Alongside the romantic ideals of best friends falling in love and love at first sight, sits one other shipper trope that makes the fans go crazy — the girl with the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. From having your boyfriend trade you for a hotel, to spending some alone time with a guy who thirsts for your blood, shippers have flocked to root for the villain when it comes to love. But as we swoon over our favorite female characters dating bullies and murderers, it makes me wonder, why do we fall for the idea of falling for the bad boy?
Probably the most significant reason that I end up shipping these bad boys is the idea that the girl’s love can make a leopard change his spots. While these guys never become wholly good (unless they suffer a bout of amnesia, which transformed Eric in True Blood from vicious vampire to basically a docile puppy), they do improve in some respects, or at least towards the object of their affections — enough to excuse their more distasteful actions.
In Gossip Girl, sexual fiend Chuck suddenly hesitates when Blair leans in for a kiss. “Are you sure?” stammers Chuck, who just a few episodes ago took the acceptance of a sandwich by Serena as consent. Then, far from being another notch on his heavily-riddled bedpost, he can’t stop thinking about Blair. The power of Blair’s vagina has caused his stomach to be filled with butterflies and his heart to be filled with feelings.
“You know I came into this town wanting to destroy it. Tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it.”
Damon grows more and more sympathetic as The Vampire Diaries goes on, going from the psychopathic older brother to someone worth saving. Elena’s presence triggers a change for the better in Damon, and the time he spends with Elena peels back the layers of bravado and casual cruelty to reveal a nuanced character. This helps overlook any missteps he may have along the way, such as when he force-fed Elena his blood, effectively taking away any free will she had in the matter of her death (though we know now that’s no longer an issue).
While th
This doesn’t mean the turnaround from bad boy to good guy can’t be jarring. Logan in Veronica Mars, in the space of an episode, goes from resident bully to sweetly romantic and protective over Veronica. Contrived? Yes. Did I ship it anyway? Yes.
All these shows tell us that all bad boys can change, with the right girl and a heavy dose of love potion number nine. Maybe not the best life lesson, but it makes for great TV and I fall for it almost every time.
Even if they don’t really change that much, let’s face it — illegality? Life-threatening situations? The possibility of being murdered by your beau? All of this is irresistibly attractive (okay, maybe not that last point), or at least as the show writers make us believe. And if initially the good guys had some element of excitement to them, the writers do their best to make it seem like life with them would be a dull, meaningless existence, devoid of stimulation or happiness. While in real life, spending a night in watching television with your significant other doesn’t seem too bad an option, in TV drama land, it pales in comparison to a guy with a bit of edge, who can whisk you off on an adventure in the middle of the night, and maybe get you killed.
In Gossip Girl, Chuck was shown as a way for Blair to escape and spend a night of debauchery with instead of hanging out with Nate and his dysfunctional family. Chuck barely lifts his voice over a gruff bedroom whisper, and it is frequently noted in the show that nothing gets Blair’s blood pumping the way Chuck does. (Though admittedly not everything about him is designed to raise his sex appeal. Teletubby onesie, anyone?) As the seasons have worn on, a relationship with Chuck has been shown as often distressing, but never boring. Though I jumped ship a while ago, I have to admit I see the appeal, and sometimes get drawn back in. While arguing about pretentious movies together is sweet in real life, it’s not the same as watching Chuck and Blair spend a day scheming against their enemies, or having some awkwardly slow-motion sex in the hallway, or even watching Chuck casually getting shot in Prague. These are the things teen soaps thrive on.
True Blood ramps up the sex factor of vampires, even to the point where a bite on the neck is akin to climax. Sure, Bill is a vampire, but dude is old and spends most of his time lecturing people and pronouncing Sookie’s name wrong. Eric, on the other hand, embraces his vampiric nature, owns an awesome nightclub and looks like this with his shirt off. Who are you going to root for?
Dean in Gilmore Girls did have good aspects about him, but his character was dumbed down from intriguing outsider to bland stock boy in a matter of episodes. And clingy. While in season one, his devotion and endless calling seemed at least sort of romantic, by season two his incessant need to constantly update Rory on the minutiae of his life was just overly needy and insecure. Get it together, Dean!
