Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Let's say you're a [[Straight Man|soulful, brooding male hero]], living [[Loners Are Freaks|a sheltered, emotionless existence]]. If only someone—someone ''[[Always Female|female]]''—could come along and open your heart to the great, wondrous adventure of life...

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' takes the [[Lemony Narrator|lemony]] and [[Unreliable Narrator|unreliable]] narrator, Kyon, and gives him a girl who just wants to have fun. In a [[Tsundere]]-ish way. A mild subversion though, in that poor Kyon doesn't really want to pursue a relationship with Haruhi. She drags him along though, because he's nearly the first person who isn't put off by her attitude.

** Haruhi is arguably more of a deconstruction -- despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that she possesses the stereotypical Manic Pixie Dream Girl traits, she's also a borderline sociopath, and {{spoiler|has the ability to erase the universe}}.

* Several of these show up in ''[[Ef a Tale of Memories|ef]]''. But, [[Dysfunction Junction|this being ef]], they varyingly turn out to be a [[Deconstruction]], [[Subversion]], and ''[[Wham! Episode|brutal]]'' subversion.

* Flesh of ''[[Shikabane Hime]]'' is one of these; it's implied that her contracted monk likes 'em that way.

* And then there's a full-blown [[Girls Love|yuri]] version in ''[[ICE]]'', where Yuki embodies this trope with regard to the quiet and troubled Hitomi.

* Mihoshi Akeno in ''[[Sora no Manimani]]'', who has a touch of [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] running through her in addition to being a hyperactive girl who wants to get broody book-reading protagonist Saku out into the world of the Astronomy Club.

* Kamina from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is a <s>male</s> [[Catch Phrase|PARAGON OF MASCULINITY]] version of this for the shy, [[Shrinking Violet]] main character Simon. He's zany, wacky, ballsy, [[Crazy Awesome]], and drags Simon kicking and screaming towards the [[Call to Adventure]], setting the series into motion. {{spoiler|Sadly, he [[Mentor Occupational Hazard|dies when his narrative purpose is fulfilled.]]}}

* [[Ashita Dorobou]] has an interesting variant of this trope. Might be a deconstruction of sorts. Straight-laced protagonist Kyouichi Miyasako, 30 years old, broke up with his quirky, free-spirited girlfriend Ashita Tendou way back in college, and has been haunted by regret ever since. Suddenly, with a UFO hanging in the sky over Tokyo, she returns to him, wearing the same maid costume she was wearing when he dumped her, and she hasn't aged a day. He tentatively accepts her back into his life, even though something feels off about the whole situation.

* Paprika's job in ''[[Paprika]]'' is being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl for men: a spritely therapist who joins them in their dreams and takes them on surrealist adventures. In her daily life, {{spoiler|she sees herself only as a dull, proper scientist and ignores the spontaneous part of herself too much.}}

* ''[[Gunnm]]'' protagonist Alita/Gally went trough a period of almost obsessive MPDG behavior when she fell madly in love with a boy named Yugo, during wich she was even willing to die for him. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, it is Yugo who died at the exact moment Alita dragged him out of his shell.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* Viciously deconstructed in the graphic novel ''[[Demo]]'': A stressed-out businessman meets one of these girls. She encourages him to unwind and enjoy himself, as they meet over meals and he occasionally lends her money. Then one day he gets suspicious, breaks into her apartment... {{spoiler|and finds an array of recording equipment. The reason she can say what he needs to hear is because she spies on him.}}

* Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel of ''[[Batman]]'' mistakenly believes herself to be this to [[The Joker]]. Actually, she did mellow him out ''a bit'', to the point where he didn't kill his own henchmen so often. Aww.

* The Mist in [[Starman (comics)|Starman]] thinks she's this to Jack, even comparing herself to the Kathrine Hepburn character in ''Bringing Up Baby''. Jack pointed out that, unlike the Mist, Hepburn did not kill anybody.

* [[Depending on the Writer|Some depictions]] of [[Doctor Strange]]'s apprentice and lover, Clea, show her playing little pranks on him whenever she thinks he looks too grim and needs to smile.

 

== Film ==

* Sarah Jessica Parker's character SanDeE from ''[[L.A. Story]]'' (1991) starring and written by Steve Martin. Although SanDeE is a bit more nuanced take on the character. She is a classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but the movie portrays a relationship with her as shallow and self-indulgent for Martin's character. He is better paired with the quirky British woman.

* Natalie Portman's character in ''[[Garden State]]''. A fantastic representation of this trope. The main character is a guy on anti-depressant and mood stabilizers, she's a bubble of quirk who floated into his life, who randomly shakes about like a kid at one point "doing something that's completely unique, that's never been done before" and advises him to laugh all the time. By the end, he's screaming into abysses and doing dramatic runs through airports in the name of love.

