The Cheerleader: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Sabrina:''' Oh! I'm glad you guys are home, I'm really worried about Valerie. She's fallen in with a bad crowd.
'''Zelda:''' [[Star Trek|Trek]][[Acceptable Targets|kies?]]
'''Sabrina:''' No worse, she's trying to become a cheerleader.|''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', "The Pom-Pom Incident" }}
|''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', "The Pom-Pom Incident" }}
 
In Hollywood [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders]]... until they actually get to know them.
 
In any [[High School]] setting, no [[Stock Character]] is portrayed as harshly as the'''The cheerleaderCheerleader'''. [[Beauty Is Bad|Cheerleaders are often depicted as outright evil]], with the [[Alpha Bitch]] as their leader. If the girls aren't evil they might just be [[Brainless Beauty|Brainless Beauties]], following their [[Alpha Bitch]] leader out of ignorance or a desire to be [[Popular Is Dumb|approved by her]]. The Captain, if not the whole squad, will usually portrayed as [[Really Gets Around]]. From evil to slutty to dumb, any cheer leader in western media can be expected to be portrayed as shallow and superficial because popularity is her first and only concern.
 
Even If a sympathetic, smart character is a cheerleader she will probably end up quitting the squad as part of her 'growth'. Apparently in Hollywood one can't be a rounded person and remain a cheerleader. A good girl might want to join the squad but her friend will think that cheer leading is inherently bad and try to stop her, leading to a lesson on how a person should get to do what makes her happy.
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This trope seems to have weakened slightly in recent years, perhaps due to the popularity of the ''[[Bring It On]]'' series of films. A sympathetic depiction is still the exception rather than the rule however. In fact, in a sign of how strongly rooted this trope is even media with relatively sympathetic depictions of cheerleaders will often feel the need to go out of their way to explain to the audience (via an outsider POV character like in ''[[Hellcats]]'') that cheerleaders can be good people too.
 
Male cheerleaders are sufficiently rare in fiction that they are usually developed as characters themselves rather than falling under '''The Cheerleader''' trope. A good rule of thumb is that if you see a male cheerleader then cheerleading will be depicted positively, or at least less negatively.
 
See also [[Jerk Jock]], [[Alpha Bitch]] and [[Popular Is Dumb]]. Contrast with the positive [[Cute Sports Club Manager]]. A cheerleader also has a better than average chance of being a [[Dumb Blonde]], but it isn't required. They can be [[The Fashionista]] sometimes but often suffer from a [[Limited Wardrobe]]: at least during school hours many cheerleaders never wear an outfit ''other'' than their uniforms.
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{{examples}}
== AnimePlayed & MangaStraight ==
=== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ===
* Mariko of ''[[Ranma ½]]'' is mean (using [[Martial Arts and Crafts|Martial Arts Cheerleading]] to sabotage the opposing team—and even her own if they're up against the boy she likes. "Dumb" is arguable, she may just have poor taste in men.
* Non-school example: The Gambee pilots in ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' treat newbie Sara about as badly as the cheerleaders in standard high school fare do the [[Cool Loser]] heroine. It escalates as time goes on (and as the STRAIN pilots attempt to befriend Sara), to the point where {{spoiler|after the "queen bee" of the group dies in combat, her friend lures Sara to a disused portion of the ship and she and several other girls start pushing her around. After a little while, however, the lead girl starts outright beating Sara, screaming "It's your fault she's dead!" and starts to go for a nearby lead pipe, at which point the other girls get horrified and start trying to talk her down. Thankfully, the STRAIN pilots intervene before things get worse}}.
* From the manga omakes, Eda from ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' used to be one when she was younger. When de-aged in said omakes, she hides from the others so they won't find out.
** She certainly looks the part, pretty, blonde, flirty (despite being a nun!) and easily distracted by a bag full of cash. {{spoiler|In a subversion, this persona is all but definatelydefinitely a front, Eda is pretty much a [[Guile Hero]]ine and an active CIA [[Action Girl]]}}.
* ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura|Sakura]]'': Sakura and most of her female friends are cheerleaders for Tomoeda Elementary School. See "Aversions" however, because they do not fit the stereotype at all, aside from being cute and popular.
* In the ''[[Pokémon]]'' anime series, Gary Oak travels around with a bevy of cheerleaders in the early seasons. Later, as he becomes nicer and more humble, he dispenses with them.
 
