I don't know if you've seen it too, but there is a scene in the new musical movie during Gretchen's song in Regina's closet where she opens a music box there that Regina took from her and you can see that Regina has a small pride pin inside that box. It's presumably the same one she had in the matching beanie boo with Janis. It's a blink and you'll miss it scene but it also adds a lot more layers to Regina and Janis' relationship in this film. Why would Regina still keep that pride pin after all this time? and it's also very on the nose that she hides it in her closet of all places.

Throwing the theory out there that Regina kissing Janis in middle school caused her to gay panic, and lead to the whole rift between them and for Regina to hard pivot into being “boy crazy” in high school 👀

I actually like that janis wasnt lesbian in the original movie, because it shows the effect of stereotypes, and how you never really know things about people just by what they look like

it's lowkey healing to learn that Janis was made straight because she was a reflection of Fey and not because she was a reflection of any overt homophobia. it always really bothered me, even before i knew that i was gay

In the 2004 version I like the theory of Regina being a closeted lesbian or bisexual woman. But I am actually okay with Janis Ian being straight in the 2004 version. I liked the idea that Regina was the one who was actually gay and just assumed Janis was a lesbian when she is just lebanese and she misunderstood and started a rumor.

Janis isn't traumatised at being called a lesbian. She's traumatised from schoolwide slander that basically ruined her reputation. Which in high school, is everything to a teenager. My theory is: Regina had a one-sided attraction to Janis, so Regina went out with Kyle and purposefully iced Janis out so that Janis would start questioning her. Then Regina weaponised that questioning to deflect her own lesbian inclinations towards Janis and ruined Janis' reputation. Regina ruined Janis emotionally in a way that was obsessive & motivated, so it's only natural that her very intelligent & cunning victim become equally obsessed with destroying her. Janis is acting out of revenge, not repression. And Regina, being obsessed with Janis long after she's "won" over Janis, is classic narcissism. The feeling may be long gone at this point, but Regina's worried about what come out about her, so she keeps deflecting. That's my theory anyway.

💅 Regina defending Gretchen from Jason is giving "I'm the only one allowed to put her down!" vibes to me. Idk if that's what the writers intended, but it fits with Regina's need to control the people around her to maintain her status.

I was out as a lesbian in middle school, and let me tell y’all. Middle school aged straight girls, whether they were just accepting of my queerness or full on allies, weren’t walking around with pride pins

18:23 I want to add a little thing here, while Regina and Janis were friends in middle school some lines like Damian pointing out that the Jingle Bell Rock choreography was originally made by Janis suggest that rather than her and Regina being weird kids was more like them both being Plastics (or at least a middle school version of the group).
It’s not like Regina having been less of a plastic back then is outright denied, but I personally always got the impression that they were both more aligned with this stereotype of ultra feminity, cliques, etc. and Janis only had a change of heart (and style) after she started being ostracized by her own best friend.

Small correction: Renné Rapp has recently come out as a LESBIAN, via SNL ep and  more clearly stating it via a couple interviews! 💅

edit for those doubting: renné just posted a tiktok with her song "tummy hurts" and the caption: "writing this then coming out as a lesbian i contain multitudes"

also she added in a comment "& bi people are still valid in their sexuality" before anyone could even think to be biphobic 😁

I always thought the joke in the OG movie, was that Janis is Lebanese and Regina misunderstood her.

2004 Cady seems more interested in Aaron and less attached to Regina, 2024 Cady seemed more interested in Regina and therefore less attached to Aaron, it was almost like she was with Aaron because she was meant to, and she seemed to be competing with Regina a lot more. 2024 seemed like a love story between Cady and Regina.

I just find it interesting that Janis got more and more gay with each adaptation, as the social climate in the real world continued to shift.
2004 movie - lesbian-coded, ends up with a guy
2018 musical - heavily implied to be a lesbian, doesn't end up with a guy
2024 movie musical - confirmed to be a lesbian, ends up with a girl

As for Regina, I see it both ways. I can see her as a closeted lesbian with a lot of internalized homophobia, or as a bitchy straight girl who's homophobic just because she can be. Regardless, I enjoyed the way that she's been portrayed, in all three versions of the story, and I think her character is the one that has the most room for speculation.

I think the plotline in the 2024 movie can definitely still be explained by Regina having internalised homophobia. Like, she was fine with Janis being a lesbian but was scared of being implicated herself when they kissed (and god forbid, Regina liked it). So, queue the gay panic and Regina projecting her feelings onto Janis, acting like she only did it for male attention, and keeping Janis' pride pin hidden in her closet (in the closet!)

Janice and Regina would be that couple who makes smart ass remarks all the time.

2024 Cady looks like she is starstruck and entralled by Regina, compared to how she looked at Aaron.

Something I think you might have missed is that Janis most likely wasn't the artsy lesbian coded outcast we know in the movie when she was best friends with Regina back in middle school. And how it was much more likely that she was instead a member of whatever version of the Plastics might have existed back then.

Regina specifically mentions (to Cady) Janis dropping out of school when the isolation (and I assume homophobic bullying) from the entire school became too much for her, and that "When she came back in the fall for high school, all of her hair was cut off, and she was totally weird." Meaning that she'd dramatically changed how she did her hair at the least, likely along with how she dressed and did her makeup.

Then at the talent show, Damian asks Janis if it bothers her that the Plastics still use the choreo she [Janis] came up with back in middle school.
Explicitly stating that at one point the Jingle Bell Rock dance that the Plastics do every winter talent show, was originally choreographed by Janis, and that she more likely than not was one of the dancers. Even though by how Janis acts in the movie, you wouldn't think she'd be caught dead dancing like that, let alone be the one to come up with it.
Which is also most likely how the dance was so easily changed from a dance with 3 members to 4, the dance was originally created intended for 4 people, then modified to work with 3 when Janis was drop kicked out of the Plastics in 8th grade, then changed back to include Cady.

The Janis that Regina was best friends with back in middle school was more likely than not a Plastic, or at least in what was the beta version of the Plastics.

Idk, I'm openly bisexual now... but as a girl, I was insanely insecure about how sapphic I came across. I considered myself an ally, but it took me quiet some time to unpack my internalized homophobia.

I had intense relationships with other girls my age and was very confused by each of them. We went through the obsessive phase that's talked about in the movie... it just never clicked that there was no heterosexual explanation for them 😅

I feel as though Regina radiating bi energy and still pushing her openly gay friend away makes sense when factoring in how complicated our own relationships with self-discovery can be. 💅💅💅

Real story. I saw "Mean Girls" in the theater in 2004 and when Janis said, "You smell like a baby prostitute", I lost my shit and laughed my ass off out loud. I hardly ever do that. That movie is a classic for a reason!

💅

I don't like the idea that they made Janis gay in this musical. I always thought it broke stereotypes for her to be straight. And when I heard there was a theory that Regina was actually gay, I instantly gravitated towards it, because it sounded like a better story for the internally-homophobic Regina to be lashing out at the girl who "appeared" gay. And like you said, she also ended up playing lacrosse at the end - which in the 2000s was one of those "lesbian sports" (along with soft ball)!