The Stereotypes of “Sidekicks” and their Representation in Media

Throughout the years, young audiences have looked towards “Coming-of-Age” films in order to find comfort in the characters they see on screen. As teens begin to mature, they look towards films and television shows to find a notable figure who faces change, in some way, throughout their movie. While the main protagonist appears to evolve as they grow up, not a lot of people focus on the individuals who stood by their side and also grew up with them. Goliath writes, “Supporting characters are incredibly important to any movie. They add important context to the story and can help further explain the motivations of the main character. They are so important, in fact, that the Academy Awards started giving out a Best Supporting Actor/Actress award way back in 1937, at the 9th Academy Awards.” While these side characters are often overlooked, they still provide external comfort to the main character and add a different outlook to the movie.

In the opening scene of Mean Girls released in 2004, Cady Heron, the main protagonist, meets Janis and Damien, best friends who rarely leave one another’s sides. Audiences see them helping Cady find a seat in class because she is the new girl in school and they take it upon themselves to get her acquainted with her surroundings. Throughout the film, the duo provides comedic relief and continues to help Cady get her dream man by establishing a spot for her among the popular girls, “The Plastics”.

Another character, Tai, from the 1995 teen film, Clueless, entered high school as an “ugly duckling” who just wanted to fit in and find some friends. Audiences see Tai as the new girl in a strange environment from how different she dresses, her accent, and her personality. Cher, the main protagonist, takes it upon herself to give Tai a full makeover and teach her the ropes of what it takes to be popular. She provides a lot of comic relief in the film too through her “clueless” mindset about going to a new school with elite rich students and not being able to get accustomed to their personalities.

Ideologies of being outcasted for being different versus wanting to fit in with peers are all concepts that relate to teenage audiences. Transitioning from a grade-school setting to a high school one is filled with more judgment and overbearing ideas of peer pressure from your classmates. However, through the use of side-characters, Coming-of-Age films provide a light-hearted story of a teen, along with the help of their friends, finding comfort in the changes they go through as they grow up.

Media Studies takes a deeper look at how certain media contexts, such as film and television shows, offer us new insight into the purpose of sidekicks in the overarching story and who or what they represent in real life. Through the use of side characters, the film industry reveals how it reuses certain characteristics in order to stereotype and represent a common trope that the public has on a particular type of person. Firstly, the film industry paints certain sidekicks using tropes and stereotypes to enhance the plot of a story by playing on common ideas that people have about “types” of young individuals maturing. However, the representation of certain groups and personalities creates a picture of diversity and allows all forms of people to feel seen within the media industry regardless of who they are. As we consider the media’s representation of certain tropes within their films, both stereotype and representation are important concepts within Media Studies to consider when thinking about creating films targeting the youth.

Media Studies allows us to access the film industry recycling a lot of common tropes found within young, teen characters and it is important to think about them in terms of how different personalities and aspects are being portrayed. These characters have specific traits that make themselves different from the rest of their peers, whether it be their popularity or how they’ve been rejected from society. Again, it is not uncommon to see the film industry cycle through particular character traits to typecast actors and actresses in coming of age films. When thinking about the term “stereotype,” the Keywords for Media Studies (KFMS) defines it as, “A descriptive or designative (based on physical appearance) aspect combining with an evaluative aspect in which people are judged from a particular perspective or point of view” (Ellen Seiter, 184).

One example of a stereotype in Coming-of-Age films is the “Gay Best Friend,” who acts as the voice of reason and offers wardrobe advice. A prominent example of this type of character is Damien from Mean Girls in that he is automatically labeled as “too gay to function.”