Damon swaggers around Mystic Falls, drinking and charming all the ladies in town. As opposed to Stefan, who, before the writers had the strike of inspiration to turn him bad, was sort of a killjoy. And don’t even get me started on Duncan in Veronica Mars. While there was a little bit of gross-out intrigue about whether he was her brother and/or the killer, his character failed to have any other kind of interest. Was there actually anybody thrilled to discover it was him instead of Logan at the door after the season one cliffhanger? I know he had his fans, but for me it just meant more episodes of him being impossibly boring before he exited the series for good.
Sometimes shows present other ships with really nice guys that are perfect for the main female character and are interesting, to boot. Sometimes, they really don’t.
Often I’ll just follow a ship because the actors just have a little bit more smoulder between them. Combine this with a bit of danger, and maybe a little resistance of their attraction to each other, and it’s fantastic. You know those romantic comedies when two actors force their way through various declarations of love when there clearly is nothing there, and it’s a little painful to watch? The opposite of that is when two actors enter a scene, and the screen almost visibly crackles with romantic tension. It isn’t all acting ability; there are times when the combination of the actors and their characters just click.
This could be because the coupling transcends television and into the real world. Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev’s real-life romance couldn’t have harmed the Damon/Elena ship sailing along. As well, Alexis Bledel and Milo Ventimiglia’s fling definitely gave a bit of steam to the Jess/Rory pairing, especially in contrast to the defiantly G-rated scenes of Dean/Rory lore. A possible exception: I know Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin from True Blood are married in real life, but this seems only to add a layer of discomfort for me during their highly explicit sex scenes. Like, I can’t help but think, is this what it’s like in the bedroom for them? I don’t want to know. I only want to know what Eric looks like shirtless, again. (But that may just be personal preference.)
In the end, sometimes it just seems that the wrong side of the tracks equals the right couple. Do you like any ships that fall into this category? Are there any other reasons why?
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However Chair is bit different as Blair is not a "good girl".
I don't like DE (imo instead making Elena excitable as bad boy getting with good girls should do, she makes him very annoying, whiny and dare I say it a killjoy), but I do like Nian (sometimes, as sometimes they do come across as bit publicity stunt-ish as they normally get candidly photographed when it their episode coming up). How I thought the appeal of bad boys was the idea that some girl's love can "change" him b.s. that women actually believe is real.
Exactly!
Blair is a VIOLENT, mean spirited bully who has physically assaulted Serena on numerous occasions yet Dair fans treat her like a helpless victim who got manipulated by the Evil Scary Bass. Dair fans, please. Blair probably gets off on her misery because she is a terrible person. Blair Waldorf might be missguided & childish more often than not, but a victim? NEVER.
I guess I don't get what you mean by this? If nothing else, I consider Blair a victim in the scene where Chuck tried to punch her because, well, she is. That's not speaking to Blair's character or anything other than someone tried to punch her in the face. She is the victim, the other person is the aggressor.
he didn't try to punch her!jc did you watch the scene?he punched a glass,not her!saying that chuck tried to punch blair is like saying that tayler tried to hit caroline with the bottle of votka.people snap sometimes,it doesn't mean that they are abusive.and blair has slapped chuck in the face numerous times-i didn't see you defending chuck for domestic violence.not everything is black and white and not everything in life is pink with unicorns.jeez you people have a way of thinking like you are smurfs or toodlers waiting for the prince.not everything in life is innocent or romantic but in the same time that doesn't mean that every dark moment that is abusive.
I am not sure how anything I said implied my worldview, but you got me on the unicorns. Not smurfs though, never got into them.
It looks like he is trying to punch her and she ducks. I watched the scene again and I mean, he could be punching the glass over her head but that's not great either. I think snapping and going to punch a wall to calm down is one thing, but it's not like it's okay to get angry and start hitting things directly over the head of a person you are supposed to love. And upon watching it again, saying you're mine and shoving her down onto a couch is pretty damn creepy.
i think that some people try to make big deals out of nowhere.''he punched her,oh no he didn't do it but he meant to,oh he didn't mean to but he wanted,mmmm i think that none of the above are true but still it isn't right to do so..etc etc etc'' you get my point.i saw nothing wrong with this scene,like i said before verbal abuse is as bad as any and blair has verbaly abused chuck countless times.let's not mention the maaany slaps on his face.lastly but not least i didn't find the ''you're mine blair'' and pushed onto a couch as a creepy thing.heathcliff has done many more creepier things and everybody idolized him.i have seen creepy and trust me that wasn't.
