<p>I think adcoms, by virtue of the fact that the spend a lot of time interacting with teenagers are very much up to speed on teen popular culture. I wouldn’t think there would be any problem with a Mean Girls reference.</p>
<p>I agree, especially if it’s for a short essay and not the all-important Big One. It references this generation’s pop culture milieu, and I think that’s valid, as long as the essay isn’t just about the quote and takes the quote and the essay somewhere interesting and germane.</p>
<p>I really think it’s hard to make a call on this without knowing what the essay is about/what the reference is/a lot of things we don’t know (and the OP shouldn’t actively post on here). </p>
<p>BTW, when Mean Girls is on TV, #MeanGirls always trends on Twitter. When I was on facebook (no longer use it), all of my friends used to post statuses about it, too. It’s the kind of movie that’s so deeply permeated teenage culture that I have to believe that at least some adcoms are familiar with it (not to say that she should use it; again, I don’t think I could give a “yes” or a “no” to such a vague question). </p>
<p>But I must be honest with you. I have a fifth sense. It’s like I have ESPN or something. My breasts can always tell when it’s going to rain…actually, they can usually just tell me when it’s raining. :p</p>
<p>I’ve seen Mean Girls. I enjoyed it. But I don’t think I could quote a single line from it. Princess Bride, on the other hand…:)</p>
<p>It’s like I have ESPN or something.</p>
<p>See, that (Princess Bride vs Mean Girls) is generational. And at least some old people on this board know Mean Girls, which means that our kids’ generation really knows Mean Girls. I still think it would be fine. And if it talks about the book that Tina Fey referenced (she didn’t write it), Queen Bees and Wannabes, well that is a well-respected nonfiction book about girl bullying and culture. So it could be a really interesting essay, imo.</p>
<p>Is butter a carb?</p>
<p>Hi, she decided not to use the reference because it was a very short essay and she had to cut it way down. It is about bullying and she was going to say something like, “although we laugh at that behavior in the move Mean Girls” blah blah blah.</p>
<p>So she wasn’t actually quoting anything from the movie. </p>
<p>Thanks for all your input and by the way, even as an “old mother” I find the movie very funny!</p>
<p>^mumof2, in that context it’s definitely fine. I haven’t seen the movie - or is it a tv show? or both?</p>
<p>Yes I too am one of the “old people” who knows the movie well, but only because I have a daughter in the age group that knows it. I even caught the Janice Ian reference. </p>
<p>And I am not even a “cool mom”, probably more an embarrassing mom because I also liked Twilight.</p>
<p>GladGradDad, that’s why I concluded by saying, ““Mean Girls” ain’t “Star Wars.””</p>
<p>^^ Missed that part.</p>
<p>I like Tina Fey, have two young adult daughters, but I’ve never seen Mean Girls & I doubt they have either.
Ask them about Dr Who or Farscape though.;)</p>
<p>I have sometimes OK’d pop culture references that not everyone would get, as long as they were explicit and thus easy to look up. Suppose I have a kid who’s a guitarist, and he wants to talk about how he was inspired the first time he heard Stevie Ray Vaughan. I don’t think he needs to give any background on Stevie Ray Vaughan because it’s clear from context that he’s a guitarist, and that’s really all you need to know to understand the essay. An officer who wants to know more about the student’s musical taste can always Google him.</p>
<p>These references have always been musical or literary rather than film, but I could see it working if a kid were really into film and wanted to rave about “Les 400 Coups” or whatever.</p>