In the first scene, Damien is seen complimenting Cady’s hair and asking if the color is her natural hair tone and then responding that it is “gorgeous”. Then he immediately grabs her hair, places it against his, and says that this is the color he wants to dye his own hair which prompts the iconic response from Janis. Damien is also seen blinking super fast in this scene in a feminine manner, mimicking a woman batting her eyelashes to attract a man. Later down the line, when Cady needs a pink shirt to sit with “The Plastics”, Damien steps up and offers her his own shirt. As pink is considered a feminine color, this trait emphasizes Damien’s gay stereotype even more. Damien is also notable for the many famous lines he shouts because as a gay man, he is “supposed” to be loud, flamboyant, and unapologetically feminine. Mean Girls exaggerates the “gay best friend” trope by making Damien the most likable, the most expressive, and the funniest character.

Daniel Franzese reflected on his time playing Damien and said how it brought him happiness to play a gay character when he himself was gay but not yet out of the closet. He told Observer how people would stop him on the street in order to shout the iconic “Damien lines” and it would bring him comfort sometimes. Here we see how a stereotype is not used in a negative connotation in the media but instead is actually embraced and encouraged. This “gay best friend” character reflects Richard Dyer’s argument about how not all stereotypes are negative. He says, “The position behind all these considerations is that it is not stereotypes, as an aspect of human thought and representations, that are wrong, but who controls and defines them, [and] what interests they sęrve” (Dyer, 207). The “gay best friend” trope does not bring harm to the LGBTQIA+ community but until it is used negatively and is used to criticize these individuals, that is when it causes an issue.

Another stereotype that is commonly used in films is the “Sassy Black Friend,” who always has a comment to make about their white best friend’s choices and behaviors. This character is represented in someone such as Dionne from Clueless who acts as Cher’s partner in crime and is only seen alongside Cher and never by herself.

In the first scene, Dionne is seen wearing a new hat and asks if Cher enjoys it when she gets into the car with her. Cher makes a comment about whether or not Dionne went “shopping with Doctor Seuss” to which Dionne promptly responds, “At least I wouldn’t skin a Collie to make my backpack.” Her quick response to an “insult” elicits her quick wit and directness to tell her white friend “how it is.” In the scene following, when the viewers get a more well-rounded view of who Dionne is, her “blackness” really comes out when she picks a fight with her Black boyfriend, Murray, who calls her “woman” instead of by her name to which she puts her foot down and demands to be called Dionne. When she pulls out a piece of synthetic hair extensions that did not belong to her, the independence; confidence; and the fighting, confrontational spirit within Dionne reveal themselves to the audience and shows them that she is not to be messed with.

Byrdie quoted TV Tropes and said how the Sassy Black Woman is “never too busy to lend an ear or come along on your wacky schemes. She is flawless to the point of being unreal,” yet the Black woman never has any issues herself; she always lends a hand to white characters. Ellen Seiter discusses some issues she has with stereotypes in KFMS when she mentions how, “stereotypes are especially insidious when they become a way for powerful groups to characterize subordinated groups, whether it is men viewing women, whites viewing blacks, or the middle class viewing the working class” (184). While she is not implying that the “Sassy Black Friend” stereotype is bad, she does call upon an issue that some stereotypes, the ones stemming from racial factors, were formed as a power dynamic and continues to restrict minority groups to a hierarchy of who is at the top and who is at the bottom.

Finally, one major stereotype that is constantly utilized in Coming-of-Age films is the “quirky best friend” who always cracks jokes and provides joy to the main character when they are going through a depressive phase. An example of this type of character is seen through Duckie from Pretty in Pink who provides a positive vibe to the film through his awkwardness and secret love for the main character.

Duckie is always seen with his iconic round sunglasses and dresses in questionable outfits. In the first scene of this clip, he appears at the record store that Andie, his best friend, works at and performs a number to “Try a Little Tenderness.” He mimics Otis Redding’s performance tropes, with funky, choppy dance moves in hopes to make Andie smile after being stood up. At around the 1:40 point in the clip, Duckie is seen rushing to Andie’s rescue again, out of breath, and asks if everything is okay. When she tells him that she is not upset, Duckie quickly responds with, “No, yes, yes you are. I can tell because your eyes get all squinty and everything,” showing how he knows her mannerisms inside and out. He stutters a lot with his words throughout the film because he cannot find the words to confess his love for Andie and is also another character who provides comedic relief. Duckie is someone that audiences root for because of his “quirky” manners and charming personality.

