WP3: Dissecting The Cool Girl Trope in Film
I have always idolized the women portrayed in mainstream movies. Naturally beautiful and charismatic, they’re the type of woman that made people unsure of whether they wanted to be with her or to be her. I know that I’m not alone when saying this, but seeing these types of women in film created an obsession where I wanted nothing more than to become that woman I saw on the silver screen. However, the problem with this obsession was that no matter how hard I would try, I would never be able to become this woman. It just wasn’t possible for me to suddenly develop an interest in cars overnight, or to make my skin glisten delicately in the sunlight, rather than just looking sweaty and gross. This is because the female archetype I was aspiring to be, was merely just an idealized version of a woman, born out of fantasy. So, why have we distributed this idea of a woman into mainstream media? There really isn’t a singular, concrete answer, but the most probable theory is that this version of a woman was created to cater towards society’s expectations of women. This character exists because she is what many men want out of a woman, but they fail to realize that this fantasy girl is nothing more than that — a fantasy. That’s not to say that girls can’t like sports or be naturally beautiful, but the fact that it is expected of women to have these characteristics in order to be considered desirable is not only unrealistic, but rooted in dated, misogynistic ideals.
The cool girl trope is ultimately just another example of inaccurate female portrayal. I’ve talked about the role of women in film, and how the Bechdel test can be used to measure what films have a very minimal level of female representation. However, female representation stretches much farther beyond the Bechdel test. I’ve argued that the majority of films that fail the Bechdel test are written by male screenwriters, and/or are catered towards a male audience. Similarly, the cool girl trope was created in order to appeal to a heterosexual, male fantasy. Society as a whole has many ideas of what women should look and act like, and these ideas of how women should be are often carried out throughout mediums such as film. So, the first question you might be asking yourself is, “What makes a cool girl, cool?”. In I Am Like The Other Girls: Explaining The Cool Girl Trope, author Abi Turner states that a cool girl is “someone who is the composite of male desire, someone who is paradoxically living a ‘masculine’ lifestyle but exists at the pinnacle of femininity when it comes to her external appearance” (Turner). Ultimately, a cool girl is defined by being unlike other women, and rejecting femininity when it is not pertaining to her physical appearance. She is effortlessly attractive, aloof, and can eat excessive amounts of junk food while somehow not gaining any weight. She enjoys doing stereotypical male activities such as, watching or playing sports, drinking beer, and making fun of other women because of their femininity. This girl is cool and desirable because she is simultaneously feminine in appearance while still enjoying those stereotypical male-dominant activities.
So, how was this female fantasy character created? The cool girl trope directly caters to heterosexual men, which is why for the most part, the cool girl trope is often perpetuated by male screenwriters. Take the movie Scott Pilgrim VS. The World as an example. Written by three male screenwriters, the movie is arguably catered towards a male audience, hence the male lead being the primary focus of the movie. Throughout the movie, the male lead, Scott Pilgrim, is trying to defeat the female love interest’s evil ex-boyfriends, rendering the female love interest helpless, and in need of the authority of another male. The female love interest, Ramona Flowers, is the epitome of the cool girl trope. Mysterious and beautiful, she is everything the male lead, and the intended male audience, could ever want out of a girl. Ramona’s main character points are that she keeps to herself, has a mysterious past meant for the male lead to discover, and is basically interested in all the things the male lead enjoys. She eats the same unhealthy food that Scott eats while maintaining a small frame, and enjoys the type of music Scott plays with his band. These two variables are arguably the most important things to Scott, so, not surprisingly, Ramona happens to enjoy these things as well. The problem with Ramona’s character, however, is that she is just a fantasy that is constantly being perpetuated by male writers in order to appeal to their male audience. Because this character is being portrayed through the lens of a male, we as the audience know nothing about her other than her obvious sex appeal. Ramona is ultimately two-dimensional, and lacks any sort of character depth that a female audience could relate to. The problem with the cool girl trope is that it portrays females in an unrealistic way and perpetuates an impossible standard that society will consistently judge women by. In order to correct the standard that we have set for women, we need to create more realistic female characters within the movie industry.
