Why can’t the Bad Girls Stay Bad?
By Sue Ellen Melo
1/31/04
General Hospital has had a history of bringing on some fabulous bad girls. Carly
Corinthos and Elizabeth Lancing both got their start on GH playing first rate
schemers and opportunists. Lucy Coe and Heather Webber are still remembered to
this day for their devious actions. There are some vixens of GH that are just
bad to the bone and beyond redemption such as Tracy Quartermaine and by the look
of things, Faith Roscoe. But it seems that inevitably, these women that you love
to hate turn in to kind and compassionate pillars of the community. Most often
they are reformed by the love of a good man as in the Case of Elizabeth and Lucy
when Lucky Spencer and Kevin Collins came in to their lives. Carly too, was
changed by love. However, Carly at least has maintained her spunk and
resourcefulness. Others like Katherine Bell were changed by circumstance, being
shot by Stefan Cassadine.
For the most part, once a bad girl is turned good, whatever the cause of that
change, they stay good always and forever. There are a few exceptions to this
rule such as Katherine Bell. After spending time with Helena Cassadine, she came
back to town badder and more insensitive than ever. I think this is a shame that
these changes are so permanent. Turning a bad girl in to a saint is rather like
de-clawing a kitten and still allowing it to be an outdoor cat. It weakens them
as a character.
Let’s face it, the world is not black and white. Baring this in mind, it makes
no sense to give the show’s female characters such complete personality over
halls. I realize that some people like their characters to be clearly defined as
good or evil. But it is much more interesting to watch character’s who have that
edge to them. Like it or not. Bad is more interesting than good.
Some of my favorite moments on General Hospital have involved bad girls.
Elizabeth creating havoc between Sara and Nicholas by planting condoms in one of
their shopping bags, Heather and Amy Vining getting in to a knock down drag out
catfight over Heather’s involvement with Joe Kelly right there in the hospital,
Carly oh so skillfully ingratiating herself in to Bobbie’s family while subtly
putting the moves on kindly Dr. Tony Jones, or Lucy Coe making a bet with Damian
Smith that he could break up Bobbie’s marriage just for kicks: These were
priceless moments that will always be remembered by dedicated GH fans. Now days,
watching Elizabeth, I just want to throw things and tell her to stop her
whining.
There doesn’t seem to be as much of these problems with the men on the show.
Most of the GH males are men with dark souls but they have hearts that can love
if you look hard enough. Even the good males such as Lucky and Dillon are
portrayed as the type that could get in there and fight if called upon. It seems
that there is a double standard on the shows. Men are allowed to be both good
and bad while women are either saints or tramps.
I wish the show would allow its women to maintain their strength and not
transform its female characters in to paragons of perfection. Let the bad girls
keep some of their bad to be used at appropriate times. I think it will make the
characters more interesting and fun to watch.
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