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A trope is a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a character that conveys

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information to the audience.

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A trope becomes a cliche when it's overused.

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Sadly, some of these tropes often perpetuate offensive stereotypes.

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In the world according to Hollywood men are often written as the great protectors, the heroes,

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the creators and the inventors, but sometimes all that pressure of running the

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entire world really gets them down.

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Enter the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the shining beacon of child like joy that will rejuvenate our fallen hero.

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The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a term coined by Nathan Rabin to describe the female character

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whose written to help the usually white, and definitely straight male hero loosen up and enjoy life.

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Rabin writes, "That bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations

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of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life

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and its infinite mysteries and adventures."

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The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a supporting character used to further the storyline of the male hero.

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She really has no life of her own, she has no family or interests or much of job that we ever see.

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She is as the AVclub describes, "On hand to lift a gloomy male protagonist out of the doldrums,

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not to pursue her own happiness."

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All of these male characters find a Manic Pixie to help them out of their depressed, uptight

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and doom and gloom state so that they can be happy functioning members of society again.

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Let's start with Kirsten Dunst's character from Elizabethtown who is the catalyst for Rabin naming this trope.

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Drew Baylor played by Orlando Bloom has just lost his job, his girlfriend and he decides he wants to

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kill himself. So just at that very moment he gets a call from his sister saying

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his father died and he needs to go handle the family affair.

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Drew gets on a plane and meets Claire, a flight attendant who talks to him throughout

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the whole flight even though he's clearly not interested in interacting with her.

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Claire eventually guides Drew on a personal journey of self exploration, growth and embracing fun.

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"I'm checking out this cute guy."

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"Why are you telling me that?"

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"How could I leave you in distress?"

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"I'm taking you out."

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You might remember Zooey Deschanel in 500 days of Summer, the non-committing

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love interest of the film's star Tom Hansen played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

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The story follows Tom on his journey of falling in and out of love with Summer Finn.

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They have the classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl scene where they are frolicking around in the world

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and the Manic Pixie teaches the uptight star how to embrace his inner child.

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"Penis"

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"Penis"

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"Penis"

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"Penis"

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"There's kids around."

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"There are no kids around."

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"Penis"

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"Penis"

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"Are you having fun?"

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"Ya"

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"This is the kind of thing you did with the Puma?"

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"No... we rarely left the room."

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"Penis!"

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"Sorry tourettes, you know how it is."

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"Penis"

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"She has it too."

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"Penis"

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"Peeeennnniiiisssss!"

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"Shhhhhh...."

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And this list would not be complete without an appearance from Natalie Portman.

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Her young and bubbly child like character in Garden State just might be the quintessential Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

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She's here to guide angsty, emo Andrew Largeman played by Zach Braff out of his depressed

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state and general gloominess all with traditional Manic Pixie child like glee.

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"Any way... ah... I'm talking too much, you gotta fill out your forms."

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"What are you listening to?"

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"The Shins, you know em?"

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"No"

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"You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life I swear."

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"Oh I'm sorry, you have to, ah, fill out your forms. Conundrum. Think you could uh, maybe listen while

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you fill out-" "Ya I think I can handle that" "Ya?"

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The list of Manic Pixies kind of goes on and on and on.

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There's Kate Hudson's character in Almost Famous

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Meg Ryan in Joe Versus the Volcano

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Charlize Theron in Sweet November

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and what about Winona Ryder in Autumn in New York

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Rachel Bilson in The Last Kiss

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and Elisha Cuthbert in My Sassy Girl among others.

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The Manic Pixie perpetuates the myth of women as caregivers at our very core, that we can go "fix"

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these lonely sad men, so that they can go "fix the world".

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The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is really a muse who exists to be the inspiration for the troubled,

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tortured man. In fact we should talk about this whole idea of a muse which is the foundation for this trope.

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For centuries male filmmakers, writers, painters, artists of all kinds have often cited women as the

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inspiration for their brilliant masterpieces.

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I swear if I hear one more story like this I'm going to scream.

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Or puke.

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Or both.

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Women are not here for men's inspiration or celebration or whatever else.

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We are musicians and artists and writers with our own brilliant and creative endeavors.

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But you wouldn't know that from the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope.

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Needless to say, the Manic Pixie, not so great for women's representations.

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So Hollywood writers, let me remind you that women are not here for your inspiration,

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celebration or to coax you out of your troubles.

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You might not know this but we're full and complete human beings with our own

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troubles, interests and creative endeavors.

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So how's about your stop using us as your muse and start writing us as real people.