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Does anyone think this show has flaws when it comes to the liars?

posted 8 years ago by sarahbbbyyy
10 replies | jump to latest

It seems that each one of these characters are only three dimensional when we actually see them in their relationships with one another or their families but they seem all to fit into a stereotype that is very two dimensional.

Emily- Sporty
Aria- Artsy
Hanna-Girly
Spencer- Smart

It seems that these girls all have very similar personalities and even one of the cast members said the same thing when they were talking about their favorite show. I do not remember which one. They said that unlike "this show", Pretty Little Liars main characters personalities kind of blend together(sorry, I am not too articulate but hopefully, you guys understand) and they are not completely distinct. This show is too dependent on the stereotypes(which is what I am saying).

Hanna is the dumb blonde who loves fashion, actually ending up getting a career in it(let's not forget that her love for it more superficial than anything and is kind of insulting to anyone who actually is passionate about it) and because she is the "dumb" one, she is always the one who puts herself in danger and makes stupid decisions. I mean, Hanna is supposed to be ditsy, not actually stupid.

Aria is defined by her relationship with Ezra most of the time, so it is really hard to pin point. However, she far more pleasurable in the way she is presented because she is feminine and not different for the sake of being different, unlike characters similar to her in other shows. She is still similar personality wise to almost all the girls.

Emily is just sporty and not good in school, so she does not get in anywhere nor does she continue to go to college after her father passed away. Either way, she is literally used as lesbian decoration, instead of given something to do.

Spencer is apparently the only smart one that has common sense. However, there are people on the show smarter than her that is not the liar. She is just the smartest liar. It is still pretty insulting that she is the only one that has any use when it comes to A and is the only one that is considered smart at all. There is such a thing as people that are on top of their class but that does not make them intelligent on every level. Why not give every single girl common sense on certain areas or knowledge in some places that Spencer is not good in. Also, it is okay to diversify Spencer's personality a little bit. Instead of making her good at everything, she can be knocked down a peg because the other girls also have something to offer in intelligence. Look at Caleb. He was not a top student but he was smart because he had incredible common sense. Spencer was not always that way but since she is the "smart" one, she is the only one that is helpful.

Unlike the show Gossip Girl(I do think Pretty Little Liars has a lot of positives that the Gossip Girl does not), this show does not treat the main female characters like equals. Okay, so Serena gets everything she wants because of her looks and Blair has to work a little harder. However, Blair is still 100 times smarter and has a set career by the end while Serena has basically nothing, which shows her being a spoiled brat can not get her everything. Unlike Hanna, Serena grew up with an amazing education and was never really ditsy. She was getting bad grades but not because of lack of intelligence but because she was a troubled girl who never paid attention to where it counts. She was also not a schemer and was more naive, which is why she came off stupid(like actually stupid, not ditsy) most of the time. However, she actually made sense. The only thing that did not make sense is how the characters forgave her so easily. Sorry, off topic. Anyways, what I mean is Hanna is more like a caricature because she literally puts herself in danger not knowing that it is stupid, like why do the writers insist on making her look like that when she has had so many moments of common sense beyond the other people on the show. She is stupid when the writers want her to be and smart when they want her to be. It is like a split personality. It is also apparent a lot of the times that she is ditsy, not stupid while the writers seem to make her actually unintelligent in a lot of moments.

So my point is that one is that instead of them being distinct individuals with their own talents and smarts, they are all very similar unless the writers decide a different route for their character to only make one of them seem useful and adequate or the opposite.

Sorry for how long this is. I want to make sure I got all my points down.

[–] vafla9 8 years ago

Hanna was actually shown to have emotional intelligence in the first seasons. She comforts Emily when she is tormented about her sexuality, is there for her mother when she has financial and personal problems and even struggles to understand why Mona did the horrible things she did. It's too bad that in the later season she gets flanderdized into a ditzy girl. Same goes for Emily; she was not book smart but was able to help people with other methods: she helped Paige find her love for swimming again, helped Toby when everyone was mean to him etc.... However now she has also been downgraded to fancy window dressing with a revolving door of women ("How are we suppose to introduce this character? Oh, just let Emily date her or something..."). Aria lost her entire character to the creepy Ezria "romance" which is too bad because she had a lot of potential meaning that Spencer is the only one that actually continued to develop while the other three just hit a brick wall at some point after the second season.

