Manic Pixie Dream Girls

[HistoryProf]

am I the only one that didn't know that "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" is a thing? I have no idea what that even means.

[The Narrator Returns]

It's a phrase created by Nathan Rabin in his review of Elizabethtown (AV Club represent!). It refers to a character who exists solely to bring young artist types out of their funk and love life and all that bullshit. Natalie Portman in Garden State is a prime example of a MPDG. Melanie Griffth in Something Wild could be seen as the dark side of a MPDG.

[jojo]

I looked at Box Office Mojo and the most it played was about 200 theaters. That's some underpromoting.
It was released in Japan in December, but I never saw a single commercial for it. It came and completely disappeared.

Surprising, since it's a concept that Japanese typically love. Or at least otaku types, anyway.

[Lemmy Caution]

It's a phrase created by Nathan Rabin in his review of Elizabethtown (AV Club represent!). It refers to a character who exists solely to bring young artist types out of their funk and love life and all that bullshit. Natalie Portman in Garden State is a prime example of a MPDG. Melanie Griffth in Something Wild could be seen as the dark side of a MPDG.

The phrase has been batted about quite a bit.
I didn't realize it started from a critique of Elizabethtown. Now I'm oddly interested in seeing that film. There are a number of films with Manic Pixie Dream Girls.
Garden State a prime example. Many others listed elsewhere I haven't seen.
Wild things: 16 films featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls
Two others that come to mind: Lucy Liu in Lucky Number Slevin and the the hometown girlfriend in the indie quirkfest Rhythm Thief.

[jojo]

The phrase has been batted about quite a bit.
I didn't realize it started from a critique of Elizabethtown. Now I'm oddly interested in seeing that film. There are a number of films with Manic Pixie Dream Girls.
Garden State a prime example. Many others listed elsewhere I haven't seen.
Wild things: 16 films featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls
Two others that come to mind: Lucy Liu in Lucky Number Slevin and the the hometown girlfriend in the indie quirkfest Rhythm Thief.

I had a certain girl type in mind when I first came across the term, but the AVClub list seems a bit ridiculous, because it opens it up to such a degree that pretty much any female love interest in a film revolving mainly around a male lead could conceivably fall into this category. Sandra Bullock in Speed? MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRL! Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction? MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRL!

If you see it that way, it becomes just another example of the modern era creating "clever memes" and "categories" for basically well established archetypes. I guess "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" is a more catchy term in the modern era than "Generic Cute Love Interest."

[matrixschmatrix]

I think a key part of the original critique of the character type was a total lack of interiority- the problem with a manic pixie dream girl as a character is that she doesn't have a real personality, just a selection of quirks designed to pull some boring white dude forward in life. That doesn't work for Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment, who has quite a bit of depth, and who spends the majority of the movie barely aware of Lemmon's existence, and it certainly doesn't work for Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, but I think there was some semantic drift that moved it from an inherently problematic character to one that's only kind of distinguishable from the default Hollywood archetype for romantic female leads.

[colinr0380]

Not just 'pull some boring white dude forward in life' but actively destroy his life through her exuberant actions that don't really take into account that he might actually have a choice in the matter or be relatively happy with his current circumstances - that's what makes the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' often irritating and borderline psychopathic, and the character is too often used as an easy crutch for moving the plot forward. Simultaneously she is also a paperthin character almost willed into existence by the boring white dude as a facilitator - she doesn't change but the male lead has to first be upset and exasperated by her actions, then learn to fall for her free spirited attitude.

Although as with any form of insanity individual 'Manic Pixie Dream Girls' can vary on the crazy scale. You could go from Faye Wong's 'wrong but cutesy' apartment-invasion antics in Chungking Express through to flighty fantasy-world Amelie; or Melanie Griffiths in Something Wild (or Madonna in Who's That Girl?) to Rosanna Arquette in After Hours. I was even left thinking that Angelina Jolie in Wanted could be a similar character, crossed with a healthy dose of Morpheus from The Matrix.

[matrixschmatrix]

Again, though, there's nothing inherently wrong with have a character whose motivation to change or growth is an attraction to a woman, nor with depicting an irritating or crazy person who gradually becomes likable or lovable- Harold and Maude and Rushmore, respectively, come to mind. I think the thinness of the character is absolutely vital to the term as a useful piece of criticism, that these women are sort of the indie equivalent of the male gaze personified swimsuit model posters and beer drinking babes one might see in a commercial, and that taking them seriously or investigating what it would mean to be that kind of a person means that whatever behaviors they have in common with a run of the mill MPDG, I don't think someone like Faye Wong in Chungking Express fits the bill.

Katherine Hepburn in Bringing up Baby seems pretty fair, though I think the construction of the character is differently motivated.

[manicsounds]

Is there such a thing as a Manic Pixie Dream Guy?

[domino harvey]

Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic

[Mr Sausage]

Is there such a thing as a Manic Pixie Dream Guy?

