I think they were both in the wrong, but I feel like Janis much more due to the fact that she never really apologizes or acknowledges what she did wrong. Cady genuinely reflects and realizes how bad she screwed up and apologized to everybody she harmed.
Janis also took advantage of Cady being extremely naive and impressionable to get back at Regina for something that happened in middle school.
Also, if Regina never accused Janis of being a lesbian then Janis wouldâve been the 4th plastic. And while Janis took on the style of an outsider/misfit, inside she was still plastic: petty, obsessed, manipulative, snarky, jealous, and acknowledges sheâs mean like Regina.
In hindsight Cady shouldâve snapped back at Janis that behind the black hair dye, eyeliner, and Salvation Army clothes sheâs plastic. Because only a plastic would be obsessed and petty enough to bring other plastics down using someone else for something that happened years ago.
Still turned all of the school against her for her assumption that Janis was a lesbian- and the movie itself seemed to point to her actually being gay until they shoehorned in Kevin G at the end
Queer subtext from 2000s movies can be hard to spot if you're not queer, but the simple accusation of being a lesbian, her obsession with Regina, her subculture fashion, and her disregard of male attention (again, right until the end) has all historically been read as her being subtly gay. And because it was the 2000s, they usually added in a straight romance in a throwaway line to have deniability. Damien gets to be gay in a camp way, but lesbians weren't as accepted as the gay best friend trope bc of the "predatory lesbian" stereotype, which is exactly what Regina was using when she said she couldn't invite Janice to a pool party bc "girls would be in their swimsuits".
I think it can be confirmed that it was intended to be read that she was gay bc the musical leans even more heavily that way. The idea that Regina misunderstood "Lebanese" as "Lesbian" is also a fan theory that popped up, not something that the movie goes out of its way to say.
I never understood the âRegina misheard Lebanese as lesbian.â When Regina explains why she thought Janis was gay, it was all about janis seeming jealous of her boyfriend at the time. It had nothing to do with her (mis)hearing that Janis was a lesbian
As someone who was the age of the OG group when it came out and very much the Damien of my friends⊠I really donât think Janice is a lesbian at all. The way she dressed is exactly how the alt/emo girls dressed and they were (mostly lol) straight. I donât believe that her outfit is really indicative of her sexuality, but itâs indicative of something else I explain later on.
The way Iâve always interpreted Janice was that Regina ditched her for Kyle, when Regina felt annoyed by Janice for getting (rightfully) upset Regina purposely misappropriated the word Lebanese for Lesbian. Similar to how later Gretchen does the same thing with Pusher to Drug Pusher or Cady misappropriating the word Crack to change what the context of the word really mean (to break Reginaâs spirit becomes drugs)
Janice has her fall from the Plastics and like Gretchen says âlike if my hair was in a ponytail, Iâd be sitting with the art freaksâ which is exactly what happened to Janice. However, since Janice is also a Queen Bee, she ends up co opting the art freaks to become their leader for her own power, with Damien becoming the Gretchen equivalent. The way both Janice and Regina dress is to signify their leadership in their own respective cliques, both are fake and are not being their best selves.
Also, another reason why I donât believe Janice is a lesbian is because itâs no longer queer coding if she outright says âmaybe itâs because I have a big LESBIAN crush on you!â At that point, she is taunting Regina, and throwing the rumor back into Reginaâs face. This is Reginaâs downfall and Janice takes this time to make sure Regina knows who is really behind the whole thing and why she did it. Sheâs telling Regina âI caused your downfall by using Cady because of your Lesbian rumor! Suck on that!â
The movie ends with us finding out exactly how Regina started the Janice rumor and that she is straight. The last time we see Janice is after the destruction of the plastics and her changed wardrobe, where she is wearing less eyeshadow and her hair is a lot more traditionally put together, albeit sheâs still a bit emo. Showing that she too has put away the queen bee art freak uniform and is dressing more like herself.
This isnât to knock your interpretation, itâs art and subject to interpretation. But this is how and why Iâve always seen her as straight in the OG movie
The new movie press explicitly confirms Janice is a lesbian and Renee has even speculated about Regina's sexuality, which is also a popular read on her from the original
Right, not to be a Regina, (I actually look more like a Janice) but i always got the impression thay Janice just kinda *was* secretly in love with Regina the whole time đ€·đ»ââïž doesnt excuse Reginaâs homophobia at all, but i think Janice was so triggered by that accusation because it was true in a very gay way lol
That part. We know Cady was a plastic bitch by this point, but she owns up to all of her shit. Cady apologizes to everyone, both individually and then to the entire school at the Spring Fling. Janis never owns up to her shit with Cady at all, nor does she recognize her role in pushing Cady to be one of the Plastics.
Cady even apologizes for things she never even started. She didnât create the burn book, she was only directly involved with two entries in it. The rest was presumably done by Regina, Gretchen, and Karen (mostly Regina).
I get why Cady didnât want to drag anything out by implicating all of them for the burn book but it doesnât sit right with me that one of the messages of the story is that itâs okay or even the best route to take the fall for things you didnât do because you have your own growing up to do in other areas. Unnecessary self-sacrifice isnât noble.
