If you are a interested in 2000s movie tropes, you’ve probably heard of the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ phenomenon. The only simple way I can describe her, is any female character Michael Cera has dated in films. Think Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, with her hair dyed a funky colour, background trauma that usually ends up being quite surface level, and whimsical life observations that make her – what we would term her – not like other girls.
I don’t personally think that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope fits into our modern-day “pick me girl” aesthetic and conception, as she is not usually vying for male attention, instead it seems to just fall into her lap. The ideal Manic Pixie Dream Girl is not meant to fit in with any girl group, and not even intentionally attract the male protagonist. Her appeal comes from her lack of awareness surrounding her beauty thus fitting into a more niche male gaze that the film bros adore. This character archetype creates an interesting discussion surrounding how women are presented in film, with many early 2000s films arguably having more surface-level female characters. But this is in no way meant to take away from some of the best (and my favourite) films of the period, with the significant influence on pop culture still being relevant today.
The term was first coined by film critic Nathan Rabin in 2007 after seeing Kirsten Dunst’s performance in Elizabethtown. Although female characters fitting the stereotype can be seen in film from the start, as male directors dominate the film industry they often leave their female characters underdeveloped and unreflective of an authentic female perspective. The wording of the phenomenon seems to have taken a more misogynistic slant in the past decade, with the stock character usually being very one-dimensional and used as a plot device of a romantic interest for the male protagonist, boosting their position or ego in the film to help them overcome their challenges. Nathan Rabin has even gone back on this creation of the term, going as far as to write a letter of apology saying that even seeing the phrase today makes him queasy. This highlights how the term surrounds itself with controversy, and having been called a ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ myself, it does come across as a more backhanded compliment than a badge of honour.
But has this trope evolved over the past two decades? With more female, queer and diverse directors involved in the film industry, we are seeing a much more exciting representation on screen for everyone. But there is a fear the trend is now reversing, with the term ‘Manic Pixie Dream Boyfriend’ now appearing. This character is similar to its female counterpart, as they are usually depicted as someone who’s simple and free-spirited, misunderstood, a great listener, able to get the girl to get out of her comfort zone, and showing her a completely new perspective that she couldn’t have possibly discovered alone. Another branch of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl character is the ‘Cool Girl’ popularised by the 2012 book, and 2014 film adaptation, Gone Girl which is also likely an early version of our 2020s idea of a ‘pick me girl’. The female protagonist Amy Dunne describes being the Cool Girl as being ‘hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry: they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want’. Obviously, this stock character sets impossibly unrealistic expectations, defining women as playthings to be used and striving to fit appeal to the male gaze. If you’ve seen the film Gone Girl, you will know that Amy (the lead) does seek revenge on this archetype she confined herself to for so long, which I fully supported (number 1 Nick Dunne hater right here).
It’s clear that these archetypes perpetuate the male gaze, as male directors and writers want to see their fantasy dream girl on screen. But luckily these characters are expanding and growing, we’re seeing more on-screen female characters that have inherited some of the iconic qualities of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, which have been adapted to portray fitting ideals for modern conceptions of feminism. A recent example of this is Mia Goth’s performance as the lead in Pearl, with a similar whimsical and slight coquettish nature as seen in the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but Pearl’s psychotic side is drawn upon more, which is what makes her so iconic.