cady from mean girls is autistic
autism rant: i genuinely and fully believe that mean girls makes more sense if you consider cady heron autistic. obviously i'm a little biased, as i'm autistic (and also had a massive hyperfixation on the mean girls musical when i was like 15), but still. i don't even like mean girls THAT much i just have a lot of thoughts.
literally the ENTIRE PLOT hinges on Cady not understanding social cues. ostensibly, this is because she's lived in Africa for her entire life and therefore has no experience with the social norms and expectations of an American high school. which is fair (although just referring to the entire continent of africa like it's a country and implying that there is no social framework there is the most american thing possible).
but, pretending that that racist plot point makes sense, you are telling me that "apex predator" from mean girls on broadway displays a neurotypical's point of view?? something that pisses me off is people misunderstanding that song. there's this really good animatic on youtube that i love, but the top comment on it is saying "guys did you notice how they totally dehumanise regina throughout this entire song?? they talk about her as if she's a mindless predator, it's something we do too often with people we fear or envy #deep" as if that isn't the ENTIRE POINT OF THE SONG. literally the whole song is a depiction of Cady attempting to fit in by analysing the behaviours of the teenagers around her and comparing them to the social structures of the animal kingdom that she understands/is used to. she refers to a fountain as a watering hole, and compares regina's social "predator" role to those of the animal kingdom. she describes all her peers as animals/gives them animal characteristics in descriptions (almost like a reverse personification thing).
why would cady be using the animal kingdom to make sense of the world around her? idk, it's almost like animal social structures are based on logic with the goal of evolutionary survival and are scientifically studiable, rather than being based on a bunch of illogical unwritten social contracts that she hasn't signed. that autistic people tend to not pick up on.
and we KNOW Cady prefers/takes comfort in logical systems over social ones, because in 'Stupid With Love' she describes how she used to attempt interacting with people in a romantic context, and how when this failed, she found solace in throwing herself into mathematics because, and I quote, "math is real".
okay yes that was all from the musical, but a) it's the same story, and b) there are also examples of what i'm saying in the movie. that scene where regina says she's really pretty and she says "thank you" instead of deflecting, because she hasn't been socialised not to take compliments? and the scene where they're in regina's bedroom and each of the plastics says something negative about their bodies, then look at Cady expectantly until she says "i have bad breath in the morning"? both of those are examples of Cady taking it literally because she's unaware of an implicit social contract. oh, and the scene where she rocks up to a Halloween party in an actual costume and not a "slutty" one? do i need to go on?
also, she's easily manipulatable because she assumes people have good intentions towards her (she is socially manipulated by both Janis and Regina, as well as Gretchen). it might be a me thing, but i tend towards believing that people are being honest/that they have good intentions because i don't have a reason to believe that they don't. obviously cady doesn't have bad intentions- she's just trying to find her place in a competely new social landscape. and in this situation she has no reason to doubt these people are trying to help her. i could keep going but i'm running out of space. anyway, she's 100% autistic.