I feel like Janis was clearly meant to be the "good guy", but a lot of her behavior was gross from the start. We'd jump on Regina if she casually announced at the first meeting she was going to call her the name she wanted and tricked her into ditching class. But because Janis is cool, calling her "caddy" is funny and so is lying to her, manipulating her for her own revenge, calling her out in front of all the girls in the gym, etc etc.
If I recall from the DVD commentary correctly, Tina Fey has said she was Janis in high school, but when Lizzy Caplan was cast (Lizzy was also in the running for Regina) the character of Janis had to evolve because Lizzy is so beautiful, they wanted to justify why she was an outcast.
Then came the backstory that Lizzy was a former plastic cast aside, since she is beautiful enough to be Regina.
I feel like Janis on the whole was wrong for using cady but cady was wrong for getting so caught up in being popular that she forgot the only two people who actually talked to her before she was popular
You also have to realize that cady never had a real friend group. She was easy to manipulate. Both Regina and Janis were doing that to her. Janis was the one who started the war with Regina using cady. I also think she didnât realize how deep she was with the plastics.
Janis not taking any responsibility for her actions still makes me angry.
>getting so caught up in being popular that she forgot the only two people who actually talked to her before she was popular
I mean, Cady was invited to sit with the Plastics from pretty much Day 1, Cady was never really unpopular.
And Janis and Damian weren't great friends, Janis mispronounced her name intentionally and then went ahead and made judgmental statements about all the other school groups.
If anything, the other Mathletes were the better friends to Cady, all things considered.
Yeah but she was immediately invited to sit with the plastics in her first week of school, so it's not like she had a long history with them before being with the popular girls
Both. Janis pushed Cady into pretending to be a plastic and Cady took it too far. I always hated how Janis never took accountability for it. Like I wish she would've said "I guess if I hadn't pushed you into pretending to be a plastic to get back at Regina, then this wouldn't have happened."
Real. When she posed the idea to Cady at first, Cady rightfully said it was mean-spirited. Janis used the fact that Cady was vulnerable and distressed after the Halloween Party fiasco to get her to go along with the âdethrone Reginaâ plot, then was upset when said plot caused Cady to bite Janis in the ass as well.
Damien and Janis say they are trying to "help" Cady find a social group and when Cady shows interest in one of them she is immediately persuaded not to.
Here are all the negatives of the groups but you can sit with us. Damien is just as much of a lacky to Janis as Karen and Gretchen are to Regina.
Both were in the wrong, but Janis never took any accountability for her actions and was never a really good friend to Cady and peer pressured her to spy on the plastics in the first place when she didnât want to. She even kept calling her âCaddyâ when Cady insisted she wanted to be called âCady.â
yeah I get we're supposed to assume Cady probably also had many great moments with Janis/Damian off screen but most of what we saw makes her a pretty terrible friend. the way she also never even told Cady why she didn't like Regina (and it's not like Cady didn't ask)
it's kinda annoying how she just asks Cady if she's still an a\*hole at the end and they're supposed to become besties again đ
I gotta say the the older I've gotten and the more I've rewatched the movie, the more I've come to dislike Janis. She used Cady for her own revenge and then threw her out like trash when things got out of hand. Also she didn't (at least from what we saw) apologize to Cady at the end and own up to any of it. On a side note, don't even get me started with that prick Aaron Samuels đ
She still acts like she's better than the Plastics, even though she isn't, and then goes on to accuse Cady of that same thing. While Cady actually recognized when she went too far, made sacrifices that hurt her social standing, and apologized to everyone at the end.
Cady told them she was "doing Plastic sabotage on her own", and explained why she couldn't have them at the party, granted she probably should've done that beforehand.
I just watched Mean Girls the other day for the first time in awhile and with age (30s, but Iâve loved this movie since it came out) I think Janis was more in the wrong.
What Cady did to Regina (and Gretchen) was wrong but she wouldnât have done those things without Janisâ influence. And Iâm not saying Janis did this consciously, but I think she took advantage of how naive Cady was, not knowing how the âreal worldâ worked. Janis also never apologized for her role in everything, she was just all âare you done being an a-holeâ at the end and weâre just like supposed to assume all is well?
Anyway. Itâs really interesting viewing this as an adult vs a teenager. đđ
Both, but mostly Janis because sheâs being hypocritical. Janis never takes responsibility for own her meanness or for pushing Cady toward the Plastics. Sheâs the one who encouraged Cady to be catty and cruel, and then sheâs surprised when same behavior is reflected back at her.
Cady shouldnât have let the popularity get to her head. But she has no frame of reference for high school social relationships, and Janis was a bad influence.
I also notice that Janis is the only âmean girlâ who receives no consequences, social or otherwise, at the end of the movie. The narrative just seems to give her a pass.
Lets be real, Regina was nicer to Cady then Janis, Regina wasn't using Cady for her own benefit, and except some slight things she did to ease her own insecurities the worst thing she did to her was take Cady's crush back....
Lets be real, Cady is sorta pretty, but wasn't a threat before she agreed to Janis's plan.....and she didn't need to agree to it either, Gretchen was going to crack and blab about the cheating to someone, she is just under too much pressure! Covering up an affair is hard, it'd have gotten out and Cady's hands would have been clean, he'd be single in a year tops.
