manic_pixie_dreamgirl silentbob Coined by Nathan Rabin, film critic for the Onion AV Club. Definition: stock character in romantic comedies whose soul / sole purpose is to infatuate a male protagonist and to challenge his perceptions and to win him over to the lifestyle of being a free spirit, standing on couches, peanut butter and jelly, and trampoline forts. Her function is to encourage him to achieve his goals, while not imposing too many tough, real life challenges herself. See also zooey_deschanel The MPDG is rooted in the infantalization of adult women, as a means of idealizing boyhood crushes during the lifestage of Actual Relationships. If you fastforwarded six months, the male protagonist and the MPDG do not stay together, because everything eventually ends. She probably gets bored with his moping and he probably can't stand it that she texts so much and she can't stand that he won't text back and as soon as conflicts occur, the relationship is doomed. Examples of films featuring manic pixie dreamgirls: Elizabethtown Garden_state Bringing_Up_Baby Cactus Flower Breakfast_at_tiffany's Yes Man Jules et Jim it goes on and on. 140115 ... epitome of incomprehensibility Cool. The Attention Deficit High Definition studio approves this message. And I hadn't known where the term came from, though I've seen it before on TV Tropes. ...example: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? ...Though that one's quite interesting, and it amused me to see an evil Frodo (well, Elijah Wood) it still has this sort of character in Clementine of the changing hair colours. 140115 ... silentbob The way that eternal_sunshine_of_the_spotless_mind subverts this is thusly: it does set up this character who challenges the curmudgeonly protagonist to break out of his workaday, but she insists that she will not be he subject of his projections, and ultimately their relationship fails. It does round out the character, to give it just that bit of development that it needs to not be the MPDG. But certainly she does start out that way. 140115 ... e_o_i That makes sense. I'd forgotten this quote - someone put it on the blather page - "I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours." Also, you might find this funny. It's called "She's Not Quirky": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu4AEwhJWxY 140116 ... silentbob That makes me really really happy 140116 ... silentbob I don't need a rescue, but I want to rescue you. 140123 ... REAListic optimIST This sounds like Sarah Jessica Parker's role in LA Story 140123 what's it to you? who go blather from