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
 
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Chassis]]'' included a cheerleader named Twist who became so obsessed with her favourite racer she started killing his rivals.
 
=== [[Film]] ===
 
== Film ==
* Pictured above, the Panthers from ''[[Fired Up]]'', although everyone else in the film avert the Trope completely.
* Breanna in ''[[ItsIt's a Boy Girl Thing]]'' is a trifecta of dim, evil and slutty.
* Christie Masters, the antagonist of ''[[Romy Andand MichellesMichele's High School Reunion]]'' was a cheerleader.
* Penny ([[Me's a Crowd|who alone makes up the entire cheerleading squad]]) from ''[[Sky High]]'', though being a [[Disney]] movie the slutty part is left out.
* Heather in ''[[John Tucker Must Die]]'' isn't ''totally'' evil, but she's still bitchy, shallow and vain.
* Priscilla (Jaime Pressly) in ''[[Not Another Teen Movie]]'' embodies this trope. She's even labeled on the DVD front cover as 'The Nasty Cheerleader'.
* The eponymous cheerleader in ''[[Jennifer's Body]]'' is vapid, rude and skanky... and that's even before she gets posessedpossessed by a demon.
* In ''[[Whip It]]'' the [[High School]] age [[Cool Loser]] heroine has a feud with the local [[Alpha Bitch]]. Said Alpha Bitch is a very minor character in the film but we do learn that she is a cheerleader, much to the heroine's contempt.
* Weirdly enough, this one was skewered in ''[[High School Musical]] 3''. The [[Alpha Bitch]], Sharpay, is not on the squad... and the only cheerleader we actually ''meet'' is Martha, the hip-hop loving nerd. Presumably, her [[Ascended Extra]] status from the second movie helped. In fact, the characters who would most fit the status are Sharpay (literal drama queen), Chad (basketballer) and Taylor (brainiac).
* In ''[[A Cinderella Story]]'', Shelby likes ruining the life of Sam, the nerd. She's portrayed as self-absorbed, bitchy, and spiteful, but its unclear how stupid she may be.
* ''[[You Again]]'' gives two examples, spanning two generations. Joanna (Odette Yustman's character) was Head Cheerleader and a particularly cruel and arrogant version of the [[Alpha Bitch]]. Gail ([[Jamie Lee Curtis]]'s character), also a former Head Cheerleader wasn't nearly as bad but was apparently pretty insensitive towards her less popular friends. Interestingly both characters matured into genuinely kind hearted, pleasant people after school. Maybe it's the uniform.
* ''[[Ninja Cheerleaders]]'' gives us April and Courtney, both of whom get quite nasty, but it's only in the line of duty (or whenever Courtney decides to insult the Y chromosome). Monica, the third girl, is the ditzy one, but none of them are actively shallow.
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', all the cheerleaders (including Buffy herself at the start of the movie) are shallow, nasty and stupid. When Buffy becomes the Slayer and gets [[Character Development]], she stops being a cheerleader. The episode of the show{{context|MOD: Which episode?}} was sort of a [[Continuity Nod]].
* The first ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'' film had a [[Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults]] scene where Sidney was forced to listen to a vapid and obnoxious cheerleader smugly analyse Sideny as being the killer (her friend who called this theory pathetic was notably ''not'' a cheerleader.)
* ''[[The Princess Diaries]]'' has Mia having to deal with the cheer leading captain and her followers.
 
=== [[Literature]] ===
* In ''Sweet Valley Twins'' (a prequel to ''[[Sweet Valley High]]'') #4 ''Choosing Sides'' Elizabeth doesn't like learning that her best friend Amy wants to be on the cheer leading squad.
 
