http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ManicPixieDreamGirl

She'll liven up your life... whether you like it or not!

Jessica Day, New Girl "I brake for birds! I rock a lot of polka dots! I have touched glitter in the past 24 hours! I spent my entire day talking to children! And I find it fundamentally strange that you're not a dessert person; that's just weird and it freaks me out! And I'm sorry I don't talk like Murphy Brown ! And I hate your pantsuit. I wish it had ribbons on it or something to make it slightly cuter!"

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Let's say you're a soulful, brooding male hero, living a sheltered, emotionless existence. If only someone could come along and open your heart to the great, wondrous adventure of life...

Have no fear, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is here to give new meaning to the male hero's life! She's stunningly attractive, energetic, high on life, full of wacky quirks and idiosyncrasies (generally including childlike playfulness), often with a touch of wild hair dye. She's inexplicably obsessed with our stuffed-shirt hero, on whom she will focus her kuh-razy antics until he learns to live freely and love madly.

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl may be featured as the Second Love, in order to break the character out of The Mourning After. If he's a cynic, her goal may be to convince him that Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!. Finally, she may be presented as a cheerful variety of Threshold Guardians, all the way from less uptight to psychopomps happily welcoming their clients into "another adventure".

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It's a long-standing trope (around since at least 1283), but the term was coined in 2007 by film critic Nathan Rabin, who found it grating, as he believed it to be the result of Wish Fulfillment from stir-crazy writers. He explicitly compared it to the Magical Negro, in that a Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists to help the protagonist achieve happiness without ever seeking any independent goals herself. Rabin would later disown the term, because instead of creating awareness of the "lack of independent goals in female characters", the concept was misunderstood as a condemnation of ALL quirky and fun female characters.

Despite all that (or because of all that), there are ways of utilizing this trope without falling into that pitfall. Given enough time, Character Development can add to their personality and interests and pull them away from the MPDG foundation. The story may even be told from their perspective, revealing that there is more to them than bringing adventure to brooding guys. A MPDG with independent story arc and depth of character can even be the true main character of a work, with her companion being a hapless Drag Along recruited to assist her goals- his world-expanding adventure is incidental to her need for someone to carry the cooking pots and backup hang glider.

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Deconstructions of the idea may show that they resent being considered only useful for the benefit of the main character, idolized as something that they are not, or that once the main character reaches their "enlightened" stage, the MPDG moves on to the next person who needs their help. An alternative type of deconstruction is for a character introduced like this to turn out to be dangerously unstable, tipping over into Cute and Psycho, or (more realistically) a damaged and unhealthy individual whose childishness, naivete, and irresponsibility quickly either cause them to wear out their welcome, or suck the main character into a codependent mess that can only end badly.

A subtrope of Blithe Spirit, and related to Magical Girlfriend, Loony Friends Improve Your Personality, and Damsel Errant. From the girl's perspective, this trope becomes Single Woman Seeks Good Man, though whether the hero qualifies varies.

Compare Cloudcuckoolander, Genki Girl, Perky Goth, Uptight Loves Wild, Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl, Pom-Pom Girl, and Quirky Ukulele for similar personality roles. May also overlap with Trickster Girlfriend if she enjoys playing tricks on the protagonist and deliberately misleading him just for the fun of it. Sometimes the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a Hypercompetent Sidekick. Contrast Nerd Nanny and Yamato Nadeshiko for examples of calmer and more mature ladies. The Screwball Comedy is a genre driven entirely by this character type.

Although not quite Always Female, a "Manic Pixie Dream Guy" is a much rarer concept. "Manic Pixie Dream Guys", where they exist, tend to either be young (e.g., a Kid Sidekick) or immature. If the latter, expect them to learn just as much from their cynical partner as they teach (the cynic learns to enjoy life more while the immature one learns responsibility).

Examples

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Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Comic Strips

Bridget is like this in My Cage. Although the other main characters are generally too cynical and depressed for her to have more than a temporary effect. Norm: You are like dating a cartoon elf sometimes.

