Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what girls are made of — not these girls, though. Mean girls onscreen say their disturbingly inventive nasty quips with a sweet smile, have no friends but underlings, and seem to have no greater aim than destroying people’s lives and becoming the Prom Queen. So why is it that we love them so much?
In short, sometimes villains are far more interesting to watch than goody-two-shoes. Especially as they are often also incredibly intelligent, passionate, and determined. Yes, the trope of a mean girl is detrimental to how girls view themselves, with Hollywood villainizing hyper-femininity, simultaneously telling teens that liking fashion and pink lipstick is a mark of an empty-headed corrupted person and that girls who are ambitious and competitive quickly turn to the dark side. There is, however, a rising resentment for the sexist film trope of portraying angry women as villains on screen.
It seems that while men can express their anger or grief in violent ways, women can’t be angry and can’t lash out without ‘crossing boundaries.’ The message is that power corrupts women, so powerful women or, in this case, girls must be stopped. Viewers, on the other hand, often relate to overwhelming feelings of insecurity, rage, and passion that are brewing inside young women, thus feeling a certain protectiveness over them.
It is hard not to feel resentment towards bullies who make the lives of the protagonist hard at every turn, but then again, there is something charming about ambitious women bullies who are willing to do anything to take down whoever dares stand in their way. That is why the musical remake Mean Girls has come roaring back in a big way. If you love/ hate Regina George, then we have some fantastic women bullies in the media whom you'd also love to hate.
Update January 16, 2024: This article has been updated with even more mean girls audiences can't help but both love and hate, as well as where each film is streaming.
13 Marianne Bryant – Easy A
Marianne Bryant from the movie Easy A is what one might call a lawful evil character. This means that this religious mean girl is not likable in the least, and the way she and her other devout Christian friends slutshame and harass Olive makes the audience hate her even more. On the other hand, they can also understand the reason behind her behavior to some extent, as her father is a pastor, and she grew up in a rigorously religious family, which makes her believe wholeheartedly that Olive is going to have to answer to a higher power for her behavior. Amanda Bynes' portrayal is a comedic standout and a testament to her abilities as an actor, as she plays cheerful and sinister all at the same time. Stream on DirecTV
12 Courtney Alice Shayne – Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker follows three popular girls who accidentally kill a member of their own group while playing a prank on her. To buy the school’s resident nerd’s silence, they promise her a makeover and the place of the prematurely departed member. Appropriately to the premise, Courtney Alice Shayne is an absurdly villainous mean girl, proclaiming herself a God of the high school microcosm. For instance, to avoid appearing human, she never eats in public. It is refreshing to see such an unapologetic, preposterously wicked woman, one who does not put others’ needs before her own. Rent or buy on Apple TV
11 Tracy Flick – Election
Reese Witherspoon gives an incredible performance as the overzealous know-it-all Tracy Flick in Election. She is a high-school movie avatar of Hillary Clinton, attempting to reclaim female ambition and showing just how different standards for men and women in politics are: when men are assertive and confident, women are arrogant and overeager. It is a very different take on the mean girl archetype, one that is not the popular girl but an outsider looking to achieve a higher status in school.
As girls grow up, their aggressive and competitive impulses become less socially acceptable, so to fit in, they must appear kind and approachable and express their negative emotions in under-the-table ways by scheming, blackmailing, or psychological warfare. This is one of Witherspoon's best performances, and Tracy Flick stands as one of the best mean girls put to film. Stream on Max
10 Jade West – Victorious
Victorious gave us a lot of beloved characters to cherish during our youth, and one of them was Jade West (Elizabeth Gillies). Even though she was portrayed as an angry-at-the-world, ill-tempered, alternate fashion lover, we could not help but love her temper outbursts. Though Jade did not like Tori (Victoria Justice) in the beginning and was openly hostile towards her because she was jealous of Tori's relationship with her boyfriend, Beck, the two of them slowly became frenemies over the seasons.
She and Tori, along with their friends, went through a lot together, and even though she was an antagonist to Tori in the beginning, her character development throughout the show was rather complex for a kids television series. Her problematic home life also made the audience feel more strongly for her. Stream on Paramount TV
9 Kathryn Merteuil – Cruel Intentions
Beautiful and an excellent student, the pride of the school, a girl whose mothers set as an example to their daughters: who would have thought that the ideal Kathryn and the real Kathryn have nothing in common with each other! Seducing out of boredom, having sex out of revenge, corrupting for fun — this is how Kathryn from Cruel Intentions entertains herself. She is a puppet master, manipulating everyone (including her brother) for her own sick, twisted game, but eventually, it all catches up to her. By the end of the film, her reputation is destroyed, and her fall from grace, beautifully set to The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony," is an iconic movie ending for an iconic character.
Stream on Prime Video
8 Kate Sanders – Lizzie McGuire
Kate Sanders was the main antagonist in both the Lizzie McGuire show and The Lizzie McGuire Movie. She was best friends with both Lizzie and Miranda, but after she became popular, she started to antagonize them. Other than being the most popular girl in their school, Kate is also the captain of the cheerleaders. Even though her character almost comically follows the typical mean girl trope, there are layers to it.
