As Brenda Walsh on “Beverly Hills 90210,” Shannen Doherty represented a little bit of reverse typecasting. She was a dark-haired, sultry magnificence, her green-eyed gaze peeking out by way of lengthy bangs, however she performed the great woman — a Midwestern virgin misplaced within the Sodom of Beverly Hills. Equally forged in opposition to kind, an angelic-looking blond, Jennie Garth, performed Kelly, a sophisticated and skilled SoCal vixen — Brenda’s finest good friend and, generally, treacherous rival.
Had Aaron Spelling intentionally got down to reverse the Betty/Veronica pop-culture (and deeply Eurocentric) stereotype, wherein blonds are virtuous and brunets harmful? Perhaps. (The outdated Hollywood model of that is the Nineteen Fifties tabloid feud between horny brunet Elizabeth Taylor and candy blond Debbie Reynolds, who had been mates earlier than Taylor “stole” Reynolds’ then-husband, Eddie Fisher.)
However the age-old dichotomy got here roaring again anyway, within the type of a “90210” backstage plotline: Doherty developed an off-camera “dangerous woman” fame. Rumors flew about her allegedly demanding and entitled habits on set. She was a Veronica, in spite of everything. Co-stars — reportedly together with Spelling’s daughter, Tori — complained, till lastly, in a much-publicized transfer, Doherty was fired. The fallen angel was expelled from Eden.
It was a setback for Doherty, but additionally a traditional instance of how a lot popular culture depends on tales of fine and dangerous ladies, each onscreen and off. Nevertheless troublesome male actors is likely to be, we hardly ever get a lot element about their skilled habits. Nor do males elicit something like the extent of ethical judgment ladies do. However ladies’s (particularly younger ladies’s) “goodness” — whether or not as depicted in a tv present or assessed of their private lives — stays an inextricable a part of their picture.
Doherty was finally welcomed again into the Spelling universe with a starring function in “Charmed,” a collection about three brunet sisters who occurred additionally to be precise witches. Her redemption appeared full — all three had been good witches! However even right here, the story line steered the double lives all ladies are suspected to have: The “Charmed” sisters should preserve their powers a secret and attempt to dwell ostensibly regular lives (there are shades right here of the outdated Nineteen Sixties reveals about ladies pressured to cover their magical powers: “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie,” wherein every principal character was virtuous and blond however had a disruptive brunet alter ego).
But Doherty was introduced low once more by her personal troubling offstage self. She left “Charmed” in 2001 amid rumors she was slated to be fired. The onscreen Glinda-the-Good-Witch persona couldn’t outweigh the offscreen Depraved-Witch-of-the-West one. “Charmed” had all the time been in regards to the epic battle between good and evil, and conveniently, no matter her acutely aware intention, Doherty appeared to maintain enjoying out this wrestle herself. Her life and habits simply match remarkably neatly into this standard paradigm.
Doherty’s largest wrestle, after all, got here along with her most cancers prognosis in 2015, which she met with dignity, grace and frankness, demonstrating the maturity and knowledge she’d acquired with age. She turned a vocal advocate for educating the general public on most cancers. She gave frequent updates about her personal situation. When her well being worsened, in 2023, she launched a podcast, “Let’s Be Clear,” speaking actually about her life, profession, sickness and relationships.
Amid this medical disaster, Doherty appeared to search out consolation in spirituality. In a single 2023 interview about her grim prognosis, she mentioned: “I’m not afraid of loss of life, as a result of I do know the place I’m going .… I feel I might be afraid of loss of life if I wasn’t an excellent individual. However I’m.”
As her remarks remind us, the good-girl/bad-girl motif is absolutely only a small a part of a a lot bigger, extra profound narrative about heaven and hell, sin and morality, a story that underlies a lot of Western civilization — and with which ladies are sometimes way more burdened than males, doomed to be assigned one finish or the opposite of this spectrum.
Doherty couldn’t win her battle with most cancers, sadly, however she did triumph — over her bad-girl persona, the a long time of dangerous publicity and the constraints of a popular culture storyline that lengthy predated her and can doubtless lengthy outlive her: the one wherein younger ladies, particularly those that match a sure stereotype of the sexualized, dark-haired magnificence, are scrutinized, judged and sometimes convicted within the public creativeness. It shouldn’t take the tragedy of most cancers, although, to be seen as worthy of redemption, or higher nonetheless, to be worthy of a extra advanced, trustworthy and human narrative.
Rhonda Garelick is a distinguished professor of English and journalism at Southern Methodist College and the creator of a forthcoming e-book on trend and politics.
