Everyone loves the 2004 cult classic Mean Girls. It’s full of memorable quotes and has jokes
all throughout. And being set in the jungles of your typical highschool, it makes for some
pretty morally complex characters. Teenagers can be pretty vicious; and we want to know
who ends up being the most evil. And which character comes out as the most noble.
I’m Caleb with WickedBinge and this is Mean Girls: Good to Evil.
While the Mean Girls universe has a lot of bad apples, or should we say ‘mean’ apples,
these are the characters in the good section. The Gold Medal of good goes to Ms. Norbury.
Ms. Norbury was Cady’s calculus teacher. Throughout the movie she sees Cady’s
potential as a student and encourages her to do well in math and to join the mathletes.
She was quick to warn Cady against prioritizing having a boyfriend and being popular over her own
academic success. Later in the movie Cady spread the rumor that Ms. Norbury was selling drugs,
causing the police to raid her own home. However, she was still quick to forgive
Cady and be a good teacher… Which says a lot about her character. She even took
Cady’s side and encouraged her to not take the entire blame for the burn book, since she didn’t
write all of it. She’s a caring and supportive teacher to everyone throughout the entire movie.
The Silver Medal of good goes to Kevin. Kevin earns the silver medal, because he’s definitely
one of the more harmless characters in the film. He hardly caused any trouble,
and he was mostly just a studious kid who was part of the mathletes. We also feel we have
to give him the silver if only for the fire he spits at the talent show. If you tell us
you didn’t memorize those lyrics, you’re lying. The Bronze Medal of good goes to Aaron Sammuels.
Aaron was definitely one of the more sensible characters of the film. Although, he does date
Regina without seeing how terrible she can be. But you can’t really hold that against him. He was
someone who held Cady to a higher standard and saw her for who she really was. Aaron didn’t seem to
care much for all the drama that went on between the plastics in the movie. He actually thought it
was quite ridiculous, and when Cady began to act like Regina, he was quick to call her out on it.
Next up is the principal of North Shore High School, Mr. Duvall. Although Mr. Duvall appeared
to be one of the more sensible ones of the movie for realizing when the drama had gone too far,
and having all of the girls report to the gym, it was still wrong of him to put the blame on every
single girl for the burn book. He also threatened to cancel the school’s upcoming Spring Fling
because of it, but only chose not to because he had already paid for the DJ. It was also blatantly
obvious that Regina was the main culprit and he believed her when she lied right in front of him.
However, he still did a good deed by helping most of the girls make peace with each other,
except for when Janis spilled the beans that she and Cady were the ones trying to
ruin Regina’s life, causing Regina to storm out and get hit by a bus.
Next we have Cady’s mom and dad. Cady’s parents are in the good section, because they appeared to
have good intentions and cared about their daughter. However, we do have to take into
account the fact that they were a little oblivious to the trouble their daughter was getting into in
school. Cady’s mom was pretty firm with her and grounded her, however, her dad let her leave the
house while she was grounded, making him a bit more careless than the mom. Cady’s parents are
definitely partially responsible for the trouble their daughter got into, because, well, they’re
her parents. Cady’s parents also underestimated how difficult of an adjustment transitioning their
daughter from being homeschooled in Africa to being in an American highschool would be,
and they could’ve done a better job being more supportive towards her. Nonetheless,
they still appeared to be more sensible and caring than some of the other characters in the movie.
Next we have Damian. Damian was definitely not perfect. He definitely has to lose some
points for going along with Janis’ evil plan to ruin Regina’s life. He, Cady,
and Janis also skipped class in the beginning of the movie, making Damian a bit of a rebel.
Same thing when he snuck in with the girls when they all met in the gym.
However, out of Janis and Damian, Damian was definitely the nicer of the duo by far. He
welcomed Cady into their friend group, and he also let her borrow his pink shirt. That said, he did
go along with the evil plan… though it didn’t seem quite as vindictive or personal with him.
First up in the gray section, we have the protagonist of the film, Cady Heron.
