MOW: Average Girl Trick [2/-]|Ingenues & Average Girls
Hi everyone!
So you guys voted on the topic MOW: Average Girl Trick [1/-] where it was asked which of the three groups of women you could relate to, were interested in and not interested in.
Most people voted that Group B was more relatable and they were most interested in Group B closely followed by Group A. However, almost everyone, with a few exceptions, thought that Group C was the least interesting.
Now, I'll talk about Group C in its own side post, but lets talk about Group B and A.
My label of Group A, is The Ingenues.
These are the women that are usually portray "average" women in those romantic comedies. You have Jennifer Aniston, who has been the "average girl" woobie for years, Amanda Seyfried, from "Jennifer's Body" playing a girl named "Needy" and Lea Michele, who plays Rachel Berry in Glee, who is an unpopular loser. They are pretty, obviously more beautiful than the average, but not intimidating.
They are the basis for most literary female characters in the young adult genre and most genres in general. Those long haired, wide eyed, pale teenage girls with those sort of "exotic" features that would look weird on anyone else, but sort of fits together. Their title of average only comes from the fact that they can blend in with average people and not be noticed when they want to be. It's the way they carry themselves that make them really gorgeous.
For example, Natalie Dormer, who was in The Tudors. She has a very oddly shaped mouth, that you think would make her look strange, but the way she handles herself it becomes something sexy. Yet, she because she has that little imperfection she never becomes a person you'd be intimidated by.
Next is Group B who I consider to be The "True" Average. These are women who fit that "girl next door" bill that so many try to sell to us.
You have Anna Paquin who alot of people criticize because of the gap in her teeth. You have Drew Berrymore, who people don't like for the same mouth flaw that makes Natalie Dormer enduring. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who alot of people call ugly. Then there is Rutina Wesley who doesn't fit the mold of the Beyonces, Alicia Keys and Rihannas. I could go on and on.
But the reason these women are average is because one, they look like normal people. People you know, people you talk to, people you can relate to on a simply physical level. I have always said that Drew Berrymore is so believable to me as a romantic-lead because while she can look amazing, she also looks like the everyday woman.
Speaking of the everyday woman-
According to a 2006 article from USA Today:
According to the Department for Trade and Industry, the average U.K. woman is 5' 3.8" (162 centimeters) tall and weighs 147 pounds (66.7 kilograms). This corresponds to a Body Mass Index of 25.2 kilograms/meters², which is slightly less than the average British man's, and less than the average American female's.
The average American woman's weight has increased 11 pounds (7%) in the 10 years between the gathering of statistics, while her height has remained about the same (an increase of 0.1 inch or 0.2% taller). Earlier I had reported a weight of 152 pounds (69 kg) and height 5' 3.7" (162 cm). Now, it's 163 pounds (74 kg) and 5' 3.8" (163 cm).
The average Canadian woman's weight is 153 pounds (69.4 kg) and height is 5' 3.4" (161 cm). Her male counterpart weighs 182 pounds (82.7 kg), and is 5' 8.5" (174 cm) tall.
Link: www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2006-12-04-size-age_x.htm
Yet, when is the last time you've read a young adult lead who was anything other than "slender"?
Now, the thing about Romantic Comedies and Young Adult Female novels, is that they are supposed to be a fantasy and alot of them are dependent on the female viewer to relate to the lead. Most of the women don't have any personalities so they depend on setting up situations that every woman can relate to. Supposedly anyway. As someone who doesn't want marriage, babies or the like at this point and would ever act the way these woman do in those movies I find myself more insulted than anything else.
Appearance is important because we have to want to be these women. They think that more people would rather be...Katherine Heigl (eww) than Nikki Blonsky. However, they would never make someone like Megan Fox one of those relatable characters. She'd be the bitchy girl because "sexy" women are thought to be bitchier. But that's another post.
Now, the reason why I don't think alot of average girl characters are really used is because the people don't want to become them. Take, for example, Hermione Granger. In nearly every fanfiction I have read-both before and after Emma "OMG" Watson took the role-people had been "fixing" Hermione. They would make her hair straight and flowing and even before Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire they were fixing her teeth. Everything that made her identifiable with a true average girl was stripped away, probably by the same people who could relate to her.
You can be average, but not too average, we don't want to read about ourselves, we want to read about what we could be. However, as someone who doesn't read book to become people, I don't really care about that. I want to read about people and I find it a little patronizing to try and feed me a character who is supposed to be average, but it's an implied status rather than a shown one.
