Hot Take: Regina George Isn’t A Mean Girl – She Just Doesn’t Suffer Fools

Mean Girls paints Rachel McAdams’ Regina George as the Picasso of terror.

As the leader of the influential Plastics, she rules North Shore High School with an iron fist, destroying anyone who dares to cross her. Expectedly, everyone remains wary of her, fearing her wrath if they step out of line and billing her as the queen bee of meanness.

While Regina possesses a darker side to her behavior and tiptoes across the line of basic human decency, one has to question if she is really a mean girl or someone who sticks up for herself. Quite frankly, it seems more like the latter here.

Regina George defends Cady when no one else does

Cady Heron’s (Lindsay Lohan) first day at North Shore isn’t fun. Not only does she need to deal with the first-day jitters, but she also faces meanness from a lot of people not named Regina George. In fact, Regina proves to be the first person at school to stand up for Cady when everyone else treats her as a laughingstock.

Walking through the cafeteria, Cady gets accosted by the jock Jason (Daniel DeSanto) who tells her he’s conducting a lunchtime survey for new students. Jason proceeds to ask sexual innuendo-charged questions to Cady as his bonehead friends cackle in the background. It’s Regina who takes Jason to task for his behavior and embarrases him in a public fashion. She recognizes exactly what he’s doing and shreds him to pieces with her words, finally hitting him with the fatality: “You can go shave your back now.”

Regina could turn back to her friends and continue her day as per usual, but she invites Cady to sit with her clique – something that no one else was doing. Everyone knows that being the new kid at school is difficult and unsettling, but no one apart from Regina, Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan), and Damian Leigh (Daniel Franzese) make Cady feel welcome on her first day. Maybe Regina experienced something similar a long time ago.

Cady crosses a line with Aaron

Right from the get-go, Cady falls for Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett). While he’s technically available, since he’s Regina George’s ex-boyfriend, this isn’t as simple as it appears. Anyone who has ever been in a high school love saga understands there are a number of unwritten rules and specific no-nos that friends adhere to. The biggest cardinal sin anyone can commit is dating a friend’s ex – it complicates matters too much and creates dissension in the ranks because it never ends well. 

Cady didn’t know that Aaron was Regina’s ex until Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) tells her. Unfortunately, Gretchen deceives her and tells Regina that Cady likes Aaron. It makes one wonder who really is the mean girl of the Plastics here, because Gretchen plays the ditzy part all too well but knows exactly what kind of trouble she’s stirring up. However, that’s a topic for another day.

Even though Regina effectively gives Cady her blessing to pursue a relationship with Aaron, she kisses him afterward, breaks Cady’s heart, and sets off a chain of wild events. Yet, Cady didn’t read between the lines. She should have halted her pursuit of Aaron, as this was nothing more than a friendship test Regina conducted. Cady fails and Regina strikes back the only way she knows how: Hard. Obviously, there’s unresolved issues between Regina and Aaron, and this situation was only going to turn ugly in the long run. Think of it as a teenage version of Brangelina and Bennifer.

High school is Hell for teens, especially in ‘Mean Girls’

Everyone who speaks to the camera about Regina George has a tale about her and something she did to them. But has anyone asked Regina for her side of the story yet? Looking at the teens at North Shore, none of them are innocent victims in Mean Girls. Even Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey) points out how they are all terrible to each other at some point.

This shouldn’t be unsurprising to anyone who attends (or attended) high school. It’s Hell on Earth where decency gets flushed down the toilet and chaos reigns in every corner. People do the cruelest things to each other and their behavior gets excused as “they’re just kids.” It’s a rotten and nasty place where only the strongest survive.

Regina understands this better than most. She isn’t afraid to roll around in the mud and get dirty when necessary. She fights and claws for her own survival, refusing to be anyone’s punching bag or doormat. If this is the zombie apocalypse, Regina grabs the shovel and starts swinging at anyone who comes for her.

Regina stands her ground, no matter what

What’s abundantly clear in Mean Girls is how Regina George puts up her dukes and fights rather than endure. Is it the right method to deal with conflict? Well, that’s open for debate. In the WWE, every matter is settled in the ring and maybe Regina subscribes to this same philosophy in terms of facing battles head on.

She refuses to be taken for a fool by any of her classmates at North Shore. Resultantly, she gets labeled the bully or the toxic one because she doesn’t back down. But no, it’s more a case of people messing around and finding out that Regina George doesn’t play nice. Do not test her patience.