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[emilyssassylime]

Somehow I missed this article on The Onion originally, and am reposting it now only because I still am filled with a bottomless pool of rage every time the movie Garden State comes up in conversation.

16 Films Featuring Magic Pixie Dream Girls. Key quote: "Like the Magical Negro, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype is largely defined by secondary

Comments

[doxasticpirate]

Right on. I think my main beef with Garden State lies elsewhere -- it's unsubtle and self-indulgent in ways that make it feel both lazy and bizarre -- but I think there's room to say a lot more about the MPDG. It's an interesting combination of other kinds of complaints -- shallow supporting characters [esp female/minorities], deus ex machiness [note: find a way to work 'deus ex machismo' into conversation at some point], annoyingly self-aware eccentricity [cf. McCain and Palin calling themselves 'mavericks'], flightiness elevated to virtue... I think any one of these on their own wouldn't be terrible -- any movie can be forgiven for having a shallow character, some of my best friends are flighty -- but the combination is something that I didn't realize was so prevalent in these kinds of movies until more recently...

Also, I've been re-watching Arrested Development on Hulu, and I'm kinda reminded of the Rita character from season 3 -- the British girl Michael falls in love with. She's introduced as the MPDG extraordinaire, then they reveal that she's mentally retarded. It's maybe a bit unfair to the archetype, but still....

Incidentally, can you think of any mainstream romantic comedies where the female character has more personality than the male?