Tbh, I love the bad boy cliche. But the ones that you see on the app are more or less the same plot. When done right, I think the trope could live on forever. For example, earlgreytea’s I Married a Millionaire. Darius is portrayed as a rich douchebag playboy who can’t settle down, but upon meeting Cara, he develops feelings for her and loses interest in sleeping around. Is it a cliche plot? Very much so lol. But she wrote it so well and developed Darius further than the typical “rich guy who is an entitled prick and think he owns the world” cliche. However, I do think that we need more “golden boys”. They do exist, and it’s really refreshing to read a story with a relatable character with relatable problems. Stories like Dare to Dream, Legally Clueless, and Finding Ourselves Together (I wouldn’t categorize Nate as a cliche bad boy in this story, so I’m counting it).
As for mean girls, oh my god, I hate them. Them as people and the cliche. Personally, I’ve never met a mean girl. At my high school, I had a looootttt of girls that would technically be classified as mean girls (the popular girl type), but they were all pretty nice girls. Mean girls are definitely not an essential trope and can be completely eliminated from the YA genre. I honestly think the real life cliche has died down over the years, since us millenials and Gen Z kids are generally more open and accepting people. I think we’ve strayed away from the past generation’s mentality of racism and sexism and judgement. Of course you’re still going to meet rude and stuck up entitled people, but is it really as big of an issue now as it once was?
Too many to count, man. But, since these irk me so much:
- Shy girls turned badass (I am a very shy and socially awkward girl and I can tell you that if I was presented with the situations that you see in stories pertaining to this cliche, I would 100% hightail my ass out of there lol)
- African American characters with European features (I’ve seen this topic come up a lot lately. Even though I’m hella white, it still bothers me. Like, yeah, it’s a game and it’s not real, but I do not like when people misrepresent other people’s cultures and backgrounds, especially if they are not a part of them.)
- Drastic charcter heights. (Esp. when the girl is half the height of her LI. Just… no. It’s not cute. They usually look like they are their child lolol which is why it bothers me)
- Tragic backgrounds. Parent(s) or sibling dies and then the MC (usually male) develops trust issues and becomes a total d*ck, but then he meets a girl and blah blah blah. It’s just lame and overused.
(Adding onto this one, I hate the emotionally abusive parent trope that is shown in stories. I grew up with emotionally abusive parents, and I feel that this trope isn’t well developed or portrayed in most stories. Like I said, the character usually develops major trust issues and sleeps around and all that jazz. Though it’s definitely real and possible, there is so much more to it than that. Many kids who grew up with parents like this now have depression and anxiety and aren’t as ‘developed’ as their peers, and the abuse with stay with you forever. I guess I just wish there were more stories that portrayed it properly.)