Tina Fey's Mean Girls: The Movie, The Musical

Great Essays
Critically analyze the star Tina Fey by considering the writing of Mean Girls: the movie, the musical, and the movie musical, which she originally adapted to a screenplay from the book Queen Bees and Wannabees by Rosalind Wiseman. The original movie, Mean Girls, from 2004 was adapted into a musical for the stage by Tina Fey, which premiered in Washington, DC, in 2017 and went to Broadway the following year. As well as most recently, twenty years after the original, the story was converted into a movie musical, which consisted of a combination of the past two as well as its own changes. Through evaluating this collection of adaptations as a reflection of Tina Fey's use of feminism, the comedy that allows her creations to be lucrative and successful, …show more content…
The language and terminology around LGBTQ+ members were also reduced, making the judgment about Janice being lesbian less of an issue, but it was still present. One change to reflect modern times was the incorporation of social media, which was integral to the 2024 version. The mom references her own accounts and encourages the audience to follow her, as well as the lines referencing technology, such as “Feel like an iPhone without a case; at any point I could just shatter” (Collection of Musicals 38:43). Much of these changes continued into the 2024 version. The latest adaptation was designed for a modern audience while also reaching for a cash grab from the audience searching for nostalgia. Tina Fey took the opportunity to combine aspects of the musical and the original movie. There were new perspectives on running gags and new jokes all together. Much of the forbidden content in the movie and musical was discarded, which was lost on some of the comedy but is probably for the best for the new audience. For example, changes between the 2004 and 2024 movies included removing the affairs between coach Carr and students and the amount of body image remarks and certain types of language used. This is an example of how, over time, the outrageous remarks written in the original that made it so funny became inappropriate. However, there were still comments on drugs, such as this one, which originated from the musical when Damian and Janice reach out to Cady in the bathroom and say, “You're OK in there, because you’ve been in there a long time. We are concerned you are either doing drugs or having a toilet baby” (Mean Girls 2024 8:52). As well, in addition to Regina gaining weight, her skin is having breakouts. This addition removes some of the focus on body shape and instead focuses on teenage struggles. The social media from the musical increases in intensity with the

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