Is it because she's perpetually cheery and optimistic? Because of how up-front she is with Arnold about the fact that she doesn't "Like him, like him"? Because all the other characters (except Helga) really like her?
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Why was she always described as being funny? I always found her to be...horribly unfunny, nothing funny about her. She was too perfect.
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"This is good... Isn't it?"
Because most fans want Helga and Arnold to be together, and Lila is sort of the antaganist.
What you /f/e/e/l/ is what you are; and what you are is {b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.}<3
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I always kind of liked Lila. Not as much as some of the other characters, but she was much better than Ruth, at least, who came before her.
I don't recall seeing Lila as a threat to Arnold/Helga ship, though. But what did annoy me was Arnold's constant crush on her, which was his own fault.
Lila was a twat. I'm not sure y exactly but she def rubbed me the wrong way.
i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now
I always kind of liked Lila. Not as much as some of the other characters, but she was much better than Ruth, at least, who came before her.
Because most fans want Helga and Arnold to be together, and Lila is sort of the antaganist.
I think Lila gets an bad rap in this regard-- she's no threat to a potential Arnold/Helga relationship. Hell, if anything, she's the only reason that potential is even there. If she "like liked" Arnold, they'd be together and Helga would be pushed aside. It sounds like people might be mad at Lila for attracting Arnold...? That's silly. It's almost like some of the fanbase is taking on Helga's personality... kinda scary.
She also gave Helga her spot in the school play so Helga could kiss Arnold, and kept Helga's secret without telling anyone.
And people don't like it when she says "Ever so"? I think it's cute.
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you just compared lila with taylor swift. another good reason to dislike lila...she may be ''nice'' but she rubs people the wrong way.
http://www.myspace.com/450983229
them haterz can't tell me nothin
I like Taylor's music and think she's cool, but I'm not a big Lila fan. Don't hate her guts or anything, and there's obviously nothing wrong with being a sweet, kind, nice, tolerant, caring person. I just think they deliberately made her all that, in an annoying way...y'know how sometimes you just want to punch out the relentlessly cheery, perpetually peppy and perky little ray of sunshine? (Yeah, I'm more of a Helga, myself, lol.) Lila always came across as Little Miss Perfect Goody-Two-Shoes, ya know?? And kind of flitting around airily all the time. Maybe she was sincere, maybe not, but girls like her can be awfully irritating. On the other hand, it is pretty cool that she remained so consistently positive and upbeat in spite of her relative poorness.
shareI know a couple people like that, who are like Lila. I can barely tolerate being in the same room with them, it's so annoying. >_> Yeah, no problem with being nice, but to be a little Miss Perfect/Goody Two Shoes is different.
Like the proverbial cheese, I stand alone. Even while seated.
Yeah, tell me about it--folks like her quickly begin to grate on the nerves!!
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"If you don't have anything nice to say...come sit by me!"
Because most fans want Helga and Arnold to be together, and Lila is sort of the antaganist.
eh, I don't dislike her, I just found her 'ever so's annoying. Other than that, I am indifferent towards her and I do sort of like her. Of course, I was annoyed at Arnold for falling for her over Helga (although who can really blame him when Helga acts so mean towards him most of the time?)
shareI agree the one thing that bugged me about her was "Ever So"
shareI never disliked her because I thought she was competition for Helga, but because she feels unreal as a person and I do not agree with her views on what it means to be 'feminine' either: quiet and non-argumentative, always nice and dainty with polite topics of conversation. Like as a woman you need to keep your opinion to yourself, never get upset in public, always smile, and never use lewd 'unlady-like' language. GAG.
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^re-watch "Helga's Masquerade"
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I had a feeling you were referencing that episode. I don't think Lila necessarily thinks that women should all be perpetual, smiling personifications of sunshine and rainbows-- she was just teaching Helga how to get along better with people, and of course, like EVERYTHING, Helga took it too far (but that's another story).
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Tbh, i thought Lila was a bit too unrealistic as well. Sure, there are girls like Taylor Swift or Reece Witherspoon who embody that kind of perfect sweetness, but that's just an image they project to the public. Im sure if given a chance to see the real them behind the cameras, they are not all sweetness and light. The problem with the Lila character is that, unlike Arnold, she was never shown to have any character flaws that made her more realistic, and therefore more relatable, to people. No one, as in no one, can always be that effortlessly nice and perfect all the time. Sure, she may have had her flaws but we were never given a glimpse of it. Being poor and not having a mother in her life are not what I would consider personal flaws. In regards to Arnold being the female Lila, thats true to a certain extent, but he was also shown to have some flaws which made him more human. For example, he seems to be a bit superficial since he falls quite easily for pretty girls, such as Ruth. Plus his obsession with chasing after Lila despite her numerous rejections of him bordered on the pathetic, especially when he resorted to using Gerald's little sister just so he could hang out with her (Lila). That doesn't mean I hate Lila though, like I said, I am indifferent to her but I wish they could have fleshed out her character just a little bit more. She's too one dimensional for my taste.
