@From a Bicycle seat oh my gosh, thank you. I understand now. I just don't understand why anyone would want some shallow person with no real depth who isn't real. I don't understand why the realness turns them off
@@shaziyasheikh9730 The manic pixie dream girl is a plot device, not a character. When "the audience" is reminded she is a person with complexities and fears they are put off because they can no longer project whatever they'd like onto her. She is now a person with a past and intricate emotions, not just something to play off the experiences of the "main character".
Guys treat me like a concept and say things like "wow, you're so deep," and then interrupt me halfway through my explanations, my stories. These days I treat myself like a concept, too, building up a beautiful character. Built up like a religion, everything is meaningful and profound, and art. I am a coloring page in black and white that other people color in however they would like.
Manic pixie dream girl says, ‘have you heard this record?’ Manic pixie dream girl says let me save you with this record. Let me put the headphones on for you, and smile, while you listen; cut to your point of view, watch me smile while you listen. Hear that? That’s the sound of you becoming a better person. I’m gonna paint a picture of a bird on your beige wall without your permission and you’re gonna love it. And you thought you hated birds. See me? Encouraging you to take risks? Manic pixie dream girl wants you to do something you’ve never done before. Like go swing-dancing, or smile. You wanna know my name? You never call me by it anyway. If I had to guess, it would probably be a season, or after a dead actress who you loved as a child. But this isn’t about me! This is about you, and your cubicle job, your white bedroom, your white Honda, your white mother. Manic pixie dream girl says I’m going to save you. Says, don’t worry, you are still the lead role. This is your love story about the way I teach you to live. Everything they know about me they will learn when it is projected onto you, watch the way you pick up my bad habits and make them look good. Manic pixie dream girl talks too much. Says bad words out loud and cries at the commercials. That makes me a funny woman, right? The kind people like to laugh at? It’s easy to root for you when I act like this, so disagreeable, such a manic dream, dream girl, your almost broken accessory. Manic pixie dream girls says let’s play make believe with my body. I’ll be a vintage dress in an empty prescription bottle, good girl, just bad enough, a burp and a curtsy. Let me be not too pretty, hair fried from all that pink dye, sex when you need it, puppet when you’re bored. Let me build myself smaller than you, let me apologize when I get caught acting bigger than you. Let me always wait for this, let me work for this. The convenient thing about being a magical woman is that I can be gone as quickly as I came. And when you are a whole person for the first time, the movie is over. Manic pixie dream girl doesn’t go on; there’s no need for her anymore. Manic pixie dream girl is too dream girl, and you just woke up. Once, I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment, I looked so human, the audience lost interest. You saw the crow’s feet at the sides of my eyes and a small chip on my front tooth. I looked just like everyone else.
"Manic Pixie Dream girl is too dream girl - and you just woke up. Once I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment I looked so human the audience lost interest in me...I looked just like everyone else." I literally love this piece so much!!!
my heart is breaking and I am crying because I just realized I make myself to be like this. I built myself to be Summer. I am Alaska Young. And Margot. I am them to other people. Oh my God. I just don't know what to do, I am 19 and realized I've been building myself up that way since I was 13. I wanna be remembered. I wanna have real friends, who love me and wouldn't leave me. I don't wanna be a magical woman who disappears just like that. That's not right. That's not fair. This was 2 years ago. Edit, 2020: I didn't even remember this. Thank you all for the kind comments. I am 22 now. Life is a lot better. I have watched many videos and films such as gone girl that talk about this feeling that I had and who I thought I was. I put myself in the position of the cool girl for a long time and it took a lot of effort to realize what was me and what was made up just to impress people. I think it's never 100% clear, because we need attention, we want to be liked. But, honestly, I have developed such a strong, beautiful relationship with myself, that I see myself as the coolest, even though I know the "actual cool kids" find me weird. I simply don't care, because I like my opinions and my ways. Also, I have friends and family and I finally believe they truly love me, they're not faking it. I'm at peace with who I am. On the men subject (hahaha), I got my heart broken by my own expectations of someone and I started building these walls to protect me from getting fooled by men, but I am working on being more vulnerable and balanced. I've put a lot of effort on myself, I've been to therapy, I've read, I've really spent time trying to find my peace. And it's in constant change, just like life. There's no recipe, for anyone. I find myself trying to impress people many times still, and I get very insecure about a lot of things. But I'm the main character now. All this struggle is my life story being unfolded. I hope you all find a lot of light and good. Again, thank you for taking the time to write. I genuinely believe that things like these change the world.
That's so relatable. Realising everything that you've been doing and not knowing where to start to change things yet knowing that you can't erase time. I'm sorry that your insecurities made you feel that you had to do this - I've been a people pleaser most my life, and ironically, it drew people away. Don't be afraid of independance and commitment to things, you can take control and be who you want to be! I know how you feel, I hope you feel a bit better since it's been about it a year down the track now
You're 19, you're still figuring out who you are and what you're about. The real secret to life that I have to remind myself of when I feel Manic Pixie Existential Dread: no one really cares, and tbh you probably rarely cross their mind. Just be yourself and live your life, it doesn't matter which fictional characters inspire you!
I started crying listening to this. I was with a boy for 4 and a half years. Told me he'd never be the man he is today without me, said I encouraged him to take the risks he never thought he had the courage to take on his own and once he became the person he wanted to be, he left. There wasn't a fight or an argument it was as if I fulfilled a part of him and once my job was done I was thrown away. Similar to the poem how she said the story is never about the girl I felt like I served a purpose to him. "let me build myself smaller than you... when you are a whole person for the first time, the movie is over". It killed me.