The male equivalent gets his pattern from Pretty Woman. He's usually rich, successful, [insert status marker], but generally more of an actual human than the manic pixie dream girl (he usually goes through some sort of sea-change in personality).

[Jeff]

Is there such a thing as a Manic Pixie Dream Guy?

Nerve has explored this important issue.

How has this discussion gone without mention of Zooey Deschanel, who only plays MPDGs? She'd be pictured next to the term in the dictionary.

[onedimension]

Season 3 of Louie has a great episode where CK and Parker Posey's character go on a date- it's sort of manic pixie nightmare girl- I think it was a Slate writer who made that connection & it's apt.

[Brianruns10]

I think the male equivalent of the MPDG would be a term which I believe Roger Ebert coined - "Men Who Point at Things."

These men are mysterious yet wise to the world and it's possibilities. They take stuffy, workaholic women and take them to wondrous places, where he'll wrap his arms around her, and point to something...a star, a waterfall, a statue, and she'll be awakened to the wonders outside of the work place.

Also he's good at giving orgasms.

[HistoryProf]

interesting discussion. Not one I meant to start, but I like it! Natalie Portman's character in GS was the one I had in mind actually....exactly the kind of character I normally can't stand in films.

[Lemmy Caution]

How has this discussion gone without mention of Zooey Deschanel, who only plays MPDGs? She'd be pictured next to the term in the dictionary.

Funny.
I was going to mention that if you slap Manic Pixie Dream Girl into Google and run an Image Search, you mostly get pictures of Zooey D.

[karmajuice]

Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind strikes me as another example, although the film has a more complex and ambivalent perspective on her than most films that employ the trope.

[HistoryProf]

wouldn't she be more the opposite of the archetype?

[colinr0380]

Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic

That's a great one, which makes that moment when he finally gets slightly flustered/worried about Winslet's axe skills even more funny! I wonder whether all those 'dual personality' films are borderline too, which would turn Brad Pitt in Fight Club into the same. Or how about Ferris Bueller?

It is probably best to link back to the AV Club in this thread - this page seems a good place to start, since it links to the Elizabethtown "My Year of Flops" entry and also has a helpful video of MPDG examples embedded in it!

Another film to throw into this discussion is the South Korean one, My Sassy Girl, which got an American remake. Here's an Onion AV Club review of the remake.

[Kirkinson]

"They all listen to the Smiths, sir!"

[Professor Wagstaff]

Another film to throw into this discussion is the South Korean one, My Sassy Girl, which got an American remake. Here's an Onion AV Club review of the remake.

The American remake is a quirkfest to the extreme. I recall a scene where the Sassy Girl takes the main character to a closed amusement park for whimsical adventures, only to find themselves taken hostage by an AWOL lovesick soldier whose wandering the empty park with a handgun. Sassy Girl decides to play hostage negotiator and convinces him to let them go by giving a speech about the wonders of love.

[Michael Kerpan]

I recall a scene where the Sassy Girl takes the main character to a closed amusement park for whimsical adventures, only to find themselves taken hostage by an AWOL lovesick soldier whose wandering the empty park with a handgun. Sassy Girl decides to play hostage negotiator and convinces him to let them go by giving a speech about the wonders of love.

This comes straight out of the original Korean version.

[Michael Kerpan]

You can find characters very like manic pixie dream girls in Rivette -- without the typical romantic setting. Most notably -- Pascale Ogier in Pont du Nord.

[Andre Jurieu]

... I don't think someone like Faye Wong in Chungking Express fits the bill.

Oddly, I actually thought she was the blue-print for the entire trope within modern cinema. She certainly precedes Dunst in Elizabethtown or Portman in Garden State, and while my memory of all 3 films isn't razor-sharp, I actually think they develop or explain Portman's character's behavior slightly more than they do Wong's (which I can't even believe I wrote down based on the quality of the movies in question).

How has this discussion gone without mention of Zooey Deschanel, who only plays MPDGs? She'd be pictured next to the term in the dictionary.

Though Zooey Deschanel has certainly taken a lot of criticism for being the most easily identifiable actress for these types of roles, I kind of respect her for embracing that aspect of her personality rather than subjecting us to a number of roles where she attempts to play against type. At least she's comfortable enough with her on-screen persona to make fun of herself and accept her limits.

[warren oates]

You can find characters very like manic pixie dream girls in Rivette -- without the typical romantic setting. Most notably -- Pascale Ogier in Pont du Nord.

I think it's even possible to see Celine and Julie this way vis-a-vis each other. The whole elliptical game that opens/closes the film is very MPDG. But so is their entire pursuit of the mystery of the house, in which they keep egging each other on. Different characters in the same situation might hesitate or at least express some kind of fear at what's happening to them. But in true MPDG fashion what others might fear becomes an opportunity for a glorious funfest. Not that I mean to reduce the film at all. Just that maybe, as with many things French, there's a deeper appreciation of this type of female energy happening, at least in Rivette's films.