Quirky Daily defines the “quirky best friend” trope as, “someone who is close pals with a conventionally attractive person. The quirky best friend is unique, cute, different; usually smarter, and more artistic. Not afraid to live life to the beat of a different drum,” which, again, are all characteristics of Duckie. The article then continues to transcend this movie/television trope into the real world by providing a checklist of physical attributes and identity statements to see if someone exemplifies the qualities of the “quirky best friend,” such as, “You have bangs,” or “You are often described as ‘loud,’ ‘interesting,’ or straight-up ‘quirky.’ ” Dyer comments, “A pattern of stereotypes is not neutral. It is not merely a way of substi­tuting order for the great blooming, buzzing confusion of reality. It is not merely a short cut” (206), about how stereotypes are not meant to be tied down to one common image of a person. He analyzes that while you can think of the “quirky best friend” as a common stereotype, the implications of this image range to all different aspects of the personality type. While the term is simple and straightforward, just like the article suggests, there are more levels to unpack within this umbrella stereotype.

Media Studies then allows us to understand and assess how certain “diverse” aspects of a character “represent” a certain idea in the media. Lisa Henderson states in KFMS, “People communicate through symbols, like words or images, that stand for other things. This ‘standing for’ is what communication scholars call representation” (172). She discusses classical definitions of representation, one being political and one being symbolic. While society has looked at “representation” in a more political sense, like who is being included in public media and who is being featured on camera, media studies wants to hone in on “representation” in a symbolic sense where an image stands in place of a meaning/message (172). Not to exclude the political aspect of representation because it will be discussed, however, there are certain choices made in films to “represent” common ideas established in “the world” and Coming-of-Age films are very important in analyzing what that “world” is, especially to young audiences.

A prime example of how certain characteristics of a person represent their personality is Allison from The Breakfast Club. Labeled as a “basket-case” by the end of the film, a lot of her physical features and mannerisms reflect this identity that she was “assigned”. Even though she is female, Allison does not display a typical “feminine” personality. When we first meet her, she walks to the back of the library and sits separate from everybody else. Her hair covers her face and she is seen wearing a lot of black eye makeup. Usually, these are traits corresponding to someone who is anti-social and does not want any attention at all. Allison wears black clothes as well as a huge over-sized winter jacket to cover up her body. She also only communicates with the other “club” members using sounds and facial expressions instead of full sentences and even when she does speak in sentences, she has the oddest comments. Again while all of these characteristics make up Allison’s surface identity, they also emulate the lonely personality of someone who does not want to be bothered and is usually depressed. She represents the “misunderstood teenager” with a lot of baggage and mysterious background. She picks at her nails which usually represents someone with an anxiety disorder and she resembles an “angsty teen” who gets ignored by the people around her because she chooses to keep to herself and acts like a weirdo.

If we revisit Damien from Mean Girls being gay, what aspects of his character “represent” his gayness? Well, he is very feminine in nature, we see this through his pink shirt ownership, his blinking eyes, and his vernacular saying sentences like, “It’s gorgeous,” and “I’ve been really busy with Choir,” and never forget, “Oh no she did not.” He blows kisses and winks at Cady multiple times, not in a flirting manner, and he even screams in a high-pitched tone when Cady enters the room in an undead bride costume. In a scene where Damien is in the women’s bathroom, the audience gets a full shot of his body and sees him wearing bright red shoes, which also allows him to stand out among a crowd. In another scene, as Damien drives off into the night, he yells, “I want my pink shirt back!” after Cady betrays his and Janis’s friendship and as the movie comes to an end, Damien shockingly gasps when Cady breaks that plastic tiara and jumps for joy when she throws him a piece of the broken crown. All of these “gay” characteristics help accentuate Damien’s character and Henderson talks about how the word, “tree” evokes an image of a tall natural form with a trunk, branches, and leave to those who speak the vernacular but when we think of the word “gay,” images of a male figure, displaying feminine qualities come to mind (172).