No, He punched glass. You guys need to get some glasses or contacts.
lexie i really like your attitude girl!go chair fans!(let's not get started about how abusive dair fan are to chair fans....nowadays and expecially last year i was afraid to say to someone that i was team chuck for chrissake!since they are aaaall upset about ''abuse'' around here,it's good to remind them how it is not to practise what you preach.)
Only if Chuck was trying to punch Blair like you said, but wait... oh no, he didn't. I recommend you to actually go and watch the show instead of mimicking other haters and claiming as if you knew what happened because if you did, you wouldn't leave comment like this. Seriously, sometimes I wonder how many people watch this show and how many others just copy people's invalid argument. It kinda makes you guys look bad, tbh.
I love seeing a more classic heroic good guy character like say Nate Archibald get the girl too but there's definitely a certain appeal to seeing a "bad boy" like Chuck Bass redeemed by love.
I think Chuck and Blair are a little different from the other ships you mentioned in that she's not a classic good girl heroine like Elena, Sookie or Angela Chase. To me Blair and Serena (in S1 at least) were the good girl with a dark side (Blair) and the bad girl with a sweet side (Serena). Blair isn't as dark (and tbh troubled at times) as Chuck but she's approaching anti-heroine status with her love of scheming and her sexually inappropriate side. ;) So she's just good enough to lure Chuck from the dark- side ("You were the lightest thing that came into my life") but dark enough to keep Chuck and Blair from being too cliche for me. :)
Yeah Blair has always been more of an anti-heroine than heroine. I think the show trying to make her into a Heroine really weaken the appeal of character to a lot of folks. And anti-hero and anti-heroine romances are possibly the best type romances to tell.
You say that them being "dark" keeps them from being too cliche, but it also makes them completely over the top and melodramatic. Their lines have become the show's cliche. Every time they talk, it's the different version of basically the same dialogue. It also prevents growth in both characters. Almost all the other relationships in this article have the characters growing. Not in Gossip Girl though.
This is your opinion, not a fact. Go to Leighton Meester's Facebook page and see how many Likes and positive comments there are on the CB pics. Look at what GG_quotes' most retweeted tweets are (hint: they're not exactly anti-Chuck). Search "Chuck and Blair" on Twitter during an episode and see what the casual fans are saying about them.
The idea that Chuck and Blair have become boring or cliched is not a universally held opinion but rather one held by about 10 Dair fans who, for reasons I will never understand, are clinging onto a show that they don't get and which will never give them what they want. Casual fans STILL love Chuck and Blair, and so do I.
Completely agree
well they make the bad boys seem like they have ''deeper'' characters than the good ones.i was a chuck and damon fan from the begining cause i like ed westwick and ian somerhalder more than chace crawford and paul wesley but watching the shows i realised that screenwriters showed the ''i'm a sensitive boy that's been hurt too much that's why i behave like this'' thing and i like that more than brooding foreheads!they wake up my florence nightingale syndrome!shoot me!:)
Chuck doesn't really play on I'm a sensitive guy though which imo keeps him from being a cliche like unlike majority of the characters Chuck has never actually used his crappy childhood for the reason he so f-up (however Damon has used multiple lame ass excuses for why acts the way he does). There is difference Chace really relies on his looks, Paul actually is a great actor (whereas I think Ian is more looks than talent...not saying he isn't talented but he more overrated by the fandom imo when we get down to the acting Paul is actually a better actor).
Ed Westwick also has very old hollywood look to him and has lot of swag for a Caucasian man hence out of all the men on CW, he to me is the most captivating one. Paul is second as he too has old Hollywood written on him and he genuinely funniest guy.
i didn't say anything about what the characters say or use.i just said what you get from the screenplay.for example when you watch gg you understand that chuck behaves like an sob because of his father and his troubled childhood.also what i like about the bad boys and i forgot to write it on my comment above is that they really get crazy about the people that they love and they are willing to do crazy stuff for them for example,chuck getting shot in prague just because he wouldn't give up blair's ring or damon waiting 150 years to release catherine when the good boys actually do nothing and they seem to be satisfied in safety.i don't say that they don't do crazy but BAD stuff also,or that,that craziness is good but i like it very much.i like all that crazy passion.i agree with you though about ed's swag and paul's talent and of course he is a great actor,better than chace.i wouldn't say that he is better than ian though cause imo the have different roles.damon is black comedy,facial expressions and stuff,stefan is romantic drama and seriousness.:)
i don't think I got that from Chuck...it been imply he more of jerk because he wants to be and because he just can but then again Chuck's backstory has been rewritten so many times I guess one can come to that conclusion (Mind you his mother wasn't mention as being deceased in season 1). Also kind never saw Chuck's childhood being that troubled (I'm excluding all that crazy revisionist story with decease mommy).
