Mean Girls Mark Waters

Mean Girls has become a pop culture phenomenon.[46][47][48] Fans have made GIFs and memes of the film and posted them on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.[49][50][51][52][53] It is considered one of the most quotable movies of all time.[54][55][56][57] In an interview about the film, Fey noted: "Adults find it funny. They are the ones who are laughing. Young people watch it like a reality show. It's much too close to their real experiences so they are not exactly guffawing."[58] October 3 has been dubbed "Mean Girls Day" on social media, alluding to a line by Cady, the protagonist. People also celebrate by wearing pink based on a line by Karen, another character. Clothing designers have printed quotes and other iconic imagery from the movie onto clothing and other merchandise.[59]

Members of the cast have reunited in video over the years on that day for various causes. In 2017, they created a GoFundMe to raise money for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting and the National Compassion Fund.[60] In 2019, they teamed up with the Thirst Project to raise money to fund a freshwater well in Uganda.[61] In 2020, the cast was honored with the Pioneering Spirit Award for their #MeanGirlsDoGood campaign.[62] On October 3, 2020, Katie Couric moderated a virtual cast reunion to reminisce about the film. Organized in collaboration with HeadCount to promote voting in the 2020 United States presidential election, it was the first time the entire cast gathered since the 2004 premiere.[63][64] Paramount Pictures released the entire movie for free streaming on TikTok in 23 snippets to celebrate Mean Girls Day on October 3, 2023.[65] The hashtag "#meangirlsday" was one of the top trends on the platform that month.[66]

American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey has said several times that she is a fan of the film, quoting the film in numerous interviews and TV appearances, including a 2013 episode of American Idol. Carey's 2009 single, "Obsessed", begins with an interlude quote where she says, "And I was like, 'Why are you so obsessed with me?'", a line from Regina George. Carey's ex-husband, Nick Cannon, revealed that the song was inspired by the film.[67][68] In September 2020, Fey quizzed Carey about the movie to prove how much of a "superfan" she is on Billboard's Quizzed video series.[69] Meanwhile, the British band Wet Leg quotes the film ("Is your muffin buttered?/Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?") in their song "Chaise Longue" (2021).[70]

In August 2013, the White House tweeted a photo of President Obama's dog, Bo, holding a tennis ball and captioning: "Bo, stop trying to make fetch happen".[71][72] Taco Bell made a reply to the White House, also using one of the quotes from the film.[73] In June 2018, the official Twitter account of the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. made headlines when it responded to a tweet by Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, calling Israel "a malignant cancerous tumor", with an animated GIF of the "Why are you so obsessed with me?" quote from Mean Girls.[74] In March 2019, Hillary Clinton tweeted a GIF of the same quote which went viral for being considered a response to Donald Trump.[75] At the 2013 People's Choice Awards, Jennifer Lawrence referenced the film in her speech when she won Favorite Movie Actress.[76] Multiple scenes from the movie have been reenacted and parodied by various celebrities throughout the years following its release, including Ed Sheeran, Iggy Azalea, Amber Rose and Waka Flocka Flame during a 2014 skit for MTV.[77][78][79][80][81][82] In 2013, a Tumblr called "Les Mean Girls" emerged, which coupled lines from the film with images from the 2012 film adaptation of the musical Les Misérables.[83][84] The scene where Janis explains to Cady the cliques of their school is parodied in the 2008 superhero/teen spoof Superhero Movie, where Trey (Kevin Hart) points out the different groups of cliques to Rick Riker (Drake Bell). One of the cliques is "Frodos" – kids dressed up as Hobbits akin to Frodo, The Lord of the Rings character, and another the "Scarface Society" – dressed up as Al Pacino's character Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface.

In June 2020, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar referenced the film during a COVID-19 lockdown news briefing. Varadkar stated that "some have asked whether there is a limit to what we can achieve", before drawing upon a line from the film: "My answer is that the limit does not exist." Lord of the Rings and The Goonies actor, Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, bet the Irish leader "50 quid" to quote Mean Girls in his next speech.[85]

The sixth episode of the third season of How to Get Away with Murder included several references to the film, including Aja Naomi King's character Michaela Pratt using the line "you can't sit with us", Viola Davis' character Annalise Keating eating her lunch in a toilet cubicle after feeling like an outcast, Karla Souza's character Laurel Castillo using sweatpants on a Monday and Behzad Dabu's character Simon Drake calling several other students "mean girls".[86] In June 2021, actress Aimee Lou Wood mentioned the film scene where Cady broke her Spring Fling crown in pieces and shared it with girls around her.[87] She said: "Now, I said that I'd break [this award] into pieces and share it with everyone, It's solid, Daisy [Haggard], It's solid! So I'll give you a metaphorical piece to everyone in my category, especially Emma Mackey who's the best scene partner and best friend…"[87] The second novel by American author Karen M. McManus, Two Can Keep a Secret includes a reference to a line in the film, where the character Ezra refers to his school's prom committee as looking like "they wear pink on Wednesdays".[88]

In October 2024, the film will be released in North American theaters again by Fathom Events for its 20th anniversary.[89]

Accolades

The film won and was nominated for a number of awards throughout 2004–2005.[90]