=== [[Live -Action TV]] ===
 
== Live Action TV ==
* [[Alpha Bitch|Libby]] and her minions in ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', a series in which cheerleaders are treated as [[Exclusively Evil]] until proven otherwise. An entire episode was based around Sabrina freaking out over her best friend looking to join the squad (she gets over it but from her reaction you'd think Valerie had joined a cult).
* Lana Lang was a cheerleader in ''[[Smallville]]'' but quit to 'find her own identity'.
** Although the cheerleaders were not depicted as malicious or dangerous until much later, and then only in the single episode "Devoted." Lana's desire to leave the cheerleading squad had nothing to do with the squad's malevolence.
** No but it is a strong example of the 'you can't be a cheerleader and be an individual' side of the trope.
* Buffy in the television version of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' who after trying it for one episode never mentioned it again until helping out CordiliaCordelia with cheerleading in the XBOX game, set before the season 3 episode "Lovers Walk".
** "Witches" was the same episode which had an ex-cheerleader turned witch as the ''villain''.
** Cheerleader and antagonist Cordelia Chase was initially characterized as "shallow", "vain" and "self-centered".
* In an early episode of ''[[Married... with Children]]'' Kelly very reluctantly joins the Polk High cheerleading squad to get closer to a boy she is into. Very unusually cheerleading is portrayed as extremely uncool and Kelly outright refers to her fellow cheerleaders as geeks (though this could be seen as part of the 'cheerleaders are conformist zombies' section of the trope).
* Rachel in ''[[Friends]]'' was a cheerleader in high school. Sure, she's fairly likable as an adult but by all accounts she was an [[Alpha Bitch]] during her teen years.
* The Cheerios in ''[[Glee]]'' manage to hit nearly every stereotype on the list. However none of them hit the trifecta of mean, [[Really Gets Around]], and dumb. Quinn is originally an [[Alpha Bitch]] but also smart and though she gets pregnant it's from having sex once (whilst cheating on her boyfriend, but she still doesn't [[Really Gets Around|Really Get Around]]). She eventually turns into a [[Fallen Princess]] and {{spoiler|after gaining sympathy, rejects cheerleading}}. Santana is bitchy and [[Really Gets Around]], but doesn't seem to be dumb. {{spoiler|As offor ''Sexy'', it also appears that this is just part of her [[Armoured Closet Gay|armoured closet]]}}. Brittany is the traditional [[Dumb Blonde]] (to extreme levels), but she isn't mean-spirited at all. Terri is an adult former cheerleader and while dumb and bitchy, also was not a slut (marrying her [[High School Sweethearts]]). Sue Sylvester, the coach, is an UNBELIEVABLE''unbelievable'' Bitchbitch but is far from dumb. It's also implied that all the other Cheerios aren't too bright. In an interesting subversion, though, one of the Cheerios is consistently shown to be very bright (and also very bitchy, and very sneaky) - Becky Jackson, the forever-underestimated girl with Down Syndrome.
** Interestingly enough, despite the portrayal of cheerleaders in the show, cheerleading itself is still portrayed as a serious, legitimate sport, complete with competitions. To say Sue's collection of trophies is vast is an understatement, and it's even mentioned that several of the Cheerios were getting cheerleading scholarships.
** However, none of the main girls actually like cheerleading; they just do it because they want to be popular. In "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle", they all admit that they actually hate it. Because no one could enjoy cheerleading.
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* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': The head cheerleaders from season 1 and 2. Claire's fellow cheerleaders in season 1 are only background characters and the ones in season 2 are more afraid of the [[Alpha Bitch]] who's the head cheerleader rather than being cruel or bitchy themselves.
* An episode of ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'' has God ask Joan to try out for the cheerleading squad. This irritates Grace until Joan, disgusted by their treatment of one of the former captains after her [[Teen Pregnancy]] drama, shows up to the last tryout and delivers a cheer mocking the cheerleaders' shallowness.
* A mild example from [[The Office (2005 TV series)|the US version of ''[[The Office]]'']]: in "Booze Cruise" Katy is revealed to be a former cheerleader to Jim's dismay. He doesn't actually say anything about cheerleading as such but with his reaction (and Pam's, who teases him over it) the episode does seem to link 'cheerleader' with 'ditzy'.
* Played with in ''[[Desperate Housewives]]''; Susan was a popular cheerleader in high school and though she claims she was perfectly nice she did 'accidently' steal another girl's boyfriend and lumber her with an unfortunate nickname (Mike calls her on seemingly selective memory). Also many fans consider to Susan to be [[The Ditz]] anyway. A later episode also retroactively makes Bree's bitchy, slutty, dim daughter Dannielle a cheerleader.
* Done straight in the ''[[Cold Case]]'' episode "Stand Up and Holler": the victim was a pretty intelligent girl who joins her school's cheerleading squad. On the advice of the [[Alpha Bitch]]—who is the captain of the cheerleaders—she starts to hide her intelligence and focuses more on being cool. Before she is killed {{spoiler|by the [[Alpha Bitch]] and the victim's [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]}} she starts hanging out with the [[Cool Loser]] and decides to quit the squad.
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* Earl and Randy go to a cheering camp to take care of a list item in ''[[My Name Is Earl]]''. The coach was a former high school cheerleader back in her glory days, and now she is stuck teaching very [[Hollywood Homely]] cheerleaders. (One [[Fat Girl|fat]], one pregnant with her second child, and one with [[Braces of Orthodontic Overkill]].) Earl decides to help them win the championship.
* ''[[7th Heaven]]'' has an episode where Lucy wants to join but her sister Mary thinks it's stupid.
* One of these, Pamela, is the both the [[Alpha Bitch]] and the [[Asshole Victim]] in ''[[1000 Ways to Die]]''{{'}}s episode "Pam-Caked!". She's so jealous of her [[Lovable Jock]] rival Amber that she drops her in the middle of a presentation and makes her fall to the ground hard AND''and'' head-first... only to be [[Trampled Underfoot|accidentally trampled to death]] by the whole football squad [[Too Dumb to Live|because she stood up to brag about what she had done -- in front of the school banner, where the dudes couldn't see her.]]
 
