The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Trope, Explained

"I don't need me to be, and I don't need anyone else to be with me." She constantly changes his hair color and tries to live by his own rules. "I want to be a big huge elephant." And Summer in 500 Days of Summer is the image of the seductive and quirky

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that is the fantasy of many hipsters. "Come on, I love Ringo Starr!" "No one loves Ringo Starr!" "That's what I love about him!" She is also played by Zooey Deschanel, who played other uninhibited female characters who inspired men to live freer lives, and whose real-life, musical, quirky, cupcake-loving character became synonymous with the Manic Pixie Dream.

Girl in the popular consciousness for a while. while. But Eternal Sunshine, which came out before Garden State or Elizabethtown, was floating the idea of ​​a Manic Pixie Dream Girl before anyone had coined a name for her. “I'm just a screwed up

girl

looking for my own peace of mind. Don’t assign me yours.” And the whole point of 500 Days of Summer is that Tom overlooks and intentionally misinterprets Summer's entire inner life and personality. "I just don't feel comfortable being anyone's girlfriend." "It's Tom's fault. I think if you really pay attention, Tom isn't listening to Summer." The way these characters are played and misplayed by male characters is not a sexist accident on the part of the writers; that's what the movies are about. movies in question.

Labeling the real person Deschanel as MPDG also doesn't make much sense, since it suggests that her personality is a fantasy created by some unseen screenwriter. Deconstruction is also the goal of Ruby Sparks, where a writer invents her own Manic character. Pixie Dream Girl who somehow comes to life and her manipulative and self-centered tendencies are exposed as she tries to turn Ruby into her perfect woman. At times, the film is more of a horror story than a love story. to do anything. I write it, you do it.” Similarly, 2013's Her, which could be a certain kind of male fantasy, is also a film about that fantasy and how it stems from loneliness.

The OS named Samantha is a quirky love interest so dedicated to the lonely male lead Theodore that she doesn't even have a separate physical presence, although because she is voiced by a beautiful actress, Scarlett Johannson, she evokes the idea of ​​an attractive and caring woman. . "Tell me what's going on in your mind, tell me everything you're thinking." But the film ends with Samantha surpassing Theodore and ascending to a higher plane of consciousness. "The heart is not like a box that fills. It expands in size the more you love. I am different from you." just as many of these exceptional women seem ultimately destined for a larger existence separate from the men whose lives they briefly deign to spend.

Even after all this backlash and debate, it's fair to say that Manic Pixie Dream Girl is still with us. Just look at the Disney Plus original movie Stargirl, where a quirky girl teaches a boring boy how to take risks. "Are you ready for your surprise?" “I have no idea” and then she disappears. But

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s aren't automatically bad, and pointing them out doesn't invalidate a movie. An exceptionally confident, unique and inspiring female character is not in itself an expression of sexism. If we condemn all female characters who play muses or endear themselves to us with their bold quirks, we would be discounting many standout performances, fictional creations, and real people.

Similarly, it is not automatically the case that all deconstructions of the MPDG

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are inherently superior to direct examples. The writer's character in Ruby Sparks is so obviously a mess that he becomes a case study, rather than a person. “Do you remember when Dad used to say that he had an overactive imagination?” The fact that Ruby Sparks is more aware of Manic Pixie Dream Girls doesn't necessarily make it a more enjoyable film than something like Garden State, where Natalie Portman's performance gives her character a sense of inner life, perhaps more than what the movie deserves. "You're in it right now, aren't you?" At the opposite extreme, 500 Days of Summer may be clever about how the male lead deceives himself, but that intended message didn't stop a large number of viewers from siding with Tom and openly blaming Summer.

This suggests that the narrative was too myopic, allowing viewers to feel Tom's side of the story and not effectively encouraging them to also feel for Summer. "In a way, she says so much... saying so little." The lines can also become blurred, as characters seemingly meant to deconstruct the trope can easily end up embodying it. "I need you to drive the car, because I have nine things I need to do tonight and more than half of them require a getaway driver." More generally, should we automatically dismiss romance novels because they're not always realistic or because they favor one point of view over another?

If there is a definitive solution to the misuse of this trope, it is a greater diversity of voices coming together to create characters and relationships, ensuring that romantic heroines are not so often conceived and written by men. Many movies are a kind of fantasy. But it does matter who fantasizes. "He's my knight in shining armor!" If you're new here, be sure to subscribe and click the bell to get notified about all our new videos. This video is presented by MUBI, a streaming service that we love. Every day MUBI releases a new movie. Whether it's a movie you've been dying to see or one you've never heard of, there's always something new to discover.

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