I guess I get what you are saying though but I don't think that formula came to play for Chuck until season 3 finale and onward.
I think Ian is overrated as I have seen everything he done and he not that good to be winning emmy's like people be trying to say he should be getting. Damon I would not call him black comedy character but he definitely a dark one but nothing in Damon's story for warrants his behavior and as a character has far less range than the Stefan character imo (we seen many layers to Stefan from one extreme to the next, Damon kind been stuck the same characterization and he been off lately on the comedy bit of late and base on canon Stefan has more reason to f-uped than Damon.
well concidered everything that ian has done i have to agree with you because in his other projects(i have seen everything too,HUUUUUGE IAN'S LOOKS FAN!lol) he was so facial expression-less that he actually hurt my eyes.he seems to be better though in vd.i really feel his character if you know what i mean.i would like to see other projects of paul's also so i can compere them in a better way.about chuck i could understand his troubled relationshipo with his father from 01x02.maybe there's only me out there who believes that..!
I mean it was troubled but unlike recently I didn't really believe Bart didn't love Chuck it was just he was so busy trying to build an empire to leave for his son but the price of that was Chuck was lonely (but again they revised Basses story to the point Bart apparently is completely heartless and dislikes Chuck for being "in love" even though he approved of Blair in season 1). I guess what I am getting at the problems with his father in early season didn't seem to be the complete reason for behavior, it really felt like majority of it was because he could whereas tvd writers try to sell Damon's sad story of not being loved enough as the entire basis for his horribleness (I used the word try to sell because I don't buy Damon's sob story because most of it was his own fault).
I like Ian in TMTYLM, which may had to do with him being naked (so I was distracted). I really think he only really good at being himself (Damon), or sexually confused (Young Americans/Rules of Attraction). He was horrible in Marco Polo (stay away from anything involving an accent, my good sir) and don't get me started on Pulse. He good in TVD but not as good as people give him credit and if he was smart actor he wouldn't want to do 50 Shades of Grey like Michael Fassbender said he won't because he done something similar and quite frankly wants be taken serious. He really has to prove he can be a lead in movie role as oppose to a scene stealer or just that hot guy. I really want him to do something that he physically has transform for like Johnny Depp.
As for Paul I still think out of the three he has had enough material for emmy consideration tvd. His other work he actually really good even when it was ridiculous. I actually see him going on when TVD does end like David Boreanaz did after Buffy and Angel ended. That man has had 3 consecutive successful tv shows in the last 15 years and that is unheard of.
actually any smart actor shouldn't want to play christian grey.i mean are they serious?i have read the 1st book cause i thought it was a provocative,hard-core sex love/hate relationship and i regretted the 20 dollars that i spend!i'm really curious who's gonna be dumb enough to accept these roles.really.
well imo Ian the one who constantly talks about it like an idiot. And you right no smart actor would do such a role. Michael Fassbender was in Shame which was legit film and he did nudity and people spent majority of the time talking about his fassdong and making jokes. This book is Twilight Fanfiction and Ian wants a role. Robert admitted he only did the Twilight film for money...I am really trying to figure out why Ian would want to be in this film and why majority of Ian's fans want him to do this (Cause it not like he doing it because it going to be a good role, in need for cash, or recognition). I adore Michael Fassbender (you may seen because I refer to his appendage in fan slang) but I don't want my man anywhere near this because he better than that and Ian is better than that too.
"Chuck has never actually used his crappy childhood for the reason he so f-up"
Chuck always spews out nonsense about how his father never really loved him and how his mother abandoned him, etc.
True! Because otherwise, it would just mean that he just gets off on hurting other people, especially those he supposedly cares about. And that's not really being a 'bad boy', that's being a sociopath.