=== [[Music]] ===
 
* The [[Cheer Up, Charlie Daniels|Cheer Up Charlie Daniels]] song "Pig Tails" is about a guy realizing that his girlfriend's like this (she's already a cheerleader, but as far as personality goes). He notes that she 'used to be sweeter', indicating that she may have been nicer before. It's [[Tear Jerker|surprisingly sad]].
== Music ==
* The [[Cheer Up, Charlie Daniels|Cheer Up Charlie Daniels]] song "Pig Tails" is about a guy realizing that his girlfriend's like this (she's already a cheerleader, but as far as personality goes). He notes that she 'used to be sweeter', indicating that she may have been nicer before. It's [[Tear Jerker|surprisingly sad]].
* In the music video for [[Lordi]]'s "Hard Rock Hallelujah" the metalhead girl is bullied and ostracized by a cheerleading squad... before Lordi shows up and {{spoiler|kills them. And then raises them as zombie thralls, which the metalhead girl then leads against the rest of the high school}}. It's pretty much every high school goth kid's fantasy.
* [[Taylor Swift]]'s ''You belongBelong withWith meMe'' has the girlfriend of the boy that the narrator likes as a cheerleader and a nasty, selfish bitch... who ''of course'' is rebuffed and dumped and humiliated by the main girl and the guy.
 
 
== Theater ==
* ''[[Legally Blonde]]'' ([[The Musical]]) ''loves'' this trope and plays with it in a really confusing way: Serena is a cheerleader and a sorority member, but sorority girls are supposed to be the good ones here. Yet she's slutty, but not the sluttiest Delta-Nu. And she knows how to use her sex-appeal, but is also willing to teach other non-cheerleader women to gain confidance by doing the same.
 
=== [[Theatre]] ===
* ''[[Legally Blonde]]'' ([[Thetheatre|Legally MusicalBlonde]])'' ''loves'' this trope and plays with it in a really confusing way: Serena is a cheerleader and a sorority member, but sorority girls are supposed to be the good ones here. Yet she's slutty, but not the sluttiest Delta-Nu. And she knows how to use her sex- appeal, but is also willing to teach other non-cheerleader women to gain confidanceconfidence by doing the same.
 
