1 00:00:08,889 --> 00:00:14,208 A trope is a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a character that conveys 2 00:00:14,208 --> 00:00:16,683 information to the audience. 3 00:00:16,683 --> 00:00:19,435 A trope becomes a cliche when it's overused. 4 00:00:19,435 --> 00:00:23,289 Sadly, some of these tropes often perpetuate offensive stereotypes. 5 00:00:26,891 --> 00:00:31,058 In the world according to Hollywood men are often written as the great protectors, the heroes, 6 00:00:31,058 --> 00:00:35,073 the creators and the inventors, but sometimes all that pressure of running the 7 00:00:35,073 --> 00:00:37,364 entire world really gets them down. 8 00:00:37,364 --> 00:00:43,573 Enter the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the shining beacon of child like joy that will rejuvenate our fallen hero. 9 00:00:43,573 --> 00:00:48,228 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a term coined by Nathan Rabin to describe the female character 10 00:00:48,228 --> 00:00:54,149 whose written to help the usually white, and definitely straight male hero loosen up and enjoy life. 11 00:00:54,149 --> 00:00:59,675 Rabin writes, "That bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations 12 00:00:59,675 --> 00:01:04,980 of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life 13 00:01:04,980 --> 00:01:07,313 and its infinite mysteries and adventures." 14 00:01:07,313 --> 00:01:11,959 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a supporting character used to further the storyline of the male hero. 15 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:18,661 She really has no life of her own, she has no family or interests or much of job that we ever see. 16 00:01:18,661 --> 00:01:23,801 She is as the AVclub describes, "On hand to lift a gloomy male protagonist out of the doldrums, 17 00:01:23,801 --> 00:01:25,726 not to pursue her own happiness." 18 00:01:25,726 --> 00:01:30,703 All of these male characters find a Manic Pixie to help them out of their depressed, uptight 19 00:01:30,703 --> 00:01:35,636 and doom and gloom state so that they can be happy functioning members of society again. 20 00:01:35,636 --> 00:01:40,357 Let's start with Kirsten Dunst's character from Elizabethtown who is the catalyst for Rabin naming this trope. 21 00:01:40,357 --> 00:01:45,976 Drew Baylor played by Orlando Bloom has just lost his job, his girlfriend and he decides he wants to 22 00:01:45,976 --> 00:01:49,776 kill himself. So just at that very moment he gets a call from his sister saying 23 00:01:49,776 --> 00:01:52,625 his father died and he needs to go handle the family affair. 24 00:01:52,625 --> 00:01:56,053 Drew gets on a plane and meets Claire, a flight attendant who talks to him throughout 25 00:01:56,053 --> 00:02:00,001 the whole flight even though he's clearly not interested in interacting with her. 26 00:02:00,001 --> 00:02:06,146 Claire eventually guides Drew on a personal journey of self exploration, growth and embracing fun. 27 00:02:06,146 --> 00:02:09,122 "I'm checking out this cute guy." 28 00:02:09,122 --> 00:02:11,905 "Why are you telling me that?" 29 00:02:18,382 --> 00:02:22,308 "How could I leave you in distress?" 30 00:02:22,308 --> 00:02:24,599 "I'm taking you out." 31 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:28,352 You might remember Zooey Deschanel in 500 days of Summer, the non-committing 32 00:02:28,352 --> 00:02:32,303 love interest of the film's star Tom Hansen played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 33 00:02:32,303 --> 00:02:36,656 The story follows Tom on his journey of falling in and out of love with Summer Finn. 34 00:02:36,656 --> 00:02:41,406 They have the classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl scene where they are frolicking around in the world 35 00:02:41,406 --> 00:02:46,319 and the Manic Pixie teaches the uptight star how to embrace his inner child. 36 00:02:47,827 --> 00:02:49,611 "Penis" 37 00:02:49,611 --> 00:02:51,161 "Penis" 38 00:02:51,161 --> 00:02:52,457 "Penis" 39 00:02:52,457 --> 00:02:52,957 "Penis" 40 00:02:52,957 --> 00:02:54,035 "There's kids around." 41 00:02:54,035 --> 00:02:57,120 "There are no kids around." 