Madonna/Whore Characters

Olivia Newton-John presenting the 2-in-1 version!

Since we’ll probably end up discussing a wide range of female stereotypes on this blog, today I’ll introduce a basic concept of the representation of women in media: the ‘good girl’ vs. the ‘bad girl’, or the Madonna/whore juxtaposition.  It refers to a (false) dichotomy in portraying females. The good girl, or Madonna, is kind, caring, moral, and confirms to the traditional gender roles of western society. Egregious representations of the good girl have a preference for white frilly clothes. The bad girls, on the other hand, are more liberal and morally ambiguous, if not evil, and defy the aforementioned gender roles.

The most defining difference between the two is, however, their sexuality. Good girls are innocent, virginal and either naive  sexually repressed or not interested in sex, while bad girls are sexually active and seductive. Sadly enough, this pronounced sexuality immediately condemns a girl as immoral, and while she may be a short-term love interest, the Hero will always prefer the good girl when it comes to marriage. In the harshest sense, bad girls become throw-aways not worthy of a decent relationship. On the other hand, the good girl is placed on a pedestal and not expected to move from there, leaving both types rather unhappy.

While textbook examples of these types are becoming more rare in media, many stereotypes for female characters still rely on these archetypes. For example, femme fatales rely on their looks and skills of seduction to get what they want, and what they want is generally less-than-moral, while traditionally passive and pretty damsels in distress are always worth saving.  

Some examples of ‘good girl’ characters would be Sandy Olssen from Grease, depicted above (up until the end of the story, that is), Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride, and a fair amount of Disney princesses. Special mention goes to Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella. Both Selina Kyle and her alter ego Catwoman from the Batman franchise provide classic ‘bad girl’ examples, as are Milady de Winter from The Three Musketeers and Kim Possible’s Shego.

The movie Black Swan provides and interesting example, where the sexually repressed Nina must come into touch with her inner bad girl if she is to compete with the sexy Lily for the lead ballerina role.