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' plays this straight. Not only is Mandy Wiles, the team captain and [[Alpha Bitch]], a jerk, but the other three girls (Pinky, Christy and Angie) on the squad are much nastier while in uniform than when they're not.
* Sandy in ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' seems to fall under the "dumb and pretty" version of the trope—her major purpose in the game is to be the helpless victim kidnapped by the mad scientist and his family, thus motivating her cool boyfriend and his highly-varied friends to ride to the rescue.
* In ''[[Pokémon]]'', [[Moe Moe|Plusle and Minun]] act as cheerleaders.
* Juliet in ''[[Lollipop Chainsaw]]'' subverts the trope as a heroic cheerleader, but in Stage 2, she finds her squad has been zombified, going so far as to rally other zombies in a darkly perverted version of their cheer:
{{quote|'''Zombie Cheerleaders:''' You all suck and we are great! D-d-d-decapitate!}}
 
=== [[Web Animation]] ===
 
== Web Animation ==
* Cheerleader in [[Homestar Runner|Teen Girl Squad]]. Though, she's not always an actual cheerleader—when questioned about why she's not leading cheers during a football game, she claims that "I'm only a cheerleader [[Genre Savvy|in the way I dress, and the way I treat other girls]]".
** [[Retcon|Although another has her claim "I'm off duty!" after being lifted by Cheerleader Brian]].
 
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* ''[[Vampire Cheerleaders]]''. Lori values [[Team Spirit]], so the backstabbing sort can't get into the A Team, and while they tend toward power-drunk, they also got good reasons to have ''some'' caution, what's with being vampires. This makes them somewhat above average, but they still mostly fit the bill. As such, they [[Unfit for Greatness|while not malicious, have at most vague notions of how to handle their power with anything that resembles responsibility or good sense]]. Heather eventually learned to think for herself, but it took more than a bit of shock to get there. The B Team, not being vetted by Lori, seems to be much the same, but if they reactions at the audition tell anything, more poisonous.
 
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* Lindsay in ''[[Total Drama Island]]''. She's a much nicer person than many characters on this list but she more than fits the [[Brainless Beauty]] side of the trope.
** Played straight with Heather.
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* In ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]'', the [[High School]] that the heroes attend includes a troupe of mean cheerleaders.
* In the ''[[King of the Hill]]'' episode, "Lupe's Revenge", a female police officer claims to have been a cheerleader back in high school. While it's never shown what she was like back then, the fact that she's shown [[Dirty Cop|badly abusing her power]] in the present doesn't exactly defy the stereotype, now does it.
* Beth, in the pre-cutant animated ''[[Polly Pocket]]'' movies, is a cheerleader. She's Polly's main High School rival.
* Head cheerleader Connie D'Amico on ''[[Family Guy]]'' is mean and spoiled.
* Stacey, Tracey and Lacey in ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]''.
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' 'Spin-Off Showcase' episode Lisa refused to participate in a cheesey family variety show so was recast by a pretty blonde cheerleader who, while nice enough, is decidedly less intelligent.
{{quote|'''Fake Lisa:''' "I'm Lisa Peppy, blonde and stunning. Sophomore prom queen five years running. Go Lisa!"}}
* Subverted with the Ashleys on ''[[Recess]]'', as their not shown as cheerleaders in the show, but they end up going to cheerleading camp in ''[[Recess: School's Out]]''. In the same movie, T.J.'s older sister [[Bratty Teenage Daughter|Becky]] is one of these, as pom-poms can be seen in her room at one point.
* ''[[Kick Buttowski]]'' gives us true demonic cheerleaders. In one episode Brad is tricked into thinking he's in a real relationship with the beautiful Kelly, only for the viewers (and Kick) to find out that it's a part of the initiation ceremony of becoming a cheerleader - to date a loser. Even when we think Kelly is going to show sympathy she show her true evil cheerleader colours with the rest of them.
* Sissy from ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', the school's [[Alpha Bitch]] and a majorette; not truly evil, but an annoying rival. Hilariously, the episode where this was confirmed was "Zero Gravity Zone", where XANA's scheme was first noticed when she was practicing with her baton - and it never came down.
 
=== [[Real Life]] ===
 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120422160525/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241901,00.html The Fab Five scandal at McKinney High School] in McKinney, Texas.
== Real Life ==
* [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241901,00.html The Fab Five scandal at McKinney High School] in McKinney, Texas.
* At many Hell Houses that are held by [[Holier Than Thou|fundamentalist Christians]] on Halloween, cheerleaders are shown having [[Good Girls Avoid Abortion|abortions]].
* When she was in high school, schoolteacher and convicted murderess Pamela Smart was a cheerleader at the Pinkerton Academy.
 