I watched this two years ago, and it didn't resonate to me on a personal level until today. Men have always loved their idea of me, and they somehow end up projecting their fantasies on me. When they see who I really am, they leave. The spell's broken, and they try to find someone else to fulfil their delusions.
i was thinking about the manic pixie dream girl complex last week, and this completely explains whats wrong about it and why in a rly prolific way, one i probably never wouldve thought of. beautifully done
I've been exploring this topic and it kind of hurts. When I was younger I always had fantasies that one day I could guide a man to happiness and a new perspective on life and I could change his life and we would fall in love. In real life, the man is only using you as a trophy or as an escape but as soon as any flaw or insecurity shows through it's all about him, or how your flaws affect him. They don't love you, they love the way you make them feel.
The MPDG trope reminds me a lot of the Black Best Friend trope. They only exist to make the main character's life better, help them solve their problems, and disappear when ever they aren't convenient.
The manic pixie dream girl is basically the whimsical nostalgic waifu for an edgy/awkward artists or writer. It's such wish-fulfillment cringe I'm glad it's getting the criticism it deserves!
Maybe, but I wish I could be this for someone. A perfect picture of what they wanted, just surface enough to disappear at the perfect moment... Or maybe it could build into something deeper, but I love that trope and wish I could be it for someone
My ex made me into his MPDG. He loved how I had finger puppets and candy in my purse, did modeling so he could brag to his friends, gave blowjobs without asking for my own orgasm in return. But if I ever had sadness, cut my hair too short, or needed a shoulder to cry on, he saw me as a bummer. I'd lose my sparkle. How dare I ever need someone to be there for ME? I was a fashion accessory that was only allowed to be perfect. And when I fell short of that...I was abandoned.
I've only just discovered the wonderful gem that is Olivia Gatwood. I don't know how I never knew of her before but I'm glad I do now. Manic Pixie Dream Girl Says is such a beautiful poem and her delivery is just perfect. I wish I could see her live!
literally every single thing about this poem describes Playlist for the dead; the manic pixie dream girl being Astrid, everything down to fried hair from having died it so much, down to dissapearing when she became too real, down to him gaining her qualities and the audience still siding with him. this is literally exactly Playlist for the dead, anyone else with me?
Ever since I was 3 my father has called me his manic pixie child, because I would laugh after falling out of trees I wasn't supposed to be in and sing happy songs about butterflies while refusing to brush my hair. Now, my nick name is just 'Pixie' because 'manic-depressive pixie nightmare' doesnt quite have the right ring to it. People are people. You cant just expect someone to be smiles all the time. It messes with their head.
Alaska is the epitome of MPDG in the beginning and John's whole point is to deconstruct the trope. He didn't do a great job, but she definitely fits there.
+Kirsten Carlisle Alaska Young as a MPDG is debatable, but that's sort of the fun part of literature anyway. Either way, he sort of wrote Paper Towns entirely to correct and apologize for transgressions in that area. He certainly isn't perfect but he gets a terrible wrap for something he's made up for tenfold.
+Sarah Shepherd “That didn’t happen, of course. Things never happened the way I imagined them.” -the narrator of looking for alaska says this "“Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.” - alaska says this “Don't you know who you love, Pudge? You love the girl who makes you laugh and shows you porn and drinks wine with you. You don't love the crazy, sullen bitch.” -alaska also says this "“For she had embodied the Great Perhaps--she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave behind my minor life for grander maybes, and now she was gone and with her my faith in perhaps.” -the narrator again ...do you get it? and this is just one book, here's another book: “What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.” this sentence is the crux of paper towns. the exact polar opposite of the manic pixie dream girl trope, literally exists to deconstruct it and thoroughly succeeds, imo. this is said by the narrator "I didn’t need you, you idiot. I picked you. And then you picked me back." -margo says this "“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.” okay that's about enough i think. i could do any of his books though. very curious why you and 100 other people accuse john green of this.
To become the main character, manic pixie dream girl needs to have her own story. She needs time away from all people to find her own hobbies. Sometimes it's painful, but she deals. She deals with loneliness with her interests growing. Growing until her first thought isn't: they need to hear THIS! Until her first thought is: this is beautiful. Until she goes through ups and downs of her interests. And when someone opposes her, she can back up her claim with actual sentences. She starts writing her story without characters. The characters slowly seep in, and they are simple, expendable ... unless they respect her story - then they may share it as the side characters. And manic pixie dream girl shall do the same.
I don't see anything wrong with being quirky offbeat artistic and whimsical. according to me the problem isn't the manic pixie dream girl.. it isn't the broody soulful guy whose life has been made meaningful by the girl either. it is the portrayal of the mpdg and how 2 dimensional it is and the fact that she just exists to provide the protagonist more excitement and an interesting light. so the commenters who say that the poem slams a certain type of personality shouldn't feel offended because the mpdg trope exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures. but the mpdg is a whole character in herself and in almost all the cases a much better one than the protagonist. the problem lies with how little of the mpdg is projected as an individual.
HommelDraak I think that’s because it isn’t her story, the whole movie is usually a coming of age of the male protagonist and is told from their point of view..
I think shes using the trope to point out how, like in film, shes experienced men who treat her like a mpgd, but just like the end of the movie, as soon as that quirk and personality is too much, or it comes away and she shows a human side, shes not interesting to them anymore. They eternal sunshine the shit out of her.
You see, I liked this poem before but never understood it. I stumbled upon a video talking about the actual term "manic pixie dream girl" and when I finally understood what it meant, its like a whole world opened up and this poem was at the center of it. I felt it so deep, deeper than I could have understood anything else had I not learned what it actually meant.