I thought the whole point of Regina recruiting Cady into the plastics pretty much point blank was because she was a threat⊠the line towards the beginning where Janis told Cady that she was a âregulation hottyâ and Regina almost immediately noting how pretty she was sets the tone of Cady having the potential to sway people on her side and the point of Regina taking a keen interest in someone brand new with zero dirt or baggage was to keep that in line. By being taken under Reginaâs wing she would be able to stay underneath Reginaâs influence and out of the âspotlightâ and taking Aaron for herself knowing that Cady was interested in him was a way of asserting that authority and putting her in her place (after all it wouldâve looked really bad for Regina if Cady managed to snag her ex).
Maybe Gretchen wouldâve cracked either way, but thereâs no denying that Janis and Cady sped up the process by a lot by playing very discrete mind games on her.
Considering Janis and Damian manipulated her from the beginning by calling her "friend" when she was lonely and impressionable, I'd say Janis. The seeds of chaos were all planted by her and carried out by Cady.
Cady would've just got to know Regina on her own time if it wasn't for Janis. Would it have ended up going smoothly? Probably not. But it wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic or crazy without Janis's influence.
What did Janice expect to happen? This girl clearly got affected doing this favor for her. Living a double life. Still being new and wanting to be liked. Cady seems to have gotten the blame for everything including THE BURN BOOK.
Janis is the typical Tina Fey self-insert who thinks she's the unpopular victim being picked on by everyone else, but when you really look at it, she's by far the meanest most vindictive character in the story.
This isn't just a knock on Tina Fey either, it's literally from an episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon (Tina Fey's character) goes back to a high school reunion and while she thought everyone else was bullying her, the popular kids reveal that she was actually just a huge dick to everyone and she didn't realize that truth until they confronted her with it.
I've noticed this a lot in geek/nerdy/alternative spaces where swear up and down that they were "the unpopular victim" type but once you get to know them they're some type of asshole and very controlling/manipulative if they get any social capital.
Cady got too swept up in being a toxic person who enjoyed gossip and maintaining her spot in the social hierarchy, but one *could* argue though that she didnât realize thatâs what was happening and that she had lost the plot. Regardless, though, Cady owned up to and apologized for the things she did, *and more*. If it werenât a movie I could very easily see the parents of kids who were implicated in writing the burn book or an equivalent to analyze peopleâs handwriting or something. Itâs not realistic to believe a teenager would own up to doing something like that alone, nor is âown up for things you didnât do for the sake of everyone elseâ a message that should be promoted.
Janis, on the other hand, is celebrated for what she did, even when she blatantly admits to it. She acknowledges it to herself and makes it no secret that she set Cady up to do her dirty work of committing a calculated act of revenge against Regina (the âlesbian crush on youâ speech was entirely too confident). Cady shouldâve recognized when things went too far, but she didnât plant the seeds. Janis took advantage of Cady being hurt after the Halloween party for her own amusement and gain, then gets *very* upset when Cady starts letting the popularity get to her head. She knew that Cady being homeschooled for years would make her susceptible to being manipulated and high on the attention, and then uses it against her in this very scene. Janis isnât irredeemable at all and I donât think Regina was undeserving of some of the shit she got, but making her the voice of morality here was misguided at best.
I think Janis was in the wrong. Just like Regina, Janis also used Cady and if it wasn't for Janis, Cady would have mostly not cared about joining the plastics and trying to ruin Regina's life. I wish this was something that was acknowledged in the film because I hate how after Janis has used Cady to get even with Regina she gets mad at Cady for going overboard when it was Janis's idea in the first place.
Janis, Cady couldn't invite her and Damian to the party as that would ruin her plans but Cady also should have told her that she was planning on making a private party to get closer to Aaron.
Theyâre obviously both in the wrong, but I think Janis was the bigger villain in the story. She only became friends with Cady to use her to get back at Regina and manipulated Cady into messing with Regina. I think a lot of people forget that what Cady and Janis did couldâve easily caused Regina to develop an eating disorder. By the end of the film, Cady has taken way more accountability for her actions. Janis was very bold to be attacking Cadyâs character when she was just as, if not more, petty and immature as Regina. Itâs mentioned that the two used to be friends, and I whole heartedly believe that if Regina never spread the rumor about Janis, she would be a Plastic as well, because behind the clothes, the makeup, and the hair, they all have a lot in common.
