A slight detour from my movie men cataloguing - I was catching up on my reading over at Onion AV Club and I discovered to my delight they've coined a term for annoying female movie character: The MPDG - Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
DEFINITION - MPDG has no inner life of her own and her sole purpose is to bring out the best in her brooding mon amour. She exists simply as a muse through which her object of affection discovers his own dreams and sense of self. Aided through her non threatening good looks and not quite crazy but quirky eccentricities.
There have been an increasing number of these irritating character fantasies in the last few years but possibly the most offensive is Natalie Portman in Garden State (her nonsense talk, that giggle, the tap dancing - the fact that she was in love with Zach Braff).
Just to see if the playing field is even I want to see if I can find some Manic Pixie Dream Guys films or the equivalent offensive character type.
(BTW has Natalie Portman made a good film since The Proffessional? Shes so affable and seems quite talented (even though it was a dog of a film she was great in My Blueberry Nights) and intelligent (she's at Harvard right?). She just keeps making these awful film choices e.g. Closer, Garden State, Star Wars 1-3, The Other Boleyn Girl. Why Natalie?!)
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