Manic Pixie Dream Girls (MPDG)
If you’re female and you don’t know a MPDG, you might be one.
MPDG Poster Girl:
This Jezebel article refers to a VERY interesting piece about the “Amazing Girl” (AG), which Jezebel considers to be a MPDG by another name. I personally think the MPDG is a subcategory of the AG. This commenter has succinctly explained my issue with the AGs and the soulsters who love them.
Read both pieces and let me know what you think. Do you know any Amazing Girls? Do you find them a) fascinating, b) harmless and lovable, or c) downright annoying?
Posted on August 7th, 2008 by Melissa
Filed under: Global awareness, Movies
I think I’ve always wanted to be an AG, but I just didn’t know it. And I’ll never been one. The whole live without judgement thing is an automatic disqualifier.
I’m surprised she didn’t mention Zooey Deschenel. Or Parker Posey and all of her characters, save Patricia, Tom Hanks’ neurotic live-in in You’ve Got Mail.
I was about to mention Kate Hudson/Almost Famous but saw it’s already on the AV Club’s list.
I would warrant a guess that Sienna Miller in her real life is one. Hate.
Oooh ooh! What about Hannah Schneider? From Calamity Physics? Although I guess she was a little more than ‘vaguely political’.
YES! Hannah Schneider is definitely a mpdg. Political or not, she captured that “studied eccentricity” that men love so, yet rarely find in real life.
And yes, I know a mpdg. She is c) annoying.
Just as a sidenote, for me the most annoying thing about the mpdg stereotype is not the sexism it implies (though that clearly irks me) but rather the quirky, yet ENTIRELY BLAND personality it entails. I mean, come on, these girls are weird enough to be cute, but not enough to be realistic. They’re offbeat in little superficial ways (oooooh: The Shins), yet completely shallow and empty. Too bad all the male protagonists are blinded by the indie music and urban outfitters clothing.