The Tropes Series #1

Bitchy Bimbo Who Hates the Main Character for Some Reason

I've complained about this in books before. Probably the only examples, currently, is when I reviewed Splintered and Dorothy Must Die. I also praised Wicked Lovely for not having this trope.
This trope is pretty self explanatory. The most common example of this is a bitchy, typically blonde, bimbo character who bullies the main character at school- be it physically (Madison took a swing at Amy in DMD) or mentally (Taelor just screams at Alyssa a lot in Splintered but you get the idea). These examples are both from school related setting, which is the breeding ground for this type of character it seems.

These types of characters are very common in TV shows as well, the only examples I can think of are characters (read: Cheerios) who hate Rachael from Glee (yes, I watched Glee). These are more Alpha Bitches than "bimbo", but they still have the same effect- to create some sort of sympathy for the main character. Which some authors may feel like they have to do if they've made their main characters unbearable to read.

Something I find very common with these characters, is that they have no reason to hate the main character. Fair enough, some people are just awful, but sometimes that doesn't make sense. I can say that I have met some people who I could easily compare to this trope, but these people are massively turned down. In these books the "Bitchy Bimbo" would just randomly attack the main character in the street or corridor, in real life there would have had to been some sort of altercation before the main character gets hit. And there has to be some realism in a book, especially in books that will be really trying to suspend our disbelief (i.e. science fiction, fantasy, etc.). Something I'd like to see if either these characters are given motives or they are the main character.

I also find that these characters don't really have personalities. To be honest, characters other than the main character and the love interest seem to lack well thought personalities. Their only characteristics are often just "bitchy" and "classist". I can say that there is probably at least one person in this world who only has these two traits. They're not in any way explored by the author and I think it's a shame. Instead of telling us inane crap about the love interest, the author could give us at least a motive for the bitchiness other than "she just a bitch".

After a while, this trope is really cringy to read. And I've read a good proportion of My Immortal, so I know what cringy reads like. This can be about a hundred times worse. It often shows that the writers know nothing about teenagers. Which is a different complaint for a different time. It add the melodrama of a soap opera to a "serious" book.

That's it for today, what do you think of this trope? Tell me in the comments below.
{This will be a weekly thing (hopefully) posted on Wednesdays}

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