The girl next door is a young female stock character who is often used in romantic stories. She is named so because she often lives next door to the protagonist or is a childhood friend. They start out with a friendship that later often develops into romantic attraction. A similar expression is "boy next door".
A girl-next-door character is often portrayed as natural, innocent, and unpretentious. Evoking nostalgia, she is associated with small towns and local or even rural ways of life. [1] For example, the actress and singer Doris Day, "Hollywood's girl next door," renowned for her rom-com film roles in the 1950s, pioneered the type in film. [1] [2] On television, the sitcom Gilligan's Island offered the character of Mary Ann Summers (portrayed by Dawn Wells), with her girl-next-door allure in contrast with the glamorous movie star character Ginger Grant (Tina Louise). [3] The show's long popularity led to the question "Ginger or Mary Ann?," a shorthand way to ask someone whether they preferred a girl-next-door type or a glamorous type. [4]
The love triangle is a common trope in fiction and often involves a male protagonist caught between his desire for two women, one of them the "sweet, ordinary, and caring girl next door" he grew up with, the other a more well-off or beautiful woman of lower morals. The male may pass over the latter for the girl next door, [5] or may himself be ignored by the beautiful woman as she pursues a more desirable man. [6] [ better source needed ]