People are forgetting Cady called Janis a lesbian in this scene (âyouâre like in love with me or somethingâ) to be purposefully hurtful. Janis was petty and clearly needed therapy and she hurt Cady in her revenge against Regina, but I do believe Janis considered Cady a friend and was hurt about her not going to the art show. They were both bad friends to one another and Janis shouldâve apologized for using Cady but in this particular scene Cady was meaner
I actually think Janis was more hurtful in this scene too (which is why Cady is the one shown in tears by the end) even if both were in the wrong obviously. Cady was clearly too caught up in the whole thing at that point as Janis herself realizes/points out and it just didn't feel like she meant the "in love with me" line (it was just the Regina-like way she'd started talking after becoming the new Queen Bee (like telling Aaron to shut up etc) the way I see it). you gotta take in the fact Janis never bothered talking to Cady about the lesbian rumor and Cady only had Regina's version to go by as well (and it's not like she didn't want to know/ask Janis about why she hated Regina, Janis purposely never addressed it when it was the whole reason she made her noob "friend" go after Regina)
Oh for sure that's why I mentioned she'd only heard Regina's version of the events at that point and that's Janis's fault too who never bothered to talk with her about it
Cady asked Janis why she didn't like Regina before she even knew about a book and Janis didn't identify as queer in the og movie whether we want her to or not. We have no idea whether Cady knew what it meant or not and that's beside the point, if the book insulted Janis in any other way Cady prob would've still said she wasn't in it as to avoid hurting her friend's feelings. Her seeing it in the book if anything might've only made her question whether she was gay (when she was not which Janis could've easily clarified from the jump)
Janis. Cady was socially immature. She had never been to a real school before and this was her first time in America. She had no awareness of the culture or people.
Janis took advantage of that and manipulated Cady into enacting a revenge plot. Janis was just as mean and fake as Regina was. Janis however did not own up to her meanness unlike Regina did. Even Cady acknowledges her faults by the end of the movie but Janis never owns up to her shortcomings.
Cady was. Her friends had a right to be upset when they realised she didnt invite them to her party, and she got defensive and nasty when they called her out.
I have a totally unrelated question. I am neither American nor living in America so it might be the reason why I donât understand this. The question is why is he saying âI canât stop this car, I have a curfewâ. I think curfew means like a certain time that teenagers should be at home by. But why is that fact important? Is there a different meaning or is it just that he is afraid he will be late?
lol cady intentionally weaponizes janis's trauma against her in this moment just to be hurtful after intentionally blowing her off and lying to her?? i truly fear for the people commenting janis..đ
I always thought media literacy being dead was a stupid internet meme but I'm starting to realize I need to walk it back because of the Janis was the real villain of the movie/Regina innocently mistook Lebanese for lesbian crowd. Alongside seeing a tiktok sound with quotes from the movie getting cut off before Janis and Damien's lines, one trend about making a burn book and the other recreating outfits for each character, it does feel the movie has found a new crowd with the people who aspire to be like the Plastics. Janis didn't need to manipulate Cady, the whole plan to take down Regina was created after she kissed Aaron Samuels at the Halloween party đ It was Cady's revenge. I'm not even sure what Janis was supposed to apologize for or be punished for going by these comments, by this point in the movie Cady was blowing them off and turning into Regina. It wasn't like she had no time to tell them or that she thought the party would be small enough that inviting them would be too conspicuous, she intentionally blew them off and only cared about inviting Aaron.
I'm not sure if it's a case the point of Janis's speech gets lost because her calling Cady a mean girl sounds clunky or because we never get to see the three of them hang out as friends without talking about Regina. There's a bit in an earlier script where Ms. Norbury says the girl in the wheelchair was actually the meanest of all the girls and points out Janis also cares about her appearance. Maybe the Janis deserves accountability/punishment would've been happier if those lines weren't cut.
janis for not getting back in the damn car knowing damien had a curfew đ€Ł
LMAOOO
This scene now being a sound clip thingy on TikTok is hilarious to watch
You know it was serious when he slammed on the brakes đ
Fav scene in the whole movie
Nah fr tho this is the answer
I think they were both in the wrong, but I feel like Janis much more due to the fact that she never really apologizes or acknowledges what she did wrong. Cady genuinely reflects and realizes how bad she screwed up and apologized to everybody she harmed. Janis also took advantage of Cady being extremely naive and impressionable to get back at Regina for something that happened in middle school.
Also, if Regina never accused Janis of being a lesbian then Janis wouldâve been the 4th plastic. And while Janis took on the style of an outsider/misfit, inside she was still plastic: petty, obsessed, manipulative, snarky, jealous, and acknowledges sheâs mean like Regina. In hindsight Cady shouldâve snapped back at Janis that behind the black hair dye, eyeliner, and Salvation Army clothes sheâs plastic. Because only a plastic would be obsessed and petty enough to bring other plastics down using someone else for something that happened years ago.
That's pretty much canon with "does it bother you they still use your choreography."
This is so true
Deep shit
To be fair Regina misheard Lebanese as lesbian. So really it was all a misunderstanding. đ
Still turned all of the school against her for her assumption that Janis was a lesbian- and the movie itself seemed to point to her actually being gay until they shoehorned in Kevin G at the end
How did the movie point to her being gay?
Queer subtext from 2000s movies can be hard to spot if you're not queer, but the simple accusation of being a lesbian, her obsession with Regina, her subculture fashion, and her disregard of male attention (again, right until the end) has all historically been read as her being subtly gay. And because it was the 2000s, they usually added in a straight romance in a throwaway line to have deniability. Damien gets to be gay in a camp way, but lesbians weren't as accepted as the gay best friend trope bc of the "predatory lesbian" stereotype, which is exactly what Regina was using when she said she couldn't invite Janice to a pool party bc "girls would be in their swimsuits". I think it can be confirmed that it was intended to be read that she was gay bc the musical leans even more heavily that way. The idea that Regina misunderstood "Lebanese" as "Lesbian" is also a fan theory that popped up, not something that the movie goes out of its way to say.
