“On Wednesdays, we wear pink” is an iconic line from Mean Girls, but it’s not the only rule the Plastics have to follow. In the 2004 teen comedy, Cady Heron, who has spent her entire life in Africa with her zoologist parents, begins attending an American high school and becomes acquainted with the Plastics, a clique of popular girls ruled by Regina George. When Cady sits at lunch with the Plastics after being invited by Regina, she says via voiceover that sitting with the Plastics at lunch was like “entering Girl World. And Girl World had a lot of rules.”
Regina reigns over the Plastics with an iron fist, and her list of rules keeps Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith loyal to the queen bee. Regina’s rules keep all the members of the Plastics under her control, and Gretchen and Karen are willing to go along with them to remain a part of the popular crowd. As proven later in Mean Girls, the rules turn out to be arbitrary, and a lot of them are quite superficial, fitting what the group is known for.
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1 On Wednesday We Wear Pink
The Most Memorable Plastics Rule
When Cady is invited to sit at lunch with the Plastics, Karen tells her, “On Wednesdays, we wear pink.” Cady doesn’t have any pink clothing, so she borrows a shirt from Damian. It’s an iconic Mean Girls line, but also emblematic of how cliquey the Plastics are; they wear a certain color on a certain day of the week to show how united they are as a group. People can see the Plastics’ exclusive status by the color they choose to wear on a certain day of the week. It was one of many ways for them to stand out.
2 Don’t Wear Tank Tops Two Days In A Row
The First Rule Cady Learns
A lot of the rules focus on wardrobe, which makes sense because the Plastics are the popular girls in school and always have to look “cool.” Hilariously, one of the attempts to sabotage Regina, when Janis gets revenge by sneaking into the girls’ locker room and cutting holes in Regina’s tank top, ends up leading to a new fashion trend throughout the school where students cut holes in their tank tops. It doesn’t seem like the plan is related to Regina’s tank top rule, though Regina likely would’ve pulled it off two days in a row.
3 Only Wear Hair In A Ponytail Once A Week
The Rules Also Relate To Hairstyles
Gretchen stresses that members of the Plastics can only wear their hair in a ponytail once a week. Noticing Cady’s hair in a ponytail, Gretchen says, “So I guess you picked today.” The Plastics are concerned with not only repeating wardrobe choices but also hairstyles. This is another rule that helps keep the Plastics stay in uniform and controlled in appearance. Like many of the other rules, it’s very silly, but Gretchen and Karen know that slipping up and wearing a ponytail more than once could jeopardize their place at the Plastics’ lunch table.
4 Jeans & Track Pants Can Only Be Worn On Fridays
Another Wardrobe Rule Related To Days Of The Week
Gretchen says if she wore jeans on a day that wasn’t Friday, she’d be forced to sit “with the art freaks.“ Cady wears them on a Wednesday during her first lunch with the girls, but she’s new, so Regina probably let it slide. Later, Regina is wearing sweatpants to lunch because that’s all that can fit her after gaining weight. Gretchen and Karen tell her that since she’s wearing sweatpants on a Monday, she can’t sit with the Plastics at lunch. The evil Regina says that the rules aren’t real, upsetting those who followed them for so long.
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5 We Vote Before Letting Anyone Eat Lunch With Us
The Plastics Are An Exclusive Club
When Cady first encounters the Plastics in the school cafeteria, they confer with each other before inviting her to eat lunch with them for the rest of the week. Later, when she’s sitting with the Plastics at lunch, Gretchen explains that they always vote before asking someone to sit with them because “you have to be considerate of the rest of the group.”
When Regina invites Cady to lunch, she mentions that they don’t do this very often, showing how exclusive the Plastics are. Regina wouldn’t let anyone in the group that she didn’t find acceptable, so it was a big deal that she allowed Cady to join them at lunch.
6 Don’t Buy A Skirt Without Asking Friends If It Looks Good
A Show Of Comradery For The Plastics
After Gretchen tells Cady about the Plastics voting before inviting someone to lunch, she asks, “You wouldn’t buy a skirt without asking your friends first if it looks good on you?” Cady, confused, replies, “I wouldn’t?” which Gretchen takes as an agreement. This isn’t an “official” rule enforced by Regina, but it makes sense for the Plastics to follow this guideline. Regina and the rest of the Plastics seem to be majorly obsessed with looks, so it lines up that they would want to approve any potential clothing purchases, lest they be seen committing a fashion faux pas.
7 Don’t Wear Hoop Earrings – That’s Regina’s Thing
Regina Still Has To Stand Out From The Group
Gretchen tells Cady that Regina has forbidden her from wearing hoop earrings because hoops are Regina’s “thing.” Later, as Cady begins transforming into more of a popular girl, she can be seen wearing a pair of hoop earrings. At the end of the film, after the Plastics have disbanded, Gretchen is wearing a pair of hoop earrings (possibly the ones that her parents got her for Hanukkah) now that she’s no longer under Regina’s control.
It’s interesting to see that Cady is still allowed to wear them even while ultimate mean girl Regina remains the leader of the Plastics. Regardless, this rule seems designed to make Regina more special because she’s the only one in the group who can wear these earrings, cementing herself as the queen. In a group meant to be exclusive, she still has to have her own thing.
8 Ex-Boyfriends Are Off Limits
A Rule That Helps Drive The Plot
When Cady tells Karen and Gretchen that the cute guy in her calculus class that she’s crushing on is Aaron Samuels, they shut it down, saying that Cady can’t like Aaron because he’s Regina’s ex-boyfriend, and ex-boyfriends are off limits to friends. As Gretchen explains, “That’s just, like, the rules of feminism!” Gretchen ends up telling Regina, and she’s seemingly fine with Cady’s crush, though she ends up resuming her relationship with Aaron, devastating Cady.
This rule actually helps move the plot forward as the Cady/Aaron/Regina love triangle is at the forefront of the film. It drives Cady to focus on sabotaging Regina at every turn and ultimately turns her into a Regina clone. At the end of Mean Girls, at the Spring Fling dance, Cady is able to be with Aaron without issue, no longer bound by the rules of the Plastics.
Mean Girls (2004)
- Summary:
- Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
- Release Date:
- 2004-04-30
- Budget:
- $17 million
- Cast:
- Amy Poehler, Lacey Chabert, Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lindsay Lohan
- Director:
- Mark Waters
- Genres:
- Comedy
- Rating:
- PG-13
- Runtime:
- 97 minutes
- Writers:
- Tina Fey
- Studio(s):
- Paramount Pictures
- Distributor(s):
- Paramount Pictures
- Sequel(s):
- mean girls 2