== Aversions ==
 
=== Aversions[[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* Mostly averted in the ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' anime. The three cheerleaders: Madoka, Sakurako and Misa are more or less fun -loving girls of average intelligence. Unless you count Misa's [[Wife Husbandry|plan to "score points" with the 10 -year -old Negi so that she'll have a cool younger boyfriend once he grows up a bit]]. A plan the others heartily embrace.
 
** This is any dfferentdifferent than most of the rest of his class ''how''?
== Anime & Manga ==
* Mostly averted in the ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' anime. The three cheerleaders: Madoka, Sakurako and Misa are more or less fun loving girls of average intelligence. Unless you count Misa's [[Wife Husbandry|plan to "score points" with the 10 year old Negi so that she'll have a cool younger boyfriend once he grows up a bit]]. A plan the others heartily embrace.
** This is any dfferent than most of the rest of his class ''how''?
*** The fact that she's supposed to be one of the few girls in the class that already has a boyfriend, for one. Then again, he may not actually exist, as we haven't ever actually seen the guy.
* Also averted in ''[[Heroman]]'', where Lina is nice and pretty cool to be with, but her brother is a douche. It's difficult to say about the other cheerleaders, who don't have enough screen time to be fleshed out at all.
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* Suzuna Taki from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' is friendly and intelligent, especially compared to her idiot older brother.
 
=== [[Fan Works]] ===
* Averted with the Gryffindor cheer squad established by Hermione and ghost!Usagi in the ''[[Harry Potter]]/[[Sailor Moon]]/[[Ranma ½]]'' fic ''[[The Girl Who Loved]]''. It's made up of some of the canonically nicer girls from not only Gryffindor but also Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.
 
=== [[Film]] ===
* As mentioned above ''[[Bring It On]]'', which is probably the first time cheerleading was portrayed as a genuine athletic pursuit in media.
* ''[[Fired Up!]]'' plays with the stereotypes but ultimately portrays cheerleaders with affection and some respect.
* In ''[[But I'm a Cheerleader]]'', the protagonist even explains to another character why she loves cheerleading, and using it as a form of self-expression turns out to be a major plot point in the climax. Oh, and she's gay.
* ''[[Dodgeball]]'' has a likable male cheerleader as one of the main cast and his cheerleader love interest is also depicted very positively. It also what is possibly the first ''male'' cheerleader to fit this trope.
* ''[[The Blind Side]]'' has [[Spoiled Sweet|Collins]] as a cheerleader.
* Heather McNamara from ''[[Heathers]]'' is arguably the nicest of the [[Alpha Bitch]] [[Girl Posse]] and is the only cheerleader of the group.
 
=== [[Literature]] ===
 
== Literature ==
* Though it's technically not cheerleading, the characters in ''The Kayla Chronicles'' assume the girls on the school dance team are shallow and appearance-oriented, only to find that most of them are intelligent and willing to stand up for themselves when necessary.
* Flores Quintera in ''[[Spellsinger]]'' turns out to be a very intelligent [[Action Girl]] suffering from a glass ceiling. She wanted to be an astronaut, but she's [[So Beautiful It's a Curse|too pretty to be taken seriously]] and living in the 1970s, so she ended up taking a communications course at university to get in on the public relations end of the space program, and only joined the cheerleading squad because women at her university aren't allowed to join the actual football team.
* [[Subverted]] in ''[[The Squad (novel)|The Squad]]'' by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. The cheerleaders are the members of a Junior CIA group and their ditziness and/or bitchiness is just an act to maintain their cover and keep people from probing them too closely. Chloe is ''genuinely'' bitchy to Toby, but that's because she thinks that the addition of Toby to the squad threatens her position on it, given their common area of expertise.
 
