There's a theory out there that there are only seven types of stories out there that can be told, so nothing is truly original. Austin Kleon said in his book "Steal Like An Artist" that "every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas." Basically what every writer does is that they end up taking pieces of books and movies that they already know and piecing them together in a new way that creates a whole new picture (I hope this analogy makes sense).
Because of this it's no surprise that similar themes and story lines, aka tropes, keep popping up in movies and books. There are tropes that we're all familiar with: evil government, love triangles and the lost princess. We all have tropes that we either love or hate.
Today I want to talk about one trope that's always bothered me and I'm pretty sick of but unfortunately doesn't seem to be going away any time soon: the bad boy trope.
We've all seen it, the nice good girl falls for the bruiting mysterious boy in a black leather jacket (bonus points if he rides a motorcycle). Nine times out of ten this rebel without a cause will have a some kind of "tragic" back story that explains why he is the way he is.
Most writers will have a character like this in their stories. Maybe it's just to have some eye candy, but it's also an easy trope to use when you want to create a three dimensional character in order to avoid stereotypes. The problem is, the bad boy with a tragic backstory is so over done it's basically a stereotype in fiction. And the backstory usually involves having a terrible father.
It's popular to pair the bad boy with the good girl because she can show him that it's possible to love and not everyone in his life is a terrible person. That's fine, except these stories seem to depict that it's the girl's job to "fix" the bad boy. That's not a good message to send, especially to young, impressionable girls. Ladies: it is not your job to "fix" your man, you can love and support him, but in the end, it's up to him to make is life better.
It also doesn't help when the bad boy acts like a jerk to everyone, especially his love interest, the entire time. It'd be one thing if this character evolved and acted better toward everyone, but a lot of times this doesn't happen. Instead he remains the same jerk face and gets rewarded for it by getting the girl in the end.
There are, however, instances when the bad boy trope is done well. In the "Infernal Devices" by Cassandra Clare, Will is clearly the bad boy and uses harsh words against everyone. But we eventually learn that he has genuine reasons for acting the way he is (long story, but it involves a curse). Once Will's able to overcome that obstacle and be his true self, we find he's actually nothing like the hard exterior shell he created (except his sarcasm and humor stayed intact).
Will is an exception to the bad boy trope and is done well in a way that I don't see very often. The only other example I can think of the bad boy being done well is Hook on "Once Upon a Time." But even then, his change from a villain to a hero felt a bit rushed and I personally don't find him a very compelling character in general (though there are plenty who do, trust me).
By beef isn't necessarily with the trope itself, it's that the bad boys aren't often written well or given interesting stories. The trope also bothers me when the nice guys (and I mean the actual good guys that aren't jerks) get completely screwed over and yet the bad boy gets a happy ending.
