Mean Girls: How Regina Was Right About Everything (Unfortunately...)

Mean Girls’ Regina George is one of pop culture’s most iconic high school villains. Perhaps the worst thing about Regina is that what’s horrible about her is actually what’s… true. Regina was a menace because she understood some pretty dark fundamental truths about the world, and the fact that she was right about them underlines some major problems in society. So let’s take a deeper look at what Regina, unfortunately, got right in her outlook on life (and why it’s so important that society, like Regina, learns to change for the better.)

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:04 What (& who) the world rewards
02:20 More like Janis than her "friends"
03:24 Having to choose power or happiness
04:21 How people's minds work
05:56 How social hierarchies function (both times)
08:10 Seeing Cady's hidden power
10:15 What we can really learn from Regina

The Take was created by Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough
This video was written by Ellie Slee, narrated by Charly Bivona, produced by Jessica Babineaux, & edited by John Tod

[tamaralevi]

Regina would have been a terrifying politician

[Evamarie]

I actually think Regina did kind of like Cady. At least as much as she can like anyone. After a while, she starts to talk to Cady in a more open and frank way than she ever does with the other two. She starts to appreciate Cady's intellect. She even trusts Cady - the bars, her weight, etc. I think that's why she gets so angry at the end.

[hardcandy]

One of Regina's strengths as a dictator is turning threats into assets. Gretchen is richer than her. Karen is prettier than her. And Cady has a more interesting background. Not only she removed turned her competitions into minions, she also used them to raise her status.

[Darth_Bateman]

Oh wow, Regina was an Instagram influencer before Instagram Influencers were Instagram Influencers

[trinaq]

Regina is quietly calculating, and gossips about people behind their back, while acting nice as pie to their faces. It's easy to see why Rachel McAdam's version became popular, while Renee Rapp's iteration is more openly nasty.

[annieliu]

The only reason that Regina failed is that she was too slow in getting Cady on her side, and considering that she got her hands on Cady by the second day, it's quite impressive. Janice wanted to take Regina down since middle school and the only reason she succeeded was cuz Cady got her an opening. It was literally luck that got Janice the opportunity to convince Cady to help her before Regina. Without Janice, Cady would've no doubt been absorbed into the cult of Regina.

[tyrannosaurusburke]

It speaks volumes that no clips from this year's "Mean Girls" were incorporated into this video. You just can't replicate a classic.

[thefriesofLockeLamora]

What I appreciate about this now that I'm older is how smart Regina George is. The Machiavellian nature of her character was just brilliant. As Azula would say, "that's a people person."

[tsukinokitsun]

Instead of a terrible movie musical, I would love to have seen the continuation of Regina's story. She's in corporate America, dominating in her field with all the cunning and insight she used to rule a high school.

[yurika_edits]

I feel like cady is the only one regina truly considered a friend. Yes she manipulated her too, but you can see her talking to cady more as "equals" from time to time. With karen and gretchen she would often roll her eyes everytime they say smth dumb. She had a genuine laugh at cady's joke when she was ranting about her teacher. She willingly approached cady to gossip about janice. She wanted cady to be beside her in dance. She was jealous of cady when she wanted aaron because she knew cady was the only one who could steal aaron from her. Regina always saw cady as an equal rather than a peasant behind her.

[tygressblade]

Regina must have studied history. She implemented something that Louis IVX understood fully.

[carrisebear]

I thought it was weird how lonely they looked sitting in the cafeteria. All the popular girls I’ve seen have their inner circle of besties and the outer circle that prop up their status. The athletic guy, the rich guy, and the funny guy are usually a part of this group.

[Elsibis]

I never thought she was the villain. I thought that the real villain was this culture that does not allow girls to express their anger in healthy ways and put them against each other. Regina was just a girl that knew how the rules of the game and used them to get ahead. I’m a man so I’m probably not the person that knows best about this. I just wanted to give my two cents and what I took from this movie.

[PokhrajRoy.]

I think the most revelatory part for me was her screaming all the way to her room and writing in the Burn book.

[maenad]

It always went over my head she was admitting Karen was the prettiest. Idk how I missed that so many times

[miriam]

I remember one of my gender studies professors talking about Regina during a discussion about human aggression. Her argument was that there’s little evidence that women are inherently less aggressive than men; it’s just that we’re socialized to feel guilty and ashamed for having anger (rather than being praised for it and equating it with earned, justified power as typically happens with men). This forces girls and women into passive aggression, manipulation, and subtle social bullying instead.

My professor also pointed out that because of the increased pressure on girls to be aware of other people’s emotions and take care of them, we’re uniquely armed to undermine other girls in ways that are so subtle at times that men may not even notice the war going on under their noses.

It explains a lot about why Regina is so likable despite her viciousness—her open embrace of these actions is deeply subversive to both her gender and society, because she refuses to cater to the guilt and shame foisted on women for daring to be angry or aggressive in the first place, even when she’s caught out. There is very little that is passive in her aggression. She owns it. She’s evil, sure, but most women are also just a little bit jealous of her willingness and ability to engage with aggression so shamelessly, and often without consequences. That’s the one of the rare perks of girl world: deniability.

[fatyaaaa]

It’s an unfortunate fact but those skills that regina possesses are very useful for politicians😢

[PokhrajRoy.]

4:23 There’s a reason why Shakespeare worked brilliantly in high school/college settings: The themes were timeless and universal but also the fact that teens/young adults are complex and not just punctuating sentences with cool lingo.

[PassiveAgressive]

It’s a stretch to say that she was right. Regina was intentionally cruel and a menace. She used her intelligence, psychology and insight to take other people down. She was Queen Bee and it was not good enough for her. she is definately shrewd and has leadership skills but she abused them at the expense of her high school colleagues.

[CrypticCharm]

Regina is a villain, but Rachel McAdams did such a stellar job at the portrayal, that in a way you're rooting for her. she's the school's queen, but also insecure, in herself and her body. everyone calls her a "Queen Bee", but i see her as more of a tragic figure. she surrounds herself with sycophants but had no friends, and her desire to be the Queen of the school, is just tragic.

but i see Janice as worse, since Janice, it's believed was part of the in-crowd with Regina until it all fell apart, and becomes friends with Cady so Cady can gather information. Regina is bad, but Janice is worse in my opinion. Janice was happy to be a mean girl, until it fell apart, but now acts like she's all edgy, when she's just as manipulative. Regina is no saint, and leaves a trail of victims in her wake, but she's upfront about who she is. but Janice, practically pounced in Cady, who had no idea how high school worked, to do her bidding