About

Pretty vs. Bitchin' refers to a meme popular within Tumblr fandoms in which characters are compared between how they appeared in wholesome contexts ("pretty") and more edgy contexts ("bitchin'"). The comparison stems from two Stranger Things scenes in which the character Eleven undergoes two makeovers, the first ending with her saying "pretty" and the second with her saying "bitchin'."

Origin

In Stranger Things Season 1, episode 4, the character Eleven undergoes a makeover in which she is dressed in modest clothing and given a blonde wig over her shaved head. Upon seeing herself in the mirror, she declares "Pretty" (shown below, left). In season 2, episode 7 of the show, Eleven is given a makeover by a gang of punk rockers who make her look edgy. At the end of that makeover, Eleven says "Bitchin'" (shown below, right).

Meme Documentation ^[1] traces a Tumblr post by ridincryindyin^[2] from November 2nd, 2017, as the first to use the two scenes as reaction images. The Tumblr user captioned the photos "Me before I listen to Reputation vs. After I hear Reputation," referring to the latest album by Taylor Swift (shown below).

Spread

Early variations of the theme used the two images as reaction images or remained within the Stranger Things fandom. For example, a post with Stranger Things actor Gaten Matazzaro posted by finn-wolfhard-mx^[4] gained 66 notes (shown below, left). A post by kronosx^[5] used the words with a comparison between the characters Eleven and Hopper, gaining over 340 notes (shown below, right).

The format began being applied to various other pop culture characters a week later. On November 9th, user naanbred^[3] applied the format to Bucky Barnes from Captain America Winter Soldier, gaining over 15,000 notes (shown below).

Other notable posts applying the words to pop culture characters include a post by campwolfes^[6] with two Cate Blanchett characters (shown below, left) and a post by captainxcam^[7] which used two characters of Thor (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References