His particular picture about what “being gay” is, differs from many LGBTQIA+ characters in the past. Firstly, Damien is openly gay and not afraid to show it off. He is seen in the women’s restroom and attends an all-female assembly but is unashamed that he is found in these places. Around 16 seconds in the clip, he is seen pushing through a crowd of high school students to get Cady through to the end of the hallway. Typically gay characters are seen as weak and they get bullied for their gayness, however, Damien is fearless and continues pushing forward. Then there is a scene where he performs in the Holiday talent show at the 1:40 mark and a group of popular kids throw a shoe at him and laugh. However, instead of shying away, Damien throws the shoe back at them and stands up for himself singing, “Don’t you bring me down today.” Damien’s character represents a part of the LGBTQIA+ community who embraces who they are and will stand up for themselves and their peers regardless of the situation. Young audiences, who might identify as gay, will see Damien, understand how he emulates an image of a strong gay man who outwardly expresses his personality and will know not to be afraid of judgment in the future.

If we assess Dionne’s characteristics, it is obvious that she represents the Black community through her presence in Clueless. There are a lot of physical attributes to showoff her “blackness,” one being how she styles her hair in braids and acknowledges that she wears synthetic hair extensions. Her accessories also reflect the Black community because she wears hoop earrings that peak through her hair; she has a noticeable facial piercing on her nose; and oftentimes, Dionne is seen with a simple gold chain around her neck which is a notable accessory in the hip hop community. She is also seen holding a small handbag with a gold chain. Later in the clip when Cher and Dionne go shopping around the 1:37 mark, Dionne is seen wearing a hat similar to a rastacap or the crocheted hat typically associated with reggae musicians. While it is not an exact copy of one, the similarities are still there. In the same scene, she is also seen wearing a lot of leopard and animal prints, tying back to an African vibe in how she dresses. Many details of how Dionne decides to style herself emulate features of Black and African culture but to every piece of clothing or accessory that Dionne wears resembling her race, there is something that counteracts them too.

It is noteworthy to point out how “white-washed” Dionne is as a Black character. Coming from an elite, rich neighborhood, Dionne’s character probably had to adapt to the “white culture” that surrounded her, hence going to a predominantly white high school and having not one, but two white best friends. Kristen J. Warner writes in her article titled, “Plastic Representation”, “Black representation, as it’s been understood in a popular sense, has been dominated by the circulation of mediated imagery yielding deleterious effects for the groups depicted. The fear of the effects of such “poor” representation has resulted in a set of binary, nonscientific, underdeveloped metrics — positive and negative.” While it is great that Dionne is being represented as a young Black woman dominating a film about adolescent change, we need to think about whether it is enough just to feature her as one of the main characters or should there be more aspects to her personality that needs to be shown? As we see in a lot of the video clips, Dionne is only shown on camera as long as Cher is also in the shot somewhere. Cher’s white elite presence overshadows Dionne and makes her a background character at points. Dionne’s identity, in this case, truly represents a “sidekick” that is meant to influence the main character in some way and should only show up when the main character does.

Black representation in films has become a black and white topic in how the media either includes Black people in their content or doesn’t and that poses an issue to minority groups seeing a person of color on-screen. Critic, Patricia A. Turner, in a documentary film titled, Color Adjustment, recalled her family’s excitement, when she was a child in the 1960s, whenever a black actor was going to appear on television. Representation however does not stop at including diversity within a vernacular but actually implements it in media. Sarah Ahmed writes in her book titled, On Being Included Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life, “In some cases, the word ‘diversity’ is already exercised within how organizations are marketed. One practitioner says of her institution, ‘Diversity is part of its ethos; it would even market itself that way.’ Another practitioner describes her university as one that ‘tends to pride itself on its equity credentials’ however she should also suggest that ‘sometimes they’re not acted on as well as they should be.’ Having diversity or equality credentials does not necessarily mean you do anything” (76).