+NANCAY WANG It is! One of the biggest points John Green makes in his books is that it's wrong to think of someone as more than a person ("What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person"). The idea is that each person has the own faults and struggles. No one is some magical creature sent from the heavens to show you the world. This is why it bothers me when people claim all of the girls in John's books are MPDG's. It's really backwards to assume that all girls in literature only exist as such. In all of his books, he points out that the trope is ridiculous.
+Nellie Ruth Alaska Young was definitely a MPDG, and it only revealed that she was a real person after she died and Pudge had learned something about himself and life. She was only seen as a real person after her death.
+Lily Griffith what makes a MPDG a MPDG is that she only exists to make the protagonist happy and she him that the world is oh so beautiful. They are happy and carefree. That was never Alaska. She had a lot of vulnerable moments throughout the book. Not to mention that in the end, she made Pudge miserable. He wanted to solve the great mystery of who she was, but he couldn't. Also, little fun fact. The guy who coined the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" now hates himself for it. You wanna know why? Because people like you overuse it and reach to apply it to every female character because tumblr said so.
i've been called manic pixie dream girl several times over the past year and i think the people who've said it have meant it as a compliment but it always makes me think of this poem and wonder
TheRealZRo paper towns is literally about the injustice of not being imagined complexly. or in simpler terms, how much it sucks to be thought of as/to be a manic pixie dream girl.
I've only read the book, but Sam is definitively not a MPDG. She is "quirky, funny, dreamy", all that, but she has problems and personality and desires. If someone on the book is idealised is Charlie, he's always there for everyone, less for himself, never wanting anything back. Sam even confronts him about how he's always what the others want him to be and never what he really wants. A MPDG doesn't criticize the protagonist.
It's odd to see yourself in a trope that is barely even a person. My ex was only interested in me when it made him feel like a good boyfriend with an interesting girl on his arm. I was artsy and smiley and quiet while he talked uninterrupted. But when it came to my flaws and insecurities and real problems, he was completely uninterested. He leaned on me and made me the therapist for his anxiety, calling me late at night to dump his negativity and tell me how I could do better as a girlfriend, but then told me one week that he knew something was wrong with me during a weekend I'd spent crying but hadn't reached out because he "kind of didn't feel like dealing with it."
Yes yes yes! I know this is a three year comment but I can relate to your story. My ex had mental issues and was getting help but he just wasn’t ready for a relationship. These issues didn’t excuse his personality and lack of commitment however. When I was with him it seemed like I was an accessory to him. The girlfriend he could show off to his friends on Snap, which he would always do when we were together. When he spoke around others, it was always self centered and I was expected to just sit and listen never adding input. He always thought he was more knowledgeable and wiser than me about everything as well. He would subtly “disapprove” of things I did, how I was and how I live simply because it was different from him. He never even called me by my name. I would often comfort him and try and be there for him, and he wouldn’t do the same. When we broke up he even admitted he felt like he was putting up a front with me and he just needed to focus on himself which I agreed with fully. It’s crazy though how I cried and cried, thinking he was the perfect guy and I would never find anybody else like him. Only after I made a list of all the ways he was a bad person and talked with my mom did I realize how blind I was.
SweetasSugar42 Isn't there a second book that's more focused on Stargirl called, "Letters to Stargirl"? I mean, I haven't been able to read it, but maybe it opens up a more realistic side of her.
This is an excellent piece. I was very moved on how relevant it is to both our pop culture and even in our own life experiences. Thanks for the great poem.
wow this brought me back to some of my "friends" that I had in my past that pretty much screwed me over in the end. this is incredible, I hope to see more from her.
Clem is classified as MPDG, but she calls it out IN the movie so she isn't. She knows people see her as MPDG but she refuses the trope. "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours."
I like to think of Clem as a real life mpdg. She is cute at first but once you get to know her and you learn there is a history to her she is ridiculous. If women were just these adorkable artsy girls running about being impulsive and immature they probably wouldn't have wondrous life. She was a drunk. She was defensive. She was impulsive and that took a toll on her relationships in life. It wasn't all happily ever after at the end because they knew it was going to end. Her and Joel just learned that it's okay that it ends and to just try and enjoy it while they can because it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Wow, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite movies. Never thought about it through the lens of MPDG. I like these comments! Good points! Maybe that's part of why I love it (plus it's just such a well-made movie). It's so real. And fantastical at the same time though. But yes the ending (I won't spoil it) is just so...real. I actually liked that movie Friends With Benefits too cause, even though it's still a slightly predictable romantic comedy, it was more realistic than movies often are about romance and sex...like they were just buddies who kinda accidentally fell in love.
@kassidy technically, just because the writers acknowledge they know they've made a manic pixie dream girl and try and cover it up by giving her one (1) line making some kind of feminist statement does NOT mean she's suddenly not a manic pixie dream girl. in the same way plenty of writers have tried to 'subvert' the trope of MPDG but have ended up making their female character still serve that purpose by the end, so it didn't even matter. If anything, acknowledging that they knew makes it even worse, because they still never fixed it.
The definition of a MPDG is a quirky girl whose purpose is to care for the protag and help him reach his goals. Yes, at first glance Ramona Flowers is a MPDG but she has her own goals as well. Which is less apparent in the movie, but in the comics she has bigger goals. She's her own person, MPDGs are not.
I usually hate slam poetry just because it's super aggressive, but this topic has been in such interest to me, and maybe it's because we see this character in film and media so much and no one ever realizes it. She killed it :)
Karime Colletta man·ic pix·ie dream girl noun (especially in film) a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist.
