The Ingenue: Difference between revisions

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[[File:pierre-auguste-renoir-the-~~ingenue_1973~~.jpg|frame|''The Ingenue'', by [[wikipedia:Renoir|Renoir]] (1877)]]

[[File:pierre-auguste-renoir-the-ingenue 1973.jpg|frame|''The Ingenue'', by [[wikipedia:Renoir|Renoir]] (1877)]]

{{quote|"''What are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM.''"|'''Mary Lane''', ''[[Reefer Madness]]'' (2005)}}

[[The Ingenue]] is a young [[My Girl Is Not a Slut|virginal]] woman with the [[Purity Personified|purity]] [[Adult Child|of a]] [[Children Are Innocent|child]].

'''The Ingenue''' is a young [[My Girl Is Not a Slut|virginal]] woman with the [[Purity Personified|purity]] [[Adult Child|of a]] [[Children Are Innocent|child]].

She is [[Horrible Judge of Character|woefully naive]], making her a prime target for a villain seeking to take advantage of her, often in an [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]] fashion. As a result, the ingenue is one of the most common [[Damsel in Distress|Distressed Damsels]]. She is also [[Entendre Failure|immune to sexual innuendo]]. In a worst-case scenario, the character will be given no real personality beyond her [[Purity Sue|purity and innocence.]]

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[[Silk Hiding Steel]] is what a Ingenues may grow up to be.

There is no direct male version [[Distaff Counterpart]] to [[The Ingenue]] which shares the same characeristics and possibitive connotations. The closest equivalent for male characters, [[Man Child]], has rather negative connotations with immaturity and being weak, with the emphasis being more on the lack of adult characteristics in the manchild versus their childlike purity.

There is no direct male version [[Distaff Counterpart]] to '''The Ingenue''' which shares the same characeristics and possibitive connotations. The closest equivalent for male characters, [[Man Child]], has rather negative connotations with immaturity and being weak, with the emphasis being more on the lack of adult characteristics in the manchild versus their childlike purity.

Compare [[Man Child]], [[The Pollyanna]], [[Princess Classic]], [[The Cutie]], [[Purity Sue]], [[Parasol of Prettiness]], [[Proper Lady]]. Contrast [[The Vamp]], [[Femme Fatale]], [[Innocent Bigot]], [[Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl]], [[Stepford Smiler]], [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]], [[Covert Pervert]], [[Coy Girlish Flirt Pose]], [[Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date]].

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* Shizuka/Serenity from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''.

* Himeko from ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' matches this categorization incredibly well.

* Eve Genoard from ''[[Baccano!]]'', who is probably the ''only'' character in the entire series who isn't a [[Lovable Rogue|crook]], [[Psycho for Hire|psycho]], or [[The Mafia|dabbling in organized crime]] in some way - [[Mafia Princess|at least as far as she knows]]. {{spoiler|She then goes on to subvert it in ''Drugs & the Dominoes'': turns out that even the [[Moe~~|Moeblobs~~]] of the [[World of Badass|Baccano! universe]] are prepared to [[You Killed My Father|remorselessly blow your head off in revenge]].}}

* Eve Genoard from ''[[Baccano!]]'', who is probably the ''only'' character in the entire series who isn't a [[Lovable Rogue|crook]], [[Psycho for Hire|psycho]], or [[The Mafia|dabbling in organized crime]] in some way - [[Mafia Princess|at least as far as she knows]]. {{spoiler|She then goes on to subvert it in ''Drugs & the Dominoes'': turns out that even the [[Moe]]blobs of the [[World of Badass|Baccano! universe]] are prepared to [[You Killed My Father|remorselessly blow your head off in revenge]].}}

* Arguably Usagi from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' when her more obnoxious traits are toned down (which happens most noticeably when she takes the form of Princess Serenity).

* Albert from ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' is a rare male example, though the show is partly about him growing out of it by the way of a particularly cruel [[Break the Cutie]] process.

