These Girls Are Alright

These girls are alright By Rachel Montpelier Gender stereotypes seem less and less pervasive with these young women around. How the past two decades have seen a rise in the Outside Girl. Who are the “Outside Girls”? The Outside Girls do not need—or, sometimes, even want—people to like them. The This character trope has appeared in litera- fact that they are unlike anyone else only ture and popular culture throughout history, adds to their self-esteem. Their appear- but has become a much more frequent ances are not their top priorities. Boyfriends occurrence since the ‘90s. The Outside Girl and girlfriends come and go, but none of is a character (usually in her late teens or these women are defined by their romances early twenties) who is unable to relate to or a desire for love. That being said, these her peers and actively withdraws from them. women are allowed to be sexually agentic She is intelligent, independent and funny. without warranting the viewer’s judgment. Yet she cannot or will not fit in. In fact, her Basically, the Outside Girl is who she is and isolation is twofold: she is different from accepts that. And, as a result, we accept everyone else in her universe, but she is her. also an anomaly amongst the usual female characters. Characters fitting this description include: This trope started centuries ago—think Miss ♦ Daria Morgendorffer of Daria Bennett rejecting Mr. Darcy’s initial proposal ♦ Juno MacGuff of Juno or Edna Pontellier walking away from her marriage and children for the potential joy ♦ Jessica Darling of Sloppy Firsts, Second in solitude—but has repeatedly pervaded Helpings, etc. by Megan McCafferty our culture, beginning with the multiple ♦ Veronica Mars of Veronica Mars examples of girl power in the mid-nineties. ♦ April Ludgate of Parks and Recreation Instead of seeing constant depictions of ladies ceding their identities to the men in ♦ Angela Chase of My So-Called Life their lives or trying desperately to be just an- ♦ Lindsay Weir of Freaks and Geeks other face in the crowd, modern audiences ♦ Enid Coleslaw of Ghost World by Daniel have the privilege of experiencing more and Clowes more women living life on their own terms. These women are not Rachel Greens, Car- …and many more. So, if these ladies are rie Bradshaws, Meredith Greys, Jess Days not happy-go-lucky Everywomen, who are or Pam Beeslys. In fact, the Outside Girls they exactly? would probably actively mock the preceding characters. The bitch is back many ways—rape, loss of a friend, parental abandonment, social isolation—that we feel In Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychol- how hard it is for her to connect to anyone ogy of Persuasion, the author describes one else. And if you overcame all of that to stand of the most powerful persuasive tricks: the on your own two feet, wouldn’t you also liking rule. Basically, Cialdini argues that we want other victims to take the same route are more willing to be persuaded by or for and stick up for themselves? Veronica is the a friend, or another person we like. What is viewer’s hero, but she can also be cruel if interesting about the Outside Girls is their others do not adhere to her sky-high stan- behavior—which is not always objectively dards. likable—and how the viewer can’t help but root for them and constantly keeps coming Or take April Ludgate, whose apathy and back to them. In other words, even when the anger just adds to her hilarity. To be frank, girl is acting like a complete bitch, we are her unpleasant demeanor and rude remarks almost always on her side. are the traits that enable the audience to like her. She says the thoughts we wish we The Outside Girls are human; they are could verbalize. When April enters a beauty three-dimensional characters complete with contest—purely for the award money—she contradictions, vulnerabilities and mistakes. quits in the middle of the competition when And being completely human, they do not she learns that the cash prize goes towards automatically win the audience’s sympathy building a new fence. She walks off stage 100 percent of the time. Honestly, some- and, with a straight face, announces to the times you hate them and sometimes you camera and audience: “No, I didn’t win. love them, but you always like them. They But at least I didn’t make any new friend- are real characters, real representations of ships.” April is not only wholly unconcerned what it means to be a young woman with a about how others judge her appearance, brain. You relate to these girls, whether they she can’t even be bothered to pretend she are enacting the best or worst versions of cares about other people liking her. This, in themselves. turn, makes other characters and the audience like her all the more. In fact, her boss For example, when Veronica Mars verbally characterizes her secretarial expertise