I cannot abide Baby Houseman of “I carried a watermelon” fame. Since an early age Gabriella Montez drove me round the bend, and not all of that could be attributed to my love for Zac Efron. Whilst not the worst offender, Sandy’s naivety and childishness for much of Grease irks me beyond words.
Yet, these are the characters I’m supposed to cheer for. The ones to root for. The girls who get the dreamy guys. Yet I could not, and for the most part still cannot, abide them.
They simp. They whinge. They’re naivety truly knows no bounds and I struggle to understand what attracts the leading men to them. They’re put forward as these ‘nice’ and innocent females, so how could a guy not fall for such a perfect woman? I thought I was alone for a long while in thinking all of this and thought maybe these female characters are really lovely and I’m simply a broken bitch who can’t see it.
However, a resurgence in love for High School Musical’s Sharpay Evans on social media proved to me I was right all along. Portrayed as the movie franchise’s villain, with the odd hint of humanity, Sharpay was the anthesis of the simpering Gabriella. From the get-go I adored Sharpay. Was she snarky and a bit spoilt? Sure. But you’d struggle to be anything else too if your parents named you Sharpay.
More and more people are realising her dedication and ambition when it came to musical theatre was actually pretty inspiring. While ‘Breaking Free’ remains to be a bop, Troy and Gabriella chased each other around a piano a few times and got everything handed to them. Sharpay? She dedicated her life to theatre and put on *performances*. And what thanks did she get for her appreciation of the arts? Nada. She just got painted as the bitch for having a dream and not being afraid to go for it.
How about Rizzo? While not necessarily the stereotypical enemy, Rizzo in Grease was put forward as the anthesis of good girl (eventually gone bad) Sandy. In the movie, Rizzo is painted as a bit of a slut, for want of a more delicate way to put it. Everything a young girl shouldn’t be. She flaunts her body and gets with guys. She’s rebellious and abrasive. And I still bloody love her. Stockard Channing’s performance of ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’ is a standout primarily for the meaning behind it. It makes the ‘bad girl’ less of a 2D stereotype and shows some actual depth to them. Sure they’re not the simpering, lovely leading lady, but they still have a heart and feelings.
And lastly, my beloved Penny from Dirty Dancing. While not portrayed as a horrible mean girl type character, much like Rizzo, Penny stands to be the opposite of Baby Houseman - all round naïve Daddy’s girl. Has she made some bad decisions? Sure. Would some people consider her career and how she got there low rent? Sure. Is she judged by some (here’s looking at Robbie the creep) for her sex life and subsequent abortion? Absolutely. She’s far from the privileged life Baby has led up to this point, and is all the more interesting for it. But behind it all is a woman just desperate to be loved. Penny had spark, drive and heart. I could never comprehend how Johnny could fall for the walking human irritation that is Baby, when Penny was standing (or dancing) right in front of him. Even Patrick Swayze agrees, once saying he thought Johnny and Penny should end up together.
So why do I love these side female characters so much? I think it’s because they’re not perfect. While the flaws they are presented with are meant to make us not favour them as much, they’re actually what makes me fall in love with them. I can’t relate to the perfect female leads, all nice, polite and simpering (and often whining). Instead the characters who are portrayed as their anthesis are more relatable. They’re fleshed out, with flaws but also with admirable characteristics. In a nut shell, they’re human and deserve a hell of a lot more respect and appreciation.
Long live the less than perfect side female characters.