(Untitled)

[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

[zmarlowe]

It's a great list, but I was a little annoyed at the inclusion of The Apartment. Miss Kubelik doesn't fit the pattern; she doesn't push Jack Lemmon out of his depression, and I always thought she was just as real as the rest of the cast. Just because she's got a short haircut and is prone to moments of whimsy doesn't make her two-dimensional.

[askthesky]

Yeah, that one seemed like a stretch to me as well. It's like they were trying too hard to prove that the MPDG has been around for decades. And honestly, it's way too flattering to Zach Braff to include it on a list based around his movies.

[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