* Deconstructed in Woody Allen's 1977 film ''[[Annie Hall]]''. The title character is a cheerful Bohemian, who turns out to be a spoiled, unfocused, pseudointellectual, neurotic child in an adult's body, a horribly broken person. Which gives her something in common with Woody Allen's character, who is likewise horribly broken, just in somewhat different ways. At the end of the movie, it turns out that Alvy was something of a Manic Pixie Dream ''Guy'' for Annie, in terms of teaching her how to have more confidence in her abilities and helping her to improve her own life, while most of ''his'' problems remain unsolved.

* ''[[Killing Zoe]]'' features a Manic Pixie Dream Girl caught in the middle of a bank heist. She eventually gets a machine gun. Death ensues.

** Joel sums up her MPDG-ness and the film's deconstruction of it during his tape recording for Lacuna:

{{quote|"I think if there's a truly seductive quality about Clementine, it's that her personality promises to take you out of the mundane. It's like, you secure yourself with this amazing, burning meteorite to carry you to another world, a world where things are exciting. But, what you quickly learn is that it's really an elaborate ruse."}}

* Stella from ''Gideon's Daughter'' is a middle-aged Manic Pixie Dream Girl for the film's brooding middle-aged hero. Though Stella has her own issues and isn't a chirpy twentysomething, she basically exists so Gideon can enjoy life again.

* ''[[My Sassy Girl]]'':

* Gwen Phillips in ''House Sitter'', a con artist and a pathological liar, plays this role for Newton Davis, played by Steve Martin. He's almost as crazy as she is. They're kind of Manic Pixie Dream people to each other.

* An early example is in 1968's ''I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!'' (included in the A.V. Club list). Straitlaced Harold Fine, already feeling dissatisfied with life, encounters Nancy, the friend of his hippie little brother, and lets her spend the night at his apartment. As thanks, she makes him pot brownies, though he doesn't realize what they are until he's consumed them. Loosened up, he goes to thank her and they ultimately become lovers. Harold becomes a [[Runaway Bride|Runaway Groom]] to both be with Nancy and fully embrace the hippie lifestyle. But after the initial bliss, the existence and his relationship with her proves as unfulfilling and superficial as his old life was. In the end he chooses to [[Take a Third Option]] and find his own path to happiness alone.

** A truly disturbing example in the form of Marla Singer, who could perhaps best be described as what happens when the Manic Pixie Dream Girl grows up. Marla is dirty, living in poverty, and clearly suffering some form of mental illness, and gets into a fairly unhealthy relationship with Tyler. The narrator is dissatisfied with social norms and consumerist trends, but lacks the will to break out of the mold on his own, leading to his association with Tyler. Marla actually infuriates the narrator because she simply doesn't care about anything. She even calls him out on all his selfish justifications for his behavior being no worse or different than her own.

** In a way, the confident, flamboyant Tyler is also a MPDG to the uptight [[Alliteration|nameless narrator]]. There's a serious homoerotic subtext between them throughout the movie (less surprising when you realize that [[Chuck Palahniuk|the author]] is gay). The narrator just drifts through life until Tyler shows up, and their relationship changes his life and his outlook forever. And then {{spoiler|Tyler dies}}. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, {{spoiler|the narrator kills him}}.

* Little Bo Peep is this in ''[[Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme]]'', a Disney Channel movie from the early 90s. Driving backwards through the patchwork landscape, she teaches the [[Only Sane Man]] in [[Mother Goose]] Land, Mother Goose's son Gordon Gander, to relax and enjoy life. {{spoiler|He's so dull because he's literally incomplete. Mother Goose couldn't find a rhyme for Gordon.}}

* Allison from the [[Jim Carrey]] film ''[[Yes Man (Film)|Yes Man]]'' also fits this trope, though unusually, her love interest Carl (Carrey) also contains elements of the character type, having been dared to "live live to the full" by saying "yes" to everything.

* ''[[Chungking Express]]'', the beloved film from beloved Hong Kong filmmaker [[Wong Kar-wai]], features Faye the "California Dreamin'"-obsessed snack bar girl: to help a police officer get over his breakup with a flight attendant, she frequently breaks into (and floods) his apartment, switches the labels on all his canned foods, and rearranges his furniture. {{spoiler|Eventually, he falls for her, but she stands him up and decides to "see the world" by becoming -- yes -- a flight attendant. But don't worry: everything works out okay.}}

* The main character in ''[[May]]'' doesn't remotely fit this stereotype but the art school Bohemian type who meets her seems to identify her as one. They shelve the movie in the Horror section, so you can gather things don't go well.