[–] sarahbbbyyy 8 years ago

Yeah, that is exactly what I mean. They all had so many amazing qualities in the beginning of the series that they sort of lost only for Spencer to be the star intelligent girl the whole way through. It is a tad offensive and not exactly good for a young woman to be seeing, since it makes some of the characters look like they could not have it all.

Like I said, Emily is just there for decoration, Aria is literally ALL about Ezra, Hanna is there to make Spencer look good because she is "dumb", and Spencer just keeps growing while being able to look down at the others while she does it.

[–] perfect_lover2012 8 years ago

I don't think she looks down on them but most of that problem is really the actresses vs the writers. Shay wanted Emily to basically be her, they ignore Lucy begging them to give Aria more A drama and stuff to do, and Ashley likes all of the stupid blonde moments. Troian is the only one who really focuses on the character and gives her opinion on what to do next. I think the rest of them stopped caring once the quality declined. It doesn't help that Marlene is obsessed with Ezra so Aria was going to be ruined no matter what. There was still hope for Emily and Hanna but oh well. The only season that Spencer didn't have a good storyline was 7A and it was really boring because of it. They made her such an important part of the show and it's hard to watch when she's not doing anything and Mona isn't either. They should've replaced Emily with Mona.

"When life gives you lemons"
Jessica D: sleep with their fathers and have secret lemon children

[–] sarahbbbyyy 8 years ago

I think Troian is very talented but I think all of them take their jobs incredibly seriously. However, the writers are always taking the fans opinions into account. It is one of Marlene's biggest faults. I mean, look at the result of the romantic ships on this show, like you said about one particular relationship in your post. Without Ezra and Aria in the beginning, the show did not have much of an excitement factor that had young girls jumping in to watch the show, so they glorified this relationship and made it seem like they were living this epic romance. The fans are also always debating who is the best actor on this show more than any other. Maybe, because of the dramatic, mysterious elements that this show has. Marlene probably picked up on the fact that Troian is loved for her acting and because her character is incredibly detailed and focused on unlike the other girls, so they just keep pushing her down our throats while putting the other girls in the back burner.

Look at the Spencer and Caleb ship for example. Hanna and Caleb definitely do not have the same interests but they are both blunt, stubborn, and opinionated. However, Caleb was just one of the only characters that had any common sense, which is why he became a much more popular male than Ezra and Toby, who were only their because of the ships. Also, do you remember the comment that Caleb made to Hanna in Season 5 where he was reading a comic book and Hanna was grilling him for not taking the high school exit exam seriously. He said "when they ask who signed the Declaration of Independence, I'll write Daniel Day Lewis." His sarcasm showed that not only is he really smart at knowing what he lacks in but also that he has never been school driven or book smart. He is just smart in a very realistic way who also is an expert in computers and technology. Again, that is only one thing that he just happens to be a genius at, which all human beings have, no matter how smart or dumb we think they are.

Spencer and Caleb seemed like the perfect fit because she is the only one who was on his level of intelligence. With Caleb, it was at least just very natural character writing and development where Spencer is only smart because of how much she studies and she is the only one that the writers want to make intelligent. It just makes the other girls look like pieces of furniture who are there to entertain you when it has nothing to do with the stalker that seems to follow them around. People say that they are a good match because they are so much alike. They do have similar personality traits as well but when the writers just make them the only smart ones who can actually help with the mystery, it just makes everyone else appear useless.

