These dashed damsels are littered all through popular culture and have long infiltrated my sacred world of manga and anime, and this lashing out has been a long time coming!
Now I understand the appeal of the genki, spontaneous character, because really, which one of us couldn't do with a good laugh and some cheerful presence around us all the time. OK Pass.
I completely empathise with the disinterested but aware character draw up as well, coz sometimes, you just can't muster up enough enthusiasm to even pandiculate for the ennui around you. OK Pass
And as far as the rest of the heroines go, the ferocious aplha female, the spiteful revenge-obsessed fanatic, the timid albeit ambitious girl next door, the awkward ugly-duckling stereotype, they're all somewhat based in reality and seem to have an adequate level of self awareness as well as goals and dreams, which very much exonerates the tiny annoying peccadillo they may suffer from time to time.
But the blissfully unaware naivete of the aforementioned ingenue is something of a thorn in my side. I don't mind the unparalleled luck this variety seems to have with regards to pheromonal pull with the opposite sex, I'll let it pass that they seem to have the best and most outrageous opportunities presented to their uninterested selves, I'll even overlook the fact that they pass up many such opportunities and even better ones line up, uninterrupted. What I will certainly bear a grudge against though, is the fact that they end up, through no merit or even desire of their own, in the most favourable of circumstances with the most potent of skill set and achieve their happily ever after without one obstacle or heartbreak or even lesson-well-learned along the way!
I can certainly appreciate the appeal of this innocent, stumbling-through-life character. We are drawn to believe life will be kind if we have an unblemished character and we surrender into believing lady luck will smile upon us regardless of the work we put in, so why disgrace effortless reputation by putting in labor at all! Hesitation and diffidence are placed upon a pedestal so we assume these are desirable traits and cling to them unerringly. Oh and yes of course, FATE!, fate plays a very very crucial role in every one's life, so if a situation appears difficult or insurmountable at any point, it's probably not "meant to be", so we move on. Argh.
Do I really need to point out the gazillion glaring faults in this theory? Characters in literature and television will sadly end up influencing a ton of us, in most cases subliminally! We don't realise when we become slaves to our own hazy, unmapped "fate", we cherish the wrong character traits in ourselves, and stop making any proactive efforts in life. Sigh. And I speak from experience. Life will not hand you roses to make a bed (since that's the phrase apparently!), or even lemons to make lemonade. Life hands you nothing. Everything you need, your own hands and wit are your only allies, and any blind belief in an undisclosed fairy godmother otherwise labelled Destiny can only lead to disappointment. I happily concede that some might have already experienced real life enough to lose faith in this skewed religion, but so many more cling to it because unwavering belief and trust are its cornerstones, and sadly girls are more often than not, prize patsies for anything that allows us to sit back and put our life's reins in someone Else's able hands! No more sisters, and as projectile-vomit-inducing and trite as it sounds, time to wake up, ditch that cloying naivete and take control where it matters!
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