Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Ashley Mazzella “The Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” - Nathan Rabin The Manic Pixie Dream Girl term was first coined and used by Nathan Rabin in his 2007 movie @#$ review of Elizabethtown to % describe Kristen Dunst’s perky character. Manic Pixie Dream Girl Characteristics: ● Wears quirky, bold patterns with bows and retro shoes or floral combat boots ● Super optimistic and bubbly (bonus points for excessive giggling) ● Always carrying a book or a CD player or some kind of retro, trendy accessory. ● Likes to identify herself as “weird” ● ~*~*~free spirited, spontaneous, adorable, philosophical, and mysterious~*~*~ ● Wants to & will “change” your life through the power of love but also doesn’t believe in commitment and tries to play “hard to get”. ● Will turn your life from a lonely pithole of misery to an unrealistic fantasy adventure of romance by sprinkling her magical feminine pixie dust everywhere. Movie Examples: More Examples: **John Green proclaims that his books DECONSTRUCT the trope of the MPDG, but his female characters in Paper Towns and Looking For Alaska are PERFECT examples of how Manic Pixie Dream Girls are glorified and portrayed as. The Manic Pixie Dream girl has always been around, even before she was officially invented. Bringing Up Baby (1938) is one of the oldest examples of the MPDG in film. Even in the trailer it says: “As so begins the hilarious adventure of Professor David Huxley and Miss Susan Vance, a flutter-brained vixen with love in her heart!” *rolls eyes* “Though the characters may seem empowered, in reality, they’re just repackaging misogynist concepts in new ways.” “Women have been battling the “caretaker” stereotype forever. Nowadays, women want to dress and wear makeup for themselves, not to make people around them like them more. A woman’s purpose is not to serve a man, but to complete her own mission in life.” - Maria Alvarado, ARE MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRLS THE NEW BARBIE DOLL? https://studybreaks.com/2017/01/26/manic-pixie-dream-girl/ It’s great that quirky girls are finally able to identify themselves with these **somewhat** relatable outlets, but the Manic Pixie Dream Girl never highlights individuality and solely exists for the straight-male gaze. This concept of the MPDG also negatively affects actual quirky girls with wholesome qualities because the Manic Pixie Dream Girl gives a false representation of what being a quiet, socially awkward girl is (and her purpose in life). Girls can be whatever they want and not have to exist only to be gawked at. Of course, some may disagree with the idea of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl being offensive to women (sometimes these dream girls can have some kind of character depth and definition to their existence). However, Manic Pixie Girls usually always appear in soppy, quirky romance films to fulfil the role of the fetishized nice-girl for every young boy to fantasize about. Why the MPDG can be/is a harmful stereotype ● Manic Pixie Dream Girls are usually white - this trope lacks diversity!!! ● Manic Pixie Dream Girls are also false depictions of what ACTUAL REAL LIFE quirky girls are like: sometimes quirky girls don’t look like these supermodel “adorakable barbies” and the MPDG gives girls this false notion that they should only be quirky to attract boys, when this is not (and should not be) the case: girls like things because THEY LIKE THEM → **not for boys** ● Manic Pixie Dream Girls are usually submissive and are fetishized versions of what it means to be “the cute socially awkward girl”. Even when the MPDG appears to be independent and has some kind of control in her life, she always gets with the guy at the end to make him happy and rearranges her life around him. ● Also being socially awkward is a real issue for most people: making it cutesy sugar-coats the true reality of what it means to suffer from social anxiety or the struggle of being a really shy introvert. ● The MPDG’s role is to be the bandaid and cure-all to her lover’s problematic lifestyle - there’s nothing else that she does or stands for. Getchen McNeil wrote a fictional romantic teen story about how the main character tries to becomes a Manic Pixie Dream Girl to win her boyfriend back, but then goes to show just how ridiculous the stereotype is. _____________________ “A manic pixie dream girl is a character trope: a quirky, effervescent female who walks to the beat of her own drum and makes the male lead feel like she’s changed his world.” “What else does she do?” “Not much.” - Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Getchen McNeil “We need a culture where female characters can be written with agency and nuance, strength and weakness, ideas and goals in their heads that transcend Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind also happens something beyond just looking for love.” to acknowledge this concept of the MPDG and rebels against it. - Elisabeth Donnelly, The Manic Pixie Dream Girl May Be Dead, But Film’s Shallow Female Characters Live On, July 15, 2014 "The most important thing to keep in mind, is that The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is merely a figment of your imagination at the whole. They're people, just like you ... with backstories, just like you. They're created from the figment of your imagination, but that doesn't make them any less realistic.” - Julia Busshardt, 10 Ways To Spot A Manic Pixie Dream Girl (2015) (https://www.theodysseyonline.com/10-ways-spot-manic-pixie-dream-girl) PREACH! .