Alpha Bitch: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"[[Genre Savvy|I take it as a rule of nature]] that all American high schools are ruled by a pack of snobs, led by a supremely confident young woman who is blond, superficial, catty, and ripe for [[Humble Pie|public humiliation]]. This character is followed by [[Girl Posse|two friends who worship her, and are a little bit shorter]]".''|'''[[Roger Ebert]]''', review of ''[[Sleepover]]''}}

 

 

The [[Distaff Counterpart]] to the [[Jerk Jock]] and sometimes his girlfriend; what he does with his fists, she does with a sharp tongue and sharper [[Manipulative Bitch|manipulation]]. Despite being a [[Popular Is Dumb|not-too-bright]], [[Jerkass|unpleasant, bullying, and mean-spirited excuse-for-a-human]] determined to put down everyone except an elite few deemed worthy of her goodwill -- [[Bad Boss|and she's usually kind of a bitch even to them]]—she will still be the most popular girl in school, surrounded by a fawning [[Girl Posse]] who suck up to her and act as her faithful minions. Rare male Alpha Bitches do exist, but they're just that - rare. They're distinct from the [[Jerk Jock]] in that they're mainly catty and manipulative, rather than physically threatening.

 

Contrast with [[Spoiled Sweet]], where a girl is made out to be the '''Alpha Bitch''', but is instead quite a sweetheart. Compare and Contrast with [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]] who is [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|this trope with a heart of gold]]. This trope is probably so common [[Truth in Television|because everyone who wasn't homeschooled knew someone like this... or was one]].

 

* Nanami Kiryuu from ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''. In the manga, Nanami only appears in a photo, so Juri takes her place as Alpha Bitch.

* ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' adds Isabella to the list of characters that it [[Anyone Can Die|kills off]], but her even worse successor, Mariette, makes it through to the end of the series. Oddly, Lavinia, who is named after the Alpha Bitch of ''[[A Little Princess]]'', is the furthest thing from being an Alpha Bitch herself, being head-over-heels for protagonist Sarah.

* A rare black Alpha Bitch, and among the first to be a protagonist, is ''[[Generation X]]'''s Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix ([[Overly Long Name|yes, that's her full name]]), also known as M. She's gorgeous, wealthy, and brilliant, with [[Flying Brick]] powers ''plus'' telepathy and accelerated learning aptitude. Par for the course was a heated rivalry with Jubilee, and a subtler one with Emma Frost. Being Ms. Perfect has backfired at least once, however. When the Massachusets Academy started admitting human students, nobody asked Monet to the dance because all the boys thought she was out of their league. Thankfully, the many sobering events in the X-Men world have kept her from becoming a [[Rich Bitch]] for the most part.

* Veronica from [[Archie Comics]] at her worst. Cheryl, too.

* Jordanna in ''[[Batgirl]]'' tends to take on this sort of role towards Stephanie Brown, the main character. Since Stephanie's a pretty laid-back sort (and Batgirl, meaning she usually has bigger fish to fry anyway), her usual reaction to Jordanna's antics is along the lines of amused indifference.

* [[Supergirl|Linda Lee/Supergirl]] from ''Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th grade'' is her school's geeky [[Strange Girl]], so her bizarro counterpart, Belinda Zee, is an Alpha Bitch.

** His [[The Dragon|second-in-command]] (and [[Unholy Matrimony|girlfriend]]) [[Perky Goth|Guillotine]] also has some of this traits, but she's more tomboyish than the standard, and proves to be more of a [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]] instead.

** Subverted and deconstructed with [[The Protagonist|Victor himself]]. He does have the [[Beauty Is Bad|looks]], the [[Rich Bastard|wealth]] and the [[Jerkass|attitude]] to match this trope. However, due to [[No Social Skills|his lack of social graces]] and [[Fish Out of Water|inability to fit in the town]], he's instead regarded as a pretentious loser and is the comic's main [[Butt Monkey]].

 

 

* Mertle from ''[[Lilo and Stitch (Disney film)|Liloand Stitch]]'' (and its subsequent TV series), all because Lilo is 'too weird' for her. That, and she's spoiled rotten by her mother. It's implied that she gets her nasty side from her aunt, and has an inferiority complex. In an interesting variation, she looks more like a stereotypical nerd than Lilo.

* Giddy, Prissy, Fidgety, and ''especially'' Matriarch the elephants to [[Dumbo]] and his mother.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* Hattie from ''[[Ella Enchanted]]''. She not only messes around with Ella's life, but orders her to hand over the necklace that her ''mother'' used to wear simply because she fancied it, and she also steals Ella's breakfast after claiming that it's "too rich for her". In the movie, she's even worse, as she and Olive actually get Ella ''arrested'' after inadvertently discovering her "gift", have her blame her friend for it, and tell her to never speak to her again and, just to add a bit of [[Fantastic Racism]] to the mix, tell her to say that she could never be friends with an Ayorthian.

* Clarissa from the ''[[Bloody Jack]]'' series. Also overlaps with [[Rich Bitch]]. She gets better in the later books though.

