Girl next door explained
The girl next door is a young female stock character who is often used in romantic stories. She is so named because she often lives next door to the protagonist or is a childhood friend. They start out with a mutual friendship that later often develops into romantic attraction.
A similar expression is "boy next door".
Characteristics
A girl-next-door character is often seen as natural and unpretentious. A trope that evokes nostalgia, it is associated with small towns and more local or even rural ways of life.[1] The girl next door is often portrayed as innocent.
Actress and singer Doris Day, renowned for her rom-com film roles in the 1950s, is described as a pioneering embodiment of the girl-next-door image in film:[1] regarded as "Hollywood's girl next door".[2]
A common cliche is when a male protagonist is caught in a love triangle between two women, he will usually choose the "sweet, ordinary, and caring girl next door" he grew up with rather than a more well-off or beautiful woman with fewer morals.[3] Other times, this character ignores the hero for another male character, despite being the object of his affections.[4]
The character Mary Ann Summers from the TV show Gilligan's Island (portrayed by Dawn Wells) had the girl next door allure, in a contrast with the more glamorous character Ginger Grant (portrayed by Tina Louise).[5] Due to the popularity of the show and the two lead female characters, the question "Ginger or Mary Ann?" became shorthand for asking someone whether they preferred a girl-next-door type or a more glamorous type.[6]
See also
Further reading
- Book: Levine . Michal P. . Schneider . Steven Jay . South . James B. . Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale . Feeling for Buffy: The Girl Next Door . https://books.google.com/books?id=dx_n2IDCJqUC&q=%22Feeling+for+Buffy%3A+The+Girl+Next+Door.%22&pg=PA294 . 2003 . Open Court . 978-0-8126-9531-1 . 294–308 . Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale .
- From a review: "To Michal Levine and Steven Jay Schneider ... Buffy is just another unconscious Freudian reality tale starring the proverbial girl next door." in: Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion: The TV Series, the Movies, the Comic Books, and More
- News: Rich. Frank. Journal: The Girl Next Door. January 30, 2018. The New York Times. February 20, 1994. https://web.archive.org/web/20090503063929/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/20/opinion/journal-the-girl-next-door.html. 2009-05-03. live. Frank Rich.
- The article criticizes Sports Illustrated for their misuse of term "girl next door": "Otherwise the magazine is still pushing what Ms. Brinkley repeatedly described as the "natural beauty" of "what readers long for – the girl next door". Who is the girl next door? Her fake name keeps changing but she is still the same empty-headed, smiling, air-brushed mannequin who appeared in Playboy in the 1950s and early 60s..."
Notes and References
- Book: McDonald, Tamar Jeffers. Doris Day Confidential: Hollywood, Sex and Stardom. 978-0-85772-279-9. I.B. Tauris. London. 77-86. 862101452. 2013-09-27.
- News: Sonari. Glinton. Actress And Singer Doris Day, Hollywood's Girl Next Door, Dies At 97. WPRL. May 13, 2019. June 28, 2024.
- Book: Ebert's bigger little movie glossary : a greatly expanded and much improved compendium of movie clichés, stereotypes, obligatory scenes, hackneyed formulas, shopworn conventions, and outdated archetypes. 1999. Andrews McMeel. Ebert . Roger. 0-7407-9246-6. Kansas City, Mo.. 829154479.
- Book: Romancing the zombie : essays on the undead as significant "other". Szanter . Ashley . Richards . Jessica K. . 978-1-4766-6742-3. McFarland & Company. Jefferson, North Carolina. 45. 987796701. August 14, 2017.
- News: Chris. Erskine. I invited Mary Ann to a Gilligan-themed tiki party — and she showed up. Los Angeles Times. August 22, 2019. November 24, 2020.
- Web site: Gael. Fashingbauer Cooper. Ginger or Mary Ann? 'Gilligan' fans still ponder question. Today. September 17, 2014. November 24, 2020.
