I have spent the last couple of months discovering Wattpad and have had
quite a bit of fun reading stories posted on the site. While scrolling through
the teen fiction category I began seeing numerous stories with "Bad Boy"
in the title. I began to note the number of titles, many of which had me
laughing, and thought about what it is that draws readers (millions of them) to
this type of story. My curiosity was piqued so I added a bunch to my library
and got acquainted with the modern high school bad boy.
The concept of the bad boy has its roots in ancient literature. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, dating from 2100
B.C., there is the character of Enkidu. He is described as a wild man who is
tamed and civilized by a temple prostitute named Shamhat and later becomes a
close companion of Gilgamesh.
The fairy tale Beauty and the
Beast, by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, came on the scene in 1756. The
bad boy in the story has physically become animal-like while maintaining his
civility. Once again it is up to a woman to bring about change but, instead of
taming him with sex, it is love that transforms the Beast.
While there are many other stories that could be highlighted, these two
came to mind as I was reading my sampling of stories. I found the modern bad
boy has evolved into a hybrid of the two and that the allure of capturing,
taming, and transforming this type of male character has not diminished over
time.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh,
Enkidu is naturally wild. He was raised by animals and knows nothing of the
ways of civilized man. The modern bad boy is wild by choice. He consciously
makes decisions to fit society's perception of what is bad and willingly
participates in unacceptable or risky behavior. They are often portrayed as
having a motorcycle or fast car and having vices such as smoking and drinking. Partying,
brushes with the law, and getting in trouble at school are common elements.
They are physically strong and are not afraid to get into physical
confrontations with peers.
Shamhat tamed Enkidu with sex, but this tactic does not work for the
modern bad boy. He is having plenty of sex and that fact is well-known by the
whole student body. Terms like "player" and "manwhore" are
often used to describe him. Sex is part of his wild ways, not a means to tame
him.
While the Beast was hideous to look at and
was avoided, the modern bad boys are not. They are extremely good-looking and
have no problem attracting females to them, hence all the sex they are getting.
They tend to be popular, intelligent, confident, cocky, and have a charisma
that draws people to them. Often they are part of sports teams at school and
have a position of authority over their peers, like captain or quarterback.
Like the Beast, though, they are cursed. Most bad boys have had some sort
of secret tragedy befall them that has changed them into who they are now.
Unlike the Beast, they were not always bad and the heroine of the story often
catches glimpses of this which makes the bad boy worthy of her interest.
Finding out his secret becomes her quest.
So what kind of girl does it take to tame the modern bad boy? Like
Shamhat of old, the heroine has to be up for the challenge and is willing to
invest the time, but falling under his charismatic spell or into his bed is not
going to happen. She tends to be very inexperienced when it comes to boys,
often never having a boyfriend before. She admits to herself she is attracted
to him and often wages an internal battle with herself to remain unaffected by
him while trying to ferret out his secrets in what makes him tick.
Unlike Beauty in Beauty and the
Beast, the girl in the bad boy stories is not one of the hot, popular girls
at the high school that is the type the bad boy sleeps with. This girl tends to
be average, an understated beauty or cuteness that doesn't have guys clamoring
for her attention. She does not run in the popular circles and tends to avoid
them. While Beauty had two sisters who were vain, selfish, and taunted her,
this girl often faces the taunts of the popular girls who claim the bad boy for
their own.
But this heroine is not a pushover. Although she is nice, she is feisty
and will assert herself when needed. Often what puts her on the bad boy's radar
is standing up to him or be seemingly unfazed by his charms. This often surprises
and intrigues him as she is unlike all the other girls that surround him. Her
reaction is taken as a challenge and he spends a lot of time trying to flirt,
tease, and embarrass her in an attempt to get her to crack, not realizing he is
falling for her. By the end of the story the bad boy is transformed into his
better self by realizing he loves her and the heroine is victorious by winning
his love.
With the theme of the transforming power of love, the bad boy stories
are here to stay. The sheer number of stories and readers clamoring to read
them tell us this. They will continue to evolve over generations and genres to
give us more modern offerings of this tale that is older than time. I have
included a list of Wattpad story titles that inspired this post and a chuckle
or two.
1.
The Bad Boy And The Tom Boy (2015
Watty Winner)
by
nikki20038
2.
My Bad Boy Neighbor
3.
The Bad Boy Saw Me Naked
4.
The Bad Boy Stole My Bra
5.
The Bad Boy Stole My Underwear
6.
The Bad Boy's Girl
7.
Bad Boy's Game
8.
Living With The Bad Boy
9.
Breaking The Bad Boy
10. Bad Boy Kisses
11. The Bad Boy Stole My Phone
12. The Bad Boy Saw My Underwear
And
on and on and on.....
A very interesting analysis. Well done!
ReplyDelete