. One fan expressed that Mean Girls belongs to the early 2000s and questioned if a "burn book" would even exist in 2023.