Monday, February 24, 2014

Manic Pixie Dream Girls

Alrighty, so being midterms week, I don't have much time to post anything. But I found this video about Manic Pixie Dream Girls on one of my favorite blogs "Dressed Up Like a Lady", by Cammila Collar. She's hawsome. But this concept of the MPDG as a stock character type coined by Nathan Rabin to describe Kirsten Dunst's character in Elizabethtown is a really interesting trend we see more and more in films today. So many classic movies exhibit this female character type, the more you look for it, the more you see it, even as far back as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, as Collar describes in her blog. The MPDG is that delightfully quirky creature who is used solely to bring that helplessly brooding young gentleman out of his dark coma and teach him to look for adventure and beauty in everything. Most of the time, the MPDG will also exhibit their own deep internal issues, but only as a way to get the male character to exhibit his "heroic" side by "saving" her. As Collar talks about in her video, there are several great examples of the MPDG as a REAL, tangible, realistic human being, and the classic film stereo-type is always called out in films like this. My favorite example is Kate Winslet's character Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She's super fun, super quirky, super pretty and weird, simultaneously. But she is so very human, and we see that side of her. She does not exist solely to bring out the adventure in Jim Carrey's character Joel. We are aware of their issues, and she is not merely an ideal. The film also calls out the MPDG stereotype when Clementine says "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a messed-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours."

Anyway, take a look at Cammila's
video, and see what you think.


dressed up like a lady: Manic Pixie Dream Bitches - The Video!:
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4 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 24, 2014 at 3:23 PM

    I've always wondered if Alaska in "Looking for Alaska" counts as a MPDG. I mean, I know John Green is uber anti-MPDG, but she's so quirky/deep/mentally unstable, it's hard to not see her as one. And her favorite last words are, "Damn it. How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!"

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    1. Fluorescent AdolescentsFebruary 24, 2014 at 4:05 PM

      Oh, she totally is. Psycho crazy, gorgeous, intelligent. Margo Roth Speigleman in Paper Towns is one also. John Green likes creating MPDG's and then showing her disillusionment or the disillusionment of people who know her.

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    2. Ginger SnapsFebruary 24, 2014 at 4:13 PM

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  2. Ginger SnapsFebruary 24, 2014 at 4:56 PM

    I believe she is in a way. But in the end, what does she do? She messes the people in her life up. She's a manic pixie, but she doe not fulfill the ideal dream. So in that way, she does not exactly fit the mold. However, she is not completely anti-pixie. She is still used as this object whom the male characters project all their issues upon. Alaska really reminds my of Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", only Alaska does not get her happy ending. No male character "rescues" her from her self-destructive behavior. Therefore, I personally would not classify her as a classic MPDG. Although she does have many of the character traits.

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