I only learned today what a manic pixie dream girl is. Something told me to look it up and it was not even close to what I thought the term meant. I think I be been one in my 20s. Now I have I boyfriend I've been seeing for ten and a half years. So I haven't manic pixie dream girl'd in a long time.
i can think of so many... summer from 500 days, clementine from eternal sunshine, ramona to an extent, alaska as people have said, natalie portman's character in garden state...
the reality is if youre being your genuine, authentic self, this wont happen. girls like olivia dont have a personality of their own, so instead she takes on someone elses and when the mask slips off, she fails, her hideous deformities are exposed. dont you get it? manic pixie dream girl was playing a character the whole time. she has no idea who she is, she just just wants to be different but she doesnt know herself. she is afraid to, just like olivia. and shes afraid of the world, she hides behind her RBF. her whole personality is a defense mechanism. you can be a strong woman without being a b*** to everyone. just like how you can be honest without being BRUTALLY honest.
I was ill from school for one day, the day they were ordering T-shirt’s with all our nicknames on. I got to school a week later and my nickname was “MPDG” and I got really confused and some girl said they had a vote and called me the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and that fucking hurt.
i only seem to exist to be the girl that changes someones way of viewing the world. then they leave. and i repeat the process. over. and over again. i want to be someone's life long friend. i want to be loved for longer than the honeymoon stage.
yOuR wHiTe MoThEr No but seriously I love this poem and I love her voice. This was the first spoken word poem I'd ever heard and the first button poetry video I'd ever seen. I always come back to it and I love it so much.
I am an avid #MentalHealthAwareness advocate and award-winning spoken word performer, and I love this so much. I travel the country trying to bring that awareness on stages, in classrooms, hospitals, and on my RUclips channel, so I get excited when I see other advocates. 💙❤
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"I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment I looked so human that the audience lost interest."
I don't understand that
@From a Bicycle seat oh my gosh, thank you. I understand now. I just don't understand why anyone would want some shallow person with no real depth who isn't real. I don't understand why the realness turns them off
@From a Bicycle seat wow. That was an incredible explanation! Thank you, now I understand these people...
Please explain it to me😐
@@shaziyasheikh9730 The manic pixie dream girl is a plot device, not a character. When "the audience" is reminded she is a person with complexities and fears they are put off because they can no longer project whatever they'd like onto her. She is now a person with a past and intricate emotions, not just something to play off the experiences of the "main character".
Guys treat me like a concept and say things like "wow, you're so deep," and then interrupt me halfway through my explanations, my stories. These days I treat myself like a concept, too, building up a beautiful character. Built up like a religion, everything is meaningful and profound, and art. I am a coloring page in black and white that other people color in however they would like.
Annika B same. My own boyfriend even does it sometimes without knowing.
I love this
@Alfonso Flores wow d1e
"Manic pixie dream girl doesn't go on. Theres no need for her anymore. Manic pixie dream girl is too dream girl, and you just woke up."
@Alfonso Flores not victims, figureheads in a faulty society.
every few years i come back to this just to light that fire back in me
This poem has John Green shook
Natasseah Gomer Paper Towns
Hannah Saeed disagree
John Green’s books are about dismantling the MPDG trope and showing why it is wrong to view a person as more than a person.
Sherisse Cross lmfao my ass, he acts like they are and then fails miserably at it. He acts like he’s so anti mpdg and ends up making mpdg anyway
Can someone explain why please?
Manic pixie dream girl says, ‘have you heard this record?’
Manic pixie dream girl says let me save you with this record.
Let me put the headphones on for you, and smile, while you listen;
cut to your point of view, watch me smile while you listen.
Hear that? That’s the sound of you becoming a better person.
I’m gonna paint a picture of a bird on your beige wall without your permission and you’re gonna love it.
And you thought you hated birds.
See me? Encouraging you to take risks?
Manic pixie dream girl wants you to do something you’ve never done before.
Like go swing-dancing, or smile.
You wanna know my name? You never call me by it anyway.
If I had to guess, it would probably be a season, or after a dead actress who you loved as a child.
But this isn’t about me!
This is about you, and your cubicle job, your white bedroom, your white Honda, your white mother.
Manic pixie dream girl says I’m going to save you.
Says, don’t worry, you are still the lead role. This is your love story about the way I teach you to live.
Everything they know about me they will learn when it is projected onto you, watch the way you pick up my bad habits and make them look good.
Manic pixie dream girl talks too much. Says bad words out loud and cries at the commercials.
That makes me a funny woman, right?
The kind people like to laugh at?
It’s easy to root for you when I act like this, so disagreeable, such a manic dream, dream girl, your almost broken accessory.
Manic pixie dream girls says let’s play make believe with my body.
I’ll be a vintage dress in an empty prescription bottle, good girl, just bad enough, a burp and a curtsy.
Let me be not too pretty, hair fried from all that pink dye, sex when you need it, puppet when you’re bored.
Let me build myself smaller than you, let me apologize when I get caught acting bigger than you.
Let me always wait for this, let me work for this.
The convenient thing about being a magical woman is that I can be gone as quickly as I came.
And when you are a whole person for the first time, the movie is over.
Manic pixie dream girl doesn’t go on; there’s no need for her anymore.
Manic pixie dream girl is too dream girl, and you just woke up.
Once, I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment, I looked so human, the audience lost interest.
You saw the crow’s feet at the sides of my eyes and a small chip on my front tooth.
I looked just like everyone else.
Thank you so much! I couldn't find the full lyrics anywhere
I love people like you. Thanks!
