Here’s the synopsis for Mean Girls (2004) from Rotten Tomatoes:
Teenage Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) was educated in Africa by her scientist parents. When her family moves to the suburbs of Illinois, Cady finally gets to experience public school and gets a quick primer on the cruel, tacit laws of popularity that divide her fellow students into tightly knit cliques. She unwittingly finds herself in the good graces of an elite group of cool students dubbed "the Plastics," but Cady soon realizes how her shallow group of new friends earned this nickname.
We previously related that, due to a tingle in her breasts, 16-year-old Karen (Amanda Seyfried) could forecast when it was going to rain. But before Karen shared that titillating information with Cady, Karen admitted, "I can put my whole fist in my mouth!” And she asked, “Wanna see?"
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| Mean Girls (2004) | Karen |
Later in the film, as a girls’ locker room prank, a student cut the parts of Karen’s top that covered Karen’s nipples. Surprisingly, Karen kept the top on, boldly bounced out of the locker room, and commenced a raunchy fashion trend at school.
In the Libretto Vocal Book Mean Girls: High School Version (Revised July 2022) and on the Broadway stage, during the “Meet the Plastics” song, Karen sang that her tiny skirt barely covered her “perky” heinie. (In general, on Broadway, the Plastics wore really short skirts and\or very tight pants.)
KAREN
MY NAME IS KAREN. MY HAIR IS SHINY.
MY TEETH ARE PERFECT. MY SKIRT IS TINY.
IT BARELY COVERS MY PERKY HEINY.
During the Broadway musical, theatergoers learned why Karen drew the attention of potential theatergoers to her bouncing teen breasts in the trailer. It turned out that Karen's behavior was prompted by Jason whom said that he could "guess any girl's bra size" by having her "jump one time". Consequently, Karen exclaimed, "Do me!", she opened her jacket, and jumped more than one time.
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| Mean Girls on Broadway | Karen |
JASON W.
Hey, New Girl, you wanna see a trick? I can guess any girl's bra size. All you gotta do is jump one time-
GRETCHEN
Ew, Jason-
KAREN
Do me!
As we mention in the introduction, theatergoers learned via Gretchen that Karen was very sexually active, because despite only being 16-years-old, Gretchen related to Cady that Karen “had sex with eleven people”.
GRETCHEN
Are you a virgin?
CADY
What?
GRETCHEN
You don’t have to tell me. But just know that I’m very trustworthy. Karen’s had sex with eleven people and I’ve never told anyone.
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| Mean Girls on Broadway | Karen |
During “Sexy”, Karen sang that being the “hot one” is a “full time gig”, because it takes a lot of time and energy to satisfy peoples’ desires; however, Karen confessed that it was her prerogative to be sexy. While performing “Sexy”, Karen danced licentiously on the Broadway stage in a pair of bra and panties with the panties barely covered by a sheer camisole. And at one point during “Sexy”, Karen turned around, lifted her camisole, and revealed her panties to the audience.
(KAREN)
WHEN YOU ARE THE HOT ONE,
IT'S' A FULL TIME GIG,
LOOKING LIKE WHAT PEOPLE WANNA SEE.
KAREN
I CAN BE WHO I WANNA BE, AND SEXY
KAREN
THIS IS MODERN FEMINISM TALKIN’:
I EXPECT TO RUN THE WORLD
IN SHOES I CANNOT WALK IN.
I CAN BE WHO I WANT TO BE…
AND SEX,
SEX,
SEXY!
Interestingly, and in yet another display of Fey’s lack of naiveté as it relates to sexualized teens, Karen intentionally exposed her bra, because she was “going for a look”. However, Karen did not specify if the look was: "girl who’s slept with eleven people".
REGINA
Karen, I can see your bra.
KAREN
It's on purpose. I'm going for a look.
REGINA
Is it "girl who’s slept with eleven people"? ‘Cause you're nailing it.
Note that in the high school version of the libretto, Fey, ironically, offered an alternative “suggestion” for certain lines in the musical to the high school students playing high school students. For example, instead of Regina asking, “Is it "girl who’s slept with eleven people"? ‘Cause you're nailing it.” Fey suggested that a high school student could say, “If it’s ‘girl who hooked up with eleven people’ you’re nailing it,” thereby reminding theater kids that teen oral sex is less provocative than teen sex.