* ''[[Show Me Love|Fucking Åmål]]'' plays with this a bit. It actually has a lesbian Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but in the end {{spoiler|it's [[Snark Knight|her love interest]] who helps ''her'' break out of society's mold}}.

** Hang on, who is meant to be the MPDG here? The film follows both characters and depicts their respective lives. In the first half of the film, most of the scenes are not shared by the two girls and are rather about their independent family and social lives. While by the end of the film they have grown and changed because of each other and helped each other overcome their inhibitions and fears, that's not the definition of MPDG, just of a positive relationship.

* Gender-reversed in the [[Bollywood]] movie ''[[Kal Ho Naa Ho]]'': Naina is an overstressed MBA student who doesn't believe in the power of love. Then wacky romantic Aman comes to her neighborhood and teaches her to enjoy life.

* The whole point of the movie ''[[I Love You, Man]]''. Where Peter Klaven's repressed real estate agent is taught how to live life by the maniac pixie dream guy Sydney Fife.

* Double-subverted ''twice'' in the Barbara Stanwyck comedy ''[[The Lady Eve]].'' So Jeanne brightens up the life of stiff, repressed Charles (or "Hopsie") - but the fact is that she's a con woman who wants to take his money. But then, she's also in love with him, and is willing to go straight for his sake. Then when he finds out and rejects her, she takes on the persona of the Lady Eve, and pulls the MPDG on him ''again.''

* Deconstructed to a heartbreaking extent in the 1969 film ''The Sterile Cuckoo'', one of Liza Minelli's early films. Pookie fulfills all of the requirements of a MPDG, including breaking the lead character out of his shell. But towards the end of the film is revealed she is much more damaged and vulnerable than anyone has expected. She completely breaks out of the traditional mold at the ending, where {{spoiler|she and her boyfriend break up, and she is literally [[Put on a Bus]].}}

* Ramona from the film adaptation of ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'', ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'', by way of squeezing the film into two hours (and removing quite a bit of characterisation present during the lulls of the comic). Scott still has to do a bit more work to keep her around than in most examples, though.

* Pretty much every movie role by Goldie Hawn before ''Private Benjamin''. And that was basically a "[[Growing Up Sucks|Manic Pixie Dream Girl has to grow up]]" movie. Start with ''Cactus Flower'' (for which she won an ''Oscar'', no less) and move forward from there.

* ''[[Youth in Revolt]]'' features Sheeni Saunders who helps Nick Twisp (Micheal Cera) be free-spirited and ( {{spoiler|arguably, leads him into a psychosis}})

* ''[[Amelie]]'': Titular character Amelie has the quirk. However, she's the protagonist of the film, who has trouble with her own introversion and love life instead of being a stock character who exists solely to help the male protagonist with his.

* Although she's more grounded and less 'out there' than the usual bizarre Dream Girls, Liv Tyler's character in ''[[Lonesome Jim]]'' is a warm and life-embracing character whose only purpose in the movie is to teach the self-absorbed, miserable main character to cheer up despite us wondering what the heck a woman like that would see in him.

* ''[[Larry Crowne]]'': Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) personifies this trope to the point where Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts) even refers to her as a pixie. The only area where she breaks the stereotype is that she has no romantic interest in Larry (Tom Hanks) and her efforts are aimed at getting him together with Mercedes.

* Annabel to Enoch in ''Restless''. A bittersweet pixie, {{spoiler|since she is dying from cancer.}}

* Another gender-flipped example, Rhodes is this to Annie in [[Bridesmaids]]. His main function in the plot is to make kooky observations about vegetables and encourage Annie to follow her dreams.

* Cissy in ''[[Shame]]'', played by [[Carey Mulligan]], is another dark/subverted example. Bonus subversion: she's the lead character's sister rather than a romantic interest.

* In ''The Names of Love'', straight-laced Arthur is yanked out of his boring life by the younger, free-spirited, free-loving Baya, who's so manic she occasionally forgets to put clothes on when going out of her flat.

* It could be argued that this is the role Julia Roberts as Vivianne played for Richard Gere's Edward in ''[[Pretty Woman]]''.

* James, the [[Monty Python's Flying Circus|Monty Python-quoting]] [[Nice Guy]] played by John Hannah, in ''[[Sliding Doors]]'' is another male example.

* Winona Ryder's character Charlotte in [[Autumn In New York]] is a beautiful artist who suffers from [[Ill Girl|a rare heart disease]], and teaches a self-centered, skirt-chasing Richard Gere about life and love. Need we say more?

