Mean Girls is 20 years old – but here’s what Jesus would write about me in the Burn Book

Get ready to choke on your tea… as of 2024, Mean Girls is 20 years old! That is so not fetch. It’s been two decades since Lindsay Lohan introduced us to the ‘cliques’ and ‘freaks’ of North Shore High School and the cult classic film still endures. 

To mark the anniversary, there’s a new behind-the-scenes book out and the hit Broadway musical Mean Girls is coming to the UK. I don’t know if I’m proud or ashamed to tell you that I saw it when I was in New York in 2018, on a Wednesday, wearing pink.

All jokes aside (for a few paragraphs at least) I’ve been thinking about popularity of the teen movie. It was released at the tail end of a run of 90s and 00s high school romcoms that saw Drew Barrymore never be kissed and Freddie Prince Jr. reassure a woman that she was all that. We remember them, but aside from the OG (of course, I mean Clueless), none of the others stand out in our affections in the same way as Mean Girls.

 The film was ridiculous, scheming, and hilarious, but behind it all – something rang true. 

 The film was ridiculous, scheming, and hilarious, but behind it all – something rang true. I went to an all girls’ secondary school, and I remember all too well the fear that everyone else was spreading rumours about me. I remember the terror of making the wrong fashion choice or saying the wrong thing and being ostracised for the day. I remember the desperate need to fit in, be popular and part of a group.

That desire is one that has been built into us by our maker. We are designed to live in community. We are designed to be in a group and to function together. We are designed to support the weaker among us and provide them with the security of belonging. Jesus offered us salvation and new life but didn’t ask us to live it in isolation. We are called to gather as one in his Church.

In my lifetime, I haven’t found a place that rocks those deep needs, as much as a secondary school. Contrary to everything that makes us feel comfortable, at my school at least, I was often forced to compete and play dirty to retain any sort of position. And that’s what Mean Girls depicted so well.

There are times when I haven’t felt ‘a part of’ in Church. There are times when I’ve felt isolated or pushed out at work. 

There are times when I haven’t felt ‘a part of’ in Church. There are times when I’ve felt isolated or pushed out at work. I know a lot of friends who haven’t felt welcomed by other mums at the school gate. It happens to all of us. But these days I have two things on my side that I didn’t in school: firstly, I’m older so I don’t care – never underestimate the joy of ageing. Second, and more importantly, I know who I am in Christ. If someone says I’m not skinny enough or I’m wearing the wrong thing or I CAN’T SIT WITH THEM, I can go back to what he says about me.

He says that I am now righteous in his sight with the very righteousness of my perfect child (Romans 4:5). He says I have been saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8). He says I’ve been justified by faith (Romans 5:1). He says I am utterly secure in him and that nothing will be able to separate me from his love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

So put that in your Burn Book – I dare you