80 Years of 'Cool Girl': Actor Shares Eye-Opening Take On Female Archetype
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The "cool girl" trope seen in film and media has continuously evolved out of the spotlight, but now, a California-based voice actor wants to highlight how the character has changed to match gender expectations—and break down the internalized misogyny associated with it.
In a satirical Instagram video shared on May 3, voice actor Tawny Platis reenacted how the "cool girl" has been portrayed over the decades. Katherine Brodsky, a freelance correspondent for Variety and creative content producer in the film industry, told Newsweek that the "cool girl" is a cultural archetype shaped by the male gaze—an idealized fantasy of what men want women to be.
Always a male fantasy wrapped in cultural nuance, the "cool girl" is the woman who loves sports, eats junk food, looks flawless, never asks for too much, and never nags. She was designed to complement to the male lead—a woman who reflects his likes without ever challenging his autonomy. In each era, she shifts to embody what society, and especially straight men, found ideal at the time.
"I wanted to show how each decade demanded women perform a different version of 'effortless' appeal," Platis, 34, told Newsweek. "I began with the proto-cool girl from the 1950s who could 'spar with men but still end up domestic' and follow the evolution into increasingly impossible standards that seem to hold a mirror up to the societal hive mind at the time."
Using vocal modulation and character acting, Platis recreated the signature sounds and vibes of each decade. Her 1950s version speaks in a smoky transatlantic accent, bringing to mind performances by silver screen stars Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn.
"I keep up with the boys and I'm always in control," Platis told viewers.
2000s "cool girl" Megan Fox at a screening of the new film "Transformers" at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, Australia on June 12, 2007 (L) and 1970s "cool girl" Farrah Fawcett arriving at the Golden...
2000s "cool girl" Megan Fox at a screening of the new film "Transformers" at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, Australia on June 12, 2007 (L) and 1970s "cool girl" Farrah Fawcett arriving at the Golden Globe Awards Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California in January 1977 (R). More
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While in the 1970s, she channels late actress Farrah Fawcett with a dreamy voice: "You don't have to worry about clarity, commitment or confrontation."
By the 1990s, she mimics a peppy, upbeat tone, similar to characters like Rachel Green from the sitcom Friends.
"I love sports, and I never get mad when you're late...I'm hot and never clingy, I guess I'm just not like the other girls," she said.
The 2000s "cool girl," echoing Megan Fox's performance in Transformers, says in a sultry deadpan: "I'm effortlessly sultry and emotionally flat, especially when I'm fixing cars in a crop top."
The 2010s voice is lifted almost directly from Amy Dunne's famous monologue in Gone Girl. Platis even quoted: "I eat junk food...I never complain."
Her final persona—the 2020s "cool girl"—marks a shift from mimicry to authenticity. Jennifer Lawrence recently took on a modern iteration of the "cool girl" trope in the 2023 film No Hard Feelings.
"My voice is real and emotional. I'm not chill. I'm complicated, I feel everything, and I'm done shrinking myself to be digestible. I get to be loud, needy, and messy," she said.
From left: Voice actor Tawny Platis at her recording studio; and in her viral Instagram video.
From left: Voice actor Tawny Platis at her recording studio; and in her viral Instagram video.
@tawnyplatis
How the Cool Girl Has Changed
Platis explained that the "cool girl" trope, regardless of era, has always been about packaging female identity to serve male comfort.
"She was meant to be the exception that proves the rule," she said. "She validates male interests and behaviors while requiring nothing in return. Each generation just updates the costume."
Brodsky seconded this, adding that the trope has showed up in various forms over the years including as the "manic pixie dream girl" who revives a disillusioned man's spirit, the tomboy who eventually "softens" to become more desirable, and the femme fatale who intrigues and disrupts but always orbits male desire.
"However, in recent years, we have started to see that mold fracture," she said. "More female characters now start as 'cool' but evolve into complex, contradictory, even messy people.
"Greta Gerwig's 2023 film Barbie is a great example of this, she starts off as a literal fantasy, flawless and fun, but chooses a less polished reality."
The 2014 film Gone Girl had popularized the language around the trope with Amy Dunne's scathing breakdown of how women are conditioned to perform a version of carefree perfection. Platis says her own video explores the buildup to that cultural reckoning—and the rejection that's followed.
"Honestly, Gone Girl gave us the language, and now we are collectively exhausted by the performance," she said. "The 2020s reclamation is not about finding a new way to be cool; it is about rejecting the entire framework of the trope."
The feedback Platis received online was immediate and wide-ranging.
"What strikes me most is how multigenerational the engagement has been," she said. "A lot of women have shared with me which version they performed in their youth and how they eventually stopped caring about the male gaze.
"I do like seeing the conversation evolve from 'how do I become the cool girl?' to 'why did I ever think we needed to be?' And to me, that shift represents real cultural change."
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