Talk:Girl next door

Listing

Do we really want this article to be mainly a long list? AnonMoos 00:18, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

No. Ideally, it'd have a short list — maybe 10 items — and then people could click "What links here" to see other relevant articles. The question is, which characters go on the short list? I think obviously Donna Pinciotti, Mary Jane Watson, Lana Lang, Ali Mills (The Karate Kid)... However, my biases include being American and knowing nothing about anime; I see a lot of anime characters on the current list, and I can't evaluate whether they really fit the stereotype (or even whether the stereotype means the same thing in Japan). --Quuxplusone 20:51, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Simply listing things down to only ten would be an incredibly difficult effort in hindsite, because you're going to have to rely even more on personal tastes (or personal preferences). And also, that would likely mean, that there are purely ten "quintessential girls next door in fiction". TMC1982 (talk) 11:01 p.m., 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Also, I see Rory Gilmore keeps getting added. I thought she was one of the protagonists of Gilmore Girls, and thus couldn't possibly be a "girl next door". Does GG have a male protagonist of whom I'm unaware? --Quuxplusone 20:51, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Is Keeley from Phil of the Future an example? Web wonder (talk) 15:56, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Lists

I agree that lists of dozens could get unwieldy, but splitting it into sections alleviates that somewhat. Also, girls like Sabrina Fairchild (Who was actually the first girl categorized as a girl next door in a movie trailor) and Kiki Harrison & Chloe Sullivan who very recently were advertised that way belong on the list —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.66.61.154 (talk • contribs)

Lists of dozens are precisely what we don't want! Remember that this is not a list of all the "girls next door" in fiction anywhere. This is an article about the meaning and cultural context of the phrase, which happens to contain a short (short) list of notable examples for the benefit of the reader. Special:Whatlinkshere/Girl next door is one place to go to see a longer list.

There's no reason to split the list up by medium (which means "movies", "TV", "books", and so on), because the medium has nothing to do with the defining characteristics of the stereotype. If the list is getting too long, cut it down.

The whole point of spliting the list up by media was because the list was getting too long in the first place. So why not break things down, example by example to get the "whole story" so to speak. And what difference does it make if a movie like America's Sweethearts wasn't in your eyes "popular enough". It's still out there for the whole public to see and enjoy! TMC1982 (talk) 10:57 p.m., 1 January 2009 (UTC)

I'll cut the list back down to size when I get around to it. Your point about Sabrina, if it can be verified, is a good point. I don't buy the rationale for America's Sweethearts — I don't think it was a very popular movie, or notable for any other reason either, so it doesn't help the reader to understand the meaning of the term "girl next door". --Quuxplusone 16:22, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

categorization?

As a solution to the problem of lists, we could create a sub-category under the main category of stock characters[1]. If the girl in question is notable enough on WP to have her own article, it would be linked through the categories. I think this would solve the problem of who's notable enough to list and who's not. The sub-category itself should survive a CfD if it's reasonably populated. As an example, the stock characters category has a sub-category for jesters[2] which links the articles of individual jester characters like Rigoletto or Puck. Wl219 05:03, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Sandra Dee

Isn't Sandra Dee, who appeared in the film "Gidget", the archetypal "girl next door" ?--87.243.196.167 10:13, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

No. (Gidget is a protagonist; she's not "next door" to anyone; she's a tomboy.) --Quuxplusone 23:06, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

The girl next door is a girl that you would "Take home to mom". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.215.140.23 (talk) 22:48, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Exactly! The "girl next door" doesn't have to literally live next door to the male protagonist. She simply has to be a sweet and nice, down-to-earth, wholesome girl that you pretty much see everyday. TMC1982 (talk) 10:54 p.m., 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Creeping listification (again)

The lists need to be periodically purged, but unfortunately, I'm not the best-qualified person to carry out this task (or I would do it myself)... AnonMoos (talk) 01:17, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

What's the point of having an "examples from fiction" category if there aren't going to be numerous examples from the past (in various forms of media: TV, film, literature, etc.)? TMC1982 (talk) 10:52 p.m., 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Removed Penny from The Big Bang Theory

While Penny may literally be the "girl next door", by virtue of actually living next door, she doesn't fit the archetype that this article is describing, so I removed her from the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by ThomasSixten (talk • contribs) 02:41, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

"Boy next door (stock character)" listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Boy next door (stock character). Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Staszek Lem (talk) 01:17, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

"lovers" in "See also"

I understand you don't like the "Lovers" article. Neither do I. However regardless will it be merged or not, it is still a valid "see also" entry due to the overlap of these cliches: "They start out with a mutual friendship that later develops into romantic attraction.", i.e, "GND" is part of "Lovers" cliche. Staszek Lem (talk) 19:57, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Expansion

This article should be expanded to include boy next door. Roostery123 (talk) 04:52, 12 October 2022 (UTC)