* Two gender-flipped examples play this straight in the Mo'Nique led film "[[Phat Girlz]]." Dr. Tunde and Dr. Akibo are two Nigerian men that teach the plus-sized leads to embrace their bodies and sensuality. Even to start loving themselves and changing their outlook.

 

== Literature ==

* Arguably [[Suzumiya Haruhi]] in the light novels. Throughout the series, so far, Haruhi progressed from [[Chaotic Neutral]] (blackmailing the Computer Club President in the very first novel) to Chaotic Good (rushing over to Yuki's place in Beta storyline in the 9th novel), all the while irritating Kyon, who has to fix up the mess she inadvertently created (the Cave Cricket incident) or jumpstart the events (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody). You know what, sometimes, he doesn't clean up Haruhi's mess. He cleans up Yuki's mess and on December 18 of his first year in North High, there are 4 Kyons, 3 Mikurus and 2 Yukis, most of whom are at the front gate fixing up the snafu Yuki made. As for "soulful, brooding male hero", Kyon's more of [[The Snark Knight]]. He doesn't really have much of a choice, because not helping the 3 factions keep Haruhi in control could lead to the end of the world/universe.

* Arthur Bechstein, in [[Michael Chabon]]'s ''[[The Mysteries of Pittsburgh]]'' has two Manic Pixie Dream Individuals: a girl named Phlox and a guy named Arthur Lecomte. The two of them are constantly at odds with each other, something not helped by Art being head over heels for the both of them.

* Sebastian Flyte in ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]'' is a male version.

* Clarisse in Ray Bradbury's ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'' fills this role for a short time for Guy Montag. She basically tells him so, saying "I'm seventeen and I'm crazy," and then she asks him all the questions and tells him all the random thoughts necessary to make him rethink everything about his life. {{spoiler|And then she gets run over by a car, pointlessly.}}

* Eliza in ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]''. Not for the main character, however, but for [[The Lancer|his good friend Asher]], [[The Stoic|who really needs it]].

 

* ''[[Dharma and Greg]]'', a sitcom that pits quirky "nonconformist" Dharma up with strait-laced bore-fest Greg. And once the first five minutes are over, this plot's been used up and they move on to... um...

* Cassie Ainsworth in ''[[Skins]]'' is this trope [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]], since she has multiple legitimate psychological problems and they're portrayed with all the seriousness they require. Plus, she doesn't exist solely as a love interest for Sid. She's quite self-serving at times, and it's debatable whether she ultimately changes his life for the better. She makes him blissfully happy at times, and utterly miserable at others. Then again, a relationship with someone so mentally unstable they try to commit suicide when you cancel a date was never going to run entirely smoothly.

** Subverted when Michael meets a quirky [[Fake Brit|British]] woman whom he believes is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl but is actually {{spoiler|mentally disabled. Her accent sounds so intelligent to Michael that he believes she ''voluntarily'' acts like a carefree six-year-old.}}

** Maeby also serves as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl to George Michael to some extent, though played for laughs as GM is unbelievably straight-laced, and Maeby's actions go well beyond "quirky" and straight into "likely criminal." That and the fact that Maeby is [[Kissing Cousins|kind of his cousin]]. Maybe.

** Winchester falls for a woman like this. She brings so much life into his existence. They're all set to make a go of it when she lets out that she's not a strong believer in marriage (and that her previous lover, of whom she talks in glowing terms, was never married to her). Winchester loses a chance at love, and not because his family would disapprove—though that's a consideration for him—but because he can't bring himself to accept this aspect of hers.

** B. J. gets one too. In the end he lets her go because he didn't wanted the war to dictate his life anymore than it already did. Leaving your wife and kid for a woman he met on the frontline? He could never leave [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|the horrors he'd known there]] [[Tear Jerker|behind him.]]

* Via ''loads'' of [[Alternate Character Interpretation]], and possibly stretching the trope to the breaking point, [[Sherlock]] could be seen as a male, protagonist version. He's [[Cloudcuckoolander|conspicuously eccentric]], [[Mr. Fanservice|attractive]] in a [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette|somewhat unusual way]], has [[Nightmare Fetishist|offbeat interests]], shows [[No Social Skills|little regard for social convention]], doesn't always act very [[Man Child|mature]], and rescues his relatively normal male co-star from boredom and depression by taking him on [[They Fight Crime|crime-fighting adventures.]] Not ''technically'' a romantic example, but [[Ho Yay]] abounds.