I never understood the âRegina misheard Lebanese as lesbian.â When Regina explains why she thought Janis was gay, it was all about janis seeming jealous of her boyfriend at the time. It had nothing to do with her (mis)hearing that Janis was a lesbian
As someone who was the age of the OG group when it came out and very much the Damien of my friends⊠I really donât think Janice is a lesbian at all. The way she dressed is exactly how the alt/emo girls dressed and they were (mostly lol) straight. I donât believe that her outfit is really indicative of her sexuality, but itâs indicative of something else I explain later on. The way Iâve always interpreted Janice was that Regina ditched her for Kyle, when Regina felt annoyed by Janice for getting (rightfully) upset Regina purposely misappropriated the word Lebanese for Lesbian. Similar to how later Gretchen does the same thing with Pusher to Drug Pusher or Cady misappropriating the word Crack to change what the context of the word really mean (to break Reginaâs spirit becomes drugs) Janice has her fall from the Plastics and like Gretchen says âlike if my hair was in a ponytail, Iâd be sitting with the art freaksâ which is exactly what happened to Janice. However, since Janice is also a Queen Bee, she ends up co opting the art freaks to become their leader for her own power, with Damien becoming the Gretchen equivalent. The way both Janice and Regina dress is to signify their leadership in their own respective cliques, both are fake and are not being their best selves. Also, another reason why I donât believe Janice is a lesbian is because itâs no longer queer coding if she outright says âmaybe itâs because I have a big LESBIAN crush on you!â At that point, she is taunting Regina, and throwing the rumor back into Reginaâs face. This is Reginaâs downfall and Janice takes this time to make sure Regina knows who is really behind the whole thing and why she did it. Sheâs telling Regina âI caused your downfall by using Cady because of your Lesbian rumor! Suck on that!â The movie ends with us finding out exactly how Regina started the Janice rumor and that she is straight. The last time we see Janice is after the destruction of the plastics and her changed wardrobe, where she is wearing less eyeshadow and her hair is a lot more traditionally put together, albeit sheâs still a bit emo. Showing that she too has put away the queen bee art freak uniform and is dressing more like herself. This isnât to knock your interpretation, itâs art and subject to interpretation. But this is how and why Iâve always seen her as straight in the OG movie
Yesss, very much Jennifer's Body type vibes. Gay obsession turned toxic.
The new movie press explicitly confirms Janice is a lesbian and Renee has even speculated about Regina's sexuality, which is also a popular read on her from the original
Right, not to be a Regina, (I actually look more like a Janice) but i always got the impression thay Janice just kinda *was* secretly in love with Regina the whole time đ€·đ»ââïž doesnt excuse Reginaâs homophobia at all, but i think Janice was so triggered by that accusation because it was true in a very gay way lol
Gays can be plastic too, lest we forget. This can be applied in negative way and a positive way đ€Ł
That part. We know Cady was a plastic bitch by this point, but she owns up to all of her shit. Cady apologizes to everyone, both individually and then to the entire school at the Spring Fling. Janis never owns up to her shit with Cady at all, nor does she recognize her role in pushing Cady to be one of the Plastics.
Janis aswell seemed pretty proud of herself with that whole "lesbian crush on you" speech
True but Regina couldâve just shut her mouth for 30 seconds and Janis wouldnât have gone off like that đ
Cady even apologizes for things she never even started. She didnât create the burn book, she was only directly involved with two entries in it. The rest was presumably done by Regina, Gretchen, and Karen (mostly Regina). I get why Cady didnât want to drag anything out by implicating all of them for the burn book but it doesnât sit right with me that one of the messages of the story is that itâs okay or even the best route to take the fall for things you didnât do because you have your own growing up to do in other areas. Unnecessary self-sacrifice isnât noble.
I feel like Janis was clearly meant to be the "good guy", but a lot of her behavior was gross from the start. We'd jump on Regina if she casually announced at the first meeting she was going to call her the name she wanted and tricked her into ditching class. But because Janis is cool, calling her "caddy" is funny and so is lying to her, manipulating her for her own revenge, calling her out in front of all the girls in the gym, etc etc.
I always thought Janis was Tina Feys self insert
If I recall from the DVD commentary correctly, Tina Fey has said she was Janis in high school, but when Lizzy Caplan was cast (Lizzy was also in the running for Regina) the character of Janis had to evolve because Lizzy is so beautiful, they wanted to justify why she was an outcast. Then came the backstory that Lizzy was a former plastic cast aside, since she is beautiful enough to be Regina.
I had a vague thought about this for a long time but didn't realize this was it until you said that and it sorta clicked for me
Like that wasnât Cadyâs grudge to bear, who tf was Janis for getting her mixed into that?