as attacks a high school patron in “Hot Dogs,” “aggressively mean and apathetic.” But Ron the audience winces at her callousness and Swanson doesn’t see that as a bad thing: her refusal to nurture another outsider. But “April really is the whole package.” Even we also get it. Veronica has been hurt in so though the Outside Girls can be difficult, sar- are happy to be excluded by their vacuous, castic and brutally honest, Ron’s perspec- idiotic peers. Don’t mistake their sarcasm as tive shows how people other than the viewer masked self-loathing. I’m sure these women can appreciate them. April is a valued part of have their doubts and insecurities, but also the Parks Department because she cares so know they are better off on their own. After little about other people’s feelings. The less all, who is less bearable: Daria or Brittany? she cares, the funnier she is, and the more the audience laughs. An intertextual inclination And then there is Daria, a crucial predeces- sor to Veronica and April. As Rebecca C. Consider the following nods to other texts: Hains notes, this character “dislikes many ♦ Joss Whedon, Alyson Hannigan and things about the world in which she lives Charisma Carpenter making appear- and has a pessimistic view of the social life ances on Veronica Mars and quality education at her high school.” ♦ Lisa Simpson meeting idol Daniel Although Hains correctly makes the case Clowes that an unpleasant attitude results in “social exclusion,” she fails to note that charac- ♦ Jessa Johansson’s interaction with ters like Daria do not underestimate alien- Danielle Brooks of OITNB ation. Daria’s demeanor is dark, but what ♦ Claire Fisher mocking the girls of Buffy makes her special is that she is obviously the Vampire Slayer completely fine with herself. Everyone else ♦ Frances Ha featuring Girls’ Adam Driver sucks. “Don’t worry. I don’t have low self- esteem,” she assures her mother and fa- ♦ Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate) playing ther. “I have low esteem for everyone else.” Daria for CollegeHumor And she makes that startlingly clear. When ♦ Alia Shawkat (Maeby Funke) and talking about bubbly cheerleader Brittany, Michael Cera appearing on Veronica Daria remarks, “she’ll have to watch out for Mars and referencing the show on ferrets building a nest in her head.” Brittany Arrested Development is conventionally attractive and kind to a Or the other references to existing scholars, fault, but there is next to nothing going on writers and artists: upstairs. The best part of Outside Girls like Daria goes beyond their independence and ♦ Rory Gilmore’s reading list, pop cultural skewed view of life. It’s the fact that they references ♦ Marjane Satrapi reading The Second eye-rolling. In fact, these women are linked Sex by Simone de Beauvoir by more than their general philosophies. ♦ Alison Bechdel making sense of her There are constant callbacks and nods to relationship with her father through the other Outside Girls. As Karin E. Westman Icarus myth aptly puts it, “as a viewer, you either get the reference or you don’t.” But, trust me, if you ♦ Enid Coleslaw mocking Sassy are paying the least bit of attention, you will ♦ Alex Vause reading Wild by Cheryl notice the connections amongst all of these Strayed women. ♦ Kat Stratford reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, cemented his show’s influence over ♦ Margot Tenenbaum and Suzy Bishop Veronica Mars by making a cameo appear- reading Wes Anderson-specific books ance. In turn, Alyson Hannigan (Willow) and ♦ Jessica Darling’s preoccupation with Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) also had movies from the 1980s recurring appearances in Neptune, Calif. ♦ Jenny Mellor lying about meeting C.S. Lisa Simpson encountering one of her per- Lewis in order to sneak off with David sonal idols, Daniel Clowes (the Ghost World writer and cartoonist), is her way of showing ♦ Juno MacGuff bonding with Mark through solidarity with Enid. Frances Ha received music and horror movies multiple comparisons to Girls because it In her analysis of Persepolis, Nancy K. follows a young, narcissistic underemployed Miller observes the literary and feminist con- woman in New York City. This similarity is nection between Marjane and her mother. deepened—and implicitly acknowledged— Miller describes the “relations between texts by Adam Driver’s presence in both texts. and readers—readers existing in different Claire’s disdain towards Buffy and the other historical times and ideological situations, as Scoobies is very ironic, considering that well as quite literally different physical loca- Claire and Buffy have a lot in common and tions, who connect through books.” To incor- the fact that the two shows share plenty porate additional books, film and television of guest stars.

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