No problem!
This hurts my heart
Thank you!!
"Manic Pixie Dream girl is too dream girl - and you just woke up. Once I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment I looked so human the audience lost interest in me...I looked just like everyone else." I literally love this piece so much!!!
my heart is breaking and I am crying because I just realized I make myself to be like this. I built myself to be Summer. I am Alaska Young. And Margot. I am them to other people. Oh my God. I just don't know what to do, I am 19 and realized I've been building myself up that way since I was 13. I wanna be remembered. I wanna have real friends, who love me and wouldn't leave me. I don't wanna be a magical woman who disappears just like that. That's not right. That's not fair.
This was 2 years ago.
Edit, 2020:
I didn't even remember this. Thank you all for the kind comments. I am 22 now. Life is a lot better. I have watched many videos and films such as gone girl that talk about this feeling that I had and who I thought I was. I put myself in the position of the cool girl for a long time and it took a lot of effort to realize what was me and what was made up just to impress people. I think it's never 100% clear, because we need attention, we want to be liked. But, honestly, I have developed such a strong, beautiful relationship with myself, that I see myself as the coolest, even though I know the "actual cool kids" find me weird. I simply don't care, because I like my opinions and my ways. Also, I have friends and family and I finally believe they truly love me, they're not faking it. I'm at peace with who I am. On the men subject (hahaha), I got my heart broken by my own expectations of someone and I started building these walls to protect me from getting fooled by men, but I am working on being more vulnerable and balanced. I've put a lot of effort on myself, I've been to therapy, I've read, I've really spent time trying to find my peace. And it's in constant change, just like life. There's no recipe, for anyone. I find myself trying to impress people many times still, and I get very insecure about a lot of things. But I'm the main character now. All this struggle is my life story being unfolded. I hope you all find a lot of light and good. Again, thank you for taking the time to write. I genuinely believe that things like these change the world.
Believe me girl we all feel you
it's noy rly ur fault, but you still can change, be yourself
19 is ok. im 30 ...still trying. its ok. everything is ok.
That's so relatable. Realising everything that you've been doing and not knowing where to start to change things yet knowing that you can't erase time. I'm sorry that your insecurities made you feel that you had to do this - I've been a people pleaser most my life, and ironically, it drew people away. Don't be afraid of independance and commitment to things, you can take control and be who you want to be! I know how you feel, I hope you feel a bit better since it's been about it a year down the track now
You're 19, you're still figuring out who you are and what you're about. The real secret to life that I have to remind myself of when I feel Manic Pixie Existential Dread: no one really cares, and tbh you probably rarely cross their mind. Just be yourself and live your life, it doesn't matter which fictional characters inspire you!
I started crying listening to this. I was with a boy for 4 and a half years. Told me he'd never be the man he is today without me, said I encouraged him to take the risks he never thought he had the courage to take on his own and once he became the person he wanted to be, he left. There wasn't a fight or an argument it was as if I fulfilled a part of him and once my job was done I was thrown away. Similar to the poem how she said the story is never about the girl I felt like I served a purpose to him. "let me build myself smaller than you... when you are a whole person for the first time, the movie is over". It killed me.
I watched this two years ago, and it didn't resonate to me on a personal level until today.
Men have always loved their idea of me, and they somehow end up projecting their fantasies on me. When they see who I really am, they leave. The spell's broken, and they try to find someone else to fulfil their delusions.
This.
Can you elaborate?
i was thinking about the manic pixie dream girl complex last week, and this completely explains whats wrong about it and why in a rly prolific way, one i probably never wouldve thought of. beautifully done
"Once I told you I was afraid of my father. And for a moment, i looked so human, the audience lost intrest" that one really hit hard
I've been exploring this topic and it kind of hurts. When I was younger I always had fantasies that one day I could guide a man to happiness and a new perspective on life and I could change his life and we would fall in love. In real life, the man is only using you as a trophy or as an escape but as soon as any flaw or insecurity shows through it's all about him, or how your flaws affect him. They don't love you, they love the way you make them feel.
They don’t like you they like the idea of you ..
The MPDG trope reminds me a lot of the Black Best Friend trope. They only exist to make the main character's life better, help them solve their problems, and disappear when ever they aren't convenient.
"let me build myself smaller than you"
She's so amazing and talented, her voice is really powerful. I can't stop listening to her poem Collapse the economy
The manic pixie dream girl is basically the whimsical nostalgic waifu for an edgy/awkward artists or writer. It's such wish-fulfillment cringe I'm glad it's getting the criticism it deserves!
What's wrong with cringe? You like this poetry genre, don't you?
@@ahabgaddis7277 I think he wasn't refering to the poetry genre but to the concept of a manic pixie dream girl
Maybe, but I wish I could be this for someone. A perfect picture of what they wanted, just surface enough to disappear at the perfect moment... Or maybe it could build into something deeper, but I love that trope and wish I could be it for someone
It can be cool in some movies. Movies are supposed to be a fantasy for people, what you find cringe others find interesting
My ex made me into his MPDG. He loved how I had finger puppets and candy in my purse, did modeling so he could brag to his friends, gave blowjobs without asking for my own orgasm in return. But if I ever had sadness, cut my hair too short, or needed a shoulder to cry on, he saw me as a bummer. I'd lose my sparkle. How dare I ever need someone to be there for ME? I was a fashion accessory that was only allowed to be perfect. And when I fell short of that...I was abandoned.