In the show, despite constantly conspiring to antagonize Lizzie and Miranda, sometimes her mask slips through, and we get to see her friendlier and kinder side. It appears that she only bothers them because she thinks being mean comes hand-in-hand with being popular. That is why the audience loved her redemption arc in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, where she helps Lizzie and Miranda rebuild their friendship. Stream on Disney+
7 Sharpay Evans – High School Musical
In recent years, audiences seem to have reclaimed the ‘mean girl,’ and the ‘love to hate her’ attitude turned to more sympathetic sentiments, sometimes even claiming that the mean girl was actually the victim of the story, as happened with Sharpay Evans from High School Musical. Her apologists ask: what is Sharpay’s crime, after all? Being incredibly dedicated to her craft and not letting amateurs take away her dream from her? She’s a catty diva but, to be honest, that sort of comes with being a theater kid. Her sparkly pink looks have become a fashion inspiration, and her campy performances are so much fun, making Sharpay more memorable and lovable in the long run. Stream on Disney+
6 Jennifer Check – Jennifer’s Body
Jennifer Check appears as a quintessential mean girl, however, the feminist satire and underrated horror-comedy Jennifer’s Body goes about the trope in an interesting way. The titular Jennifer can’t change the system, so she decides to use the unfair circumstances and people’s preconceived perceptions of her to her advantage. As Mashable writes: “the feelings generated by the pressure placed on young women – anger, guilt, shame, fear, self-loathing – explode in a bloody fashion”.
There is an element of mystery to mean girls — why does this girl-who-has-everything hate the outcast girl so intensely? Well, Jennifer’s Body finally develops the powerful dynamics of female friendship and animosity and gives this intensity queer undertones. Jennifer's Body might feature a literal, monstrous, mean girl, but it is also one that audiences cannot help but root for. Stream on Max
5 Cheryl Blossom - Riverdale
The 2016 series Riverdale is a dark reimagining of the Archie comics. Those comics were always a play on the popular teen archetypes, so it is natural for them to have their own version of the mean girl, and that role goes to Cheryl Blossom. Played by Madelaine Petsch, when she is first introduced, she is very much the classic popular rich girl who dominates the high school, but as the series progresses, she becomes a far more three-dimensional character as she discovers her own sexuality and even becomes a literal witch (later seasons of Riverdale certainly were out there).
Cheryl has plenty of sincere moments in later seasons, but her presence as the mean girl of the team looms large, so much so that in one of the series' many musical episodes, they do Heathers with Cheryl as Heather Chandler (we will get to her in a moment). Overall, Cheryl is a great example of how a character can grow beyond the original box they started out in. Stream on Netflix.
4 Heather Chandler – Heathers
Heathers gave us the OG mean girl. The impact Heather Chandler had on pop culture in the short ten or so minutes she actually appeared on-screen cannot be overstated. The movie even predicted public obsession with her by showing how, after her death, her presence became stronger than ever. From the bold 80s fashion to the dark absurdist humor that inspired many of the following teen movies, Heathers is a classic, and Heather Chandler pioneered a new, more complex look at the mean girl: someone who appears perfect, as demanded by society but is broken and deeply flawed in reality. Stream on Prime Video
3 Regina George – Mean Girls
If Heathers introduced a new look at the mean girl trope, then Mean Girls perfected it. Regina George encapsulates the in-universe paradox of the mean girls: people can hate her, but at the same time, they still want her to like them. She is an evil genius, a bully, and a manipulator, but stripped of glamour, she is just a really angry kid who had no boundaries or guidance.
An amazing political satire, Mean Girls examined how fleeting popularity is, how meanness is a coping mechanism to fight deep inner insecurities, and how quickly anyone can be corrupted by power, a sweet nerd and a goth tomboy included. The movie stood the test of time, and it is apparent in the way its 2024 musical remake has made a splash for a new generation. Stream on Fubo
2 Alison DiLaurentis – Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars has given us many iconic characters over the years, but the one that stands tall over them all has to be Alison DiLaurentis, and it's not just because of her yellow top that every girl wanted. She is the clique leader and the queen bee of their friend group, but she is so much more than that. A mean girl, Alison is also exceptionally cunning, vindictive, and manipulative. Even though she can not match her adoptive sister Charlotte in the evil department, she makes it up by being equally smart.
This beautifully complex character is the fan favorite for a reason. Even though she is a mean girl, she is not the stereotypical blonde bimbo. She might be devious, but she cares deeply about her friends. And let's not forget that she also faked her own disappearance to escape her creepy, psychotic stalker and fooled a whole country with her wits. Stream on Hulu and Max
1 Blair Waldorf — Gossip Girl
Blair Waldorf, our favorite “95-pound, doe-eyed, bon mot-tossing, label-whoring package of girly evil” from Gossip Girl, is the ultimate mean girl. She won Prom Queen, became a real-life princess, and even managed to displace the ‘nice girl’ as the de facto main character. Blair is mean but also incredibly witty, smart, and driven. She wants everything, but the charming thing is that she works tirelessly to earn it, battling very real problems like insecurities, self-sabotaging, eating disorders, toxic relationships, broken family, loss of a baby… Giving meanness (not an excuse but) an explanation makes Blair a delightfully nuanced and complex character, securing her teen show legacy that no remake can replicate. Stream on Max