During a pivotal time, when teenagers search for similarities in people and begin to form their own personalities, looking at Coming-of-Age films is super important. What is even more important is finding characters who look the same as they do and are portrayed as close to reality as possible. As we see certain forms of diversity being represented on camera, most of these “diverse” characters are being scripted as stereotypes. Again, Seiter defines stereotypes as an image of a particular group that has been formed and ingrained into people’s minds for quite some time. In a FlowJournal article titled, “White Complexity, White Complicity and New Stereotype in Booksmart,” Jackson Wright analyzes many minority tropes found in the Coming-of-Age film, Booksmart, such as the “Latino male buffoon”, the “gay black drama student”, and the “nonwhite romantic interest for white leads.” Wright says, “The film should dutifully be acknowledged for its progressive politics and its positionality as part of a new wave of films that treat young women as more than just sexual objects… [However,] Booksmart refuses to acknowledge the privileging of white characters and so cannot be heralded as a unanimous success.”

As the media enters a new wave of diversity and includes more minorities in film, they are constantly showing more attention to one group in comparison to others. Again, we look at Black representation and gay representation being at the forefront of most Coming-of-Age films now, however, just because there are more Black and gay people on camera does not mean that they are going to constantly get represented accurately. If we consider Damien from Mean Girls and Dionne from Clueless, they are diverse characters, yes, but they are still “side-characters” and the film does not predominantly focus on their stories and their hardships. In the end, it is the media’s responsibility to enforce diversity in order to show more representation to audiences and actually strive for inclusion. Instead of focusing on representing stereotypes through film, Coming-of-Age movies should be able to portray accurate accounts of what it means to grow up “different” from the norm. Instead of playing on “cliches” of people developed over time, the media should enact a change in who they cast but also who they gear their films towards. Representation in the media does not stop once a “diverse” cast is identified, but representation in media means moving past stereotypes and tropes catering to white audiences to actually create films and television shows for teenagers who want to find reassurance that they are not alone when growing up, maturing and developing a sense of who they are.

Works Cited:

Ahmed, Sara. On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012.

Dyer, Richard. “The Role of Stereotypes.” Media Studies: A Reader, edited by Sue Thornham et al., 3rd New edition, New York University Press, 2009, pp. 206–12.

Henderson, Lisa. “Representation.” Keywords for Media Studies, edited by Laurie Ouellette and Jonathan Gray, NYU Press, 2017, pp. 172–75.

Katz, Evan Ross. “For ‘Mean Girls’ Actor Daniel Franzese, Playing an Iconic Gay Best Friend Was a Blessing and a Curse.” Observer, Observer, 2 May 2019, observer.com/2019/05/for-mean-girls-actor-daniel-franzese-playing-an-iconic-gay-best-friend-was-a-blessing-and-a-curse/.

Mason, Erica Gerald. “The End of the Sassy Black Friend.” Byrdie, 30 June 2020, www.byrdie.com/sassy-black-friend-trope-5070000.

Seiter, Ellen. “Stereotype.” Keywords for Media Studies, edited by Laurie Ouellette and Jonathan Gray, NYU Press, 2017, pp. 184–85.

Taylor, Devon. “10 Supporting Characters Who Could Have Been The Lead.” Goliath, 19 July 2017, www.goliath.com/movies/10-supporting-characters-who-could-have-been-the-lead/.

Tolbert, Celina. “The Quirky Best Friend.” Quirky Daily, 20 Oct. 2014, quirkydaily.com/quirky-best-friend/.

“Turner, Patricia A. Color Adjustment. Video recording. Directed by Marlon Riggs. 1992.”

Warner, Kristen. “Plastic Representation.” Film Quarterly, 4 Dec. 2017, https://filmquarterly.org/2017/12/04/in-the-time-of-plastic-representation/.

Wright, Jackson. “White Complexity, White Complicity, and New Stereotype in BooksmartJackson Wright / University of Texas at Austin.” Flow, 3 Aug. 2020, www.flowjournal.org/2020/08/booksmart-whitecomplexity/.