Although Cady was one of the main perpetrators of much of the drama that went on in the movie,
we have to cut her some slack, because she was new to the school and had just moved from Africa. Cady
was trying her best to fit in, make friends, and understand the rules of an American high school.
We almost placed Cady in the gray section rather than the good, because of the trouble she caused.
She went along with Janis’ plan to ruin Regina’s life, and then she turned into a clone of Regina
and ended up betraying Janis and hurting Regina in the end. Cady did indeed become a mean girl,
and we also have to mention that she did contribute to the burn book as well.
However, we’re ranking Cady in the Good section… because she wasn’t a part of the plastics clique
for as long as the other girls, such as Karen and Gretchen, and at heart Cady is
just a well-intentioned nerd who is good at math. What really solidifies were placement in the good
is that she owned up to her wrongs in the end and admitted to what she did when it
was revealed that Ms. Norbury was in trouble because of it. Which takes a lot of integrity.
Now we will be taking a look at the characters who are not so good,
but not so evil either. This is the gray section. Speaking of the plastics, next up we have Karen.
Along with Cady, Karen also gets a slight pass for being one of the more harmless members of the
group. Although Karen is considered one of the movies’ ‘mean’ girls, Karen was not as mean as
Regina and Gretchen. Yes, she did go along with Regina’s demands and followed the peer pressure
of the group, however, we definitely consider her more of someone dumb than someone mean. In fact,
pretty much the main reason why Karen is even accepted into the plastics is because of her lack
of intelligence. We see Regina take advantage of this in the film and push Karen around for
that reason. We can’t get too mad at Karen, because for much of the film she didn’t really
understand what was going on most of the time. We even find out in the movie that Karen’s real
passion is for doing the school’s weather report. Next up we have Regina’s other sidekick, Gretchen.
Unfortunately, we have to rank Gretchen lower than Cady and Karen for the fact that she was notorious
for sharing the secrets of others. Gretchen was not as mean as Regina, and just like Karen, she
mostly went with her demands and followed the peer pressure of the group because she wanted to be
accepted by Regina. Although Gretchen may not have been as shrewd as Regina, she still had the toxic
habit of gossiping and spreading other people’s private information around. Gretchen was also the
second most popular girl in school after Regina because her family was rich and her father was the
inventor of toaster strudel. With all that power given to Gretchen, it became pretty easy for her
to abuse it. We also have to mention that Gretchen didn’t change very much at the end of the movie,
nor did she learn her lesson. Gretchen joined the Asian clique, and continued talking about people
behind their backs, just in another language. Next up we have Gretchen’s boyfriend in the film,
Jason. Jason had a very small role in the movie, so there isn’t much to say about him. However,
in the appearances we did see of him, he didn’t appear to be all that good. Jason was part of the
jocks clique and was one of the guys who made fun of Damian’s performance at the Winter Talent Show.
Jason also appeared to have very little respect for women. In the beginning of the film,
he was seen hitting on Cady by asking her if her ‘muffin is buttered’. He was also shown
cheating on Gretchen by bringing another girl with him to the party Cady held at her house.
Last character in the gray section is Shane Oman. Just like Jason, Shane was another male character
shown to be dating one of the plastics who had a very small role in the film. Throughout the movie,
Shane was having an affair with Regina while she was dating Aaron Sammuels. We definitely
have to mark him down on the morality scale for agreeing to be in a relationship with someone
who was already dating someone else. That wraps up the gray section.
Now we will be taking a look at the purely evil, or should we say ‘mean’ characters of the movie.
Starting off the evil section we have Regina’s mother, June George. Mrs. George is definitely
responsible for and has to take the blame for much of her daughter’s behavior in the film. Although
Mrs. George on the surface appears to be a nice and harmless lady, she is without a doubt an
irresponsible and neglectful parent. In the film, Mrs. George refers to herself as not a regular
mom, but a ‘cool mom’. We see her spoiling Regina and allowing her to behave however she wishes.