EVERYONE on this show has got off on hurting someone else at some point! Dan has been doing it all season (as he told Serena) for FUN. Is Dan a sociopath too? Or are you just throwing around emotionally loaded terms that you don't understand to try to make yourself look "all fancy" on the internet?
this untrue...he has never once bring up his father being the reason he does horrible things or his mother for that matter. In fact majority of the things that people always hold over Chuck he never once brought up Bart as the reason or his mother. Horse comment: Chuck said that because Nate and because Blair had something super mean to him early (none of this he actually brings up), IP: his company and livelihood don't remember Bart not loving him or even Ellen name being brought up in the excuse scene, and window scene: Blair mind games.
Like someone posted I do not root for treatment but I do root for the guy wants to overcome them while owning it. Chuck spent most of last season growing while majority of the characters degrade in growth which included Dan and Blair.
How is something that is FACTUAL like Chucks abusive, lonely childhood a nonsense? When Chuck appologized to Blair for treating her like property & losing his temper while drunk, NOT once did he mention Bart or his troubled childhood. "Its the boy that blames the girl, not the man"
Chuck took responsibility on everything he's done. Unlike Saint Dan. Its never his fault for anything because the universe revolves around a Doughnut apparently (in his head).
Chuck is a bad boy? PSSSSSSSHHHHHHH. Chuck is demented, whiny, pathetic, and borderline mentally unstable. He lacks the sex appeal of Eric from True Blood or Damon from The Vampire Diaries. He also looks terrible with his shirt off and without his money, Chuck would be nothing...literally. Eric and Damon are dangerous and brooding, Chuck is just scary (for all the wrong reasons).
I agree with all your points!
I was a pacey/joey fan since the beginning and was so glad when she picked him in the end! I believe they must be one of the few couples who actually managed to beat the original OTP. They were just that great! lol
As for the others: logan and veronica were 'epic' as he said himself, while duncan was an utter bore. Rory and jess were adorable and I was sorely disappointed when he went away. Dean wasn't bad in the beginning but as you said he became annoying later on (and I couldn't stand the college guy). Bill and Sookie were fine in the beginng too but once eric came into the picture he definitely stole the show. I didn't like how the writers got eric and sookie together though...hope they will have another go now that eric is back to normal and bill has become evil. I can't wait for delena to happen! I do feel sorry for stefan and I don't dislike him, he had his moments (my favourite stelena moment is probably the phone call in ep. 3x01) but damon and elena have so much chemistry!
The only exception is chuck and blair for me. They used to be great. I watched gossip girl only for them for 3 seasons but then season 4 happened and dair happened and I had to change ship. A pity the writers had to destroy it the way they did in season 5 and are continuing even now in season 6. Chuck and blair have lost their spark for me now, and while I won't mind the fact that they are probabbly going to end up together I can't help but wish things could have been different...
Anyway, thanx! I really enjoyed reading your post Siao!
Thanks! I moved over to Dair as well in season 4 and agree with what you say about Chuck/Blair, are we the same person haha. To be honest, after all the jerking around the writers did with Blair, reducing her basically to a love interest, now I just want the ending of GG to be Blair being single, confident and happy, with a successful career and maybe running around doing BFF things with Serena. I think this is even less likely then a Dair ending though!
Yes I agree, that would be better and would definitely make more sense, but as you said that will never happen. The writers are too afraid of the rabid chair fans to do something sensible like that! lol However, since they had to destroy dair I wish they could at least have shown chuck and blair happy together during this last season instead of this stupid pact where they can't be together...I'm sure the chair fans agree. They pissed off the dair fanbase basically destroying dan and blair's characters but at the same time they made chuck and blair completely boring and insignificant..luckily there are only 3 episodes left, I don't think I could take much more of this nonesense! lol
Oh my gosh, Dair fans in the comments, yay! Yeah, while I do find Dair adorable, I won't even be mad if Blair ends up with no one, throws up a peace sign, and gets the hell out of the UES.
Omg. That would be a sight to see haha. Even though I really liked Blair when she was with Dan, to me it was like she had finally grown up, but she's really digressed in this last season since she left him for Chuck. She's gone back to her old scheming, childish ways and I feel like the only way the writers can redeem her character is to have her standing alone at the end.
Yeah but I'm not confident that ending will happen, and even though Dair worked really well together and brought out the best in each other, I'd rather she just grow up and work on actually becoming the Strong Woman she's always wanted to be by herself without any guy.
