Girls on Film: Loathsome Female Clichés

"There's not much that's more irksome than clichés -- the flesh-eating fungus of Hollywood, the virus that makes Tinseltown's already rampant repetition all the more tiresome. They're completely trite and overused, but the cinematic machine clings to them like they're energy-giving oil.

1. The Prostitute/Stripper: Our most beloved actresses flock to the roles because these are the gritty, extreme gigs that bring them critical attention and Oscar love. As the Wall Street Journal has noted, the first woman to win an Oscar -- Janet Gaynor in 1928's Street Angel -- played a prostitute, and thus opened the door to a long history of lascivious leading roles: Greta Garbo, Charlize Theron, Donna Reed, Kim Basinger, Elizabeth Taylor, Jodie Foster...

But at some point, this can't be considered as much of a stretch for an actress when there's almost one hundred years of prostitution productions ... or so I would hope.

2. The Bitchy and Imbalanced Successful Shrews

Always fear the woman in power. She's not like the men. She's a different beast altogether -- the bitch -- the cold, calculating, focused, and detached woman of power who seems to have little to no humanity. In movies, that often means caricatured CEOs who have little social skills or rational thought, but somehow manage to run large companies.

I've never quite understood this trend. It suggests that women have some sort of professional autism, skilled enough to get ahead but not able to function in any other part of their lives. We've grown accustomed to this notion that successful women on the big screen probably won't be successful in their personal lives.

3. The Hysterical Woman

Hollywood loves its female hysteria. Now, I've known a lot of women over the years -- everyone from the most butch tomboy to the most girly girl fashionista -- and none have ever been hysterical. Angry and ranty? Yes. Fly-off-the-handle, screechingly insane? No. Even my friends' most tumultuous of moments have been handled with some sort of dignity, but on the big screen, all bets are off. Do something out of line, and the gals will wail, rant, and throw messy scenes that shouldn't be fit for consumption.

Hollywood needs to learn that the charm of a cold shoulder, a well-written rant, and carefully released burst of anger can be just as cinematic.

4. The Pretty Ugly Girl

This is the one we all joke about -- the "ugly" girl who rips off her glasses, pulls her hair out of its ponytail, and suddenly becomes the most irresistible goddess. Thankfully, there seems to be less pr-ug regularity today as films try to grasp at unique personalities getting loner status, rather than superficial and oft-irrelevant fashion cues likes glasses.

While the ridiculousness can be amusing, this one grates -- as if a girl is toeing the line of uglydom by needing glasses to see. As if any refusal of fashion thrusts her into the realms of the ugly -- not the awkward, not the disheveled -- but the all-out unpleasant to look at. It just breeds a society of snarky, overly critical people eager to pick out the slightest "flaw."

5...

As we all know, there are so much more -- the shopping obsessed, the money idiots, the femme fatale... -- Hollywood never fails to make sure all clichéd bases are covered.

Which do you loathe?"