Tropes vs. Women: #1 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl
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0:09 - 0:14A trope is a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a character that conveys
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0:14 - 0:17information to the audience.
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0:17 - 0:19A trope becomes a cliche when it's overused.
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0:19 - 0:23Sadly, some of these tropes often perpetuate offensive stereotypes.
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0:27 - 0:31In the world according to Hollywood men are often written as the great protectors, the heroes,
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0:31 - 0:35the creators and the inventors, but sometimes all that pressure of running the
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0:35 - 0:37entire world really gets them down.
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0:37 - 0:44Enter the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the shining beacon of child like joy that will rejuvenate our fallen hero.
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0:44 - 0:48The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a term coined by Nathan Rabin to describe the female character
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0:48 - 0:54whose written to help the usually white, and definitely straight male hero loosen up and enjoy life.
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0:54 - 1:00Rabin writes, "That bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations
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1:00 - 1:05of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life
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1:05 - 1:07and its infinite mysteries and adventures."
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1:07 - 1:12The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a supporting character used to further the storyline of the male hero.
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1:12 - 1:19She 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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1:19 - 1:24She is as the AVclub describes, "On hand to lift a gloomy male protagonist out of the doldrums,
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1:24 - 1:26not to pursue her own happiness."
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1:26 - 1:31All of these male characters find a Manic Pixie to help them out of their depressed, uptight
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1:31 - 1:36and doom and gloom state so that they can be happy functioning members of society again.
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1:36 - 1:40Let's start with Kirsten Dunst's character from Elizabethtown who is the catalyst for Rabin naming this trope.
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1:40 - 1:46Drew Baylor played by Orlando Bloom has just lost his job, his girlfriend and he decides he wants to
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1:46 - 1:50kill himself. So just at that very moment he gets a call from his sister saying
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1:50 - 1:53his father died and he needs to go handle the family affair.
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1:53 - 1:56Drew gets on a plane and meets Claire, a flight attendant who talks to him throughout
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1:56 - 2:00the whole flight even though he's clearly not interested in interacting with her.
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2:00 - 2:06Claire eventually guides Drew on a personal journey of self exploration, growth and embracing fun.
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2:06 - 2:09"I'm checking out this cute guy."
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2:09 - 2:12"Why are you telling me that?"
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2:18 - 2:22"How could I leave you in distress?"
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2:22 - 2:25"I'm taking you out."
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2:25 - 2:28You might remember Zooey Deschanel in 500 days of Summer, the non-committing
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2:28 - 2:32love interest of the film's star Tom Hansen played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
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2:32 - 2:37The story follows Tom on his journey of falling in and out of love with Summer Finn.
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2:37 - 2:41They have the classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl scene where they are frolicking around in the world
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2:41 - 2:46and the Manic Pixie teaches the uptight star how to embrace his inner child.
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2:48 - 2:50"Penis"
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2:50 - 2:51"Penis"
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2:51 - 2:52"Penis"
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2:52 - 2:53"Penis"
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2:53 - 2:54"There's kids around."
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2:54 - 2:57"There are no kids around."
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2:57 - 2:59"Penis"
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2:59 - 3:00"Penis"
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3:00 - 3:02"Are you having fun?"
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3:02 - 3:02"Ya"
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3:02 - 3:05"This is the kind of thing you did with the Puma?"
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3:05 - 3:07"No... we rarely left the room."
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3:07 - 3:09"Penis!"
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3:09 - 3:11"Sorry tourettes, you know how it is."
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3:11 - 3:12"Penis"
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3:12 - 3:13"She has it too."
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3:13 - 3:13"Penis"
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3:13 - 3:15"Peeeennnniiiisssss!"
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3:15 - 3:16"Shhhhhh...."
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3:16 - 3:19And this list would not be complete without an appearance from Natalie Portman.
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3:19 - 3:25Her young and bubbly child like character in Garden State just might be the quintessential Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
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3:25 - 3:30She's here to guide angsty, emo Andrew Largeman played by Zach Braff out of his depressed
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3:30 - 3:35state and general gloominess all with traditional Manic Pixie child like glee.
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3:35 - 3:40"Any way... ah... I'm talking too much, you gotta fill out your forms."
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3:40 - 3:43"What are you listening to?"
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3:43 - 3:45"The Shins, you know em?"
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3:45 - 3:47"No"
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3:47 - 3:50"You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life I swear."
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3:50 - 3:57"Oh I'm sorry, you have to, ah, fill out your forms. Conundrum. Think you could uh, maybe listen while
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3:57 - 4:00you fill out-" "Ya I think I can handle that" "Ya?"
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4:00 - 4:03The list of Manic Pixies kind of goes on and on and on.
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4:03 - 4:06There's Kate Hudson's character in Almost Famous
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4:06 - 4:08Meg Ryan in Joe Versus the Volcano
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4:08 - 4:11Charlize Theron in Sweet November
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4:11 - 4:14and what about Winona Ryder in Autumn in New York
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4:14 - 4:16Rachel Bilson in The Last Kiss
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4:16 - 4:19and Elisha Cuthbert in My Sassy Girl among others.
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4:19 - 4:24The Manic Pixie perpetuates the myth of women as caregivers at our very core, that we can go "fix"
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4:24 - 4:28these lonely sad men, so that they can go "fix the world".
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4:29 - 4:33The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is really a muse who exists to be the inspiration for the troubled,
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4:33 - 4:39tortured man. In fact we should talk about this whole idea of a muse which is the foundation for this trope.
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4:39 - 4:45For centuries male filmmakers, writers, painters, artists of all kinds have often cited women as the
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4:45 - 4:48inspiration for their brilliant masterpieces.
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4:48 - 4:51I swear if I hear one more story like this I'm going to scream.
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4:51 - 4:52Or puke.
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4:52 - 4:54Or both.
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4:54 - 4:58Women are not here for men's inspiration or celebration or whatever else.
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4:58 - 5:03We are musicians and artists and writers with our own brilliant and creative endeavors.
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5:03 - 5:07But you wouldn't know that from the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope.
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5:07 - 5:11Needless to say, the Manic Pixie, not so great for women's representations.
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5:11 - 5:15So Hollywood writers, let me remind you that women are not here for your inspiration,
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5:15 - 5:18celebration or to coax you out of your troubles.
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5:18 - 5:22You might not know this but we're full and complete human beings with our own
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5:22 - 5:24troubles, interests and creative endeavors.
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5:24 - 5:28So how's about your stop using us as your muse and start writing us as real people.
- Title:
- Tropes vs. Women: #1 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl
- Description:
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The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a cute, bubbly, young (usually white) woman who has recently entered the life of our brooding hero to teach him how to loosen up and enjoy life. While that might sound all well and good for the man, this trope leaves women as simply there to support the star on his journey of self discovery with no real life of her own.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Feminist Frequency
- Duration:
- 05:36
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