Everybody loves a crazy girl.
You know what I’m talking about.
She’s the kind of girl who breaks the guy out of his shell and makes him “live.” She swoops into his life and turns everything on its head.
The trope has really been around since the 30s and the screwball comedies with Katherine Hepburn and Irene Dunn. (The guys were in on it, too. Check out Ninotchka and It Happened One Night). They continued through the 70s (Diane Keaton, anyone?) and beyond.
The stakes have been upped in the last 10-15 years. Every movie seems to have some little hipster chick who comes along in some straight-laced dude’s life to shake things up. She flits around making her own clothes and listening to The Smiths and makes him rethink his way of life. And, for the most part, it’s a good thing for him.
But there’s something wrong with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. It’s the word “manic.” It comes from “mania,” which is not always a good thing. It basically says that this girl is awesome, but she has problems that need help to get fixed. And, while she’s good for the guy, she’s not always good for herself.
Here are a couple of movies that illustrate my point.
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER (2009)
Directed by Marc Webb
Written by Scott Neustadter/Michael H Weber
I’m about to tear Summer apart, but never, ever get me wrong: I love this movie. It’s among my favorite romantic comedies, if only because it’s from the guy’s point of view and I understand it. I completely makes sense to me in a way that a movie like How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days will never make sense to me.
Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is the epitome of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She even loves The Smiths! Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is the epitome of the guy who needs an MPDG. He’s locked in his ways, pining over a girl who left him mostly because he was too boring.
When Tom meets Summer sparks fly…for him, anyway. He’s instantly in smit. He knows that she’s The One for him. He does everything he can to crack this nut. But from the first, she’s honest with him…she doesn’t want a relationship. She just wants to be friends. Then she muddies the waters by having sex with him.
This goes on for a while and he falls more in love with her. But she never falls for him. Not really. I’m not even sure that she ever concedes to a relationship. She just goes on sleeping with him and buying records with him.
Here’s the deal: there’s nothing wrong with her for not wanting to get in a relationship or not falling in love with him after sleeping with him. Whatever. That’s fine. What’s wrong is the fact that she seems to get some sort of validation from his constant longing for her. She needs that attention. She needs him to want her. She’s obviously suffering from something that’s never quite defined. Probably very low self-esteem, even though she seems to be perfectly fine with herself.
Summer is the kind of girl that you THINK you want as a young guy. But she’s really the kind of girl that you don’t need at all. She’s only going to hurt you in the end. Trust me. I’ve had this sort of thing before. She was a great friend for a while, even after getting a boyfriend. We shared a lot of great times and got to know each other really well. But as soon as she was done with me, I never heard from her again. It’s kind of awful. I’m actually really glad it never progressed as far as Summer and Tom’s “relationship” did.
And, remember: I love this movie!
GOD HELP THE GIRL (2014)
Written and directed by Stuart Murdoch
I’m sort of cheating here because this movie hasn’t come out yet. I saw it a few weeks back at South By Southwest. But it’s my column. Deal with it.
All you hipsters out there know Stuart Murdoch as the man behind Belle & Sebastian. This is his musical…so you now know what the music sounds like. You can also probably guess the story. Sort of.
James (Olly Alexander) and Cass (Hannah Murray) are musicians who just can’t seem to catch a break. When Eve (Emily Browning) pops into their lives, things start to change. James is immediately in smit with this new girl and Hannah almost seems to be, too. James and Emily start writing songs together that are completely different from what James was writing alone. The three start getting more members and form a band that seems like it might actually start to go places.
Meanwhile, Eve is batting her eyes at a cute French boy (Pierre Boulanger) who says that he can get her tape to a pair of local DJs. She likes James a lot, but she wants Anton. James is relationship material. Anton is a toy. She really wants a toy right now.
What none of these people know is that Eve escaped from a local hospital. She’s manic-depressive, anorexic and possibly a few other things. She only has a few weeks worth of her happy pills left. Those keep her from doing horrible things to herself with Anton or hurting James. When she runs out…well, bad things happen.
God Help The Girl is the first movie that I’ve seen that really breaks down the myth of the MPDG. Murdoch shows us exactly what happens when people run away from the help that they need. They do things to hurt themselves and the people they love. It’s pretty watered down, though, because it all takes place over the course of one summer. Typically, this will take years and it will be MUCH more painful for everyone involved.
God Help The Girl is a great movie even if the music is a bit twee. But I expect that from Murdoch at this point. It is basically Belle & Sebastian music, after all.
Both of these movies really show this myth for what it is: a girl with a problem.
It doesn’t even matter that it’s a girl. Could be a guy. If you know of anymore movies that do this for any sex or gender, let me know.
I’d like to see more movies tear this down a bit.
