The Power Of The Bad Boy — The Lexington Line

What do Joe Goldberg, Chuck Bass, and Damon Salvatore have in common? Is it that they’re all leading male characters on popular young adult TV shows? Or how about that they’re all apart of infamous relationships? While those are both true, it comes down to them all being terribly toxic characters that we can’t help but love—myself included. I know they aren’t great, but it’s a guilty pleasure. Nonetheless, a guilty pleasure is no excuse to love a character that nearly raped his frenemy’s sister and one of his best friend.

P.S.: Spoilers ahead!

Writers and directors do a fabulous job of taking these “bad boys” and making our hearts lure towards them. We’re completely compelled and captivated by them, but tell me, are they actually good people? Even looking back at Grease, was Danny Zuko really all that? Sure, he had looks and charm, but he also pretended not to know Sandy, embarrassed her, and almost tries to force himself on her.

In case you haven’t seen any of these shows, here are some highlights of the worst things they’ve done:

Chuck Bass: Sexual assault (Jenny and Serena), and continuously hurts Blair a lot (I mean… he tried to exchange her for a hotel). We could make a whole article on every wrong decision he made with her.

Joe Goldberg: Attacks people for no real reason, puts people in cages for no real reason, even kills people for no real reason … I mean, he does everything for no reason, but tries to say it’s “for love.”

Damon Salvatore: Turns people into vampires for no good reason (Abby, Vickie, etc.), he uses Caroline as his slave in season one, and kills many people; even his brother’s friends—not the best choices.

Now that we know why they can be the worst characters ever created, why do we still love them?

Looks: While this is completely a personal opinion, many of these bad boys are often talked about as very attractive. As stated in the tweet above, there is the “Ted Bundy Effect.” While not all of these characters are serial killers, Joe Goldberg definitely is. What’s his dead body count at? Like 8?

Sporadic Acts of Kindness: A lot of these characters did some really unforgivable things, but they also had some very amazing moments too; a lot of which had to do with their love interest. Some of his best moments are when Chuck tells Blair he loves her, when he tells Blair he’ll love her baby even though it isn’t his, or just whenever he comforts Blair in general. For Joe, he always seems to take care of kids with absent or abusive parents. He always looks out for Paco and Ellie, no matter what. With Damon, he’s always trying to save Elena. The way he does it may not always be the best way to go about it, but it’s obvious he truly does care for her. Every once in a while, he does help Stefan out too when he goes off the deep end.

Family Issues: Chuck’s, Joe’s, and Damon’s parents were not the loving family you could hope for. Every single one of these characters lacks a good childhood. Chuck’s mother abandoned him while his father was cruel towards him his whole life, even leading up to trying to have Chuck killed. Joe and his mother were abused by his father. Also, Joe was often neglected by his mother and ends up in the foster care system. Damon’s father was also abusive, and his mother presumed dead when he was barely an adult.

Many of these scenes are completely heartbreaking when looking at their past. No child should have to suffer and not receive love from a parent. It’s not a shock that this pain stood with them and had a great effect on who they are.

Do these three reasons outweigh all the bad? I know a lot of us can find one way or another to look past their wrongdoings, whether it be because they’re attractive, or because they do great and selfless things sometimes. Feel free to drop a comment below about why we love these characters so much.