[–] perfect_lover2012 8 years ago

I think all main characters on these shows start with one characteristic and they branch on from it. Aria's the worst about it because she doesn't really do anything. She's the only one who never gets involved with A and no one mentions this to her which is just an LOL given how the PLLs interact. They treat her as the fragile one who can't handle it. But before I go off topic I discussed on here before that Aria's the only one who doesn't actually have defined character traits. If we look at it all of them have their own hobbies or interests outside of their relationships that they actually do in their spare time. Spencer strives to be the best. She's incredibly intelligent and her downfall is that like Mona, she can be pretty arrogant in her intelligence. Arrogance will always lead to error and she likes to be right which she admitted to Jason hence mistakes made. I think beyond her intelligence, Spencer is just a very hard working and determined individual compared to the rest of them. We also have to keep in mind that Spencer is the only one with an older sibling who is pretty much perfect so that need for her parent's acceptance and her need to feel good enough compared to Melissa drives her even more. The other parents accept their daughters out of love rather than their achievements. Aria's pure wish fulfillment. She's allegedly the artistic one who is so mature. How do they show this? Aria picks up random hobbies like photography and she's magically great at them out of nowhere only to give it up and find something else to do. Emily at first was the perfect daughter. She worked hard in school/studied, great swimmer on the team, friendly, and polite. They stuck more with the swimming and she went from the honest PLL(she still is) who is too trusting to just doing randomly unsafe things and bumbles around trusting the shadiest people on the show without a care in the world. She also developed a bad mean streak. Lastly, Hanna was supposed to be of average intelligence IMO who didn't care about school(she's the only one who didn't take any advanced classes and spends more time partying to be popular). Then in season 3, they decided that they loved Hanna's dumb one liner and that became her character. They weakly tried to correct it with the secret genius plot but it just made her look dumber and the writers seems unintelligent. I mean the girl went from being emotionally intelligent in season 1 to not being able to read her own financial aid packet. Hanna's biggest problem should be her laziness not her stupidity but now she's stupid and lazy. Good job writers.

"When life gives you lemons"
Jessica D: sleep with their fathers and have secret lemon children

[–] sarahbbbyyy 8 years ago

Okay, here is the thing where I disagree with you when you said that the other parents accept their daughters out of love rather than achievements. Look at Hanna's father and the way he has treated her. He seems to be living the life with a family with a step daughter who he could be proud of. I always felt that he was ashamed of Hanna because she did not match his level of success in education(I assume he was successful in that because he is successful in a career and seemingly wealthy). Her being overweight and a loner kid on top of that probably was not something he was incredibly happy with when he was raising her because he clearly does not love her at all. There are plenty of times where Kate makes her feel inadequate and she is clearly beating her in winning the affections of Tom. Since Hanna loves her father and sometimes begs for his attention, you would think the writers might have made her super determined to do better, so her father can actually be proud of her in something. However, the writers treated her like a caricature(even though I personally believe Ashley Benson is very talented and gave depth to her character).

Like you said, Aria got a random bunch of hobbies that were never mentioned before, so she is automatically good at them because it is an interest under the "arts". The same thing can be said about Hanna too. I mean, look at her. She is the ditsy, girly blonde. So, of course she only loves to shop all the time. Also, it did not stop there. She also ends up working in the field of fashion, even though she has never shown interests in art or design, so of course, let's sent her off to FIT, like what? Not only that, Caleb break ups with her because she focuses on a job that he clearly does not understand. He is a man who is not into fashion. Of course, he does not understand. Plus, why would he when everything that she loved about fashion seemed incredibly superficial from the beginning and not a genuine interest stemmed from using fashion as self expression or loving creating things based on color. I mean, I do not know.

Plus, Spencer, she is the smart one. Let's send her to Washington. I mean, thank god she did not become a doctor because that would have been even more obvious but it's like they are shoving these girls into boxes while the only reason I think Spencer's is the most detriment is because intelligence is a human quality and once one girl has ownership of that, she will rise above all the other characters in every situation, making everyone else incompetent in the process.

[–] perfect_lover2012 8 years ago

Sorry I meant mothers specifically but I didn't catch it to edit because the dads are pretty terrible overall. I don't even bother dissecting Tom as a parent because he only wants to be a father if he can be a husband. His interest in the child is directly tied to his ability to have sex with the mother. He was willing to drop Isabel and Kate for Ashley Marin when they considered getting back together. He's truly a selfish person and thankfully he's not on the show anymore. Lol I agree that the writers don't really understand fashion. It's very difficult and she wouldn't just get into FIT(apparently she just knew that she wanted to go into design) with her grades or when she didn't want to intern in high school with a designer because it was unpaid. Anyone serious about fashion would've taken that opportunity. I honestly didn't have a career in mind for Hanna at the time but I think she would make a great event planner. Her interest in fashion is very superficial and they ignore that you need to be good at math, marketing, and research for the fashion industry. I just think Hollywood always goes for the easy way out. Hanna's blonde and shops. That has nothing to do with design all that shows is that she likes spending money on clothes. Maybe have her work in marketing? As far as Caleb is concerned, that relationship would never work and they'll have the same problem later down the road. He doesn't respect her career and he doesn't like fashion. Caleb also likes to disappear when he wants and sulk when he's angry. Spencer being a doctor would be crazy to me lol I could see Spencer and Mona working in research or Spencer being a detective if she wanted to. She would need something exciting but then as a detective I fear she would get a little to caught up in solving things. I think they all take their characters seriously but I imagine Lucy would get tired of asking the writers repeatedly to give her more to do. They all know how she feels and the fans but still nothing.

