My Frustrations With the Bad Boy Trope

 Hello everyone! So, today I'm going to be discussing a trope-----in particular, a trope that I have some issues with.

And that trope is the bad boy.

You've probably seen this trope before. 

The bad boy is, well, bad. Sometimes he's considered that because he sleeps around, drinks a lot, and participates in things such as car racing or thievery. 

Often, in addition to that, he's a complete jerk. He's mean. Sometimes it ranges from being kind-of-a-jerk, but with good intentions and a good heart to being INCREDIBLY creepy.

What Are My Issues With This Trope?

Well, I have a few issues with this trope, actually.

The first one is that the bad boy never has to own up to his mistakes.

The narrative isn't like, ''Yeah, this guy is a jerk, and he needs to get better''. It's more like, ''Hey, this guy is kind of a huge jerk, and that's fine because he's hot.''

*loud, dramatic sigh*

I mean, I don't blame you if you only like a character because they're hot. That's a fair reason to like someone. I just don't think that writers should use that as a reason why you should like a character.

Obviously, writing unlikable characters is fine! As long as you make it clear that they're not a good person.

And people who write these type of characters don't seem to do this. 

Or, at least, they don't do it well.

The narrative almost never brings up his flaws. 

Like, he could insult and belittle his love interest constantly or be literally stalking her [which has actually happened], and the narrative is just like, ''Oh, yeah. It's fine. You know why? Because he has abs.''

I'll give you an example:

Last month I read a book called Hush, Hush [which I absolutely do not recommend]. The love interest to the main character, Nora,  is a boy named Patch. This boy is a horrible person. He sexually harasses her minutes after meeting her. He stalks her. And he acts extremely creepy and possessive towards her. It seems like he would make a great villain. Instead.....he's her love interest. Yeah, they get together partway through the book.

And he never has to own up to his actions ever.

He has all of the worst qualities of your typical bad boy.

It frustrates me immensely.

Obviously, not everyone is this terribly written. I have some well-written examples later on this list, but there are some middle-of-the-road examples. Characters that aren't bad but aren't great either.

Well-Written Bad Boys

Despite my dislike of this trope, there are a few characters who I really like who fall into this archetype.

Spike [Buffy the Vampire Slayer]

Okay, so I really hate the way he was written in Season Six, but, to be fair, I had issues with the way everyone was written that season. Spike starts out ad a straight-up villain in Season Two, and an incredibly entertaining one at that. In Season Four, he becomes a sort-of good guy after being ''chipped'', although he definitely still has many villainous moments. In Season Five, he is more of a hero, even if he is still flawed. 

And in Season Seven? He gets even more development. 

He gets an actual story arc, and he develops a lot as a character. And that is why I like him. 

Also, he's hilarious. 

Ronan Lynch [The Raven Cycle]

I wasn't expecting to like Ronan as much as I did. Sure, on one hand, he's very rough-around-the-edges who drinks, races cars, and gets into fights, but he's also a loyal friend [and brother to Matthew] who adopts a baby bird named Chainsaw. He's a good person, even if he won't admit it. He's one of those rare ''jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold'' characters who actually works [and I believe most of that is because Maggie Stiefvater is a great writer]. He also gets a lot of character development, and he's not a bad person like Kavinsky. 

J.D [Heathers]

I like J.D for completely different reasons for why I like Spike and Ronan. 

At first, he seems like he fits the bad boy trope well, albeit a more intelligent, snarky iteration. He seems like the cool outsider love interest, Veronica Sawyer. And then it's revealed that he's a sociopathic murderer who goes from believing that everyone who does something bad to Veronica should die to believing that he should blow up an entire school. He is presented within the story as a terrible person, You're not supposed to root for him. He's the villain of the story. And, while the musical goes more into his tragic past and he's presented more sympathetically, he still kills people, and it's still framed as wrong. 

Noah 'Puck' Puckerman, Glee

I'm not a big fan of Puck, but I do like him enough to put him on this list. He's kind of a jerk and he likes to cause trouble, but he does mean well, and he has his moments of softness. Honestly, I think that Puck thinks he's more of a bad boy than he really is, so he comes across as more of a jerk with a heart of gold. He works well, though not as much as the other ones on this list. 

How To Write Bad Boys Well

Honestly, it's pretty easy.

-Don't make him a stalker, harasser or abuser unless he's the villain. 

-If he's written as heroic, give him character development and an actual arc. Make him less of a jerk as the story goes on.

-And, if you want to make him a huge jerk who never changes and is creepy, just make him a villain. 

So, those are my tips. What are some of your tips? What is your opinion of this trope? What's a trope that really annoys you?