Hollywood and the Manic Pixie Dream Girl

 

If you think about it today, there’s no question that the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ character trope has made its mark on pop culture, especially during the 2000s. You can probably think of a number of films that have that quirky and eccentric, sort of mysterious, she’ll change your life, seemingly mythical type of girl, who may or may not be sporting a super cool colourful hairdo. Maybe your mind jumps to the famed Ramona Flowers (who Scott quite literally sees in a dream) in Scott Pilgrim vs the World or the free spirited Penny Lane in Almost Famous. Throughout the years, Hollywood has offered us numerous takes on the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ and with it has spawned a great deal of debate and discussion surrounding the trope. 

The term “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” was coined in 2007 by film critic Nathan Rabin after he dubbed Kristen Dunst’s character, a bubbly flight attendant, in the 2005 rom-com Elizabethtown, as one. While the actual term itself was created in 2007, these archetypal characters can be found in films from as early as the days of Katharine Hepburn. The MPDG character trope has been the subject of sharp criticism since the term’s conceptualization. Rabin described how a character that falls under this archetype, “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,” pointing to characters like Natalie Portman’s kooky and larger than life Sam in Garden State. Sam is exciting, wacky, and more importantly a mystery and adventure all wrapped in one for Zach’s Braff’s Andrew, who prior to meeting Sam is a depressed and struggling actor. By the end of the film Andrew is a changed man with newfound purpose, thanks to Sam. Many have pointed out that female characters classified as MPDGs, like Sam, are reduced only to a plot device - an object specifically used to reinvent the male hero. Portman herself reflected on her character and the MPDG trope, saying that, “it’s a good thing to recognize the way those female characters are used” and acknowledge why this is problematic for the portrayal of women in film. 

However, there are also the films that seem to address the trope and criticize it. An example of this is Kate Winslet’s Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which actually came out before the term was invented) when she directly tells Jim Carrey’s Joel: “I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to 'make them alive'…but I'm just a fucked up girl who's looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours.” Clementine’s words to Joel are a reminder that while her big personality and bright coloured hair might make her a prime candidate for him to characterize her as his own MPDG, she is her own person, with her own problems, on her own journey. Instead of being written off as a typical case of MPDG, Clementine’s character is given depth and a proper story - the things quirky women with big personalities in film deserve. 

Another example of MPDG criticism in film is the titular Summer Harris (played by Zooey Deschanel) in 500 Days of Summer. Our protagonist Tom (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) is completely smitten with her, her love for the Smiths and her spontaneous IKEA adventures. Tom feels as though Summer has changed his life for the better and throughout their relationship considers her (almost blindly) as his soulmate. When Summer breaks it off with him, it’s as though Tom is destroyed. The film’s director Marc Webb has stated that, “Summer has elements of the manic pixie dream girl” and for almost the entire film, that’s exactly what she is to Tom. Webb goes on to say that because Tom sees Summer as this fantasy rather than as a woman, “the consequence for him is heartbreak.” While it’s the story of lessons learned from a failed relationship, the characters of Tom and Summer also strongly represent how the MPDG is usually viewed in film and why that view of her is problematic. 

But where are the films in which we see ‘Manic Pixies’ as a main character? How come they’re always only one half of a potential couple (whether the film plays to the trope or not)? One example that does come to mind is Natalie Portman’s character Alice in the 2004 film Closer. Right from the opening scene, we see Alice’s hot pink hair, eccentricity, and Dan’s (played by Jude Law) obvious interest in her. From all this we might want to call her out as another MPDG. Alice, however, is one of four protagonists in the film who attempt to navigate the complicated world of love, when two couples get caught up in infidelity. Unlike Portman’s Sam in Garden State, Alice’s experiences with love and relationships, combined with her ‘Manic Pixie’ personality adds to her own character. Like with Alice in Closer, in recent film or television projects it actually seems as though there is a reinvention happening of the MPDG term through her being a protagonist. For example, in HBO’s hit series Euphoria, Jules (played by Hunter Schafer) is upbeat, extroverted, and may seemingly exhibit MPDG behaviour from time to time (especially in comparison to Zendaya’s Rue), but as a primary character she is given a significant back story in which we see a deeper, vulnerable side to her, as she deals with her own grief and struggles. By giving the spotlight to eccentric female personalities - or ‘Manic Pixies’, we get to see a layer of depth, complexity and humanity to these personalities, which makes for more interesting and relatable characters. 

When it comes to writing developed female characters, Hollywood has often disappointed but it has also found success and the use of the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ in film has offered a look into what does and does not work when it comes to the portrayal of eccentric women. These more recent attempts to reclaim the ‘Manic Pixie’ title and give her a voice helps draw the important conclusion that a ‘Manic Pixie’ can be and is much more than just the “dream girl” in someone else’s story. 

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