* Blair from ''[[Gossip Girl]]'', arguably more so in the books than in the TV series. On the show, she's just a [[Rich Bitch]] with an [[Unlimited Wardrobe]]; in the books, her behavior actually borders on sociopathic/bipolar/just plain crazy.

* Carleen [[Tastes Like Diabetes|Lovejoy]] dominates the school and antagonizes the narrator in Richard Peck's ''A Year Down Yonder''.

* Pinky (played by [[Jennette McCurdy]]), on ''[[True Jackson, VP|True Jackson VP]]''.

* May Phelps (played by Laura Aikman) on ''[[Casualty]]'', who also has elements of the [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] trope too.

* Rhonda from ''[[Sister, Sister]]'' (played by Bianca Lawson) was 'prom queen three years running' and consistently Alpha Bitchy until the 4th season episode 'You are so Beautiful', where the character is played by male actor Larry Wrentz to imply (to a ridiculous degree) that Rhonda had lost her looks over the summer (along with her bad attitude). The character is never heard from again a la [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]].

* The BBC TV series ''[[New Tricks]]'' has an episode where Detective Superintendent Sandra Pulman was afraid to go to her High School re-union, eventually revealing that it was because she was the school Alpha Bitch. A colleague persuaded her to go, assuring her that people forget these things over the years. However, when she arrived, someone had drawn a devil's horns & beard in red lipstick on her photo in the lobby and she left in a hurry!

* ''[[Neighbours]]'' had Jessica Wallace.

* A truly monstrous Alpha Bitch is the [[Victim of the Week]] in the ''[[CSI: Miami]]'' episode "Stoned Cold". She ends up being stoned to death by ''{{spoiler|the parents of}}'' the people she tormented.

* ''[[CSI New York]]'': a girl named [[Trope Namer|Libby]] was pretty nasty: {{spoiler|she pretended to make friends with homely girls, dolled them up, had her boyfriend take their virginity, wrote all about it online, and gave the girls big necklaces so everyone would know. The sister of one of her victims strangled her, and then part of her house fell on her. Incidentally, that was the second time that week the killer on a ''CSI'' show said "I killed them and I'm not sorry" (the other time was on ''CSI'' where a kid shot his abusive dad).}}

* Abigail Armstrong or "Abby" of the Australian produced TV series ''Dance Academy'' is a highly competitive ballerina that will verbally assail any other student that she sees a threat to her goals sometimes outright sabotaging theirs. Despite all of this the other lead characters still put up with her in a somewhat friendly manner which softens Abigail's harsh personality very slightly. One of the leading male characters has an unconditional crush on Abby. No matter how she treats him he still seems to be in love with the alpha bitch. Abigail considers the other lead females to be her "Frienemies".

* In ''[[The Finder]]'' Willa went to a beach party with a bunch of rich kids. The girls there in one exchange fit this trope and [[Girl Posse]] to a T, being catty and snobbish to Willa's more down to earth style of dress. ...Willa then ''borrowed'' the Alpha's car on her way out of there.

 

== Music ==

''You can't handle what I've got.}}

 

* WWE Divas Michelle McCool and Layla El were vapid, brainless co-champions (the last co-champions were over-caffeinated male cheerleaders for reference). They seemed to exist only to insult every other Diva on the Smackdown roster. They started with trying to say that [https://web.archive.org/web/20101225065023/http://squashberry.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mickieJames.jpg Mickie James] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100210103621/http://www.rawwrestlingdivas.com/pictures/beth-phoenix-1.jpg Beth Phoenix] were fat and ugly. Eventually, they wised up and used only non-visual insults, saying that Kelly Kelly had bad body odor ("Smelly Kelly!") and just treating Rosa Mendes like dirt (although they occasionally still called [https://web.archive.org/web/20121103111454/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/images/11/19/bella-twins.jpg The Bella Twins] "The Belly Twins"). Michelle was tall and blonde, fitting the traditional visual aid for this trope; Layla, [[Salt and Pepper|by contrast]], was rather short and [[Ambiguously Brown]] (Moroccan father, English mother), making her a rare African-American example of this trope.

* Who Lay-Cool was based on, TNA's Beautiful People: Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, and Madison Rayne. Recently, however, things have changed so much that Madison is the only one who is still a heel (at least, the only heel by her own decision, anyway). Additionally, their Alpha Bitch tendency of "Cleansing the world, one ugly person at a time," has disappeared and they just genuinely hate each other.

* Alberto Del Rio is another male example, acting as the brand's "Mexican Aristocrat." He lives in a swank mansion, enters arenas in (among other lavish automobiles) a Rolls-Royce with an obnoxiously loud "La Cucaracha" horn, and constantly puts down other Mexican-descended wrestlers ([[Rey Mysterio]] most of all) for not embodying the spirit of the Mexican people as well as he does. And just to drive home what a rich pussy he is, he climbs into the ring wearing a ''white scarf''.

 

* How Glinda initially appears in ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'', down to the dizziness, fashion obsession, and sheeplike [[Girl Posse]], until undergoing [[Character Development]] in the first act. Later, as her social influence becomes outright political power, she becomes a [[Stepford Smiler]] and, finally, [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]].