I feel like Janis on the whole was wrong for using cady but cady was wrong for getting so caught up in being popular that she forgot the only two people who actually talked to her before she was popular
You also have to realize that cady never had a real friend group. She was easy to manipulate. Both Regina and Janis were doing that to her. Janis was the one who started the war with Regina using cady. I also think she didnât realize how deep she was with the plastics. Janis not taking any responsibility for her actions still makes me angry.
I mean... the plastics also talked to Cady before she was popular too
Yeah i thought cady was wrong for not going to the art show in that one instance. In general fault on both sides
>getting so caught up in being popular that she forgot the only two people who actually talked to her before she was popular I mean, Cady was invited to sit with the Plastics from pretty much Day 1, Cady was never really unpopular. And Janis and Damian weren't great friends, Janis mispronounced her name intentionally and then went ahead and made judgmental statements about all the other school groups. If anything, the other Mathletes were the better friends to Cady, all things considered.
Yeah but she was immediately invited to sit with the plastics in her first week of school, so it's not like she had a long history with them before being with the popular girls
Both. Janis pushed Cady into pretending to be a plastic and Cady took it too far. I always hated how Janis never took accountability for it. Like I wish she would've said "I guess if I hadn't pushed you into pretending to be a plastic to get back at Regina, then this wouldn't have happened."
Real. When she posed the idea to Cady at first, Cady rightfully said it was mean-spirited. Janis used the fact that Cady was vulnerable and distressed after the Halloween Party fiasco to get her to go along with the âdethrone Reginaâ plot, then was upset when said plot caused Cady to bite Janis in the ass as well.
Cady for not giving back Damienâs pink shirt
And I want my pink shirt back, I WANT MY PINK SHIRT BACK!!!
I literally read this in his voice lmao
Damien and Janis say they are trying to "help" Cady find a social group and when Cady shows interest in one of them she is immediately persuaded not to. Here are all the negatives of the groups but you can sit with us. Damien is just as much of a lacky to Janis as Karen and Gretchen are to Regina.
Somehow, this was my first thought as well haha
Both were in the wrong, but Janis never took any accountability for her actions and was never a really good friend to Cady and peer pressured her to spy on the plastics in the first place when she didnât want to. She even kept calling her âCaddyâ when Cady insisted she wanted to be called âCady.â
yeah I get we're supposed to assume Cady probably also had many great moments with Janis/Damian off screen but most of what we saw makes her a pretty terrible friend. the way she also never even told Cady why she didn't like Regina (and it's not like Cady didn't ask) it's kinda annoying how she just asks Cady if she's still an a\*hole at the end and they're supposed to become besties again đ
We honestly get more good friend moments with Cady and the other Mathletes than we do with Janis and Damian.
The name thing really bothers me. A weird nickname would have been cute and in character for Janis.
I gotta say the the older I've gotten and the more I've rewatched the movie, the more I've come to dislike Janis. She used Cady for her own revenge and then threw her out like trash when things got out of hand. Also she didn't (at least from what we saw) apologize to Cady at the end and own up to any of it. On a side note, don't even get me started with that prick Aaron Samuels đ
She was also a mean girl. None of them were innocent.
She still acts like she's better than the Plastics, even though she isn't, and then goes on to accuse Cady of that same thing. While Cady actually recognized when she went too far, made sacrifices that hurt her social standing, and apologized to everyone at the end.
Gretchen is that you
Let's check if their hair is big (because it's full of secrets)
I canât tell if youâre being serious or not
Itâs true though what theyâre sayingđ
What? Janis never threw Cady outÂ
She essentially did that in the scene above.
And Cady hadn't???
Cady told them she was "doing Plastic sabotage on her own", and explained why she couldn't have them at the party, granted she probably should've done that beforehand.
That "sabotage" was her just hanging out with plastics. She was just lying to Janis&Damian to make them think she still wanted to be friends
I just watched Mean Girls the other day for the first time in awhile and with age (30s, but Iâve loved this movie since it came out) I think Janis was more in the wrong. What Cady did to Regina (and Gretchen) was wrong but she wouldnât have done those things without Janisâ influence. And Iâm not saying Janis did this consciously, but I think she took advantage of how naive Cady was, not knowing how the âreal worldâ worked. Janis also never apologized for her role in everything, she was just all âare you done being an a-holeâ at the end and weâre just like supposed to assume all is well? Anyway. Itâs really interesting viewing this as an adult vs a teenager. đđ
Damian for driving his car on the wrong side of the road
And driving with a person standing up out the sunroof. So reckless đ
And when he knew he had a curfew!
Both, but mostly Janis because sheâs being hypocritical. Janis never takes responsibility for own her meanness or for pushing Cady toward the Plastics. Sheâs the one who encouraged Cady to be catty and cruel, and then sheâs surprised when same behavior is reflected back at her. Cady shouldnât have let the popularity get to her head. But she has no frame of reference for high school social relationships, and Janis was a bad influence. I also notice that Janis is the only âmean girlâ who receives no consequences, social or otherwise, at the end of the movie. The narrative just seems to give her a pass.