When Cady visited Regina’s home, Mrs. George offered Cady and the other girls some alcohol,
implying she was okay with her daughter drinking as a minor. June’s desperation to be seen as
“cool” by her children stops her from fulfilling her role as a good mom..
The Bronze Medal of Evil goes to Janis Ian. Janis is definitely a complex individual. Although she
was not a member of the plastics, nor was she considered one of the movie’s signature ‘mean’
girls, Janis was definitely one of the cruelest characters in the movie and pretty much a mean
girl herself. However, we can easily sympathize for Janis, because she does have a tragic
backstory. Being one of the school’s outcasts and one of the earlier victims of Regina’s torment was
definitely not easy. Janis used to be friends with Regina, until they split up and Regina started
spreading rumors that Janis had a lesbian crush on her. However, this does not justify the way Janis
behaved in the film. Janis was the one behind the entire revenge plot to ruin Regina’s life.
Not only was Janis causing unnecessary drama by trying to ruin Regina’s life and turn the
other plastics against her, she also got Cady in the middle of the whole dilemma too. Most of the
events that happened in the movie would not have occurred if it wasn’t for Janis’ spitefulness
and bitterness towards Regina. While Regina was an evil dictator, yes, Janis contributed just
as much to the problem by throwing more flame into the fire. Speaking of Regina…
Of course the Silver Medal of Evil has to go to the infamous Regina George.
There isn’t much to say about Regina George that hasn’t already been said. Regina was the leader of
the plastics, the most popular girl in school, and a ruthless dictator over the other female students
at North Shore High School. Regina was known to spread vicious rumors and gossip about the
other girls and school. This caused endless chaos, drama, and division between the female students.
Regina was the main culprit behind the burn book, however, she framed Cady, Gretchen,
and Karen as the only ones behind the book so she could come off as innocent and turn all the girls
in the school against each other. This is someone who was willing to throw her own so-called friends
under the bus to get off clean. It was revealed in the movie in countless scenes that the other
girls were intimidated by Regina, yet they somehow all craved her validation. When Ms. Norbury asked
the girls to raise their hands if they ever felt personally victimized by Regina George,
all hands went up, including the teachers. Regina was shown to have strict guidelines within the
plastics clique, and was controlling over the other girls down to even the most basic things
like what they were allowed to wear. We can’t forget the iconic “on Wednesdays we wear pink”
rule. Regina was shown throughout the film to be unfaithful in her relationship with Aaron by
cheating on him with Shane. Regina even betrayed Cady’s trust by getting back together with Aaron
when Cady revealed she had a crush on him. Although Janis caused a lot of trouble by
devising a revenge scheme against Regina, Regina was the main perpetrator in the drama between
the two. Regina was the one to spread those vicious rumors about Janis being a lesbian,
causing the rift in their friendship. Despite all the heinous acts Regina committed,
we do have to mention that she did somewhat redeem herself at the end by joining a sports
team to let out all her aggression. However, we can’t let her off the hook
that easily because of all the damage she caused. Finally, the Gold Medal of Evil has to go to Coach
Carr. Coach Carr was shown teaching sex education and he didn’t appear to be very qualified,
as his teaching methods was pretty much exclusively scare tactics. However, this
is far from the worst of it. Coach Carr was also revealed to be having sexual relationships with
two young female students in the school. Which makes him a predator - and given the otherwise
lightheartedness of this slice of life movie… that more than deserves the Gold Medal of Evil.
First up with the Darwin Medal goes to Karen. For obvious reasons. She might be
the most iconic ditzy character in film history. The Pride Medal goes to Regina George; Who flaunts
her status as Queen Bee throughout the movie. We’ll also award her the Greed Medal due to how
she needs to be the center of attention and can’t share that spotlight or control with anyone else.
We’re giving the Wrath Medal to Janis because her anger and
hatred for Regina was really dialed up to 11. And we have to give the Lust Medal to Coach Carr…
who should probably be in prison for his relationship with highschool girls.
But tell us: do you agree with this ranking? Let us know in the comments what you think.
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