As much as I do love reading books and manga and watching my anime or other TV shows, there are tropes that I find quite annoying and wish to not see them as often.
Whether the trope has something to do with the plot, a character, the concept, the...
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Because of course. We all know these memes.
I mean, just go to Reddit. It will pretty much show what this trope is. Or just stay on Wattpad, you'll find them all. It's not hard. • • • As an author, people want to make their characters unique. However, it seems that female characters, especially the main protagonist, tend to fall flat. This happens a lot because they rely to heavily on making their characters "not like other girls."
The phrase, "I'm not like other girls," is unfortunately used so much nowadays. Girls are pressured to be a cardboard cut-out of some Hollywood celebrity because that is what the media seems worthy. Even though that pressure exists, many girls embrace their femininity, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Despite that, many people don't want to see a female protagonist who happens to be feminine. So instead, they use materialistic things to try to show that she isn't like other girls. This fails miserably. Newsflash: liking a type of food, liking any color except pink, liking something outside of your culture, not liking boys, and many other examples are NOT personality traits.
These characters are so flat and hardly fleshed out. It is a lazy way of creating a character, but we still read these stories anyway because it is what sells.
These female characters are written to basically be a male in the body of the female. Keep in mind, there is also nothing wrong with a girl not liking to be feminine. She has every right to be a tomboy. However, if you want to create a female character who is like this, instead of being misogynistic and bringing other people down by telling girls being feminine makes them just some cardboard cut-out of every other Hollywood star, actually give her personality traits. Also, give her flaws!
And heaven forbid you create a female protagonist that actually enjoys some girly things.
Every person is unique, and good story telling shows that in their characters. It does not put others down to make others feel superior. It does not use cop out ways to create a character. It uses actual personality traits to flesh out characters.
Also, just a friendly reminder:
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So maybe it is our feminine girls that are "not like other girls."
