Let’s Be Real: Janis Was A Mean Girl, Too

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for Mean Girls (2024).

The best thing about the latest Mean Girls movie? It reminded me just how much I loved the original. Although the 2024 film follows the same general plot (with a few catchy song additions), there is one thing about the new movie that doesn’t quite work: Janis and Cady’s friendship.

Cady’s scheming, cynical BFF was always rough around the edges. Whether purposefully mispronouncing Cady’s name or using her to enact revenge on Regina George, Janis was fundamentally a bit of a f*cked-up friend. But despite all her flaws, the 2004 version made her a funny and self-aware antihero, even if misguided at times.

Unfortunately, the 2024 film transforms this character into someone less forgivable. The new script removes Janis’ trademark snark and humor — and completely cuts out her genuine fondness for Cady. To make matters worse, Cady loses her venom, too, making her more pitiable than anything.

Without Cady’s malice and Janis’ self-awareness, the new film fails to convincingly tie the characters together. And as the revenge plot thickens, Janis starts seeming just plain mean, like the Plastics she supposedly hates. The updated script makes it a lot harder to root for her.

Janis Was Always Judgmental & Insensitive

In Mean Girls (2004), Cady Heron, Janis Ian, and Damian become fast friends over a skipped health class. From there, Janis and Damian take Cady under their wing, equipping her with the ultimate guide to surviving North Shore High School.

Although OG Janis might be nice to Cady and Damian, she doesn’t extend that same treatment to everyone. Her POV isn’t always that PC, either. As she describes the cafeteria cliques, she labels other people with phrases like “unfriendly Black hotties” and “sexually active band geeks.”

Though Janis insists on calling her “Caddy,” she and Cady seem to have a real connection in the 2004 movie. Part of their bond? They both have a malicious streak they don’t mind embracing. There’s a difference, though — Cady’s motive for revenge is based on an unrequited crush, while Janis’ is due to legit trauma from the past.

According to Regina, she turned the whole middle school against Janis by telling everyone that Janis was a lesbian. (Damian also hints at Regina passing around a petition to stop people speaking to Janis.) The bullying resulted in Janis dropping out of school entirely.

IMO, this is a valid grudge to hold onto, made even more poignant by the fact that Janis doesn’t want to share the details with Cady. As Janis encourages Cady to ingratiate herself in with the Plastics, she seems more concerned with exposing Regina’s cruelty to others than employing petty revenge tactics for her own benefit.

It isn’t until Regina hurts Cady that Janis decides enough is enough. “She’s a life-ruiner; she ruins people’s lives,” Janis tells Cady. “She’s not gonna get away with this again, OK? We’re gonna do something.”

OG Janis Had The Self-Awareness To Make Her Redeemable

Though things get ~tense~ between Cady and Janis when Cady transforms into one of the Plastics, 2004 Janis never completely loses sight of her own culpability. After Cady skips Janis’ art show to host a party to get Aaron Samuels’ attention, Janis and Cady have it out in the front yard.

“At least me and Regina George know we’re mean! You try to act so innocent, like ‘Oh, I use to live in Africa with all the little birdies, and the little monkeys!’” Janis yells at Cady. This self-awareness is the key to making Janis work as a character.

But in the new film, Janis ‘Imi’ike, played by Auli’i Cravalho, is missing that unapologetic introspection. It has nothing to do with Cravalho’s skills as a performer — her acting and singing are standouts in the movie. Yet her character lacks the self-reflection of the original, making her as bad as the rest of the film’s “mean girls.”

The New Janis Doesn’t Seem To Care About Cady

In Mean Girls (2024), Janis and Cady’s friendship is largely skipped over. You don’t see them playing hooky together or gossiping at Janis’ mall job. Janis is still mispronouncing Cady’s name (rude) and encouraging her to go undercover with the Plastics, but there’s less genuine friendship tying them together.