The thing is with Chair, Chuck has treated Blair the WORST out of all the girls he has been with, so I don't agree they are even in the bad boy turned good trope. When he dated Eva she was an angel, when he dated Raina she was sacred, and that prostitute he ran around trying to help in S2. lol Blair has been pimped, manhandled, emotionally abused, demeaned, and is still in the final season twisting herself in knots to be with Chuck. She is obsessed with him. I don't quite know where you would classify Chair other than on a list with the worst endgame ships in the history of television. I can't quite believe we are meant to root for a guy that prostituted his girlfriend out to his uncle for a hotel, and think of it as ~romantic~ on top of that. GG writers are twisted and gross!
I guess Chuck/Blair fit the trope best during the one-two punch of 'Victor Victrola' and 'Seventeen Candles', which made me first fall in love with the couple. So I agree, the fact Chuck no longer fits into that bad-boy-turned-good mold is probably why I jumped ship in later seasons. I think I reached my absolute tipping point when he moved onto physical abuse (breaking the window near her face), ugh. But I still watch season 1 and feel sad about what could've been, sigh...
Oh I agree, I loved them in S1. I don't quite know why they writers chose this masochist/narcissist dynamic with them in S2. I think they would have worked much better if Blair gave as good as she got, which she did for the most part through S2. They started turning her into a perpetual victim of him in S3, and then seemed to be deliberately having him not ever apologize or show any true sense of remorse. The glass smashing incident was so poorly handled I don't even know what they were thinking or how they got away with it, this is a character who was presented to us in the pilot as an attempted rapist and you really want to recall that violence with the girl he is supposed to love the most? really? Very odd way to write a pairing they wanted people to root for, but then again plenty of people still root for them but I am not quite sure they are rooting for the relationship that is being portrayed or the potential they had. Of course they will get a tacked on and they lived happily ever after but it is so deeply unearned, and just really careless of the writers to never appropriately walk Chuck back to redeem him. They are the Kings of tell vs show.
I personally am sick of the pushing of the bad boy turns good from love scenario anyways, it doesn't happen in real life and maybe we could snap girls out of this thinking if we stopped spoon feeding it to them. I feel like it has to start with the writers being willing to not cave to ~shippers~ and tell a realistic story of what would happen if you really got a Chuck Bass, I can guarantee you it would end with you in an insane asylum. LOL There will always be an audience for it though so they will keep telling it, love in fiction is passion, angst and drama, love/happiness in the real world is the complete opposite.
Sorry to ramble on, but jeez the Chair relationship makes me so deeply deeply uncomfortable, on one hand it is so realistic as an abusive relationship even down to Blair constantly going back to him, but then the way they won't acknowledge it as anything other than ~true love~ is just......lets just say I will not be watching any Josh Schwartz or Stephanie Savage productions again.
I don't think you're supposed to root for the action of prostituting out your girlfriend. Nor are you supposed to think of it as romantic! LOL. I think TPTB want you to root for the guy who owns up to his horrible mistakes and apologizes for them - which Chuck does.
Sure, it would be better if Chuck never did awful things, but he did, and that's why he's classified as a bad boy. But Chuck isn't all bad, and he's probably the character on the show given the most internal growth. He's grown up a lot. Could the show have done a better job with it? Heck yeah, cause not everyone will agree with what I'm saying, like I don't 100% agree with what your saying.
I completely agree. We weren't supposed to root for Chuck when he did things like that. But I also have to say I'm amazed by people's capacity to ignore how much Chuck changed over the course of S5.
How much he has changed, sure, for 30 seconds before going back to his old ways. When he used Alexandra to punish Dan for kissing Blair, sent the pic to GG so Blair would have pay the dowry when he knew it would ruin her family and blamed Dan for keeping he and Blair apart, when he actually helped him despite his feelings for Blair... And then of course he blamed Blair for his father screwing him over at the end of s5, saying that he always chose her first. LOL. Many lies detected.
And Dan was an angel, right? He sent the video, humiliated Blair, ruined her marriage and kept blaming Chuck for it so Blair wouldn't turn to him for help. Dan helped then in 5.10 but by 5.14 he wanted Blair all to himself. He ended up not doing anything against Dan and in 5.17 he fucked up because he had been betrayed by someone he considered a friend "were you really my friend or was it all an act"? And he didn't blame Blair, it was his own fault because at times he did put Blair first, he was going to leave his "Empire" behind so Blair would have a Chuck Bass free life after he hurt her and he spent millions of dollars that almost bankrupted him to free her from a marriage everyone knew she didn't have to go through and having an affair with a guy when she knew her mother's company was at risk. Yes, Chuck sent the picture, but that didn't stop Blair from repeatedly cheating on her husband.
