What Makes Derry Girls’ Michelle Different From Other Alpha Girls On Screen?

Derry Girls’ Michelle Mallon is the quintessential alpha girl… but what’s behind that act?

When we’ve seen alpha girl characters on screen before, they’re often cast as mean girls – master manipulators, school bullies, or just kind of annoyingly assertive. But Derry Girls goes further than many past shows or films to give us an alpha girl, in Michelle, who’s not the stereotypical rich, popular “mean girl.”

Michelle is genuinely brimming with confidence and loves leading the others on pleasure-seeking adventures. At the same time, her brash exterior is also a coping mechanism employed to deal with a broken family, splintering friendship group, and tumultuous society.

The show is more interested in examining the nature of confidence, impulsive behavior, and the instinct to pursue leadership and status in a young, developing woman. Michelle is not afraid to take risks and loves to seek out adventures. But Michelle’s boldness can also evaporate at a moment’s notice – she’s more aware than the others of hierarchy, asserting her power when she knows her status is dominant, but losing her nerve in the face of threats to that power.

Derry Girls’ genius is dovetailing the lives of ordinary 90s teenagers with the turbulent real world situation of a traumatic decades-long conflict. But it’s through Michelle’s bravado that we feel a powerful sense of the true impact of the conflict. Her alpha behavior is her way of surviving, and often ignoring the more painful realities.

Underlying Michelle’s alpha girl status is a deep insecurity around the bonds she has formed and the solidity of the life she’s now living. Michelle’s confidence may be a mask, but it’s one born from necessity.