Manic Pixie Dream Girls Essay Example

The story begins with a male character who is a protagonist in a depressed state of and is not capable of staying focus. Then he comes into contact with a female who acts as a catalyst and is determined to change his way of thinking by all means with regards to how he views himself. She is perceived to be mysterious allowing him to discover so many good things about himself and consequently forgetting the miserable state of mind previously held by him. Her nature of making herself appear out of reach forces him to make efforts to reach her. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG) is a character type described by film critic Nathan Rabin in 2007 after reviewing the movie Elizabethtown (Metcalf, 2014). According to Nathan, The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is present primarily in the imaginations of writer-directors so that it can teach young men to embrace the issues of life as well as its mysteries and adventures (Otto & Literatuurwetenschap, 2016). The term Manic Pixie Dream Girl has famously been used when referring to screen characters though it is also common in the literary context. According to Metcalf, (2014), this trope, the MPDG is painted as bubbly, quirky, dreamy, fascinating, mysterious, beautiful and slightly crazy. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope shows our cultural tendencies to categorize and group people. The key function of this girl in any storyline tends to fulfill the romantic desires of the male main character in addition to rescuing him from his desolate state. She is depicted as some sort of muse, for his benefit. The female character is viewed as being eccentric with a sole purpose of teaching the man to appreciate life.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In this paper, I will analyze the young adults' novels specifically the Alaska and Paper Towns by John Green and determine how the Manic Pixie Dream Girl has been presented it the form of female characters Alaska Young and Margo Roth Spiegelman. Green states that he does not, in fact, create Manic Pixie Dream Girls and goes on to say that the paper town is intended entirely to eliminating the lie of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Dunder, 2017). I argue however that Margo Roth Spiegelman and Alaska Young can be perceived as MPDGs basically because they both act as catalysts towards their male protagonist. The characters are deemed as 'dream girls' through the eyes of the protagonists and their stories employ traditional female stereotypical tendencies. In addition, the novels contain more to the presence of MPDG as a commonality. The plots revolve around school-aged kids and also their protagonists are defined as male, white and heterosexual (Dunder, 2017). The components justify my reason for choosing these specific novels for my argumentative essay. I establish that the Manic Pixie Dream Girls in the novels looking for Alaska and Paper Towns maintain stereotypical gender roles and consequently upholds a glorified image of the muse. I will look at how Alaska and Margo are able to blend into the MPDG trope as well as their specific functions. Additionally, I will critically examine ways in which the Manic Pixie Dream Girl can be depicted as primarily supporting stereotype gender roles.

Having found out that Alaska and Margo fit well into the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the focus, therefore, will be on how they perpetuate stereotypical gender roles to maintain a glorified image of the muse(Otto & Literatuurwetenschap, 2016).In my view, I argue that the MPDGs in the two novels for the category of girls perceived as desiring to enjoy the benefits of feminism like freedom and ability to choose at the same time sticking dearly to traditional romantic ideals that come with relationships. They are portrayed as girlish and carrying stereotypical female attributes (McRobbie, 2009). Alaska and Margo are girls who been presented as independent, with great tendencies and will to disregard rules. They both drink, smoke and at times pull pranks (Metcalf, 2014). However, according to Penny, (2013), the two girls as MPDGs are still objectified and placed in a position of submissiveness characterized by protagonists having a lot of power over them. The objectification is clear from the fact that these girls are seen as being humans with physical fantasies in the eyes of the protagonists as well as perceiving their main function as being just that of catalysts. As (Dunder, 2017) notes, they are regarded as a means to a goal more than they are seen as people.

Joyce(2017) wrote that the champions of the MPDG curtail female progress by applying traditional roles such as women being assumed to be caretakers, a role which can be directly linked to the catalytic function that is in itself caregiving. The MPDG characters on the sense of being submissive might be seen as girls with a lot of power and control over the protagonists in the sense that she motivate him to try new and as a result, he follows her. However, this in my view is often the other way around. Because the Manic Pixie Dream Girls are deemed to exist for the mere benefit of the protagonist, anything done by her is generally intended for his purpose. Furthermore, the MPDG is depicted as unadventurous and lacking independence majorly because their adventures matter a lot (Joyce, 2017), and she is seen as such because there is something in being adventurous which the protagonist ought to discover in their growth. This is in agreement with the description done by Suwalska-Kolecka, Anna & Izabella (2015) who wrote about the muse being irresistible to the person she motivates and helps attain their full potentials. Thus the Manic Pixie Dream Girls trope aids in upholding the perception of the glorified muse through an embracement of both elements of fantasy girl as well as catalytic roles.

I find that Alaska Young and Margo Roth Spiegelman both fit into the profile of the Manic Pixie Dream Girls trope. They are taken to be 'dream girls' of the male protagonists in their story and their roles basically are to catalyze the protagonists in their development (Joyce, 2017). The two girl characters have the mystery element on the lives and of the protagonist which apparently benefits him much. Both Alaska and Margo carry possess same effects on the protagonists in the two stories. Joyce, (2017) notes that in both cases, the girls are idolized at the beginning only later to be described as individuals with no stability and having less mystery. This perception is pronounced in both stories as the protagonist notices and reflects greatly on the effects the catalysts had on them. Furthermore, the two protagonists in the stories are left with better relationships that than they had prior to meeting the girl of their dreams (Otto & Literatuurwetenschap, 2016). The protagonists have both broken out of their shells and taken more risks which lead to both discovering magnificent things about themselves as a result of the female catalyst in the two stories (Dunder, 2017). Both novels describe these girls as people with great impacts on their protagonists by way of fantasies in their own minds contrary to how they could do it in real life situations.

References

Dunder, E. (2017). The Manic Pixie Dream Girls in John Green's Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns.

Joyce, Julianna. "Deciphering the Manic Pixie Mythos." Apollon E-journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

McRobbie, A. (2009). The aftermath of feminism: Gender, culture and social change. Sage.

Metcalf, M. H. (2014). Manic Pixie Dream Girls (Doctoral dissertation, Emory University).

Otto, A. J. B., & Literatuurwetenschap, F. E. (2016). Manic Pixie Dream Girls (Bachelor's thesis).

Penny, L. (2013). Laurie Penny on sexism in storytelling: I was a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. The Newstatesman. Consultado, 3.

Suwalska-Kolecka, Anna., and Izabella. Penier. Muses, Mistresses, and Mates : Creative Collaborations in Literature, Art, and Life. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015. Print.