42 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:58,910 "Penis" 43 00:02:58,910 --> 00:03:00,099 "Penis" 44 00:03:00,099 --> 00:03:01,755 "Are you having fun?" 45 00:03:01,755 --> 00:03:02,347 "Ya" 46 00:03:02,347 --> 00:03:04,589 "This is the kind of thing you did with the Puma?" 47 00:03:04,589 --> 00:03:06,755 "No... we rarely left the room." 48 00:03:06,755 --> 00:03:08,896 "Penis!" 49 00:03:08,896 --> 00:03:10,980 "Sorry tourettes, you know how it is." 50 00:03:10,980 --> 00:03:11,734 "Penis" 51 00:03:11,734 --> 00:03:12,505 "She has it too." 52 00:03:12,505 --> 00:03:13,301 "Penis" 53 00:03:13,301 --> 00:03:14,548 "Peeeennnniiiisssss!" 54 00:03:14,548 --> 00:03:15,548 "Shhhhhh...." 55 00:03:15,548 --> 00:03:19,134 And this list would not be complete without an appearance from Natalie Portman. 56 00:03:19,134 --> 00:03:25,166 Her young and bubbly child like character in Garden State just might be the quintessential Manic Pixie Dream Girl. 57 00:03:25,166 --> 00:03:30,187 She's here to guide angsty, emo Andrew Largeman played by Zach Braff out of his depressed 58 00:03:30,187 --> 00:03:35,120 state and general gloominess all with traditional Manic Pixie child like glee. 59 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:40,491 "Any way... ah... I'm talking too much, you gotta fill out your forms." 60 00:03:40,491 --> 00:03:43,011 "What are you listening to?" 61 00:03:43,011 --> 00:03:45,344 "The Shins, you know em?" 62 00:03:45,344 --> 00:03:47,427 "No" 63 00:03:47,427 --> 00:03:49,994 "You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life I swear." 64 00:03:49,994 --> 00:03:57,277 "Oh I'm sorry, you have to, ah, fill out your forms. Conundrum. Think you could uh, maybe listen while 65 00:03:57,277 --> 00:03:59,658 you fill out-" "Ya I think I can handle that" "Ya?" 66 00:03:59,658 --> 00:04:03,068 The list of Manic Pixies kind of goes on and on and on. 67 00:04:03,068 --> 00:04:05,818 There's Kate Hudson's character in Almost Famous 68 00:04:05,818 --> 00:04:08,443 Meg Ryan in Joe Versus the Volcano 69 00:04:08,443 --> 00:04:11,193 Charlize Theron in Sweet November 70 00:04:11,193 --> 00:04:14,026 and what about Winona Ryder in Autumn in New York 71 00:04:14,026 --> 00:04:16,186 Rachel Bilson in The Last Kiss 72 00:04:16,186 --> 00:04:19,125 and Elisha Cuthbert in My Sassy Girl among others. 73 00:04:19,125 --> 00:04:23,792 The Manic Pixie perpetuates the myth of women as caregivers at our very core, that we can go "fix" 74 00:04:23,792 --> 00:04:27,547 these lonely sad men, so that they can go "fix the world". 75 00:04:28,778 --> 00:04:33,252 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is really a muse who exists to be the inspiration for the troubled, 76 00:04:33,252 --> 00:04:39,058 tortured man. In fact we should talk about this whole idea of a muse which is the foundation for this trope. 77 00:04:39,058 --> 00:04:44,865 For centuries male filmmakers, writers, painters, artists of all kinds have often cited women as the 78 00:04:44,865 --> 00:04:47,740 inspiration for their brilliant masterpieces. 79 00:04:47,740 --> 00:04:50,657 I swear if I hear one more story like this I'm going to scream. 80 00:04:50,657 --> 00:04:52,490 Or puke. 81 00:04:52,490 --> 00:04:53,949 Or both. 82 00:04:53,949 --> 00:04:58,380 Women are not here for men's inspiration or celebration or whatever else. 83 00:04:58,380 --> 00:05:03,438 We are musicians and artists and writers with our own brilliant and creative endeavors. 84 00:05:03,438 --> 00:05:06,805 But you wouldn't know that from the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. 85 00:05:06,805 --> 00:05:11,297 Needless to say, the Manic Pixie, not so great for women's representations. 86 00:05:11,297 --> 00:05:15,146 So Hollywood writers, let me remind you that women are not here for your inspiration, 87 00:05:15,146 --> 00:05:17,980 celebration or to coax you out of your troubles. 88 00:05:17,980 --> 00:05:21,730 You might not know this but we're full and complete human beings with our own 89 00:05:21,730 --> 00:05:24,127 troubles, interests and creative endeavors. 90 00:05:24,127 --> 00:05:28,469 So how's about your stop using us as your muse and start writing us as real people.