Not like other girls

Not Like Other Girls seems a bit confused. It seems like three tropes at once.

• An accidental Backhanded Compliment to the girl in question, where the girl is stated to be not like other girls.
• The girl herself claims to be not like other girls.
• The narrative itself treats a character as not like other girls.

I figured I would discuss this here before starting a formal TRS thread.

Edited by randomtroper89 on May 11th 2024 at 9:08:54 AM

I think the point of this trope is, in fact to describe and highlight a general philosophy rather than just whenever it's codified as a remark made by a character or used to describe oneself. It's on a line similar to Real Women Don't Wear Dresses, basically encompassing an idea that can be either pushed by authors or simply discussed in works as a narrative tool.

If you believe there is enough of a specific fission of how the trope is used that you believe deserves attention, a wick check would most certainly be useful. However, just going by instinct, I'm not entirely sure it needs TRS attention.

My feeling is it's heavily misused and needs restructuring. I think a wick check for TRS action is proper.

On the discussion page it's pointed out that there is overlap with You Are a Credit to Your Race, which covers randomtroper89's first point.

The trope is when being "not like other girls" is treated as a good thing. Whether the girl in questions thinks so, or someone else does (or the narrative), is less relevant.

Edited by kundoo on May 13th 2024 at 6:34:31 AM

I think it is trying to trope a meme but never actually found a definition. Most of the examples are less "Different compared to other girls as a whole" as it's trying to describe at first and more "Different compared to this specific group of girls." The first is comparable to a Flawless Token with Stop Being Stereotypical undertones, which might have something interesting buried in there. The second is just Fish out of Water dealing with a Girl Posse, and we're getting a number of Tomboy vs Girly Girl examples.

The original TLP / YKTTW was just for it being a Stock Phrase as its older than the rule banning those as tropes, here it is from 2010:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=gdz508onj53853nne9r6s5kd

I think it's morphed a lot over the years to try and and cover the meme.

I hear the phrase and I immediately think of Manic Pixie Dream Girl. The two would kind of go hand-in-hand, wouldn't they?

I don't see how Not Like Other Girls is related at all to Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

I do, a love interest who fits a lot of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl character traits (goth / alt fashion & music tastes, quirky / arty personality, not into pink and mainstream trends and so on) might get told or say she is "Not Like Other Girls"

It's more in the implication that there is an "ideal woman" that men are attracted to. A Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a specific archetype and often contrasted with The Ingenue who is comparatively bland. Not Like Other Girls is broader in concept, the meme is partially on the idea that they aren't going to be a Wet Blanket Wife and will allow their love interest to have certain indulgences.

I agree with number9robotic and kundoo, the trope is about the notion that not being like the other (traditionally feminine/attractive to men) women is positive. I don't think it's intrinsically splitworthy based on who the "believer" (the author, the in-universe society, or the NLIG-girl herself) is. Misuse or scattered usage would be another thing but there's been none presented thus far.

...I thought "not like other girls" had more to do with the girl's own personality, as in they're supposedly not as shallow or prone to "drama", not about the girl's appeal to boys. But I may be thinking more of the IRL phrase (which itself is something I only have limited exposure to, entirely limited to online fora condemning it) than the trope (and may not even be getting that entirely right).

Edited by MorganWick on May 20th 2024 at 10:36:13 AM

That's not that far off. "I'm not like those other bimbos who only care about [feminine things], I'm [not that]". What the 'other girls' are supposed to be is fairly setting-dependent (in a period context it might be the ability to snag a good husband by being very ladylike, in a modern context it might be the popular, gossip/drama loving cheerleader-type) but the sentiment is the same.

Edited by Synchronicity on May 21st 2024 at 1:22:50 PM

I have a problem with its description. It reads like "a character (usually male) comments a female character is not gender-conforming, and the female in question (usually) hates it", but its actual usage seems different.

I suspect thats mostly Trope Decay at work "man describes a woman that way and she hates it" seems to have been what the original TLP / YKTTW was going for and it's shifted over time I think

That means a wick check and a TRS will be needed anyway.

So the original idea was that the phrase was something used by the man, but the memetic/stereotypical use by women themselves has potentially caused some drift? Might be a good idea for a rename and potential split then.

I think the implications are the same - the speaker thinks that a girl is exceptional (ergo better) because she doesn't conform to whatever feminine stereotype the speaker expects. (Hence the comparisons to You Are a Credit to Your Race and Real Women Don't Wear Dresses - the latter seems like a subtrope that just specifies dress-wearing as the stereotypical trait she defies.) That's true whether the girl is the speaker or not.