Regina George was the Victim

Hear me out on this one before you get the pitchforks. There was once a girl who was well-liked and respected at her school: Ms. Regina George. Everyone knew her, and everyone wanted to be her friend. She even had a core group of friends she was nice enough to drive around. They spent their time together confiding things they would never have told anyone else. Regina was so welcoming that she even invited an odd new girl named Cady into the group. Cady was clueless about student life in a public school. Regina gave Cady friendship, and in return, Cady sabotaged Regina’s relationships and gaslit her into gaining so much weight that she had to wear sweatpants. Cady is the bad guy here. Let’s be clear about that.

Cady wanted to be popular like Regina, but having no social standing of her own, she gained power by humiliating and constantly undermining Regina. Eventually, it paid off: she stole Regina’s friends and claimed Regina’s ex as her own—only to vomit on him. Cady’s character didn’t really care about social justice for Janis or the ill-fated birthday snub. Cady wanted Regina’s top spot, and she went after it by attacking her in a nonconfrontational, backhanded way.

Cady wanted to be part of the tacky Christmas performance because she wanted to become the kind of girl she had seen being carried around in gym class when she first encountered Regina. The problem Cady had to overcome was that she wasn’t likable enough to simply be Regina—and she knew it.

The real animosity Cady felt toward Regina began at the Halloween party, where Cady embarrassed herself. She showed up in a costume that immediately—and badly—stood out. Once she realized her mistake, she had a few choices: go home, change and come back, modify the costume in the bathroom, or simply stick with what she was wearing. Cady chose to tough it out as a ghoul, and she regretted it. Regina would have had the social awareness not to make that mistake in the first place, and Cady resented her for possessing something that came naturally to Regina but not to her.

Aaron, unfortunately, became the person who symbolized whether Cady had reached Regina’s social level. As likable as Aaron may have been, to Cady he was more of an ideal than a person. The story tells us remarkably little about who Aaron actually was. He was polite to Cady, and they shared a math class. That was about it. Cady barely knew this guy. For all she knew, he could have had skid marks in his shorts and loved watching choke porn.

Cady’s popularity was never going to last long because she didn’t create popularity for herself; she created massive instability and used it to make herself relevant. By taking the nuclear option, she also created the conditions for her own eventual downfall.

There are real-life historical lessons that support my conclusion. Look no further than Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Both women had their fair share of problems before their paths crossed. However, Anne eventually managed to turn her ambitions into reality. Yes, she helped put Catherine on the ropes and ultimately became queen, but once the dust settled, Anne herself ended up on the executioner’s block.

Anne’s circumstances were obviously far more complicated than a fictional high-school popularity contest, but there is an interesting parallel: destabilizing an existing order can help someone rise without necessarily providing the stability needed to remain at the top. Anne may have viewed each victory as another step toward getting what she wanted, without knowing how precarious her own position would eventually become.

That’s my point. Being a shady backstabber might get you what you want temporarily, but getting what you want isn’t necessarily a true victory—and it certainly doesn’t mean you’ll get to keep it. Cady would have had her epic downfall one way or another.