All Girls Want Bad Boys: Difference between revisions

== Films -- Animated ==

* Lampshaded in song in ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]'':

But I love him ... }}

* Kiara with Kovu from ''[[The Lion King|The Lion King 2]]''. Justified, since she isn't aware that he's bad, {{spoiler|and he eventually has a [[Heel Realization]], thanks to [[Love Redeems|his love for her]].}}

* Heavily deconstructed in ''[[Heathers]]''. In this case, the bad boy is a complete psycho, murdering three of the popular kids and intending to {{spoiler|blow up the entire school and pass it off as a group suicide}}. The girl who wants the bad boy soon realises the mess she's got herself into and how much better her life would have been without him.

* Discussed in [[Roger Dodger]]

'''Andrea''': "Well, actually, guys who ride cycles are pretty sexy. " }}

* In ''[[One, Two, Three]]'', the daughter of a Coca-Cola executive falls in love with a Commie from [[East Germany]]. And, during the [[Cold War]], no one was worse than a Commie.

* Often used in [[Agatha Christie]]'s novels, but particularly ''Taken at the Flood'' (1948), to the point where the heroine, Lynn, appears downright insane. She is engaged to Rowley, a simple farmer, but is attracted to newcomer David and his rudeness, aggression, and general ass-holery. However, {{spoiler|when she goes to inform Rowley that she's going to elope with David, Rowley is so furious that he ''almost strangles her to death''. When it turns out that David has been the real killer all along, Lynn resumes her engagement to Rowley, having been rather turned on by his murderous impulses.}} There's a good chance Christie is poking fun at this trope.

** Christie returns to this trope in ''Nemesis'', in which she has Miss Marple state:

* [[Victor Hugo]]'s ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (novel)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' is all about this. A beautiful girl has a choice between a beautiful temperament (Gringoire), a beautiful mind (Claude Frollo), a beautiful heart (Quasimodo), and a beautiful face (Phoebus). She goes for Phoebus, even after he demonstrates [[Jerkass|that he may not be marrying material]], on the grounds that he is good looking and he [[Cool Horse|rides a horse]].

* [[Troubled but Cute|Rook]] from ''[[Havemercy]]'', and maybe even [[Ax Crazy|Caius]] [[Mind Rape|Greylace]], if the fan base is anything to go by.

* This trope is discussed a overall three times in the novel ''[[Youth in Sexual Ecstasy]]'', first with the protagonist and his friends when they notice that while women tend to fall over the rough-looking dangerous types, ultimately what wins out is being considerate, treating them "like a lady" and sweet-talking (all of which may or may not be sincere), later the doctor in sexual dysfunctions outright denies it, and then the protagonist's mother admits that there is a grain of truth in the trope as she experienced it on her youth.

* In the ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' story "The Spot of Art", Bertie [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this trope with regard to his romantic rival, {{spoiler|who, sure enough, ends up engaged to the girl by the end of the story}}.

* At the end of ''[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]'', Katrina van Tassel (the girl schoolteacher Ichabod Crane falls in love with) ends up marrying hunter Brom Bones (who constantly made fun of Ichabod) after Ichabod was mysteriously carried off by the Headless Horseman one night.

* I flinch to bring it up, but Edward is this for Bella in ''Twilight''. However soft he is as avampire, he is still a brooding predator who could kill her in seconds - and often wants to. She prefers him to the good ol' boy Jacob, until he takes a change for the dangerous and then she's conflicted.

** Buffy is pretty much an extreme case of this trope. The main character only ever seems to date two guys who remains on the human side of "unholy, [[Always Chaotic Evil]] abomination against God", one who is pretty much [[The Scrappy|loathed by the fanbase]], the other she almost completely ignored. It's even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by both Buffy herself and Spike, especially when she dated wholesome Riley.

*** Spike delivers his own take on this after their [[Destructive Romance]] in Season 6.

** When [[Badass Bookworm|Giles]] was younger, he was a smoking, drinking, violent, vicious mage called Ripper. This side of him crops up from time to time, such as when he uses the [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]] or displays his skills as a crook, and when a spell reverts him back to his Ripper days, Joyce is all over him.

* Subverted in ''[[The Tenth Kingdom]]''. [[Wolf Man|Wolf]] does get the girl in the end, but being a bad boy didn't help, and after his disastrous initial encounter with Virginia, he spends a good part of the series reading self help books to reform himself.

* Jax and Tara in ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]''.

* Discussed in one episode of ''[[CSI: Miami]]'':

* The women on ''[[The Sopranos]]'' have a bad-boy compulsion that's virtually suicidal, {{spoiler|especially for Tracee and Adriana}}.

* Barney Stinson of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' consciously plays with this trope so much.

* A ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' [http://www.hulu.com/watch/19590/saturday-night-live-the-phil-donahue-show sketch parodied] the Phil Donahue Show, with all the guests as women with abusive boyfriends. The sketch ends with a nice man in the audience telling them they should find a man who truly appreciates them, but they tell him to sit down because they're more interested in the [[Jerkass]] behind him who's berating his girlfriend. When he grabs the mic and starts bad-mouthing them, they immediately fall for him, including the lesbian guest, who asks if he has any sisters like himself.

