10 Films Substantially Different From Their Source Material
7. Mean Girls
How many of you knew that Mean Girls was based on a nonfiction book examining cliques and patterns of aggressive teen girl behaviour? Because that is precisely the case with this classic teen comedy, which is largely based on Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, & Other Realities of Girl World.
The cult classic 2004 movie stars Lindsay Lohan as hitherto homeschooled Cady Heron as she goes to North Shore High School, her first ever school. There she encounters clique culture, particularly the infamous 'Plastics' headed up by queen bee Regina George (Rachel McAdams).
It is impressive Tina Fey managed to adapt the source material into such an exquisite piece of comedy, especially considering that the book has no narrative whatsoever. Endlessly quotable and somehow still fresh after 16 years, Mean Girls may be an excellent film, but it is, as this list alludes to, a rather different beast from Queen Bees and Wannabes; Wiseman's book is often cited as a self-help book, aimed at helping parents understand and assist their daughters navigating the social scene of what Wiseman calls 'Girl World.'