Getting to know types of heroines in love stories.
I am a fan of reading stories of different genres. What interest me always aside from the plot, is the characterizations of heroines in most love stories. This article is a list of heroine archetypes that I have noticed on most love stories, may it be in Tagalog Romance Pocketbooks or in movies.
The Classical Maria Clara
She doesn’t look exactly how Jose Rizal portrayed in Noli Me Tangere. Of course, nobody wears baro’t saya these days anymore. She’s the type who would just stay silent when scolded and cry when emotionally hurt. She’s polite and innocent. More like the from-the-province kind of girl.
She’s the type who’s easily abused by powerful people. When in love, she’ll keep quiet and wait until the man makes his move. She’s never the type who would go for it first. She’s doubtful most of the times but her trust and belief in her prince charming is firm. She’s kind and willing to help as long as she can to the point that she tends to forget herself. She easily gets affected especially when her family or her loved ones are the subjects.
Examples of this kind of character are Cinderella, Judy Ann Santos as Mara in the classical Philippine TV shows Mara Clara, and others.
Ugly Betties
She’s one of those who are usually bullied by most characters in the story. She has few friends and the hero never had an interest in her. She’s beautiful but her beauty is hidden behind her long hair, thick-framed round eyeglasses, long-sleeve shirts, knee-length skirts and black shoes. Not to mention that her face is always hidden behind a long pile of books she carries around. Well, that’s the campus image of ugly betties. In the real world, take away the books and that’s her. She doesn’t know how to fix herself. Shy type and would just stare at her prince charming from a long distance and when happens to have an encounter with her prince charming, she would stutter and probably collapse.
Heroes usually ignore them and treat them as a simple friend. If they get close to the heroes, many will envy her. On some situations, heroes are also one of those who bully Ugly Betties. They will never appreciate her kindness, her beauty, her importance until time passes and Ugly Betties turn into Beautiful Swans who are completely out of their leagues but heroes should watch out because Ugly Betties are the vengeful ones.
Examples of this kind of character are of course, Ugly Betty, Paris Hilton’s friend in the movie “The Hottie and the Nottie” and Jenny in the movie “She’s All That”.
One of the Boys
You often see her hanging out with the boys. Not really a tomboy but just boyish. She claims to be 100% girl but many would mock her and say that she’s not. She enjoys boy stuff like ball games, guy jokes and more. She never wears make-ups and often wanders around the streets with lose t-shirts, jeans, sneakers and caps. She is brave and tends to be violent at times. She’s funny and never choosy on things. She’s strong-spirited and practical. She’s beautiful but she doesn’t know it which is why heroes love her for her simplicity.
When in love, while some of her kind would make a move, most of her kind would always hide and deny her feelings. She’s innocent when it comes to realizing that someone can actually love her more than just friends. When someone confesses love to her, she would consider it as a joke.
She’s Kim Chui in the Philippine TV Show My Binondo Girl, Amanda Bynes in the movie “She’s the Man”, and Go Minam in the Korean series “He’s Beautiful”.
The Wild Modern Gabriela Silangs
She is Gabriela Silang without a horse and a bolo. She’s a walking machine-gun. She’s a fighter by nature may it be a physical fight or battle of words. She’s loud but sweet. The hardship she has experienced in her life made her independent. She is transparent and friendly. She’s talkative but sarcastic and tactless sometimes.
Heroes fall for her because she’s amusing and they enjoy making fun at her. She easily gets irritated. When in love, she gives her all and willing to fight for it but knows when she needs to give up. She is never afraid of voicing out her feelings. When emotionally hurt, she tend to be violent like throwing anything that she gets her hands on while delivering her never-ending speeches. Like The One of the Boys, heroes consider her as a challenge.
Maricel Soriano, Marian Rivera and Toni Gonzaga play roles like this in most of their shows and movies, Erich Gonzales in her movie “I do” and Amanda Bynes in her movie Love Wrecked.
Sweet Walking-Abubots
The sweet walking-Abubots are the most easy-to-get heroines. She falls in love so easily. She easily gets amused with sweet and romantic gestures. She’s the most emotional of all kind but really sweet. She’s like a baby who needs to be taken care of. Heroes can always baby-talk her. She easily forgives. She’s the complete opposite of The One of the Boys and The Wild Modern Gabriela Silangs. She’s rich and she’s a what-she-wants-she-gets kind of girls. She could be a real brat sometimes but it was just her way of acting cute.
When in love, she would pamper her hero even if she would look like a nanny. She would take note of every dates, every gifts and collect souvenirs when their together.
She’s the heroines in most of Disney’s Teen movies, Sarah Geronimo in her movies with John Lloyd Cruz and Heart Evangelista in some of her movies.
Women in Suits
She’s highly intelligent and has everything under control. She’s the boss and she’s used to getting everything that she wanted. She’s always on the go and workaholic. She’s time-conscious and she hate it when things don’t go the way she want it to be. She doesn’t have time for herself and doesn’t know how to socialize. She’s nailed in her swivel chair and she couldn’t take her hands away from her laptop. She drinks coffee for breakfast and lives alone in her apartment. She’s a witch and a terror.
She’s bitter when it comes to the so-called “love-life” and she takes emotions and feelings for granted. She thinks about practicality and always looks for logical reasons. Heroes fall for her because she is challenging. Heroes want her to weaken but they end up becoming her slave. When in love, the first thing she’ll do is panic. She would deny her feelings. She’d think that everything about her will collapse but when she decides to give in to feelings, she’s willing to take risks and change. When hurt, she would be depressed but then decides to gather herself together.
One great example of her is Sandra Bullock in her movie The Proposal.
These 6 six heroine archetypes are just few. Some are heroines are a combination of two or three archetypes. In the end, what matters most is how these characters survive in the conflicts of the story and how these characters enhances the plot.
