Betty Cooper from “Riverdale” (2017 — Present) and The Archie Comics (1939 — Present)
Betty Cooper. Topper of her class. Editor of the school paper. Owns a cat. Always helpful. Never mean. Great baby sitter. Almost always wears her hair in a neat, little pony tail. Dresses in a way that’s attractive, but not what they call slutty, and in a way that’s just wholesome enough to not be matronly. Blonde. Blue eyed. Pretty. Little Miss Perfect. The girl everyone wants you to be.
That’s the Betty Cooper I know from the Archie Comics. She’s the reliable, wholesome, nice girl who lives down the street. And the fact that she’s easy on the eyes doesn’t hurt at all.
I love this version of Betty. As a huge fan of the Archie comics franchise, I must say she fitted perfectly into the happy, sunny, caricature world, and contrasted or complimented so well with all the characters. She’s absolutely adorable, pleasant and comforting, though one dimensional like the world she belongs to and the members who inhabit it.
But would a Betty Cooper exist in the real world? I suppose that’s what the TV show Riverdale has attempted to explore. That’s what it’s attempted to do with the entire Archie universe, but badly, with its clumsy, unconvincing and cheesy plot lines.
Anyway, the Betty Cooper in Riverdale has layers. She’s got almost all the traits of her comic version, but she’s more… well… interesting. Relatable in some ways. More real. Nuanced.
She’s got a tense relationship with her mother who’s just a bit too overbearing. Her father is in jail, her sister’s in an asylum run by creepy nuns, and she has an estranged half brother. She’s got mental health issues for which she takes medication. She joins the local gang to look out for her boyfriend, and has engaged in the occasional gang fight. She does a weird strip tease in a run down club in one episode. She dresses up as a dominatrix and teaches a certain misogynistic douche bag a lesson with the help of her friends in another.
She’s not afraid to blackmail people to get what she wants. She sneaks people out of creepy mental asylums and assists in jail breaks. She’s like the local Nancy Drew looking into all the weird mysteries around town and plunging head first into dangerous situations.
This version of Betty is nice, but just nice enough. She’s not as warm, welcoming, comforting and predictable as the comic Betty. She’s mysterious. She’s got a dark side. She’s cunning when she needs to be. Heck, she’s a potential serial killer! She’s got layers. Deep ones.
But we have to understand one thing about the comics Betty. The Archie Comics were created in 1939 for fun reading for Teenagers. They were supposed to be all happy-go-lucky, sweet and funny. And that’s what they are! The characters may be one dimensional, but that’s exactly how they’re supposed to be! They’re not supposed to be complicated.
I really, really love the comics Betty and while her soul is as shiny white and squeaky clean as anything can be, TV Betty’s soul has a whole wide range of colors.
Sure, she’s the girl next door. But she’s so much more. She’s not as simple as you want her to be. She seems sweet and pretty, but she’s no fairy princess. She’s bold, sexy, inquisitive, smart, cunning, mysterious, surprising, adventurous and a fierce, fierce companion. She’s everything and nothing like you thought she’d be.
I’ll admit that a lot of characteristics of the TV show Betty are quite a stretch. But then most parts of the show itself are a stretch too far! My point here is that humans are creatures of nuance. Our characters are all varying shades of gray. No one goes through life being one dimensional. (But I suppose the makers of Riverdale overdid that bit. No, they actually overdid everything about the show!)
The story of a girl who looks perfectly put together on the outside, but is silently battling a mental illness and tendencies to get violent, while dealing with an imprisoned father and overbearing, spiteful mother could have been convincing. Add to that all the mystery solving and spunk. And voila! We could have had a winner! A complex, interesting character. If only they had cut down on the strip teasing, gangs, dominatrices, and cheesy mysteries devoid of logic. Oh well!
(Images from various sources on Google.)
