Teenage girls in MITM

Garbage Kills Megan

parties with your mom
Being a girl, I have really taken notice to how teenage girls are portrayed in Malcolm in the Middle. Most of them are... well... EVIL. Has anyone else noticed this? There were the naughty cheerleaders in House Boat (probably the best example of what I am talking about), and that girl in Bowling: "Do you want to kiss me?" and those girls trying to get back at their boyfriends in Watching the Baby, and "wanna get some beers and go down to the football field" in Stupid girl, and those girls that liked Malcolm and Reese just for their car in Lois' Sister, and the girl in Thanksgiving. The list goes on and on.

I don't know how many people have heard the commentary on the first season Dvd, but during Smunday, Todd Holland talks about how they shoot the show from the kid's point of view. He uses the example of when Lois rises out of bed after finding the letter, like someone rising from the grave. He was saying she probably didn't actually rise out of bed like that, but that was sort of the kid's point of view, sort of how a kid would see it. I kind of feel like it's the same way with the girls on Malcolm. I almost feel like girls on Malcolm don't act the way that teenage girls actually act, but more like how a guy would remember girls acting. More like an interpretation of how girls act. I sort of wonder if the male writers on the show look back and remember girls always trying to tease and tempt them, though that is just memories filtered through emotion, which is never very accurate.

I was never like the girls on Malcolm in high school, and I didn't know very many people like that in high school, though there were probably some. Most of the girls on Malcolm are also the tight jeans, tank top, too much make-up wearing girls that always go to the mall. Not really the kind of people that I would hang out with. I just think it's interesting to think about how they portray teenage girls on the show, and wondered what everyone's thoughts were on this. It almost kind of frustrates me that the show portrays girls like this. But at the same time, I feel like Malcolm and Reese are exactly the kind of guys that would like girls like that, that would fall for their tricks, so it kind of works for the show.

By the way, this is one of the reasons why I loved Cynthia so very much. She was so unlike any of the other girls on Malcolm.
 

arach

New member
Well, I think it's the dream of every teenage boy that girls act like that. When an amazingly beatiful girl, which you can't believe is talking to you, and she suddenly says: "Do you want to kiss me?" - that's the most heavenly thing that could happen to you! And I guess that's what made it so funny.

But you are right, most girls aren't the way they are shown in MitM. Maybe they just met the wrong (or right? :D) girls... surprisingly, you meet those kind of girls all the time, when you just choose the right locations. Like 2 days ago, I went to a strange pizzeria with two friends of mine, when suddenly two fourteen-year-old girls (or younger) came up to us and asked if they could sit with us, because they are so "bored". And they did it in a Paris Hilton-way. So much make-up that you couln't see the face anymore. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that there are indeed enough of those girls, but most of the time you don't get to see them because you choose other locations than them.
 

allison

New member
I realized that, too. One reason why I don´t like most of the girls on the show (and you´re right, Cynthia was the only one who didn´t behave like the other girls) is that they´re so bossy and bitchy. I´m pretty sure writers did that on purpose, though I can´t say of course the exact reason for it(maybe arach is right and they always met the wrong/right :Dgirls).
But I think it got pretty lame after a while. And they started that "concept" at the beginning of the 2nd season, because those girls who appeared during the 1st season weren´t like that (e.g Wendy and that blonde girl who dumped Malcolm after she had slipped and had put her head into their garbage...)
Maybe writers did that to give kind of a reason why Malcolm and Reese don´t have any girlfriends. I mean sure, on the one hand they´re supposed to be losers, but on the other hand they usually just meet horrible girls who are far from being nice. Just think of the reason why Alison dumped Malcolm and Reese: Malcolm used a "wrong" word which made her realize that he isn´t as stupid as herself and Reese lied to her but apologized and even wanted to break his leg for her!!!
You are right, it´s a little sad that girls on the show are portrayed that way, but as lots of other things on the show you just shouldn´t take this too seriously. :D I also don´t like these shows where women are always right wheras men are always wrong etc (unfortunately most sitcoms follow that concept).
I hate clichees, and even if this isn´t a real clichee it´s just stupid and gets boring after some time.
Maybe it´s also because nothing is really normal on Malcolm in the middle. Just look at the characters. I would say most of them (including their friends, relatives etc) aren´t what people would call normal. So the girls on that show are kind of weird, too. It would be good if they were more "individual" though and not only bossy little sluts, but I don´t think writers want to show the reality here.
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
I think if any of the boys were involved with a really nice girl, it'd be worse when they split up - almost depressing, which isn't the right tone for a comedy programme.
I agree that Malcolm and Reese always seem to go for the 'trendy' 'in-crowd' girls they have little or no chance with, but that's what makes it funny - I wouldn't want to see the boys settle down with steady girlfriends, spending their evenings sitting in front of the TV watching chick-flicks - that'd be boring.
 

MITM18

New member
Jimmy Junior said:
I think if any of the boys were involved with a really nice girl, it'd be worse when they split up - almost depressing, which isn't the right tone for a comedy programme.
But that happened with Reese in Season 5, he really loved that girl.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
How did he deserve it? He had the birds and the music and the horse...he really loved that girl!
 

MITM18

New member
Yeah, same I dont get how you got that connection either that he deserved it and what Malcolm did was okay?

What Malcolm did was very imature and very mean to his brother.
 

