Many quintessential films from our childhood were released 20 years ago. These films — such as “Mean Girls, “The Notebook,” “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement,” “13 Going On 30” and “A Cinderella Story” — weren’t just entertainment. They opened up a whole new world for the future children and teenagers who would come to love them.
Have these movies held up a lifetime later? A lifetime for us college students, that is. “Mean Girls” has been quoted regularly in pop culture since it was released. Phrases like “On Wednesdays we wear pink,” “Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen,” “You go Glen Coco!” and “It’s October third” are consistently recognizable, not just by those who grew up watching the movie, but anyone growing up and only now discovering it.
In “13 Going on 30,” the main character, Jenna Rink, makes a 13th birthday wish to be 30, and when she wakes up, that wish comes true. Jenna Rink has been a popular Halloween costume this year. Her iconic striped dress, turquoise heels and butterfly hair clips show that nostalgia for these films is alive and well.
A “Mean Girls” musical adaptation was released this year, with a few tweaks to iconic lines in order to modernize them and cut out any ill-fated lines that didn’t age well. Some jokes were replaced that reflected changing attitudes towards body image and omitted scenarios reflecting insensitive racial stereotypes. The movie had the characters use TikTok, esp.