A) He used Alexandra for thirty seconds before a speech from Blair made him reconsider. So I think that fits the trope.
B) Georgina was the one who orchestrated 5.17, and Chuck's role in it was very small. Not to mention that Dan DID purposely keep CB apart after helping - he admitted to it himself. Finally, Chuck paid Blair's dowry in 5.19 without telling her, fulfilling the supposed trope of a bad boy changing his ways due to the girl he loves.
C) Chuck blamed Blair in a moment of anger, yes, but he specifically told her in 6.01 that it's the boy who blames the girl and not the man, and that he now wants to be the man for Blair, so...
It's fine if you don't ship CB, but their story is technically meant to be what this article states it is, even though that is far from the reason I like them.
Well stated and I love how Dair shippers fail to see a whole season of growth for Chuck and then fail to see how terrible Dan has been and how manipulative he's been with everyone for a whole season
Are we supposed to root for a character like Dan Humphrey who has back stabbed EVERYONE, never apologizes for being a complete douche and exposing their personal lives, and who is now sleeping with Serena despite the fact that he's writing BS about her? This is Gossipgirl , not the Care Bears or My Little Pony
it's funny how that description you actually just gave to Dan applies to every single member of the NJBC. They are all a bunch of assholes who consistently expose each other, and use each other. I'm pretty sure they sit around a breakfast table with knives in each others backs. I am currently unable to root for any of them, a bunch of selfish obnoxious brats who can't seem to truly grow up. Six seasons and it seems that Chuck is the only one who really has made any progress. (Still proud of him for getting therapy in S5 admitting he needed help in that capacity is a huge step. So everyone being all: CHUCK HASN'T GROWN. Calm your tits. Yes he has. He regresses every now and then but he is trying. )
"We are meant to root for a guy that prostituted his girlfriend out to his uncle for a hotel?" an STD riddled uncle, mind you XD
Personally, I love Chuck/Blair and Logan/Veronica, but hate Eric/Sookie and Damon/Elena. Maybe I just like my vampires "good,' lol.
I like Chair too but some reason I dislike bad vampires with good girls (I mean I even dislike Caleb/Livvie a bit and while I respect Spuffy, I wasn't down with it like I was with Bangel). But then again I don't really like Bad Guy with Good Girl tropes much to begin with with the exception of Nathan and Haley from OTH and Jonathan and Tammy from Guiding Light. Other than those two majority of couples are of the same same wavelength.
I just don't like Vampire romances period, haha. But if I'm watching a vampire show, I will choose a side (I prefer Stefan/Elena and Eric/Sookie, so as you can see, it has nothing to do with whether it's a "good" or "bad" boy for me). Even if I would prefer for the girl to realize her human life is better and more fulfilling and go back to real life, haha.
Blair is such a pathetic character obsessing with a guy who is capable of offer all that he has to a high class prostitute (Elle) and to give up everything for a cheap one (Eva) but values Blair less worthy than an old hotel.Not mentioning how he always is eager to sex up any other women but her.
I guess Dair fans are super bitter these days if they only see Chuck and Blair like this. I think Chuck has proven his love for Blair and Blair has done the same over the years. Why you're even making guest stars who were around for maybe 1-4 episodes anywhere relevant is beyond me at this point. He dropped both for Blair and I think Chuck willing to let Blair go and her be happy because he couldn't believe he could make her happy makes him pretty damn self-less.
FYI I'm not a Dair shipper.Those two being into each other made no sense at all. That doesn't change the facts I stated.The guy sold her for a Hotel and if she had any sense of respect she should've stay away from him ever since.No matter how much he changes or apologizes.A women with self respect goes and find herself some one better.
The writers turned her into a pathetic character when they reduced her into nothing but a pathetic vehicle for that terrible Chuck/Blair ship.
It's strange how docile, weak-willed and submissive Blair is around Chuck but how interested, multi-faceted and funny Blair is around Dan. Now I wonder what that says about the two different relationships... hmmm...
