celeb news Tina Fey: "Gen Z are not better than us, they just do things differently"

[okgo]

So, I ask Tina Fey, how has the world changed since you wrote Mean Girls in 2004? When the film starring Lindsay Lohan came out, launching catchphrases such as "on Wednesdays we wear pink" and "stop trying to make fetch happen", Britney Spears had a No 1 with Toxic, no one had heard the term "cancel culture" and Gen Z were babies.

 

Now Mean Girls is back as a musical, a film version shown in cinemas earlier this year and a stage version coming to the West End this month, with a few tweaks for 2024. How, then do the original millennial Mean Girls match up to Gen Z?

Fey smiles. "Gen Z are not better than us, they're just doing it differently," she says. "So much of the story is about people pulling others down to try to elevate themselves. In the Nineties or Eighties it might have been done through humour. Now it is done by telling people they are doing it wrong, they are problematic." In other words, Gen Z is sneakier.

 

The script has been purged of jokes about race, sexuality and appearance, but, Fey says, "only because a young person now would be too smart to fall into that trap. Jokes evolve. And it's not like we've stopped scrutinising girls' bodies."

 

[family.guy123]

Groundbreaking concept (I only read ATRL's title)

[Just a Gay on ATRL]

She is totally right.

[Vegvisir]

This is actually an incredibly observant statement. Tina is smart as hell.

[IBeMe]

well...yeah? 

each gen has a different way of doing things...including shade and high school dynamics and stuff. I feel like this is a known thing? 

issues dont disappear they just adapt to social norms of their time. So bullying, problematic statements etc...all of that still exists with our generation. it just looks a little different than it did in the 90s and 2000s. 

[LustSpell]

She's correct. This is not shady at all.

[Trent W]

Very true

 

Im really intrigued about Gen Alpha, they entering the "youth" phase and we'll see a very different shift in the next few years

[Bimbo]

She spilled 

[Johnny Jacobs]

Tina spilling?  okay that's a new. 

[My Tears Ricochet]

She's right and she should say it

[Dante Silva]

I do think gen z sometimes get a blanket accusation of being labelled as "flakes", but with any generation there is always a proportion who are flakey anyway. I think most realize you need to give to get but yes, capitalism is not working anymore and I am grateful to gen z for not being afraid to call that out.
 

I love the fact gen z beliefs on capitalism really do threaten certain sections of some older generations. I just wish gen z were more accepting of the fact that opinions are like assholes and we all have one. It does not mean we can't be non-toxic, bond and agree on separate subjects when they come up at other times.

 

Edited June 3 by Dante Silva

[midnightdawn]

Go away old lady

[tost1]

Oh Legend Fey, they can never make me hate you!