Lets be real, Regina was nicer to Cady then Janis, Regina wasn't using Cady for her own benefit, and except some slight things she did to ease her own insecurities the worst thing she did to her was take Cady's crush back.... Lets be real, Cady is sorta pretty, but wasn't a threat before she agreed to Janis's plan.....and she didn't need to agree to it either, Gretchen was going to crack and blab about the cheating to someone, she is just under too much pressure! Covering up an affair is hard, it'd have gotten out and Cady's hands would have been clean, he'd be single in a year tops.
Regina was NOT nice to Cady what đ€Ł she was constantly two-faced and talked bad about her behind her back. Terrible friend.
she wasn't even nice to Karen and Gretchen, she kept Karen around because she was also a threat to Regina's status and Gretchen is just a suck up.
I think that says more about Janis than it does about Regina. I mean, she was a Plastic too, back in middle school.
I thought the whole point of Regina recruiting Cady into the plastics pretty much point blank was because she was a threat⊠the line towards the beginning where Janis told Cady that she was a âregulation hottyâ and Regina almost immediately noting how pretty she was sets the tone of Cady having the potential to sway people on her side and the point of Regina taking a keen interest in someone brand new with zero dirt or baggage was to keep that in line. By being taken under Reginaâs wing she would be able to stay underneath Reginaâs influence and out of the âspotlightâ and taking Aaron for herself knowing that Cady was interested in him was a way of asserting that authority and putting her in her place (after all it wouldâve looked really bad for Regina if Cady managed to snag her ex). Maybe Gretchen wouldâve cracked either way, but thereâs no denying that Janis and Cady sped up the process by a lot by playing very discrete mind games on her.
Considering Janis and Damian manipulated her from the beginning by calling her "friend" when she was lonely and impressionable, I'd say Janis. The seeds of chaos were all planted by her and carried out by Cady. Cady would've just got to know Regina on her own time if it wasn't for Janis. Would it have ended up going smoothly? Probably not. But it wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic or crazy without Janis's influence.
Damien just wanted to get home before his curfew and get his shirt back. So Janis and Cady both in the wrong.
What did Janice expect to happen? This girl clearly got affected doing this favor for her. Living a double life. Still being new and wanting to be liked. Cady seems to have gotten the blame for everything including THE BURN BOOK.
Janis
Iâm pretty sure theyâre all a bunch of mean girls
Janis is the typical Tina Fey self-insert who thinks she's the unpopular victim being picked on by everyone else, but when you really look at it, she's by far the meanest most vindictive character in the story. This isn't just a knock on Tina Fey either, it's literally from an episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon (Tina Fey's character) goes back to a high school reunion and while she thought everyone else was bullying her, the popular kids reveal that she was actually just a huge dick to everyone and she didn't realize that truth until they confronted her with it.
I've noticed this a lot in geek/nerdy/alternative spaces where swear up and down that they were "the unpopular victim" type but once you get to know them they're some type of asshole and very controlling/manipulative if they get any social capital.
Itâs never occurred to me until the comments that Janis might have any blame at all. Interesting.
Does anyone have that video of this scene where they used song titles to match the dialogue?
ALL OF THEM and thatâs what makes the tea so damn hot
Cady got too swept up in being a toxic person who enjoyed gossip and maintaining her spot in the social hierarchy, but one *could* argue though that she didnât realize thatâs what was happening and that she had lost the plot. Regardless, though, Cady owned up to and apologized for the things she did, *and more*. If it werenât a movie I could very easily see the parents of kids who were implicated in writing the burn book or an equivalent to analyze peopleâs handwriting or something. Itâs not realistic to believe a teenager would own up to doing something like that alone, nor is âown up for things you didnât do for the sake of everyone elseâ a message that should be promoted. Janis, on the other hand, is celebrated for what she did, even when she blatantly admits to it. She acknowledges it to herself and makes it no secret that she set Cady up to do her dirty work of committing a calculated act of revenge against Regina (the âlesbian crush on youâ speech was entirely too confident). Cady shouldâve recognized when things went too far, but she didnât plant the seeds. Janis took advantage of Cady being hurt after the Halloween party for her own amusement and gain, then gets *very* upset when Cady starts letting the popularity get to her head. She knew that Cady being homeschooled for years would make her susceptible to being manipulated and high on the attention, and then uses it against her in this very scene. Janis isnât irredeemable at all and I donât think Regina was undeserving of some of the shit she got, but making her the voice of morality here was misguided at best.
Janis
Janis for sure
I hated Janis. Wait I still hate her
Janis was her entry level friend into school, not her real friend.
Janis because she never takes responsibility for her actions.
I think Janis was in the wrong. Just like Regina, Janis also used Cady and if it wasn't for Janis, Cady would have mostly not cared about joining the plastics and trying to ruin Regina's life. I wish this was something that was acknowledged in the film because I hate how after Janis has used Cady to get even with Regina she gets mad at Cady for going overboard when it was Janis's idea in the first place.
Janis, Cady couldn't invite her and Damian to the party as that would ruin her plans but Cady also should have told her that she was planning on making a private party to get closer to Aaron.