Garbage Kills Megan

parties with your mom
Oops, sorry. I was thinking of Allison because someone meantioned that earlier, or somewhere else or something. My bad.

Back to what you were ACTUALLY saying, and not what I THOUGHT you were saying...

No, he didn't deserve that. But the writers never let you get attached to one of their girlfriends. In the case of the girl that Malcolm stole at the end of season five, the audience barely even knew that girl. They broke up in the same episode that she was introduced. It needed to be sad enough to make Reese want to run away, but the viewer wasn't particularly attached to her. They just made sure we knew that Reese was, for the sake of the plot.

I think a perfect example of what can happen to a show if they let you get too attached to main character's love interest is Boy Meets World. For those of you who don't know the show, it followed the main character, Corey, and his friends and family from the time he was in 6th grade all the way to college. That whole time, he went out with the exact same girl. They introduced his love interest, Topanga, in the first season, and she ended up being a main character on the show. I think the writers were afraid to have them break-up because viewers had become so attached to her, and their relationship. The show got a little rediculous because of it. It got very emotional and sappy and was all about how hopelessly in love Corey and Topanga are (they get married shortly after high school), and Corey spent most of his time trying to get all of his friends to fall hopelessly in love too. It became completely unrealistic. Who dates the same person during all of high school, and then marries them, and then is actually happy? Almost no one. It's a very extreme, but perfect example.

The writers never keep a girlfriend around for very long. If they do keep her around for more than one episode, they make sure that the boys totally deserve to get dumped when they do. And they usually don't develop the girlfriend character too much. It's pretty smart, I think.
 

MITM18

New member
While I do believe the writers have not let the audience get emotionally attracted to any of the girlfriends.

They have had relationships but they were all just really flings nothing serious except what Reese was trying to do.
 

prettyburd

New member
sometimes being that girl who is just stupid and thinking about making out is fun and dreamy. girls are always trying to protect themselves and saying things like what you said (and you do have an excellent point), but sometimes it is OK to have fun. also the way malcolm and reese and dewey are, the only kind of girls that fit them is that kind. maybe one day they'll have someone sophisticated on instead of them but until then, good luck!
 

MITM18

New member
Very true.

Its very hard at that age to get involved in a serious relationship, its more about experimenting your feelings and desires than true love.

Welcome To The Forums!
 

Garbage Kills Megan

parties with your mom
I think I'm just saying that they are sort of extreme versions. They act like they are in a parody of a teen movie. I'm not saying that girls shouldn't kiss boys. I'm not a spokesperson for abstinence. I'm just talking about the characters of the girls. It's like the writers looked back on their teenage years, and remembered some girl that obviously wanted to make out with them. She probably didn't say "hey, wanna go make out?" but that is how they choose to show such an event happening in the show. I was just making an observation. All the girls on Malcolm are the kind that toy with boy's emotions and hormones. I'm sure those are the kind of girls that many of the male writers on the show remember from when they are younger. They just decided to put them into the show in a very obvious way.
I feel like people really aren't understanding what I'm trying to say, but i can't think of any other way to put it. I did the best I could.
 

SaD_bUt_TrUe16

New member
i think i get what your saying, but correct me if i'm wrong. Okay, all that the writers seem to remember is their bad relationships, pretty much, the bitchy girls. So they're portraying all the girls malcolm and reese are involved with as mean girls. OR Malcolm and Reese are only going for girls like this.

Reese and Malcolm are at this age where they both are extremely shallow (I'm not saying all guys at this age are that shallow, but reese and malcolm definetly are), so the only girls they go for are girls that are pretty, not caring about their personality. And the girls that are forward are like goddesses to them (i guess). But going back to the shallow thing, Reese and the girl from the ep where he joins the army only had a shallow relationship. Though he felt like he loved her, he obviously didn't know her personality that well, cuz she was a (for lack of a better term) bitch. Though i do feel like he really loved her, he didn't love her for the right reasons...
 

Wemboy

New member
@MEGAN: I get what you're trying to say about the girls in the show being presented as kind of caricatures of teenage girls; the characters are often good looking on the outside but inside manipulative, playing with the boys emotions. And I think you could be right in saying that some of the situations portrayed in the show exaggerate the behaviour of the various female characters both to allow the audience to empaphise more with the perspective of the boys and just for comedic effect. It seems to aid the audience in understanding the kind of awkwardness and lack of self-confidence that many people have at that age.

On the other hand I wouldn't say all the girls in the show have been like that, and when I read the initial post the character that immediately sprang to my mind was Nicky. I remember her as being really good towards Malcolm, and although she was manipulative towards her father, who doesn't lie to their parents when they're teenagers?

She put up with a good deal of Malcolm's whining when they were together and after re-watching a couple of episodes with her in, I reckon she was actually quite straight forward with Malcolm and didn't mess him about, she let him stay in her loft for God's sake! I noticed these episodes weren't very highly rated last time I checked but I alway's enjoyed this (brief) relationship. Am I the only one who thinks like this, or does everyone else see through her charms and recognise her as some kind of evil she-devil?!:D
 

MITM18

New member
The only girl that wasnt like that was in Season One when Reese had a crush on Wendy.

She was nice even though the writers never continued with her.
 

allison

New member
Susie? Don´t you mean Wendy? If you´re talking about that girl from Cheerleader you´re right. She seemed pretty nice.
 
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