Avantika - Blog Posts
All of My Opinions on the Mean Girls Musical Movie
Firstly, loved all the original film references. Of course the obvious ones like having the same lines, the thing about fetch being slang from an old movie, but also!!
. Janis' suit being purple for spring fling!! and omg let's not even talk about how pretty Aul'il Cravalho was throughout the entire film. Her eye make-up was so impressive
. that part in Sexy where they're cycling through potential outfits and one of them is the white shirt with the purple bra holes cut out !!
Slightly upset about the fact they cut out Meet the Plastics and it ended up being more like, Meet Regina, but I get that. On the topic of songs, I understand a lot of them were cut out because they were "too theatrical" but I can still miss em!! Truthfully when I heard the new Stupid With Love I was devastated because it's one of my favourite songs and they fucking tiktokified it, but I actually think it works really well in the film- it gets the "cringy first proper love" aspect across, which is its purpose, so I'm happy.
THEY GOT RID OF "WHO HERE HAS EVER FELT PERSONALLY VICTIMISED BY REGINA GEORGE" which was absolutely criminal
AND THE PRINCIPAL AND MS NORBURY ARE TOGETHER which was actually adorable, and I didn't think about the fact that could be something that happened, but I'm very happy it did.
The bus at the end of Rather Be Me was such a jumpscare but also so funny. THEY MISSED OUT THE DIALOGUE TO DO IT THOUGH SADD. Plus she was so goofy that entire song?? Why was she running in and out of all of those random rooms.
The rumours spreading via phones looked half cool, but it's dated the film imo, which is what Tina Fey originally set out to avoid! Like "fetch" was made up slang so in years to come the film wouldn't seem cringy for having slang teens actually used to use at the time.
Big drum-roll: We did not see enough of Regina's meanness to actually justify her being a mean girl. A lot of it got filtered out through songs, and the majority of stuff was just her, like, responding badly to sexism?? Also tell me how I'm gonna villanise Renee Rapp she fucking SLAYED what a queen.
Also WHERE IS COACH CARR'S SEXUAL ASSAULT. THAT'S THE WHOLE REASON MS NORBURY GETS ARRESTED!!?? That, to me, is one of the biggest indicators in the original film of just how powerful the "Mean Girls" are, they know about this, and the other teachers don't. Not only that, but it highlights just how immature they are, because they don't do anything about it. They're girls who run the school, without having any sympathy or context to do something about bad stuff they know happens. It's just "a funny thing to write". Not having that made me sad tbh.
Changing the line to "you wrote this" in World Burn was clever but I wish we got to see more of the girls turning on each other, rather than direct fighting.
KEVIN G BEST SONG IN THE MUSICAL
Where was the 4 way phone call, DEVASTATING. We literally did not see the plastics actually interact with each other. There was no meanness, no impact, all we got were the "events" when OTHER THINGS HAPPEN. You could say it lost a lot of filler, but the filler was actually context! And part of what makes the film so good!
Devastated she doesn't say "damn you're mine" in Someone Gets Hurt. I do think it's hilarious they just didn't make the actor guy for Aaron sing at all lol
"That filter you use looks just like me" WHY. I appreciate the change from the line about weight but like, this DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. at least say "that filter you use has nothing on me" THE WHOLE POINT IS SHE'S ABOVE IT
I didn't like the extended version of Revenge Party, sorry, too used to the old version
And I did not like the girlbossification of Sexy. I get it's supposed to be powerful like "watch me as I run the world in shoes I cannot walk in" but I feel like the whole point of "I expect to run the world in shoes I cannot walk in" is supposed to point out the irony, like, being slightly critical of "modern feminism". I will say though that the wobble from avantika as she says that is superb.
Overall I thought the film was enjoyable and a nice blend of the original film and the musical, but I think both ended up losing individual meaning because of how much they intersect. You don't have time to appreciate the lyrics and power of the musical because you don't hear them all, and some of them get cut, and you can't follow the plot in a meaningful way because the songs are happening, and they skip a lot of context to fit them in.
Would totally watch it again though, if only to see Renee Rapp say "get in loser" cos she actually nailed that
I saw the mean girls movie and it was………….. a movie. But I am obsessed with Avantika Vandanapu who played Karen.
Absolutely gorgeous and SO fucking funny.
LOUD REPOST
Speaking of fancasts since I saw your post with that HTTYD fancast that’s terribly generic: I saw this viral collage of Taylor Zakhar Perez and Sabrina Carpenter as Flynn and Rapunzel and as someone who witnessed the entire discourse of Avantika getting racially motivated harassment from a fancast, it’s really suspicious to me that TZP, a brown skinned Latino man is an okay fancast for Flynn but not a brown skinned Indian woman 🤨
We can't let a brown actress play a princess but are totally okay with casting a brown actor to play a thief.
This brings back when these designs of Flynn were considered before getting the one we got and were criticized because of the "romani bandit" stereotype.
The "Rapunzel is german" argument is mute because they wanted non german actors to play the character. Most of Disney's fairy tale films all take place in a vaguely medieval setting that in the Little Mermaid, Eric's kingdom takes place in a tropical setting as shown by palm trees in the background, indicating a tropical European location like somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea yet people think it takes place in Denmark because the original fairy tale was written by a Danish closeted author.
Rapunzel wasn't even blonde, she's a natural brunet who turned blonde because of the flower's magic. The casting of a brown actress to play Rapunzel would be fine since she would still be blonde either dying or wigs because that's the character's signature trait.
I genuinely care very little of the live action Tangled at the moment since it's just announced with the guy who made Greatest Showman to direct and that casting hasn't been done yet.
But if Disney were to commit to an Indian take on Rapunzel, make the cast and setting Indian. A minor gripe I had with the live action Aladdin is that they could've went full Bollywood but didn't, so might as well make Tangled into a fantastical film.
While we at it, why not cast Flynn as a woman just to spite the red pill chokers? Fem Flynn taking on a male thief persona to hide her identity would be a unique take for the character.
Descendants x Wizard of Oz
Original Characters
Jack Champion as Dorian Gale, son of Dorothy Gale
Avantika as Scarlett Crow, daughter of the Scarecrow
Emma Myers as Marnie Tin, daughter of the Tin Man.
Sofia Wylie as Lexy Hart, daughter of the Coward Lion.
Walker Scobell as Glenn Good, son of Glinda The Good Witch of the South.
Zachary Arthur as Wyatt Wicked, son of The Wicked Witch of the West.
Mason Thames as Wallace Oz, son of the Wizard of Oz.