In the song “Stop!”, Karen sang that when she was 13, she sent “nude pics” to a boy she had “a huge crush on”, but Karen forgot to crop the pics, which were posted on Amateurtweens.
KAREN
STOP.
WHEN YOU HAVE A HUGE CRUSH ON A BOY
AND HE ASKS YOU TO "SEND NUDE PICS"
AND YOU'RE LIKE, "WOW HE LIKES ME!"
AND SO YOU SEND THEM BUT DON'T CROP YOUR HEAD OFF
'CAUSE YOU'RE ONLY 13 AND DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER
AND I GUESS HIS FRIENDS SHARED 'EM
‘CAUSE NOW YOU'RE ALL OVER A PORN SITE
CALLED AMATEURTWEENS.
Consequently, Karen informed theatergoers, "Now I only get naked with people in person! Also someone should teach boys not to do that in the first place." (At the Broadway performance that I saw, a number of people in the audience started clapping and hooting after those lines.)
Rhetorical question: Did Fey base Karen on Danielle Miller and Gabrielle Bluestone’s New York magazine piece: "What Danielle Miller learned at Horace Mann and Rikers"? (FEB. 9, 2022) In the piece, Bluestone related:
In 2004, when Miller was in eighth grade, a boy she had a crush on dared her in an AIM message to prove she wasn’t a “prude.” She grabbed the new Sony VAIO laptop her father had given her for Christmas and propped it on the ledge of her shower stall. She disrobed, picked up the handle of a Swiffer mop, and pressed record. She made three sexual videos in all and emailed them to the boy.
The boy forwarded the clips to Miller’s best friend, who in turn sent them to two people, and soon it had reached everyone that they knew. It spread rapidly from there.
The videos hadn’t circulated just among New York’s private-school students and their friends [...] The videos also ended up on the file-sharing programs LimeWire and Kazaa.
Unfortunately, we may never know if Fey based Karen on Swiffer Girl.
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| Mean Girls (2024) |
Here's the synopsis posted on Rotten Tomatoes for Mean Girls (2024):
From the comedic mind of Tina Fey comes a new twist on the modern classic, MEAN GIRLS. New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called "The Plastics," ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina's ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), she finds herself prey in Regina's crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group's apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis (Auli'i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.
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| Mean Girls (2024) | Karen |
Recall that on Broadway, after Karen exclaimed, “Do me!”, she opened her jacket, and bounced up and down in a manner that drew attention to her bouncing breasts. In the 2024 film version of Mean Girls, Karen (Avantika) performed "Sexy" during a Halloween party where she bounced up and down in a manner that drew attention to her bouncing breasts, which were partially covered by a bra; however, unlike Broadway's Karen, who performed "Sexy" in pair of panties, Karen (Avantika) performed "Sexy" in a pair of black spandex shorts.
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| Mean Girls (2024) | Karen |
And to give moviegoers and streamers a clear view of her shorts, Karen (Avantika) bent over and lifted her camisole to reveal a letter B, a ghost, and a pumpkin (i.e., BOO) that were displayed across her derrière.
Just like in the musical, in the 2024 film, Regina informed “Karen, I can see your bra.” Karen replied, “It’s on purpose. I’m going for a look.” And Regina asked, “Is it ‘girl who slept with 11 people’? ‘Cause you’re nailing it.” But this raises the question: Why did Fey add this salacious motif to the musical and 2024 film, because there was no apparent indication from the 2004 film that Karen was a teen nymphomaniac. On the other hand, Karen (Amanda Seyfried) did inform Cady, "I can put my whole fist in my mouth!”
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| Mean Girls (2024) | Gretchen Squats |
Lastly, as it relates to Karen, in the 2024 film, while Karen filmed a social media post, Gretchen, in the background, stopped typing on her phone to analyze her derriere that was wrapped tightly in a pair of black spandex shorts. Unhappy with the extent of her buttock's bulge, Gretchen proceeded to perform squats.
Unbreakable MEAN GIRLS: A Study of Tina Fey’s Portrayal of (Self) Sexualized Teens
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