** During the sketch Phil, lists all the wrongs one woman's boyfriend committed. She still defends him:

'''Phyllis Sykes:''' [Suddenly smiles] Well... you would really have to meet him! }}

** This troper recalls a joke from one of the news report segments in which Bahrain was cited for women's rights abuses. The joke ended with the reporter saying, "So, look out Bahrain, 'cause the more Bahrain treats women like dirt, the more women will love Bahrain."

* It's part of the reason why the groupie goes off with the hot mega-rock star Pink in ''The Wall''. And then, of course, [[Hilarity Ensues]] as she finds out just ''how'' bad he really is, {{spoiler|as he proceeds to trash his hotel room and nearly kill her in the process}}.

* Stephanie's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUTbmmTv2j4 Irresistible]:

''I can't fight anymore'' }}

* No Doubt's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzSGQ-mNvP8 Bathwater]:

''I know I can't tame you, but I just keep trying.'' }}

* MC Lyte's "Ruffneck".

* Cobra Starship's "Nice Guys Finish Last":

''Smiling at me because I'm no good'' }}

** Cobra Starship also has "Good girls go bad"

* The [[Cheer Up, Charlie Daniels|Cheer Up Charlie Daniels]] song "Too Damn Rock and Roll" plays with the trope. The girl ''wants'' him, but she won't follow through.

* [[Ludo]]'s Roxy has a theme like this, although it's more like "All Girls Want [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]":

''Like the fool behind you now dancing halfway down your pants.'' }}

* Alexandra Burke likes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li_nzTVYpk8&feature=related Bad Boys].

** Followed by "Criminal", although its refrain sounds more like [[Dating What Daddy Hates]].

* Professor Green's song "Just be Good to Green" invokes this.

* [[Kylie Minogue]] has a song called ''"Better the Devil you know".''

* Jewel's song ''Foolish Games'' is a [[Deconstruction]] that analyzes this from the perspective of a girl who's been deeply hurt by her [[Jerkass]] of a boyfriend, who's described as having many of the aspects of this trope.

* ''Good Girls Like Bad Boys'' by Jadyn Maria.

* [[Bowling for Soup]] has "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGRxmYXi4Io Girl All the Bad Guys Want]", which is about an uncool guy who likes a bad girl who dates bad boys. So...PlayedStraight ''and'' two or three kinds of [[Inverted Trope|inverted]]?

* ''Can't Leave 'Em Alone'' by Ciara.

''So bad, I love that, I can't leave 'em alone'' }}

* ''Bad Boys'' by Wham!.

* ''Be Hit'' by Smog.

''Could be given by any old schmuck'' }}

* "Becoming More Like Alfie" by The Divine Comedy is about a former Nice Guy who's decided to become a Bad Boy after striking out once too often with girls who like the latter over the former.

* [[Casanova Wannabe|Oghren]] from ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'' lampshades this, joking that [[Blood Knight|Berserkers]] can get all the women they want because women are attracted to men who are mysteriously angry and sulk in the shadows. (Not that it works in his case...)

** The trope is [[Discussed Trope|discussed]] in a conversation between [[Nice Guy|Alistair]] and Leliana, where Alistair ponders why [[Anything That Moves|Zevran]] is so successful with the ladies.

'''Leliana''': [[Evil Is Sexy|Where I come from they do, oh yes]].<br />

'''Alistair''': Huh. Really? I see. }}

** In the episode where Lisa falls for Nelson, this trope is discussed on the [[DVD Commentary]], with those present ruefully concluding for all the nice guys out there that, 'it's nice to be a nice guy, but with the ladies... steal a hood ornament... otherwise you'll have to wait to be someone's second husband'.

** In the episode "Bart's Girlfriend", Rev. Lovejoy's daughter, Jessica, is attracted to Bart's "Bad Boy" status after a dinner from the Lovejoys have gone awry:

'''Bart''': [Suave] I'm bad to the bone, honey. }}

** When Kirk van Houten was imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, he found himself becoming an object of affection to a group of women who thought he was guilty.

* There's an episode of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' where Buttercup develops a crush on Ace from the Gangreen Gang who, naturally, upon noticing, decides to suck up to her to get her on his side while the rest of his gang try to kill her sisters.

** In a later episode which shows the girls as teenagers, all three flirt with the [[The Psycho Rangers|Rowdyruff Boys]].

'''Blossom and Buttercup''' (''excited'')''':''' We know! }}

* In ''[[Total Drama Island]]'', Courtney {{spoiler|and Gwen}} both dig Duncan.

* ''[[Justice League]]'':

'''Batman:''' One: dating within the team always leads to disaster. Two: you're a princess from a society of immortal warriors; I'm a rich kid with issues... lots of issues... }}

** Partially Subverted in the Wonder Woman/Batman [[Romance Arc]] that begins around the time Diana meets an [[Adorkable]], [[Clark Kenting|flustered Bruce Wayne]] and gets a glimpse of his vulnerable side.