"When life gives you lemons"
Jessica D: sleep with their fathers and have secret lemon children

[–] sarahbbbyyy 8 years ago

Well, I got into FIDM in California with a C average. These kinds of schools are top notch for design but I doubt they require the grades to be stellar. However, FIT might be different. It is just very odd considering she is not actually into designing or has never shown interest in it before. That career choice was given to her solely on the fact that she is the most superficial one, which feels very sexist. Even the careers of the other girls with the exception of Emily felt like a slap in the face. I mean, yes, Aria was always passionate about journalism. However, there is no way she could have had a career in it given that she never really made the effort throughout the entire show. It was very much one of her few talents, yet she never ran with it and wanted to be a photographer at one point. Weird! Anyways, to be honest, it would have made more sense if Aria wanted to pursue fashion. She was very artsy in the way she put together clothes and people like that are way more likely to be fashion designers than girls like Hanna. She probably does not even know how to sew a button or draw anything at all. Fashion designer? Yeah, okay. It is actually very sexist that they would treat Hanna like a complete bimbo and the career of fashion into a frivolous one. The way they made Spencer throughout the entire show very preppy with a boyish mentality should have been changed, made more feminine and then, she should have been written to have an interest in fashion since the girl is rich, living in the East Coast with all the resources to be involved in it. Hanna and Emily are the only ones that it does not seem a realistic outcome for, so yeah.

I mean, look at how I brought up Gossip Girl. On that show, every single of the girls love fashion, so it is treated like a genuine interest or something that every girl likes but very few go beyond just the superficial love of it. (All the guys on that show are also completely nonjudgemental and think it is charming unlike *cough Caleb) Then, all of the women would be basically created equal because if only one person does like on Pretty Little Liars, then Hanna's character treated as if she is a frivolous person for loving it. That is not true because it is a part of a women's identity to look feminine and to want to look nice. It is like an insult when done the stereotypical opposite all the time, especially to the women that are usually in FIT who are mostly very nerd like or tomboyish who just happen to love designing. Those are the kinds of people that are becoming fashion designers(and gay men). Lol

Sorry, I am a little too obsessed with the fashion side because it is something I am passionate about.

Trust me, I get it. When I saw how they got back together flash forward 5 years, their relationship was such a waste. If they properly developed Caleb's character and not make him grow completely backwards, I would think they would have lasted for a very nice long time. However, the writers screwed up and made his relationship with Spencer happen only to bring it back to the formerl, which just did not work. They lost the spark and love they once had. They are now together because they have to be. The Caleb we fell in love with earlier would have never judged her. He did when they were not together but had grown to love her for it. He was also so independent. Now suddenly, he gets upset because they do not spend enough time together BECAUSE OF HER CAREER, WHICH IS IMPORTANT TO HER? Okay...

Spencer could probably do anything. Her foot is basically everywhere when it comes to her knowledge. I can however imagine Mona being a scientist for some odd reason.

[–] perfect_lover2012 8 years ago

Don't worry about it I'm enjoying your posts a lot because they're detailed and offer a different perspective. Mona would be great at so many fields and I think she would make an excellent scientist or researcher. Preferably she chooses something that doesn't rely too much on interactions with other people lol she can be very charming and likable but if she meets another Alison then who knows what will happen. I don't know what to say about Emily's career choice. I always imagined that she would be a sports therapist because she loves swimming but her passion for it goes beyond her own ability to swim. She genuinely likes helping and coaching others. I guess the swim coach position will be temporary. It fits her sure but I wanted a bit more just in terms of storyline. I'm shocked that Aria didn't go into fashion. She was interested in reading and she wrote some but I don't think publishing fits her the more I think about it. Aria just seems like a fashion/vegan food blogger who would travel and write her own books. I know she's writing with Ezra now but that's more of a project that highlights their relationship and not Aria as a person. Traditionally feminine characters always get the short end of the stick in mainstream media. To be intelligent you can't care about anything other than reading and making obscure references to music and literature. Newsflash smart people have other interests. I love to read and shop because they both relax me in different ways. People are layered and one of my favorite shows Gilmore Girls is guilty of this as well. Basically anyone who doesn't speak quickly while reading 24/7 is considered dumb and it's just not true. I will always be disappointed in Aria's character the most because the Aria we met years ago seemed independent, street smart, a true romantic but she was also quick on her feet and defended her friends. They just removed everything from her character to make Ezra more important. I also have to point out the writers making fashion into this hobby for dumb people looks really foolish on a show where all of the PLLs dress well. They clearly all care about fashion but they have different styles.