@@ElanaVital83 I'm so sorry. I get what that is like. We all deserve someone to be there for us who loves us as a person and isn't just superficial
I've only just discovered the wonderful gem that is Olivia Gatwood. I don't know how I never knew of her before but I'm glad I do now. Manic Pixie Dream Girl Says is such a beautiful poem and her delivery is just perfect. I wish I could see her live!
I love Olivia Gatwood's work, but especially this poem,, it reminds me so deeply of reading Stargirl as a child
literally every single thing about this poem describes Playlist for the dead; the manic pixie dream girl being Astrid, everything down to fried hair from having died it so much, down to dissapearing when she became too real, down to him gaining her qualities and the audience still siding with him. this is literally exactly Playlist for the dead, anyone else with me?
yes i totally agree, i dont know how i made it all the way through that terrible book
It's pretentious, too. Like, the girl's named Astrid for crying out loud.
ashandsteph okay true
Omg you're right
Ever since I was 3 my father has called me his manic pixie child, because I would laugh after falling out of trees I wasn't supposed to be in and sing happy songs about butterflies while refusing to brush my hair. Now, my nick name is just 'Pixie' because 'manic-depressive pixie nightmare' doesnt quite have the right ring to it. People are people. You cant just expect someone to be smiles all the time. It messes with their head.
*coughs and looks pointedly and John Green*
when?
Alaska is the epitome of MPDG in the beginning and John's whole point is to deconstruct the trope. He didn't do a great job, but she definitely fits there.
+Kirsten Carlisle Alaska Young as a MPDG is debatable, but that's sort of the fun part of literature anyway. Either way, he sort of wrote Paper Towns entirely to correct and apologize for transgressions in that area. He certainly isn't perfect but he gets a terrible wrap for something he's made up for tenfold.
+Sarah Shepherd
“That didn’t happen, of course. Things never happened the way I imagined them.” -the narrator of looking for alaska says this
"“Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.” - alaska says this
“Don't you know who you love, Pudge? You love the girl who makes you laugh and shows you porn and drinks wine with you. You don't love the crazy, sullen bitch.” -alaska also says this
"“For she had embodied the Great Perhaps--she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave behind my minor life for grander maybes, and now she was gone and with her my faith in perhaps.” -the narrator again
...do you get it? and this is just one book, here's another book:
“What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.” this sentence is the crux of paper towns. the exact polar opposite of the manic pixie dream girl trope, literally exists to deconstruct it and thoroughly succeeds, imo. this is said by the narrator
"I didn’t need you, you idiot. I picked you. And then you picked me back." -margo says this
"“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
okay that's about enough i think. i could do any of his books though. very curious why you and 100 other people accuse john green of this.
+angelica vences margo roth spiegelman
To become the main character, manic pixie dream girl needs to have her own story. She needs time away from all people to find her own hobbies. Sometimes it's painful, but she deals. She deals with loneliness with her interests growing. Growing until her first thought isn't: they need to hear THIS! Until her first thought is: this is beautiful. Until she goes through ups and downs of her interests. And when someone opposes her, she can back up her claim with actual sentences. She starts writing her story without characters. The characters slowly seep in, and they are simple, expendable ... unless they respect her story - then they may share it as the side characters. And manic pixie dream girl shall do the same.
This is so relevant. As a reader I've seen this on so many books and everyone buys it.
I don't see anything wrong with being quirky offbeat artistic and whimsical. according to me the problem isn't the manic pixie dream girl.. it isn't the broody soulful guy whose life has been made meaningful by the girl either. it is the portrayal of the mpdg and how 2 dimensional it is and the fact that she just exists to provide the protagonist more excitement and an interesting light. so the commenters who say that the poem slams a certain type of personality shouldn't feel offended because the mpdg trope exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures. but the mpdg is a whole character in herself and in almost all the cases a much better one than the protagonist. the problem lies with how little of the mpdg is projected as an individual.
That's... literally the whole point behind the critisism. She's not pictured as an individual, merely there to improve the protagonist
HommelDraak I think that’s because it isn’t her story, the whole movie is usually a coming of age of the male protagonist and is told from their point of view..
I think shes using the trope to point out how, like in film, shes experienced men who treat her like a mpgd, but just like the end of the movie, as soon as that quirk and personality is too much, or it comes away and she shows a human side, shes not interesting to them anymore. They eternal sunshine the shit out of her.
That much is obvious. The problem is the writing.
This. So true
She's from my hometown. Proud!
I LITERALLY WATCH THIS EVERYDAY
You see, I liked this poem before but never understood it. I stumbled upon a video talking about the actual term "manic pixie dream girl" and when I finally understood what it meant, its like a whole world opened up and this poem was at the center of it. I felt it so deep, deeper than I could have understood anything else had I not learned what it actually meant.
This is Alaska Young spot on
Except LFA is about how viewing someone as just a MPDG is a pretty crappy thing to do.
+Nellie Ruth I haven't read it, but that sounds like the premise of Paper Towns as well?
+NANCAY WANG It is! One of the biggest points John Green makes in his books is that it's wrong to think of someone as more than a person ("What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person"). The idea is that each person has the own faults and struggles. No one is some magical creature sent from the heavens to show you the world. This is why it bothers me when people claim all of the girls in John's books are MPDG's. It's really backwards to assume that all girls in literature only exist as such. In all of his books, he points out that the trope is ridiculous.
+Nellie Ruth Alaska Young was definitely a MPDG, and it only revealed that she was a real person after she died and Pudge had learned something about himself and life. She was only seen as a real person after her death.
+Lily Griffith what makes a MPDG a MPDG is that she only exists to make the protagonist happy and she him that the world is oh so beautiful. They are happy and carefree. That was never Alaska. She had a lot of vulnerable moments throughout the book. Not to mention that in the end, she made Pudge miserable. He wanted to solve the great mystery of who she was, but he couldn't.