Let’s put it this way: If you applied the Bechdel test to Cady and Janis’ conversations, but looked for mentions of Regina instead of men, they’d fail spectacularly.

From the beginning, it’s clear that Janis wants one thing: revenge on Regina. Cady’s initially reluctant to take part — that is, until Regina makes out with Aaron in front of her. When she tells Damian and Janis about the betrayal, Janis immediately uses it as leverage for her own retribution.

There’s a gleeful energy to the subsequent musical number, “Revenge Party.” In it, Janis sings, “Now you know, Cady, Regina George is not your friend / We are your friends / And we’re going to make her pay.” Janis might be singing about her close bond with Cady, but it’s nowhere to be found.

The new movie also changes Janis’ backstory with Regina, making it a lot less traumatic. As Damian reveals, Regina and Janis were BFFS in middle school. They even had matching plushy toys with gay pride pins. (Janis used hers to come out, while Regina used hers to show allyship.) But then, Regina kissed Janis during spin the bottle to get a boy’s attention, only to later spread a rumor that Janis was “obsessed” with her. In retaliation, Janis lit Regina’s plushy toy on fire.

That fiery form of vengeance wasn’t enough for Janis. As Janis and Damian fill Regina’s face cream with lard and encourage Cady to destroy the Plastics, the effect feels more icky than fun. Cady doesn’t seem like a co-conspirator but a scapegoat.

In one scene, Janis tells Cady to put pressure on Gretchen Weiners, but Cady resists. “I won’t do that; Gretchen is fragile,” Cady tells her. Janis responds, “Exactly, if we crack her she will spill something we could use.” Nothing about this seems like an equal, supportive friendship.

After Cady skips Janis’ art show, Janis’ character becomes harder to watch. (To be clear, this was absolutely a f*cked-up move on Cady’s part, but it’s not much different than how the Plastics *and* Janis tend to treat people.)

In Janis’ next solo “I’d Rather Be Me,” she sings, “So your best friend screwed you over / Acted nice when she not nice.” The song — despite a lyric claiming “I will not act all innocent” — seems to do just that.

The tune is a major departure from Janis’ reaction in the OG movie. Reminder: 2004 Janis tells Cady that she knows she’s “mean,” but that Cady is guilty, too. But 2024 Janis takes no accountability in this track. She is simultaneously a holier-than-thou hero and a villain who has no scruples about using Cady to enact her revenge on Regina.

After the Burn Book gets out and the junior class girls are forced into an impromptu bonding session, the disconnect between Janis’ perspective and the reality of how she’s acting gets more distorted. She warps the activity to hurt Regina’s feelings and screw over Cady: She confesses to sabotaging Regina and using Cady to do it.

In 2004, this plot point worked: Janis had always been vindictive. Why would she change now? However, in this new adaptation, Janis isn’t self-reflective enough to pull it off, and Cady isn’t Plastic enough to seem deserving of her wrath.

Instead, the scene left me with a new question: How can the person claiming to be the film’s moral center feel bad for herself in one breath and be so unapologetically cruel in the next?

Janis Never Learns Her Lesson

There’s no self-actualization for the latest Janis. In the original, she doesn’t need an epiphany; she already knows who she is. But this new Janis desperately needs to take some blame for her bad behavior.

Instead, everyone faces consequences — and seems to find growth — except for her. Regina’s hit by a bus, while Cady, Gretchen, and Karen get in trouble for the Burn Book.

It’s only right that the 2024 movie ends without a recreation of the 2004 version’s “Where are they now?” scene. Rather than showing Cady sitting with Janis and Damian on the front lawn of North Shore High, the story ends at the Spring Fling dance without the friend group truly reuniting.

It’s one of the few updates to the film that makes perfect sense. There was only one thing holding the friends together: their scheme to ruin Regina. And TBH, until Janis starts handing out apologies (a la Cady distributing pieces of the plastic Spring Fling Queen tiara), Cady’s better off without her.