I’ll be honest: I still find lots of the original Mean Girls laugh-out-loud funny:
Reimagining a film so evocative of its time, yet also so iconic, could be a creative opportunity…or a creative minefield. Let’s see what we think about the 2024 version.
Anyway, hello, welcome, and thank you for stopping by. For new visitors, here’s what this situation is all about:
With Savor the View, we’ll watch, think, and talk about movies and the things that matter. A special welcome and thanks to our regular crew!
Each Monday, I share brief, spoiler-free remarks and questions to frame viewing a movie on our own.
Each Thursday, I share post-viewing questions to poke at the issues, ideas, quandaries, inspirations...whatever...that movie might have summoned (spoilers, ahoy!).
Paid subscribers can talk it all out in a weekly Discussion Thread.
Overview
Mean Girls (2024): As noted last week, it takes a village. Like the 2004 Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live (SNL) creator and producer Lorne Michaels produced this version of the film and former SNL writer and cast member Tina Fey updated her screenplay, drawing on a stage musical of the same name that premiered in 2017. In this instance, Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez, Jr. directed an ensemble of veteran comedic stars (here come Fey and Tim Meadows, reprising their earlier roles!) and rising newcomers.
We’re only half-way through 2024, so contextualizing the year in Hollywood would be a bit premature. But let’s just note that Mean Girls opened in January, the same month Society of the Snow premiered on Netflix. Make of that what you will.
Twenty years and much social media disruption later, the current Mean Girls enters a wildly different space than its predecessor. Contemporary discourse is profoundly more pervasive, intrusive, and relentless through the wonders of technology, yet also contoured by greater awareness of vulnerable sensitivities. And now, characters periodically burst into song.
The universal/general
Remaking a movie means choices were made. Keep this, change that, jettison other stuff altogether. What elements have endured, continuing to resonate as meaningful? What hasn’t?
The specific/unique
Why a musical? How does this choice change the story? What does this format do to advance the story?
How is the plot the same or different?
How are the characters the same or different?
How is the dialogue the same or different?
The viewer is always present
Having just watched the 2004 movie, what are your expectations for this version?
What works for you this time around? What doesn’t?
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