Also, little fun fact. The guy who coined the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" now hates himself for it. You wanna know why? Because people like you overuse it and reach to apply it to every female character because tumblr said so.
She destroyed my favorite book right here, and I’m not even mad. Holy shit-thank you.
She is trying to destroy movies I love and characters I love and I blame her dot yhat
i've been called manic pixie dream girl several times over the past year and i think the people who've said it have meant it as a compliment but it always makes me think of this poem and wonder
Can't wait for the paper towns movie, which is basically this in 2 hours with marginally more Walt Whitman.
TheRealZRo Are you saying that it destroys the whole magic pixie dream girl image, or that it perpetuates it?
TheRealZRo paper towns is literally about the injustice of not being imagined complexly. or in simpler terms, how much it sucks to be thought of as/to be a manic pixie dream girl.
Paper Towns is great in that it systematically destroys the Manic Pixie Dream Girl fantasy. I meant my original comment in a positive way =)
Whoops wrong account^
Anyway. Both this poem and Paper Towns are fantastic.
TheRealZRo sorry! I totally agree with you!
This is "Perks of Being a Wallflower" pretty much from Sam's perspective
I've only read the book, but Sam is definitively not a MPDG. She is "quirky, funny, dreamy", all that, but she has problems and personality and desires. If someone on the book is idealised is Charlie, he's always there for everyone, less for himself, never wanting anything back. Sam even confronts him about how he's always what the others want him to be and never what he really wants. A MPDG doesn't criticize the protagonist.
That was pretty damned brilliant, actually.
It's odd to see yourself in a trope that is barely even a person. My ex was only interested in me when it made him feel like a good boyfriend with an interesting girl on his arm. I was artsy and smiley and quiet while he talked uninterrupted. But when it came to my flaws and insecurities and real problems, he was completely uninterested. He leaned on me and made me the therapist for his anxiety, calling me late at night to dump his negativity and tell me how I could do better as a girlfriend, but then told me one week that he knew something was wrong with me during a weekend I'd spent crying but hadn't reached out because he "kind of didn't feel like dealing with it."
Yes yes yes! I know this is a three year comment but I can relate to your story. My ex had mental issues and was getting help but he just wasn’t ready for a relationship. These issues didn’t excuse his personality and lack of commitment however.
When I was with him it seemed like I was an accessory to him. The girlfriend he could show off to his friends on Snap, which he would always do when we were together. When he spoke around others, it was always self centered and I was expected to just sit and listen never adding input. He always thought he was more knowledgeable and wiser than me about everything as well. He would subtly “disapprove” of things I did, how I was and how I live simply because it was different from him. He never even called me by my name.
I would often comfort him and try and be there for him, and he wouldn’t do the same. When we broke up he even admitted he felt like he was putting up a front with me and he just needed to focus on himself which I agreed with fully. It’s crazy though how I cried and cried, thinking he was the perfect guy and I would never find anybody else like him. Only after I made a list of all the ways he was a bad person and talked with my mom did I realize how blind I was.
Ugh what a douche bag
Why am I watching this for the 4th time in an hour
Back again
lizzie watson nice pic
*cough cough* Stargirl.... Oh Jerry Spinelli!
Omfg YES I remember reading it and being so annoyed because you never learned anything about her and everyone told me it was a good book!!
SweetasSugar42 Isn't there a second book that's more focused on Stargirl called, "Letters to Stargirl"? I mean, I haven't been able to read it, but maybe it opens up a more realistic side of her.
wait really?!
sausagekay uchiha Yeah.
The sequel is called "Love, Stargirl"! I love it so much.
Olivia you are so consistently badass and inspiring.
The beginning few lines is definitely about Garden State
Girl, YES!!!! 46 here and still being labeled. Thanks for this.
This album inspired my band Doll Skin's new album. It's named after this poem. Thank you for inspiring us to make an entire album.
As someone that suffers from manic depression, this poem always lifts me up when the thought won't stop.
I come back to watch this periodically as therapy, healing, and a reminder 🫠💜 Big love to all my fellow magickal people out there ✨️
It's amazing to find something you connect so deeply with 💜💜 Thank you for sharing
she’s a legend she is.
This is an excellent piece. I was very moved on how relevant it is to both our pop culture and even in our own life experiences. Thanks for the great poem.
aka every female character John Green has ever written. Particularly Alaska.
Exept margo actually
And aza.
Manic Cannibal Nightmare Boy
Edward Cullen?
Keymo Fetus Shia LaBeouf?
Rachel S. hahhahaha
Hannibal Lecter
LOL..Keymo! Why do I always find you in random places on youtube?
Love the poem and the delivery. I'm obsessed with this ...
wow this brought me back to some of my "friends" that I had in my past that pretty much screwed me over in the end. this is incredible, I hope to see more from her.
When i hear one of her poems i never want it to end
I want. to like this. a thousand. times.
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind ?
YESS!! as much as I love the movie this is so fucking true.
Clem is classified as MPDG, but she calls it out IN the movie so she isn't. She knows people see her as MPDG but she refuses the trope.
"Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours."