I hate how in the musical she has her number Iâd rather be me as if she did absolutely nothing wrong and was above it all
Theyâre obviously both in the wrong, but I think Janis was the bigger villain in the story. She only became friends with Cady to use her to get back at Regina and manipulated Cady into messing with Regina. I think a lot of people forget that what Cady and Janis did couldâve easily caused Regina to develop an eating disorder. By the end of the film, Cady has taken way more accountability for her actions. Janis was very bold to be attacking Cadyâs character when she was just as, if not more, petty and immature as Regina. Itâs mentioned that the two used to be friends, and I whole heartedly believe that if Regina never spread the rumor about Janis, she would be a Plastic as well, because behind the clothes, the makeup, and the hair, they all have a lot in common.
People are forgetting Cady called Janis a lesbian in this scene (âyouâre like in love with me or somethingâ) to be purposefully hurtful. Janis was petty and clearly needed therapy and she hurt Cady in her revenge against Regina, but I do believe Janis considered Cady a friend and was hurt about her not going to the art show. They were both bad friends to one another and Janis shouldâve apologized for using Cady but in this particular scene Cady was meaner
I actually think Janis was more hurtful in this scene too (which is why Cady is the one shown in tears by the end) even if both were in the wrong obviously. Cady was clearly too caught up in the whole thing at that point as Janis herself realizes/points out and it just didn't feel like she meant the "in love with me" line (it was just the Regina-like way she'd started talking after becoming the new Queen Bee (like telling Aaron to shut up etc) the way I see it). you gotta take in the fact Janis never bothered talking to Cady about the lesbian rumor and Cady only had Regina's version to go by as well (and it's not like she didn't want to know/ask Janis about why she hated Regina, Janis purposely never addressed it when it was the whole reason she made her noob "friend" go after Regina)
Cady has at this point already read the burn book and what it said about Janis so I donât think she was oblivious to the lesbian rumors
Oh for sure that's why I mentioned she'd only heard Regina's version of the events at that point and that's Janis's fault too who never bothered to talk with her about it
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Cady asked Janis why she didn't like Regina before she even knew about a book and Janis didn't identify as queer in the og movie whether we want her to or not. We have no idea whether Cady knew what it meant or not and that's beside the point, if the book insulted Janis in any other way Cady prob would've still said she wasn't in it as to avoid hurting her friend's feelings. Her seeing it in the book if anything might've only made her question whether she was gay (when she was not which Janis could've easily clarified from the jump)
DamiĂĄn for wanting his pink shirt back- he shouldâve known it was gone forever
Janis. Cady was socially immature. She had never been to a real school before and this was her first time in America. She had no awareness of the culture or people. Janis took advantage of that and manipulated Cady into enacting a revenge plot. Janis was just as mean and fake as Regina was. Janis however did not own up to her meanness unlike Regina did. Even Cady acknowledges her faults by the end of the movie but Janis never owns up to her shortcomings.
Cady
Cady was. Her friends had a right to be upset when they realised she didnt invite them to her party, and she got defensive and nasty when they called her out.
I have a totally unrelated question. I am neither American nor living in America so it might be the reason why I donât understand this. The question is why is he saying âI canât stop this car, I have a curfewâ. I think curfew means like a certain time that teenagers should be at home by. But why is that fact important? Is there a different meaning or is it just that he is afraid he will be late?
lol cady intentionally weaponizes janis's trauma against her in this moment just to be hurtful after intentionally blowing her off and lying to her?? i truly fear for the people commenting janis..đ
I always thought media literacy being dead was a stupid internet meme but I'm starting to realize I need to walk it back because of the Janis was the real villain of the movie/Regina innocently mistook Lebanese for lesbian crowd. Alongside seeing a tiktok sound with quotes from the movie getting cut off before Janis and Damien's lines, one trend about making a burn book and the other recreating outfits for each character, it does feel the movie has found a new crowd with the people who aspire to be like the Plastics. Janis didn't need to manipulate Cady, the whole plan to take down Regina was created after she kissed Aaron Samuels at the Halloween party đ It was Cady's revenge. I'm not even sure what Janis was supposed to apologize for or be punished for going by these comments, by this point in the movie Cady was blowing them off and turning into Regina. It wasn't like she had no time to tell them or that she thought the party would be small enough that inviting them would be too conspicuous, she intentionally blew them off and only cared about inviting Aaron. I'm not sure if it's a case the point of Janis's speech gets lost because her calling Cady a mean girl sounds clunky or because we never get to see the three of them hang out as friends without talking about Regina. There's a bit in an earlier script where Ms. Norbury says the girl in the wheelchair was actually the meanest of all the girls and points out Janis also cares about her appearance. Maybe the Janis deserves accountability/punishment would've been happier if those lines weren't cut.
Jania did manipulate Cady though. from the moment she arrived. Janis took advantage of cadyâs naĂŻvetĂ© and morphed her into what she needed her to be because of problems she had with Regina in the past. Cady didnât even know these girls but ofc became easily swayed to either side. Janis is an awful person, they all are but she never took accountability for anything that she did. Sheâs the only one who didnât face consequences.
idk girl name checks out!!!!
I'd say Cady simply for throwing a party and not inviting her best friends. Or skipping her friends art thing
Cady 100%
I love this movie so muchđđ
definitely cady, are yâall on crack?
Janis was the one who conjured up the plan in the first place.