I could not disagree with you more. Blair has a career now and she's successful. She's not dependent on a man and she doesn't need someone to put a fake tiara on her head to make her feel better about herself. She was absolutely the neediest and most pathetic when she was dating Dan. I think she was doing well as a character when she and Dan were friends in Season 4 but it's completely untrue that she's weak and pathetic now that's dating Chuck while she was epitome of strength when she was dating Dan. As much as Dair fans accuse Chair fans of not seeing the flaws in their ship the same is true of Dair fans. The fact they cannot see how much that S5 romance brought out the worst in both Dan and Blair and was just a cowardly act of escapism from dealing with their real feelings amazes me.
O rly? Going back to a man who sold you for a hotel and cut your cheek bleeding with a piece of glass sounds pretty weak and pathetic to me.
And no, Chuck hasn't changed, he's still drinking and crying about his father, again.
Blair's career came out of nowhere, she realised that she never wanted the same job as her mother in Season 4 yet the writers regressed her character by giving her that just so she could be with Chuck.
Dan/Blair may have their problems but at least I can rest assured that they never tried to sell each other for property, and Dan has never tried to rape anyone, so I guess he wins :)
If you don't think Chuck matured in Season 5 then you are rejecting the writing on the show and projecting your own fantasies on to the story. The writers have said he's changed and grown and they have shown it by action as well. Chuck apologized, went into therapy, and was tested over and over again by Blair's rejection and crazy family drama and reacted completely differently from how he's reacted in the past. Chuck's not perfect and he still needs to let go of this obsession with his father but it's untrue to claim he's the exact same person that did the Indecent proposal.
As for Blair, how did giving her successful career regress her? I actually think it's taking away Blair's agency to say she cannot forgive Chuck and go back to him. He's apologized and he's changed. Even one of the biggest Dair fans out there, Carina from zap2it, said Chuck has not done anything abusive to Blair since Season 4. I'm sorry the story did not turn out the way you wanted it to. I've shipped non-endgame before and it was painful. But you are making claims about Chuck as a character that are simply untrue.
Your words speak to me. It's one thing to simply say that despite the story clearly being that Chuck has changed and CB are best together, you simply disagree and wish it had gone a different way. That's fine - I feel that way about Little Women (I loved Jo/Laurie and was heartbroken he ended up with Amy and she ended up with Bhaer) and Hunger Games (I loved Gale/Katniss, waaah).
But when you simply discount what the story is saying, then you lose your point. As bad as someone thinks GG and its writing is, they are still the authors of the story. We are not.
Forever crying over the tragedy of Gale/Katniss :(
I totally agree with you. I'd say Blair treated Dan pretty badly. She was very selfish. She knew he loved her and used him anyway. Dan meant well but he got shady and stalkerish and he did weird things to isolate her from people like not tell her about Serena. I think he wanted to be the only person in her life which isn't the healthiest. Chuck and Blair have hurt each other but they've also forgiven one another and are mutually supportive. Poor Dan did all the supporting.
I feel like I'm the only Gilmore Girls fan in the world who didn't like Jess and adored Logan. I generally like the bad boys so I have no idea why I'm such an oddball in this case.
You're not. Jess sucked. I preferred Logan as well.
I honestly don't know what woman can take into consideration all of things Chuck has done (specifically to Blair), and still manage to actively ship them with a smile on their face. The bad boy trope has to be done very carefully otherwise it runs the risk of being downright offensive and gross. That is precisely what happened to Chuck and Blair. I never liked them, but overtime, I literally grew to hate them. Worst. Couple. Ever.
I agree the trope needs to be deployed carefully. I think Chuck and Blair in early seasons do fit in pretty well within it, but in the newer seasons the writers have distorted it with Chuck never really 'breaking good' the way the trope calls for, which is why I think a lot of people, including me, moved away from the ship. I can't speak for current shippers, but maybe Chuck/Blair still falls well enough within the trope to keep people aboard.
Sorry, that comment was by me, I accidentally deleted it and it changed to Guest lol.
As a current shipper, I can state that for me personally the 'bad-boy-turned-good' has very little to do with why I ship CB. I am simply not particularly moved by that cliche - or by any cliche of a story line. For me it has to come down to the individual case of each couple: chemistry, acting ability, foundation, etc.
But I really do think you are underestimating the existence of the trope in later seasons due to your feelings regarding specific actions committed by Chuck. Chuck has apologized for the vast majority of things he has done and tried to reform since each incident, and made actual amends for most of them or performed heroic actions soon after.
I completely agree with this comment.
Nevermind...