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She had a crush on Arnie and completely disregarded Arnold who was ten million times better than him. It was just silly.
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens
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Why does being mean always equate as being "real" to some people. I hate when people say that because it paints this picture that niceness is just an illusion, and all people are really genuinely nasty at their core and there's no such thing as niceness at all. I'll admit that I do find Taylor Swift annoying, but I honestly think that her Disney Fairytale Princess personality is her actual, real, genuine personality. I'm not saying that Taylor Swift DOESN'T have a nasty side to her since we all have good & bad in all of us. Of course behind closed doors her loved ones have seen her bad side and know what she's like when she's angry or in a bad mood, but I do think that deep down inside her true colors truly are the personality that she displays to the world. Genuinely nice people (at their core) DO exist in this world you know.
despite living in a ghetto environment
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Last I checked Lila didn't live in a tenement, so it wasn't the ghetto. She just lived in a small apartment in the same neiborhood as everyone else; she was zoned to go to the same school as the rest of the kids, after all. I think you trying to backtrack your bigotry is what's silly here.
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Internalized racism is a thing.
shareI have a love hate for Lila. On one side, she's very sweet and down to earth. However on the other, the whole pefectionist thing can be very grading.
"I'll go,because I am Cinema!" - Ben (Man Bites Dog)
I imagine it's because Lila is the epitome of the classic "Mary Sue" character (quoting from the Hey Arnold wiki): "she's as smart as Phoebe, as stylish as Rhonda, and the most popular girl with the boys." Even though this may have been done intentionally, as parody, it doesn't make her character any less irksome for me.
I've subjected her character to several Mary Sue litmus tests, and each one ranked her highly within the Sue-spectrum. You're encouraged to do the same, as my knowledge of her mannerisms, skill set, and background is based solely on memory and a short wiki article.
Of course, this method isn't fail-safe (most of the tests I found make the assumption that I am the character's creator and ask questions accordingly). But maybe it will provide you with a little insight on why so many people deeply dislike her.
Incidentally, this article provides an interesting historical/cultural analysis of the character-type Lila embodies: http://www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM
I always saw her as a contemporary "Beth March" figure to Helga's "Jo March." The "nice girl" trope has existed since Shakespeare's time. Little Nell in Dickens' Curiosity Shop, Beth March, Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Fantine in Les Miserables, etc. all are unrealisitcally kind, ideal young women who die out of cholera or tuberculosis, the "angelic death."
I have a feeling if the series garnered toward adults, the poor girl would probably have ended up dead by the end of the series because she was "too kind for the harsh realities of the real world."
I think I remember when I was a kid that I disliked Lila because I really wanted Arnold to be miserable. He seemed to be too much of an optimist, and I didn't really like seeing him win at everything. I guess Lila gives Arnold his flaw. I have a love/hate thing going on with her because she can complete Arnold, yet I'm glad he can never get her. I'm a terrible person.
shareMy personal opinion is that Lila was just another replacement for Ruth. She was just someone for Arnold to pine over, but never have. Also, like others have said, she is just too unrealistic. She is the ultimate Mary-Sue (aside from Bella from Twilight) and it's just hard to tolerate someone THAT perfect. Another reason could be is that fans despise her for the same reason that Les Mis fans (in my opinion, mind you) hate Cosette. She is just another obsactle standing in the way of Arnold & Helga getting together, just like Cosette stood between Marius & Eponine.
So they call me a cockeyed optimist, immature and incurably green
it's not that hard to figure out, its how she leads arnold on. Lila grew up on a farm, that says a lot about what kind of girl she is lol. & I can't beleive lila would choose arnie (arnold's cousin) over arnold, she has freaking weird taste in men, and the fact she would choose arnie & openly flirt with him in front of EVERYONE even arnold is like a BIG "*beep* you" to arnold. the girl has problems and needs to raise her standards. im sure arnie reminds her of the guys she grew up around on the farm & brings a sense of familarity to her, thus causing her to be attracted to him, but the funny thing is that arnie had absolutely no interest at all in lila, which made her even more crazy over him, that's the messed up thing.
Lila is the nice popular girl that everyone loves (except helga for obvious reasons) but sometimes i feel there is another side to her that isnt so sickly sweet or nice....idk i think lila has a thing for guys that aren't attractive & don't want anything to do with her, and she also likes to string nice guys like arnold around, i wouldn't be surprised if she used him for a rebound one day. Just watch the episode where arnold & lila "date" & there are other episodes where arnold is pining after lila....what i don't get is why lila deceided that she thought she "like liked" arnold after finding how he "like liked" her, but then after "dating" for like a day & "thinking" about it some more, lila deceided that even though she knows arnold STILL "like likes" her she just up & deceides that she doesnt "like like" him anymore, & she still acts super sweet to him in that "oh i know u want me but u cant have be so im gonna have fun flirting with other guys while u suffer over not getting me but its ok because we can still treasure our ever so special friendship that will never be taken to the next level"...lila FRIENDZONED arnold, & he is never getting out, i feel sorry for him :/