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** Euphemia is a much straighter example, the {{spoiler|[[Fan Nickname|Euphinator incident]]}} notwithstanding.

** [[Spoiled Sweet|Shirley]] may also count.

*** Well, yeah, both Euphemia and Shirley are much straighter examples (in the end) than Nunnally, who really just subverts the ~~trope-- or~~ else learns to grow out of it in time to get in on the main plot action.

*** Well, yeah, both Euphemia and Shirley are much straighter examples (in the end) than Nunnally, who really just subverts the trope—or else learns to grow out of it in time to get in on the main plot action.

* Sawako Kuronuma of ''[[Kimi ni Todoke]]'' fits this as a sort of modern-day reinterpretation. Academically, she's very bright, but has almost no social skills. She falls for a guy who became incredibly popular at school due to his penchant for being nice to people. And while she does get into "distress" from time to time, it's usually high school issues that pose the threat, and her friends encourage her to solve the problems herself.

* In ''[[Lucky Star]]'', Tsukasa and Yutaka lean toward this trope.

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== Literature ==

* Jane Bennet of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', which drives the [[Grumpy Bear]] ~~heroine -- who~~ is also her ~~sister -- Elizabeth~~ crazy.

* Jane Bennet of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', which drives the [[Grumpy Bear]] heroine—who is also her sister—Elizabeth crazy.

** Not "crazy", really. Elizabeth may be occasionally mildly frustrated by Jane, but she clearly cherishes Jane's good nature and would not sacrifice it for anything.

* Almost every Dickens novel has one, including Lucie Manette (''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]''), Agnes Wickfield (''[[David Copperfield]]''), Rose Maylie (''[[Oliver Twist]]''), Amy Dorrit (''[[Little Dorrit]]'') and Ada Clare (''[[Bleak House]]'').

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* Ramandu's daughter, Liliandil from ''[[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]''.

* From ''[[The Night Angel Trilogy]]'', we have Doll Girl {{spoiler|in spite of being horribly scarred.}} When Azoth {{spoiler|as Kylar Stern}} meets her {{spoiler|as Elene Cromwyll}}, she is a {{spoiler|highly religious ingenue.}} This continues to be true {{spoiler|until [[Break the Cutie|the events at the end of book 2, involving her stabbing a Khalidorian]]}} but that hardly stops her.

* Mercilessly and cruelly deconstructed in ''[[And Then There Were None]]''. Vera Elizabeth Claythorne is a gentle, sweet, naive girl who genuinely loves her boyfriend Hugo, but he can't marry her since he's got no money to do so. And she loves him so much that {{spoiler|she [[Moral Event Horizon|kills Hugo's nephew Cyril]], who was her charge, by letting him drown in the sea [[Love Makes You Evil|so Hugo could inherit the family state and marry her]].}} [[Yandere ~~(disambiguation)~~|Holy...]]

* Mercilessly and cruelly deconstructed in ''[[And Then There Were None]]''. Vera Elizabeth Claythorne is a gentle, sweet, naive girl who genuinely loves her boyfriend Hugo, but he can't marry her since he's got no money to do so. And she loves him so much that {{spoiler|she [[Moral Event Horizon|kills Hugo's nephew Cyril]], who was her charge, by letting him drown in the sea [[Love Makes You Evil|so Hugo could inherit the family state and marry her]].}} [[:Category:Yandere|Holy...]]

* Leonie in Kate Mosse's ''[[Sepulchre]]'' is naive and idealistic, something the villain uses to his advantage. It is also used as a reason why other characters keep secrets from her. Unfortunately, this is just playing into the villain's hands.

* Ellony Leckery in ''[[Chronicles of Magravandias]]'', down to disliking sex when her husband finally deflowers her. Her best friend turned (unknowingly to Ellony) [[Light Feminine and Dark Feminine|rival]] Pharinet wonders at certain points if Ellony represses memories to remain as innocent as she is. This ultimately goes [[Break the Cutie|very badly for her]].

