I still remember the first time I sawMean Girls.
Obviously, I was far from alone.
It inspired a musical,a newmoviemusical, released earlier this month, and many, many memes.
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Glamour: In the book you track the evolution fromMean Girlsthe movie toMean Girlsthe cultural touchstone.
Why do you think we gravitated toward this movie so much?
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong:I mean thats the big question.
From left, Rachel McAdams (as Regina George), Lindsay Lohan (as Cady Heron) and Lacey Chabert (as Gretchen Wieners) in a scene fromMean Girls.
And [the internet] is really the answer.
So many of the people involved with the movie said there was this lull, essentially.
So its so strange and specific.
So that part is a little weird as well.
What do you remember about whenMean Girlsfirst came out in 2004?
Did you go see it in theaters?
She just seemed like such a revelation at that time.
I thought, Oh, this is going to be really interesting to see.
What I remember from seeing it is just being so impressed with how funny it was.
This was letting all of these girls be bad.
I actually watched all of those when I was going into this book.
They all do have a similar vibe, actually.
And they also have this sort of toughness to them.
I loveBring It On, because I was a cheerleader.
The cheerleader had been denigrated for so long in teen movies.
It made me really happy.
How else were these films revelatory in how they portrayed young women compared with teen movies of the past?
WithMean Girlsin particular, but to some extent even13 Going On 30,theyre both just kind of better.
InMean Girls, there is a romantic plot, but hes a pawn.
Its really about the girls relationships with each other.
Im not sure we did anything substantially different in the future in Hollywood because of this.
Thats adorable, but I cant help wondering: Why do they have to watchMean Girls?
Why dont they have their own version ofMean Girls?
But the other part, youre right, is that theres a void.
There is nothing there for them.
They dont have that.
What would that next generation ofMean Girlslook like, in your mind?
Mean Girlswas special because it was its own thing, right?
And I think that would be really special.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