In Peanuts, Sally tries to be this towards Linus, but he's quick to remind her that he is NOT her sweet babboo. Sally: What does he know? note Said in a series of strips where she tries to give him a Valentine's Day card.

Fan Works

Nymphadora Tonks of the Harry Potter series usually fills this in fanfiction. She's a clumsy metamorphmagus (meaning that she can change her appearance at will, for example she's usually seen with pink hair), who wears band t-shirts and has more humor than most of the cast. She's often paired with a character the author feels needs to loosen up (Lupin, Harry, Moody, etc.).

Frozen Flame : Edward Elric to Alfons Heiderich. Edward majorly shook up Alfons' dull life with his determination, devil-may-care attitude and refusal to believe anything without proof and helped Alfons' rocket program take off. In fact Edward shakes up Alfons' life so much that when given the choice to go to Amestris with him, Alfons jumps at the chance without a second thought. Although the dark side of the trope is lampshaded when Alter!Hughes warns Alfons how dangerous Edward could be, so focused on his own goals that he ignores the possible fatal consequences. In the same story, Alphonse Elric to Roy Mustang. Alphonse shakes Roy out of his disillusioned funk in his self-exile and gets him to live life again. Although Alphonse does this for selfish reasons: he wanted to learn Flame Alchemy from Roy, learn who his brother was from the man that loved him and learn how to seduce Edward for himself

: At Gates Edge: Despite being a ghost, Edward is an inversion to Roy Mustang. Edward's presence acts as an anchoring force in Roy's life, causing him to take things more seriously, work harder, take his duties more seriously and be more honest to himself and others. When Roy falls in love with him, he reevaluates his promiscuous lifestyle and considers giving it up to be faithful to Ed. Roy plays this straight to Edward. Roy shakes Edward out of his dull afterlife of haunting Roy's office and pulls him into a life of excitement, conspiracy and adventure along with helping Edward tie loose ends with his old life.

The Golden Armor : Angel Beats is the Manic Pixie Mare in this My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic, slowly defrosting the stone faced pegasus Comet Burst through the expedient of being the most annoying thing in his life. She fulfill all the signs of the trope, she is full of energy, never stops talking, keeps hitting on him (metaphorically and literally as well) and instead of a wild hair color (that's not very singular in the show) she's a Bat Pony, a rare breed of pony. For some reason the superiors in the Royal Guard of Equestria think it's good to keep them together, and he slowly begin the standard routine of falling in love with a Manic Pixie Girl.

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Films — Animation

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Music

Mythology and Religion

Stand-up Comedy

Simon Amstell of Grandma's House and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, discusses and deconstructs the trope in all but name in his show Do Nothing: "I was in Paris recently with a new group of people, one of whom was a sort of kooky interesting girl, though in hindsight not that interesting. I always get fooled, I always think, Oh she seems fascinating. Is she, Simon? Or does she just have short hair? She suggests at about three in the morning that we all run up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Trimphe. And I guess telling you about that now, it sounds exciting and fun, but at the time I just thought, Why would we do that?"

Theater

Video Games

Visual Novels

Web Comics

Web Original

Satirized in Manic Pixie Prostitute a YouTube short commenting on the male obsession with the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' caricature and the female response to it. A middle-aged married man in a suit meets an exasperated prostitute in a hotel room. Instead of sex, he asks her to role play: "I want you to turn my life upside down with your whimsical joie de vivre," — an act she finds "demeaning." The parody trailer A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever includes a token Manic Pixie Dream Girl in the form of Lead Female. She helps Wealthy, Successful Protagonist to open up and enjoy his life to the fullest, though she does share that role with Inspirationally Disadvantaged Guy. Protagonist: Interest in your bold rejection of social norms as evidenced by your dyed hair.