Now, lets talk about Group C: The Femme Fatales
So you guys voted on the topic MOW: Average Girl Trick [1/-] where it was asked which of the three groups of women you could relate to, were interested in and not interested in.
Most people voted that Group B was more relatable and they were most interested in Group B closely followed by Group A. However, almost everyone, with a few exceptions, thought that Group C was the least interesting.
Now, I'll talk about Group C in its own side post, but lets talk about Group B and A.
My label of Group A, is The Ingenues.
These are the women that are usually portray "average" women in those romantic comedies. You have Jennifer Aniston, who has been the "average girl" woobie for years, Amanda Seyfried, from "Jennifer's Body" playing a girl named "Needy" and Lea Michele, who plays Rachel Berry in Glee, who is an unpopular loser. They are pretty, obviously more beautiful than the average, but not intimidating.
They are the basis for most literary female characters in the young adult genre and most genres in general. Those long haired, wide eyed, pale teenage girls with those sort of "exotic" features that would look weird on anyone else, but sort of fits together. Their title of average only comes from the fact that they can blend in with average people and not be noticed when they want to be. It's the way they carry themselves that make them really gorgeous.
For example, Natalie Dormer, who was in The Tudors. She has a very oddly shaped mouth, that you think would make her look strange, but the way she handles herself it becomes something sexy. Yet, she because she has that little imperfection she never becomes a person you'd be intimidated by.
Next is Group B who I consider to be The "True" Average. These are women who fit that "girl next door" bill that so many try to sell to us.
You have Anna Paquin who alot of people criticize because of the gap in her teeth. You have Drew Berrymore, who people don't like for the same mouth flaw that makes Natalie Dormer enduring. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who alot of people call ugly. Then there is Rutina Wesley who doesn't fit the mold of the Beyonces, Alicia Keys and Rihannas. I could go on and on.
But the reason these women are average is because one, they look like normal people. People you know, people you talk to, people you can relate to on a simply physical level. I have always said that Drew Berrymore is so believable to me as a romantic-lead because while she can look amazing, she also looks like the everyday woman.
Speaking of the everyday woman-
According to a 2006 article from USA Today:
According to the Department for Trade and Industry, the average U.K. woman is 5' 3.8" (162 centimeters) tall and weighs 147 pounds (66.7 kilograms). This corresponds to a Body Mass Index of 25.2 kilograms/meters², which is slightly less than the average British man's, and less than the average American female's.
The average American woman's weight has increased 11 pounds (7%) in the 10 years between the gathering of statistics, while her height has remained about the same (an increase of 0.1 inch or 0.2% taller). Earlier I had reported a weight of 152 pounds (69 kg) and height 5' 3.7" (162 cm). Now, it's 163 pounds (74 kg) and 5' 3.8" (163 cm).
The average Canadian woman's weight is 153 pounds (69.4 kg) and height is 5' 3.4" (161 cm). Her male counterpart weighs 182 pounds (82.7 kg), and is 5' 8.5" (174 cm) tall.
Link: www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2006-12-04-size-age_x.htm
Yet, when is the last time you've read a young adult lead who was anything other than "slender"?
Now, the thing about Romantic Comedies and Young Adult Female novels, is that they are supposed to be a fantasy and alot of them are dependent on the female viewer to relate to the lead. Most of the women don't have any personalities so they depend on setting up situations that every woman can relate to. Supposedly anyway. As someone who doesn't want marriage, babies or the like at this point and would ever act the way these woman do in those movies I find myself more insulted than anything else.
Appearance is important because we have to want to be these women. They think that more people would rather be...Katherine Heigl (eww) than Nikki Blonsky. However, they would never make someone like Megan Fox one of those relatable characters. She'd be the bitchy girl because "sexy" women are thought to be bitchier. But that's another post.
Now, the reason why I don't think alot of average girl characters are really used is because the people don't want to become them. Take, for example, Hermione Granger. In nearly every fanfiction I have read-both before and after Emma "OMG" Watson took the role-people had been "fixing" Hermione. They would make her hair straight and flowing and even before Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire they were fixing her teeth. Everything that made her identifiable with a true average girl was stripped away, probably by the same people who could relate to her.
You can be average, but not too average, we don't want to read about ourselves, we want to read about what we could be. However, as someone who doesn't read book to become people, I don't really care about that. I want to read about people and I find it a little patronizing to try and feed me a character who is supposed to be average, but it's an implied status rather than a shown one.
Now, lets talk about Group C: The Femme Fatales