5. Bella Swan - Twilight
Why's she hated? Twilight has become the go-to critical punching bag since the first film came out. The book is panned, the main actors are panned, the story is panned. And most of all, Kristen Stewart's face is panned. I mean, my God - is the girl wearing a porcelain mask that she thinks will shatter at the slightest expression? The girl is an embalmed corpse. More importantly, her character is considered the bane of feminism: she has no positive qualities aside from being "attractive," so her whole narrative arc revolves around being picked up by the hunkiest monster.
Why's she underrated? Because she's an avatar for the writer and women everywhere. Let's be honest: some women do want a strong, complex man to sweep them off their feet and make their problems disappear. Why do you think characters like Cinderella continue to be so popular? Or any Disney Princess, for that matter? Bella Swan is living the dream that so many women wish they could live: girl gets taken to fantasyland. I guess the big problem people have with Bella is the sheer baldness of her as an archetype: she has no character beyond her relationship to the men in her life. She is a bland, shallow shell of a human being who exists for no reason than to be flirted with. However, that doesn't change the fact that she presumably taps into a desire that a lot of women do have, whether they want to admit it or not (not that Stewart's face can express desire. Or sadness. Or life).