Lakisha Prestone. The name sends chills down my spine, legs,upper arms, chin, ankles, rib cage, neck, and all the other body parts she was known to bruise when someone dared to challenge her. This menace to 3rdgrade society pounded the school-yard like a jheri curled Gestapo, kicking butt and taking lunch money. And she didn’t just bully innocent kids who were her age yet half her size. Lakisha, a.k.a. “Grizzly”, was known to punk out a few yellow belly teachers. That’s pretty much how she financed her college education. By the way, it’s Dr. Grizzly now.
According to Maria Lamia, Ph.D's article in Psychology Today, Why Bullies Are on Top, bullies can come in all shapes, sizes, and psychological dimensions.
But in the world of classic television, this character cliché is much easier to nab. Just look for the one with ratty clothes, bad hair, a snarly voice, and some physical inferiority. The Bully shows up in practically every show featuring kids or happy people. Their penchant for impeding on everyone’s happiness is the fact that they live a hardknock life. They are prone to manipulative tactics for setting their victims up for failure in order to publicly humiliate them. It's like how "Lucy" from the Peanuts never failed to dupe Charlie Brown, with the old Football trick.
Dr. Lamia states in her article that real life bullies are "notorious for misusing power". She no doubt studied the antics of "Louie DePalma" from NBCs Emmy Award winning sitcom "Taxi". The quintessential bully, Louie was a pint sized, power hungry terror whose greatest joy was making life miserable for his subordinates.
Danny DeVito as "Louie" in "Taxi"circa 1978
Napoleon complex, much?
SomeT.V. bullies are so horrific that you never even have to see them…you just feel their ominous presence. For eight seasons of NBCs “DifferentStrokes”, “The Gooch” terrorized poor Arnold, played by the late Gary Coleman, without ever once showing up on the show.
"Different Strokes" circa 1979
The Gooch is on the prowl...
What makes this character type so prevalent in the television formula is its relationship to the main character, the "hero"of the story. Every hero has to have something to overcome, and what better way to demonstrate this by having him taunted every few episodes by a mean, fear-sniffing psychopath? Occasionally, we witness The Bully get his comeuppance by the hands of his latest victim, usually portrayed in another classic t.v. character cliche, The Underdog.
We'll take a look at The Underdog and its variants, The Dingbat or The Dork in my next post.
Stay tuned!
We'll take a look at The Underdog and its variants, The Dingbat or The Dork in my next post.
Stay tuned!
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