* Even bearing the trope name, Alpha Bitch Michaels of Clifford Odets's ''Paradise Lost''. In [[One-Scene Wonder|typical Odets fashion]], she gets some interesting and dark depth: initially the frivilous fiancée of the Gordon family's athlete son Ben, she dumps him for his slimy social-climber "friend" who gets Ben fatally injured.

* Amber Von Tussle from ''[[Hairspray]]''. She learned it from her mother Velma, who is an Alpha Bitch grown up. They both [[Heel Face Turn|get better]] at the end though.

* Adrian in ''The Shape of a Girl''.

 

== Video Games ==

* Linda and Nicole, from ''[[Snowboard Kids]] Plus''.

 

* ''[[Yume Miru Kusuri]]'': Kyoka—called [[Marie Antoinette|"Antoinette"]] by the main character, after the infamous French queen whose extravagant spending on things such as mansions and the like ([[Historical Villain Upgrade|although a lot of it was exaggerated by enemies]]) while people were starving out on the fields was a prime example of the kind of thing that led to the French Revolution—is the antagonist of Aeka's route. Something that's kind of odd to this trope is that she had a crush on the lead from the beginning and tried to get with him several times, though the lead just found her annoying. {{spoiler|This doesn't stop her from targeting him along with Aeka once it becomes official that the two are going out, though. It gets pretty brutal. This goes for the backlash, as well, which sees Kouhei and Aeka turn the tables on and nearly kill Kyoka when she decides to have her friends pin down Kouhei so that he can watch Kyoka's boyfriend rape Aeka.}}

 

== Web Comics ==

* Ami in ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'' is one. She eventually pays ''dearly'' for it, becoming an instant [[Woobie]] in a [[Shoot the Dog|single scene]] that's so horrific it makes [[I Wished You Were Dead|the protagonists feel guilty for hating her]]. Aki is a subversion: she's pretty, popular and head of the Fashion Club, but she is (secretly) friends with the class weirdo and feels trapped by the superficiality of her life. After she's publicly humiliated and dethroned, she realizes it's the best thing that ever happened to her and turns out to be a [[Spoiled Sweet|pretty nice person]].

* Kelly from ''The Crazy Kids of Grade 5'' is rich, spoiled, and thinks she is the leader of the 5th grade popular group.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Sierra McCool in Disney's ''[[The Replacements (animation)|The Replacements]]''.

* ''[[The Oblongs]]'' has Debbie Klimer and her posse of identical Debbie clones.

* Miranda Kilgallen in ''[[As Told by Ginger]]'', however, she is the second-in-command to the [[Girl Posse]] leader and [[Brainless Beauty]] Courtney Gripling. She also [[Defrosting Ice Queen|defrosts a little.]] She never exactly becomes friendly, but she's a lot worse at the start than she is at the end.

** Courtney is a nice inversion of this. She's the queen bee; pretty, rich, popular, and more than a little narcissistic, (a self-proclaimed snob), but [[Spoiled Sweet|she's a genuinely sweet person who doesn't seem to harbor any malice towards anyone]]- unlike her friend Miranda. While her sidekick Miranda is quick to insult the unpopular girls, Courtney is friendly with them.

** Angelica became this in the transition from ''Rugrats'' to ''[[All Grown Up!]]'', though she's admittedly ''less'' of a jerk than she used to be, being a rather [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]] instead of an [[Enfante Terrible]]. Maturity can do that to you sometimes...

** She's ''less'' of an Alpha Bitch compared to Savannah Shane, a girl whom even Angelica can't stand (and yet, she always seemed to be trying to get in her good graces). A particularly strong example comes from the episode when Savannah plans a party on the same day as Angelica's thirteenth birthday party, and it's found out that she did it on purpose to "teach Angelica a lesson" after sitting at her lunch table.

* On the show ''[[Horseland]]'', we have sisters Chloe and Zoey Stilton, who are Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in appearance. They're definitely Alpha Bitches, and also [[Rich Bitch]] material... oddly enough, they seem to have bigger "boobs" than the other girls. That's not accurate, let me rephrase... none of the girls, who are about 13, have "boobs", they have "bumps". But Chloe and Zoey seem to be drawn a little bigger.

* Carla Cabrera & Melanie Melisma from ''[[Growing Up Creepie]]''.

* Nina Harker from ''[[Braceface]]''. Interesting, though, in that she and the protagonist, Sharon Spitz, where actually best friends when they were little. But a mishap with one of Nina's dolls that got its head popped off ended their friendship when she accused Sharon of being the culprit. So her bullying Sharon is more or less out of spite. They do somewhat reconcile as the series goes on. Especially by season 3 when {{spoiler|its revealed that Sharon was indeed innocent of the doll incident. Nina's cousin was the cause of that.}}

* Dawn from ''[[The Buzz on Maggie]]''.

* ''[[Kick Buttowski]]'' has Kendall Perkins, a strange and unique case of an Alpha Bitch who likes going to school and learning.

* Angela, from ''[[Mona the Vampire]]''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]

[[Category:The Bully]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Romance Novel Plots]]

[[Category:Extraversion Tropes]]

[[Category:The Jerk Index]]

[[Category:This Index Is a Bitch]]