I am about to see the new Mean Girls reboot with a group of giddy, extremely savvy and cine-literate LGBT+ teens. While we’re waiting, the group discusses the original film. Turns out this lot are obsessed. Released in 2004, Tina Fey’s wickedly quotable teen romcom – starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams – remains a queer classic. And not only because of the abundance of queer actors in its cast but also the subtext underpinning a number of its characters, storylines and its – duh – subversive wit.
Fey’s script found so many ways to poke fun at prejudice, starting with a to-camera rant from a group of home-schooled Bible-bashers: “And, on the third day, God created the Remington bolt-action rifle so that man could fight the dinosaurs. And the homosexuals. Amen!”
In cinemas this week, the Mean Girls musical (an adaptation of the 2018 Broadway show inspired by the original film) wants to be seen as even more edgy. As in the first movie, the plot centres around Cady Heron (Angourie Rice, stepping into Lohan’s heels), a home-schooled maths nerd raised in Africa who, having been plonked in an American high school, gets caught up in a revenge plot orchestrated by bolshy outsider, Janis (Auli’i Cravalho), and her “too gay to function” best friend, Damian (Jaquel Spivey). The target of the cunning plan is a bodacious, outsider-baiting bully, Regina George (actor and pop star Renee Rapp).
Denne historien er fra January 17, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 17, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Hamilton is the big draw for a London spin on F1 show
Prior to the Drive to Survive era that triggered the sport’s unprecedented boom, one of Liberty Media’s first ventures as Formula One’s bright-eyed American owners came in the summer of 2017.
'In France, I lead a much easier, much simpler life'
Former Premier League star Andy Carroll speaks to Dani Gil about his topsy-turvy career, and his new start at Bordeaux
Breaking point: a title era is ending before our very eyes
Blame Antonio Conte, perhaps. The former Chelsea manager was not the pioneer but he was a trailblazer.
Withdrawals force Carsley to blood youth in Greece tie
It is an England football team, if not the England team that will take the field in Athens on Thursday night. Aaron Ramsdale, Trent Alexander-Arnold, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish is a line-up that would require a false nine.
Is this a megajob too much for even Musk to handle?
Just when you thought Elon Musk’s involvement in politics was over after he helped to secure the election of his new BFF, Donald Trump, it was announced that he is going to be a key figure in the running of the US for the foreseeable future.
Fuller's boss warns of price rises after Budget tax hike
A major pub chain has joined the growing list of hospitality businesses warning of price rises due to Labour’s Budget.
Post Office shake-up puts 115 branches under threat
Move affecting 1,000 workers is tone deaf’ says union boss
High alert as Costa del Sol residents flee fresh storms
Fresh storms in Spain have left streets deluged and forced schools to close, two weeks after the worst floods in the country’s modern history, which killed more than 220 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
Senior Russian naval officer dies in Crimea car bombing
A senior Russian naval officer has been killed in a car bombing in occupied Crimea the latest in a series of targeted attacks on Russian military personnel.
Europe faces a bigger threat level if US warms to Putin
According to anonymous sources quoted in The Washington Post, one of Donald Trump’s first actions on being re-elected was to call Vladimir Putin. That call was immediately denied by the Kremlin.