* In Season 2 of [[Breaking Bad]] Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) meets his MPDG in the form of Jane (Krysten Ritter), a tattoo artist with a serious drug history. In one scene, in fact, Jane gives Jesse something that makes him float in the air! Unfortunately for both of them, Walter White knows a MPDG when he sees one.

 

== Music ==

* Mermaids tend to have this affect on fishermen in [[Nautical Folklore]].

 

* Deconstructed [[Older Than Radio|as far back]] as Ibsen's ''[[A Doll's House|A Dolls House]]'', in which the heroine Nora is a (seemingly) flighty, vivacious, kooky child-woman who gradually realizes that she's been so working so hard at playing this role for her more conventional husband—even through bearing him three children—that she has never really grown up and has no idea of her true self, and that their relationship is thus only a game, not adult love. She leaves him to try and learn how to be a fully formed human being.

* Subverted in the musical ''[[Cabaret]]'': Sally tries to be a Manic Pixie for Cliff, but her determined spunky optimism and unwillingness to grow up make her ignore the threat of Nazism and drive Cliff away from her.

* In ''[[Persona 3]]'', the female protagonist has some elements of this in her relationship with Shinjiro Aragaki. It's most evident in about the eighth rank of his Social Link; having previously thrown a party for the rest of the dorm at the protagonist's instigation, he reflects on how good it felt and how he wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been for her influence; by the end of the game she has literally given him a new lease on life, {{spoiler|only to herself die as a result of performing a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to stop [[The End of the World as We Know It]]}}.

* A rare male example would be Wheatley from ''[[Portal 2]].'' Zany, kooky, [[Cloudcuckoolander|a few spikes short of a mashy spike plate]]? Check. Breaks the stoic, starched-and-ironed heroine out of her box (literally)? Check. Livens up Chell's life and the game? Check. {{spoiler|Vicious [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstruction]] when Wheatley in power proves to be a horrifying force of petty malice and incompetence? ''Check.''}}

 

== Web Comics ==

* Subverted in ''[[Walkyverse|Shortpacked!]]'', where Robin's attempts at this usually ''do'' just wind up annoying the hell out of Ethan, Amber, and whoever else she might decide to latch onto.

* [[Genki Girl|Missi]] from ''[[Misfile]]''. Of course, this puts her directly between Ash and her [[First Girl Wins|canon love interest]], leading to Missi catching [[Die for Our Ship|a lot of flak]] from some fans.

** Several male characters in initially thought that Freddie would be this for them. [[Dropped a Bridget On Him|Surprise!]]

** The series also has the appropriately named Kwerki, a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] who acts like she's looking for someone to play this role for. In her more lucid moments.

* In ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' Nina acts like this with Ace. Whether he goes along or tries to run for his life.

** Of course, she is [[Genki Girl|cheerfully]] [[Cloudcuckooland|out of it]] in general - so between being cute and apparently gifted with weapon-grade vampiric charisma, she sweeps people off their feet all the time, without even trying much. Once she ran into two wannabees trying to "expose" her sister's [[Not What It Looks Like|supposed "lesbian relationship"]] with Brooke to knock her down a notch. Nina missed every hint to what's going on, and on the grounds that they ''obviously'' must have been ''also'' fangirling over "forbidden love" convinced them to express their enthusiastic support together. Cue a bunch of cheering schoolmates centered on Nina and two other ditzes not even trying to comprehend what they are doing here and now. They are her on-again off-again minions from that day on.

 

== Web Original ==

* [http://thedailysandwich.tumblr.com/post/501185551/croque-monsieur This] video has a variety of [[MPD Gs]] in a ''state home'' for [[MPD Gs]].

* The associated imagery is rather popular, [[Deviant ART]] shows - [http://drcloud.deviantart.com/art/Amazing-Technicolour-Tigercoat-156527437 Amazing Technicolour Tigercoat] by drcloud. or [Welcome to the] [http://anikakinka.deviantart.com/art/o064-Dream-59923794 Dream] by anikakinka

 

* Pepper in ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]''.

 

== Real Life ==

* Joy seems to have been like this for [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]].

* By some accounts, [[Billie Piper]] credits her first husband Chris Evans (not [[Chris Evans|this one]]) for being her Manic Pixie Dream Guy. The pressures of being a pop star had left her with massive stress and crippling eating disorders. She credits Evans with bringing her back from a [[Creator Breakdown]] and getting her to enjoy life again. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-407792/Billie-Piper-Chris-Evans-saved-life.html She claims he saved her life.]

** The Hooded One, his player and unofficial "press secretary" on the fan forum, acts like this, too. As to his fangirls:

** The other way around is not unheard of.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Harem Genre]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]

[[Category:Extraversion Tropes]]