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** Parodied in one episode when Liz is growing cynical about New York. An innocent-looking young woman steps off a bus, and enthusiastically asks: "say, where does a young prostitute go to get a start in this city?"

* Rachel Berry of ''[[Glee]]'' [[Blatant Lies|calls herself this]] in the very first episode.

** Ironically, the character closest to [[The Ingenue]] would be ''Brittney''. Despite not being a virgin, she is [[The Ditz|rather naive]] to extreme levels and yet is pure-hearted and idealistic enough to still believe in [[Santa Claus]] and [[Magic Feather|magic combs]].

** Ironically, the character closest to The Ingenue would be ''Brittney''. Despite not being a virgin, she is [[The Ditz|rather naive]] to extreme levels and yet is pure-hearted and idealistic enough to still believe in [[Santa Claus]] and [[Magic Feather|magic combs]].

*** Though that's only counting the students. Outside of the Glee club, Emma is something of a modern-day Deconstruction of [[The Ingenue]].

*** Though that's only counting the students. Outside of the Glee club, Emma is something of a modern-day Deconstruction of The Ingenue.

* Drusilla from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' was originally this, before [[Complete Monster|Angelus]] [[Break the Cutie|broke her]]. Her innocence, purity and innate goodness and belief in God are what drew Angelus to her.

* Rose Nylund from ''[[The Golden Girls]]''.

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* Nikki Harris in ''[[Curtains]]'' fits this trope to a T.

* Cosette in ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'', mainly because she does little other than wonder why she almost never leaves the house, and then fall in love with a boy who followed her home and hopped her fence in order to tell her that he loved her after saying less than 10 words to her.

* The White Singer in ''[[Alegria]]'' ~~-- according~~ to the [[All There in the Manual]] material, she represents the goodness that existed and endured in the otherwise corrupt old order. She also has a touch of mischievousness about her, as seen during the Act Two opening sequence in which she brings a man from the audience onstage to dance with her.

* The White Singer in ''[[Alegria]]''—according to the [[All There in the Manual]] material, she represents the goodness that existed and endured in the otherwise corrupt old order. She also has a touch of mischievousness about her, as seen during the Act Two opening sequence in which she brings a man from the audience onstage to dance with her.

* This is the image [[A Streetcar Named Desire|Blanche Dubois]] tries to project around others. It turns out {{spoiler|not to be the case}}.

* Maria in ''[[The Sound of Music]]''.

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== Webcomics ==

* Oasis from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' alternates between being [[The Ingenue]] and being an [[Ax Crazy]] assassin, sometimes within the span of a single sentence. What do you expect when you take a supernatural killing machine and [[Brainwashed|brainwash]] her to be "as giddy as a schoolgirl"?

* Oasis from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' alternates between being The Ingenue and being an [[Ax Crazy]] assassin, sometimes within the span of a single sentence. What do you expect when you take a supernatural killing machine and [[Brainwashed|brainwash]] her to be "as giddy as a schoolgirl"?

* Tempest from ''[[Domain Tnemrot]]''.

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== [[Web Original]] ==

* Penny from ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'' plays this straight, helping out at homeless shelters and ends up being caught up in the conflicts of [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] Dr. Horrible and [[Jerkass]] [[Designated Hero]] Captain Hammer as an [[Innocent Bystander]]. It is suggested however that she has had a crappy life so far and her acts of volunteering are merely so that she can have her mind on something else.

* Generator (Jade Sinclair) is definitely [[The Ingenue]] of Team Kimba in the [[Whateley Universe]]. She even looks several years younger than she really is.

* Generator (Jade Sinclair) is definitely The Ingenue of Team Kimba in the [[Whateley Universe]]. She even looks several years younger than she really is.

** Well, she [[Character Development|was]], but [[Crazy Awesome|not]] [[Beware the Nice Ones|anymore]].

* Miss Cooter from ''[[Me and My Dick]]'' is sweet, naive, optimistic, beautiful and caring. There's just little thing: she's the heroine's vagina. It [[Makes Sense in Context]].