I’d have to consider Jade West, played by Liz Gillies, as my favorite character on the Nickelodeon show Victorious ( let any cartoon show at all). She represents a bit of an oxymoron. She plays the role of the antagonist while Tori Vega is the protagonist. In every episode the two characters argue and Jade does as much as she can to make Tori’s life as miserable as she can. Normally, this is the role of the ‘hottest’ and most popular girly girl in school that everyone wants to be and is followed around by an arrogant posse of stereotypical blondes. ( I have nothing against blondes personally. Just reflecting the media) This is not the case with Jade though. Jade is more of a ‘goth’. She only wears black and other dark colors on the show, has dark hair with a neon streak, had piercings, and can be summarized as a girl inspired by darkness. She hates all stereotypical ‘girly’ things and walks alone. Jade is a rebel. Yet, she’s still dating the ‘hottest guy in school’ or the ‘bad boy’, Beck. Jade gives a sense of hope to our commercialized society of what’s ‘beautiful’ and what’s not. She plays the role that many youths aspire to be in their social lives but IS the exact opposite of the way the media commonly brainwashes us to believe of that genre of people. More TV shows need to feature strong rules such as Jade’s because she’s d i f f e r e n t. Its time for a new movement of commercialism that inspires girls to be the way that they want to be, no matter what style it is, and not that preppy popular girl with a posse, thousands of guys wanting to be with her, and decides what’s ‘in’ and what’s ‘out’. For far too long have too many teenagers stressed to be this way and far too many have gone into depressions over it. There’s more than one type of beautiful and we need to learn to accept them all! Jade represents one and this is a good start. Whoever was in charge of casting deserves an award for their brilliance.