The Princess, or the popular girl, is a female stereotype used heavily within teen film. The princess can play the role of either the protagonist or antagonist, although how these two types of princess are portrayed differ. In The Breakfast Club (1985) this role is filled by Claire Standish, played by Molly Ringwald.

In The Breakfast Club, at first glance, life seems to be going well for Claire. She is rich, attractive, and even says herself: “I am so popular. Everyone loves me so much at this school.” However, as with each of the archetypes examined within The Breakfast Club, there is much more to Claire than simply being the popular girl. Throughout the film Claire talks about the pressure she faces as one of the most popular girls at school. She never chose to be popular, instead having popularity bestowed upon her. Outside of school, her life is much more meaningless, with an unhappy home life and the feeling that her parents don’t actually care about her. The contrast between the person Claire presents to the world and the person hiding beneath the surface, is a concept used time and again in teen films.

The princess is an archetype used time and again in teen film. We can see how this character is used over a decade later in the film Clueless (1995). This film follows the story of Cher Horowitz, played by Alicia Silverstone, a character who symbolises the princess archetype to the extreme. Take for example the opening scene. The film begins with a montage of Cher living her life, this includes scenes of her shopping at designer outlets, driving the car paid for by her father, and associating with other individuals who are codified as being attractive. The following scenes continue to show Cher using, what was at the time, a futuristic device to coordinate her outfits while she describes her life through a voiceover. This voiceover reveals that her ‘daddy’ earns five hundred dollars an hour while the film shows Cher in a clearly expensive house with staff. The following scene shows an emotionally distant father who buys his daughter’s affection. The father even describes his own parents as ‘braindead lowlifes’.

While the princess in Clueless does not go through the same struggles as the princess from The Breakfast Club, the style of the film very obviously portrays the same archetype. Cher is presented as an attractive individual from a wealthy background; each aspect of her character is carefully developed to display her archetype as the princess, or popular girl, as clearly as possible.

From these examples the princess archetype could be defined as follows: An attractive individual with a strong sense of style, a charismatic personality, and from a wealthy background. The princess has often done little to earn this popularity, instead gaining it simply because of their family status or attractiveness. This unearned popularity is often the root of the character’s narrative arc. While these rules do not hold true in every example, they can be used as a good starting point for identifying this archetype.