Within the same movie, the character Knives Chau is the complete opposite of Ramona Flowers, and the cool girl trope entirely. Throughout the movie, Knives is portrayed as a try-hard, who is ridiculously obsessed with the male lead, Scott Pilgrim. Knives is seen constantly trying her best to please Scott, but all of it is useless in comparison to Ramona, who remains effortlessly cool and beautiful. Knives’ entire personality is based on liking the things that Scott likes. She makes it very apparent that she tries very hard to enjoy the things Scott likes, like video games and his music. She is not effortlessly beautiful, and in fact, the audience sees her trying to look and act like Ramona throughout various scenes in the movie. Because of how hard Knives tries to get Scott to like her, her effort is perceived as unattractive, and Scott ends up dating Ramona. The problem with the portrayal of the cool girl and the anti-cool girl is that it enforces toxic stereotypes. It enforces the idea that women need to be effortlessly cool and beautiful in order to be desirable. We see that idea play out with Ramona’s character. However, if a woman tries to make herself more interesting or attractive for a man she is interested in, the effort she puts into this is deemed unattractive. Hence Knives getting the raw end of the stick at the end of the film. Knives ends up alone and watches the boy she is in love with go off with another girl, knowing that she will never live up to the expectations of being like the cool girl. Unfortunately, this idea occurs too often in real life, which is why we need to reevaluate the cool girl trope and start including realistic female characters that actually make an effort to look good and have qualities that real life women can relate to.
Not shockingly, the unrealistic cool girl trope has had an overall negative effect on society, especially on younger girls. On the societal level, we have begun to normalize the characteristics of the cool girl and have set this trope as the expectation for female attractiveness. Men and women alike have years of internalized misogyny due to the teachings of society. Seeing women in film who are naturally beautiful and thin, shows us that this is the standard for female beauty, and not as something that is actually very rare. On top of that, seeing women who enjoy more masculine activities sets up the expectation that women should just evolve and cater their interests towards whatever their male partner is interested in. Not only does this teach young girls to reject their femininity in a way that is not true to themselves, but it also teaches young boys that femininity is something to disregard and/or make fun of. Think of the word manly. When you think of the word “manly”, there really aren’t any negative connotations associated with the word. In fact, the word manly pertains to a quality that many people find desirable. However, when we think of the word “girly”, there are many negative connotations that come with the word. We use the word girly as an insult, or to describe someone who is not up to society’s standards. If I wanted to insult someone for being cowardly or weak, I could say something along the lines of “Dude, don’t be such a girl!”, but when I use the word “manly” or “man” that’s considered a compliment, or a way to describe someone’s courage or strength. The cool girl trope only further justifies these stereotypes rather than teaching people about inclusivity. The cool girl trope just teaches us that femininity is something to be ashamed of and that we should reject it, as both males and females.
It’s no secret that our society’s values are built on misogynistic traditions and principles. Since the cool girl trope is based on societal expectations, it reflects those same misogynistic principles. The cool girl trope teaches us that a female should cater to the needs of a man, even if they are unrealistic or just plain impossible. In chapter two of Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, he states, “the educated individual is the adapted person, because she or he is better ‘fit’ for the world. Translated into practice, this concept is well suited to the purposes of the oppressors, whose tranquility rests on how well people fit the world the oppressors have created, and how little they question it” (Freire, 76). Freire makes the point that we are taught certain things in order to make it easier to oppress us. Many misogynistic ideals are embedded throughout our education system, and since we are constantly being taught these ideals, we don’t think to question them. We’ve accepted that because the cool girl is physically attractive, rejects vanity, and conforms to the interests of her male counterpart, she is defined as attractive and the benchmark for women in society. This is not meant to say that women who naturally fit this description should be ashamed. The problem lies within the expectation that women MUST conform to these characteristics in order to be considered desirable. The cool girl trope not only leaves women feeling insecure and worthless, but also teaches men that the characteristics of the cool girl should be expected. Ultimately, the cool girl trope is rooted in misogyny, and only further perpetuates the inaccurate portrayal of women in film. We need to question why the qualities of the cool girl define our attractiveness, and push for the inclusion of realistic female characters in film.
Works Cited
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Turner, Abi. “I Am Like The Other Girls: Examining The Cool Girl Trope.” Keke Magazine, 11 Feb. 2020, www.kekemagazine.com/2020/02/11/i-am-like-the-other-girls-examining-the-cool-girl-trope/.
Younglove, Rose. “Breaking Down Media Tropes: The Problematic ‘Cool Girl’.” Study Breaks, 27 Mar. 2020, studybreaks.com/thoughts/cool-girl-problematic-media-trope/.