I like to think of Clem as a real life mpdg. She is cute at first but once you get to know her and you learn there is a history to her she is ridiculous. If women were just these adorkable artsy girls running about being impulsive and immature they probably wouldn't have wondrous life. She was a drunk. She was defensive. She was impulsive and that took a toll on her relationships in life. It wasn't all happily ever after at the end because they knew it was going to end. Her and Joel just learned that it's okay that it ends and to just try and enjoy it while they can because it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Wow, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite movies. Never thought about it through the lens of MPDG. I like these comments! Good points! Maybe that's part of why I love it (plus it's just such a well-made movie). It's so real. And fantastical at the same time though. But yes the ending (I won't spoil it) is just so...real. I actually liked that movie Friends With Benefits too cause, even though it's still a slightly predictable romantic comedy, it was more realistic than movies often are about romance and sex...like they were just buddies who kinda accidentally fell in love.
@kassidy technically, just because the writers acknowledge they know they've made a manic pixie dream girl and try and cover it up by giving her one (1) line making some kind of feminist statement does NOT mean she's suddenly not a manic pixie dream girl. in the same way plenty of writers have tried to 'subvert' the trope of MPDG but have ended up making their female character still serve that purpose by the end, so it didn't even matter. If anything, acknowledging that they knew makes it even worse, because they still never fixed it.
Simply amazing. Another awe inspiring, thought provoking piece by Olivia G.
The beginning practically SCREAMED Garden State lol
Ramona Flowers
is ramona flowers a mpdg?
She's like the definition of a mpdg.
Burke Boydell she's satiric, not a genuine mpdg
Ramona was a lead character, she wasn't manic, and she definitely wasn't the " let me save you" type. If anyone in that movie was a MPDG it was knives
The definition of a MPDG is a quirky girl whose purpose is to care for the protag and help him reach his goals. Yes, at first glance Ramona Flowers is a MPDG but she has her own goals as well. Which is less apparent in the movie, but in the comics she has bigger goals. She's her own person, MPDGs are not.
I wish I could like this twice.
I've thought about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl thing too. Great poem. Especially the ending! Love your passion.
6 years later and this poem still resonates with me so deeply
I usually hate slam poetry just because it's super aggressive, but this topic has been in such interest to me, and maybe it's because we see this character in film and media so much and no one ever realizes it. She killed it :)
i'd never thought about the film in that way before
The way she carries herself. I aspire to be like that. Perform like that. I love her delivery. Olivia is incredible!
Preach, baby. PREACH.
This is unbelievably beautiful.
I will never build myself small again
Go off! I was just thinking about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl complex the other day searching for writing prompts. I can't believe the timing.
She is truly so talented such a huge inspiration to me💕💖
Easily my favorite poem ever
why do i love this so much
Before I knew the meaning of the "manic pixie girl" I thought this poem was about manic episodes of bipolar disorder.
awaitingdisaster17 what is the meaning of manic pixie girl?
Karime Colletta
man·ic pix·ie dream girl
noun
(especially in film) a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist.
thank you!
What does it mean?
Oh
I just finished watching Crazy Ex-girlfriend and I immediately searched for this video again.
love her sm
I only learned today what a manic pixie dream girl is. Something told me to look it up and it was not even close to what I thought the term meant. I think I be been one in my 20s. Now I have I boyfriend I've been seeing for ten and a half years. So I haven't manic pixie dream girl'd in a long time.
had to hunt down the video because i loved this so much
sis turned sadness into slayness
i can think of so many... summer from 500 days, clementine from eternal sunshine, ramona to an extent, alaska as people have said, natalie portman's character in garden state...
So spot on
I didn't get this poem before and now I know why...it referencing a film i've never heard of until now.
I was obsessed with this as a kid, turns out I’m autistic lol
this is so incredible and so important
INSANE. No words
woah this was incredible
the reality is if youre being your genuine, authentic self, this wont happen. girls like olivia dont have a personality of their own, so instead she takes on someone elses and when the mask slips off, she fails, her hideous deformities are exposed. dont you get it? manic pixie dream girl was playing a character the whole time. she has no idea who she is, she just just wants to be different but she doesnt know herself. she is afraid to, just like olivia. and shes afraid of the world, she hides behind her RBF. her whole personality is a defense mechanism. you can be a strong woman without being a b*** to everyone. just like how you can be honest without being BRUTALLY honest.
I was ill from school for one day, the day they were ordering T-shirt’s with all our nicknames on. I got to school a week later and my nickname was “MPDG” and I got really confused and some girl said they had a vote and called me the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and that fucking hurt.
You write your own narrative. Let them think whatever they want.
Are you?
I am so afraid that I am the manic pixie dream girl in my current relationship.
Holy fuck... I just realized that too... In like every single relationship I've ever had
Oh my god, this is brilliant.
i only seem to exist to be the girl that changes someones way of viewing the world. then they leave. and i repeat the process. over. and over again. i want to be someone's life long friend. i want to be loved for longer than the honeymoon stage.
This makes me think of the book stargirl
yOuR wHiTe MoThEr
No but seriously I love this poem and I love her voice. This was the first spoken word poem I'd ever heard and the first button poetry video I'd ever seen. I always come back to it and I love it so much.
This reminds me of Stargirl and Alaska Young
I love this me and my best friend have memoized it it's amazing!!!!
hey it’s that girl from twitter
Favourite !
This is phenomenal
I am an avid #MentalHealthAwareness advocate and award-winning spoken word performer, and I love this so much. I travel the country trying to bring that awareness on stages, in classrooms, hospitals, and on my RUclips channel, so I get excited when I see other advocates. 💙❤
Olivia the gawd YES
EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY
i live in abq and i never even knew they came here. wish i went :(
First couple lines remind me of garden state, that girl was like the base of every “quirky” female character
hi i just realized ive built myself to be a manic pixie dream girl, any tips to undo everything ive always thought i was ?
Accept your flaws and teach people to aknowledge them 💜
goosebumps