=== [[Live -Action TV]] ===
 
== Live Action TV ==
* Cindy on ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'' was a little shallow and humorless, but on the whole she wasn't mean or stupid.
* Jenny on ''[[The Hard Times of RJ Berger]]'' is a total [[Spoiled Sweet]] Cheerleader. She's so sweet that she's in a [[Betty and Veronica]] with the main character and his childhood friend with a crush on him and manages to be the likeable one!
* As a TV show about college cheerleaders, ''[[Hellcats]]'' has all kinds of personalities in the squad, only one of whom fits the typical cheerleader stereotype (and that's only until you get to know her).
* Played with on ''[[Glee]]''. Santana and Quinn seem like the typical cheerleader stereotype, but then Quinn becomes a [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]], and there turns out to be a [[Armoured Closet Gay|reason]] for Santana's bitchiness. Brittany also seems like a [[Dumb Blonde]], but she is really much more of a [[Cloudcuckoolander]]. Mercedes and Kurt don't fit any cheerleader stereotype at all. By Season 3, Becky Jackson has the [[Alpha Bitch]] thing down, but is neither stupid nor slutty.
* Averted in ''[[Eureka]]''. Being that the city is composed entirely of geniuses, even the cheerleaders entertain themselves by talking about chaos theory inbetweenin between games.
* ''[[Penn and& Teller: Bullshit!]]'' argues that some feminist activists who argued that cheerleading should not be classed as a sport were driven by their anti-cheerleader prejudices. Most of the real-life cheerleaders who appear in their show generally fit the normal well-adjusted teenager model.
* Claire of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' was a good person who enjoyed parts of cheer leadingcheerleading. At college she meets a girl she starts to make friends with who was also in cheer leadingcheerleading.
* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''; Kimberly was one in Junior High; in High School she mentors a younger teenager who idolizes her. Said younger teenager is captured by Rita's goons in the main plot, and [[Pity the Kidnapper|proceeds to use her cheer technique to drive them nuts.]]
 
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
 
== Webcomics ==
* Alex, Sam, Lita and Jo of ''[[The Wotch]]'' and ''[[Cheer]]!'' are the very antithesis of the stereotypical cheerleader. Of course they aren't exactly [[Gender Bender|typical girls]], either.
* In ''Vicki Fox'', her new roommate Ceri worries at first that she will turn out to be this type ([[Averted Trope|she's not]]).
* Caliban Academy's cheerleaders from ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'' seem pretty ordinary. Then again, not many have been shown, and only once did a named character go for it—Corrie, who drew some slight attention for her wool pompoms.
 
=== [[Web Original]] ===
* Gregg Easterbook of [[ESPN]]|ESPN.com]] takes time out of his football column every week to debunk this stereotype, by highlighting some NFL cheerleader who is well educated (most of them are) or has a day job helping others.
 
=== Web[[Western OriginalAnimation]] ===
* Gregg Easterbook of [[ESPN]].com takes time out of his football column every week to debunk this stereotype, by highlighting some NFL cheerleader who is well educated (most of them are) or has a day job helping others.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* The eponymous heroine in ''[[Kim Possible]]''. Most of the other cheerleaders we get to know are okay too, Bonnie is the only one who is shown to be [[Alpha Bitch|mean-spirited]] and Tara was the only one implied to be [[The Brainless Beauty]].
** And even so Bonnie's personality is shown to be less about her being a [[Jerkass]] per se, and more [[Freudian Excuse|the product of having to deal at a young age]] with [[Jerkass|her older sisters]].
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* ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]'' manages to be in the straight examples ''and'' aversions sections of this page. While most cheerleaders are portrayed as vapid and bitchy, Kimmy is actually revealed to be much more than that [[Beneath the Mask]]. Jury is out on the rest of the cheerleaders.
* Lisa, Amy and Janet from ''[[American Dad]]''.
* Malina, the main female character of ''[[The Emperor's New School|The Emperors New School]]'', is a cheerleader who cares about studies and ethics. In fact, one episode shows that cheerleaders at Kuzco Academy are required to keep high grades and that A minus isn't considered high enough.
* Miss Martain/M'Gann in ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' joined the cheerleading squad but is one of the heroes, as well as being usually a friendly and nice person.
* Penny from ''[[The Amazing World of Gumball]]'' is one of the nicest characters in the show. The title character has a crush on her and it's shown she feels the same about him, but neither have the courage to say it.
 
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