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It's such a huge trope actually and quite damaging. Let me explain to you first what it is:
To begin let's say you are a brooding male hero, living a rather sheltered and emotionless life until someone comes along and who shows you the wonders of life and brings in more joy to you. And this is exactly the whole purpose of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, cause she is there to bring in new meaning to our male hero's life. She is usually very energetic, high on life and full of quirks.
It's a long-standing trope, but the term was coined in 2007 by film critic Nathan Rabin, who found it quite grating, as he believed it to be the result of a from of Wish Fulfillment from the writers. He mentioned that a Manic Pixie Dream Girl only purpose is to help the protagonist achieve happiness without ever seeking any independence herself. Rabin would later disown the term, because he believed that it didn't create awareness towards the "lack of independent goals in female characters", instead it was misunderstood as a condemnation of all quirky and fun female characters.
In a recent exploration of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" the New Statesman's Laurie Penny argued that the overuse of this type of character in mainstream movies has real-world consequences. "Men grow up expecting to be the hero of their own story," Penny writes. "Women grow up expecting to be the supporting actress in somebody else's."In Penny's opinion, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is not just an fantasy anymore and is now a template for young women's lives. "Fiction creates real life," is really something to keep in mind with this. This is a problem, according to Penny, because women "deserve to be able to write our own stories rather than exist as supporting characters in the stories for men."
In art as well as life, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope and ideal exists because too many men remain intimidated by women who will not revolve their lives around the needs and the growth of them. This ideal isn't helping anyone.
A good take on it is this video:
Some examples of such characters:
To begin let's say you are a brooding male hero, living a rather sheltered and emotionless life until someone comes along and who shows you the wonders of life and brings in more joy to you. And this is exactly the whole purpose of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, cause she is there to bring in new meaning to our male hero's life. She is usually very energetic, high on life and full of quirks.
It's a long-standing trope, but the term was coined in 2007 by film critic Nathan Rabin, who found it quite grating, as he believed it to be the result of a from of Wish Fulfillment from the writers. He mentioned that a Manic Pixie Dream Girl only purpose is to help the protagonist achieve happiness without ever seeking any independence herself. Rabin would later disown the term, because he believed that it didn't create awareness towards the "lack of independent goals in female characters", instead it was misunderstood as a condemnation of all quirky and fun female characters.
In a recent exploration of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" the New Statesman's Laurie Penny argued that the overuse of this type of character in mainstream movies has real-world consequences. "Men grow up expecting to be the hero of their own story," Penny writes. "Women grow up expecting to be the supporting actress in somebody else's."In Penny's opinion, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is not just an fantasy anymore and is now a template for young women's lives. "Fiction creates real life," is really something to keep in mind with this. This is a problem, according to Penny, because women "deserve to be able to write our own stories rather than exist as supporting characters in the stories for men."
In art as well as life, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope and ideal exists because too many men remain intimidated by women who will not revolve their lives around the needs and the growth of them. This ideal isn't helping anyone.
A good take on it is this video:
Some examples of such characters:
- Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffanys)
- Anythin Zooey Deschanel typically plays tho there are movies like 500 Days of Summer that play around with the trope in a critical way
- Clementine ( Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
- Leeloo ( The Fifth Element)
- Ruby (Ruby Sparks)
- Stargirl (Stargirl)
- Cassie (Skins)
- Lorelei and Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
- Fran Fine (The Nanny)
- Sam ( The Perks of being a Wallflower)
- Ygritte (Game Of Thrones) and Margaery (Game of Thrones)
- Basically every John Green Book/Movie aka. Looking for Alaska, Papertowns...
- and many more examples