Referenced in Yahtzee's review of SimCity. Yahtzee: Listen to me EA: not every introvert is longing for the day that Zooey Fucking Deschanel kicks their door down and forcibly drags them to a roller rink. Feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian discussed this trope in the first episode in her "Tropes Vs. Women" series, calling it a poor effort by Hollywood writers to create less subdominant roles for females, as it's still a character who's meant to serve the needs of the male lead. She brings up an interesting point that it's often merged with The Muse, which puts forth the idea that women can't be independent creators. But she employs a lot of Critical Research Failure, categorising Summer of (500) Days of Summer and Clementine of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as straight examples - ignoring the deconstructions in the stories.

in her "Tropes Vs. Women" series, calling it a poor effort by Hollywood writers to create less subdominant roles for females, as it's still a character who's meant to serve the needs of the male lead. She brings up an interesting point that it's often merged with The Muse, which puts forth the idea that women can't be independent creators. But she employs a lot of Critical Research Failure, categorising Summer of (500) Days of Summer and Clementine of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as straight examples - ignoring the deconstructions in the stories. There is the State Home for Manic Pixie Dream Girls . Turns out most manic pixies need to be eventually institutionalised. Kyle's heart is breaking as he has to have his wife Katie committed. She's adorable in a quirky and awkward way... but she wanders and marvels at everything, can't feed herself (she only ever eats pancakes), wants to pay in buttons, listens to music with unplugged headphones, blows kisses to people she doesn't know etc. All the manic-pixies at the facility are similar: they all listen to The Smiths, they fight over a CD mix which to them is like catnip to cats, they talk about star-gazing, get crafty with pipe clears and dance happily in the rain. The woman in charge handling Katie's case says the Manic Pixie Dream Girl condition is still dimly understood, but she has her own theory: severe retardation of the brain.

. Turns out most manic pixies need to be eventually institutionalised. Kyle's heart is breaking as he has to have his wife Katie committed. She's adorable in a quirky and awkward way... but she wanders and marvels at everything, can't feed herself (she only ever eats pancakes), wants to pay in buttons, listens to music with unplugged headphones, blows kisses to people she doesn't know etc. All the manic-pixies at the facility are similar: they all listen to The Smiths, they fight over a CD mix which to them is like catnip to cats, they talk about star-gazing, get crafty with pipe clears and dance happily in the rain. The woman in charge handling Katie's case says the Manic Pixie Dream Girl condition is still dimly understood, but she has her own theory: severe retardation of the brain. Subverted in Gemma and the Bear, which features a gay, platonic Manic Pixie Dream Guy. Gemma is a timid, nerdy, neurotic white woman who turns into a "carpe diem-loving, fly-by-the-seat-of his-pants" gay black man named Bear when she falls asleep. Bear has decided that he and Gemma need a man and that Gemma overall just needs some more spice in her life! Unfortunately, he mostly causes trouble and makes things even more complicated.

Manic Pixie Dream Wife: Deconstructed. Chance met his dream girl Simone who is beautiful, gentle, quirky, lovable and a manic-pixie-dream-girl up-to-eleven. He loves her, but being married to her is exhausting... She reassures and encourages her friends and random people to follow their hearts or to keep pursuing their passions like music; people admire her ukulele skills and her singing; she likes to pretend to be an alien or a baby, she keeps throwing dinners with a theme (like an under sea dinner party for Chance and her, and their pet fish Morrissy insisted to join them, too), she loves making music mixes for her husband, she doesn't like 'dangerous chemicals' (even medicine, because pharmaceutical companies are evil), she works for a charity dressed as a dancing potted flower... and so on and so forth. She's very loving and inspiring, but Chance becomes extremely tired from her various adventures and her attempts to self-actualize him all the time, and to his horror, he starts to feel attracted to a firm, energetic and funny woman who acts like a grown-up. It turns out that Simone actually acts this way because Chance needs to be cheered up all the time, and others expect her to behave in that way, too.

Western Animation