"When life gives you lemons"
Jessica D: sleep with their fathers and have secret lemon children

[–] sarahbbbyyy 8 years ago

Yeah, I imagine Emily becoming a sports therapist too but not so quickly like the other girls in their careers. She does seem to really be good at that area. All of the things that these girls are doing though is too obvious. If only they explored careers different from their "stereotype", then it would be more realistic since there are so many options for career choices. That attempt to make Hanna some kind of school genius should have helped work in her favor because she got into good colleges, she could have been something amazing. Yeah, if Aria is as artsy as people say she is, then why not? It really does not make sense since you are right that her career in writing is directly connected to Ezra. It is pretty irritating that everything to do with her is connected to him when she was supposed to be one of the smartest people in the beginning of the show and the voice of reason. Spencer was supposed to be smart yet erratic and neurotic, so someone needed to calm her down but she became the only one that is useful and apparently can have it all. Feminism really has not come far. It is like we are saying women are equal when they fit into a male description, which is not exactly healthy, which is why girls are even worse with their treatment with other girls who happen to be feminine. I get tired of those movies where a girl has to change her image in order to fit the standards when they could be all the things they liked without being deemed superficial. A girl is suddenly a "princess" like Caleb called Hanna in the beginning if she likes to shop. It is like, "guys, you can not have it both ways where you want her to be feminine to a point where she is attractive to bone yet not feminine enough where you think she is frivolous and stupid. No, you can not have it both ways. You either accept her for who she is or not and do not assume she is stupid because it is just sexist to think being a woman is anyway stupid" because that is what they are basically implying.

I know what you mean about Gilmore Girls. There do a good job in a lot of ways though too like the Gilmore's are incredibly feminine and intelligent at the same time. They still have a long way to go like remember that girl Jess used to date, Shane? I actually felt bad for her the entire time Rory, Lorelai, and even Jess kept insulting her. "There is nothing wrong with that girl other than she is with what you think is 'your man." Jess insulting her because she does not use the proper English word for whatever she is feeling. That is a part of society and the way we communicate with each other and most of us know the proper way to speak but when we are around people we are comfortable with, it just makes things more easy going. It is actually a huge part of sociology. It does not make any person stupid. Rory slut shamed her, called her dumb just because she was jealous and Lorelai acting like it is not okay for Jess and Shane to say hi together without having a full out intellectual conversation. It is insane.

Most shows do that to characters who are dumb, making fashion the one and only hobby for them. Unlike I said about the show Gossip Girl because in that, even the men wear suits and actually understand why the women love it so much. They are very much supportive of the fashion interest, even though I have already said. I am a little repetitive, my bad.

You are right though. They all care about fashion but in so many different ways. Hanna is girly, Aria is also girly yet edgy, Spencer is preppy and rich as hell, so there you go and even Emily has a more feminine stance on things.

I agree about Aria. These girls need to be treated equal. There are a lot of good influences on young girls in a lot of ways as well but still, like Gilmore Girls, have a long way to go. Her and Emily need to be independent from their seemingly unhealthy relationships. Spencer and Hanna are the only ones that seem independent yet Hanna was always be the dumb one despite how tough and resourceful she is as well. I do like however that Aria is not different for the sake of being different. She is very girly yet likes to wear wacky clothes. I actually like that. Her and Hanna had this one scene where they were talking about how cute a certain outfit and accessory was. It was a very cute moment between them and I remember it for some reason because how giddy they were about fashion in that moment. Yeah, this show definitely needs a reality check but it's too late since it's ending. Hopefully, future shows that are especially female centric can do better.