Obscure Objects of Desire

How did we ever do without the term (coined by movie critic, Nathan Rabin), 'manic pixie dream girl'. It stands for, in his words, 'that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures'.

The term has clearly gained traction since it was first identified in 2008. (The classic examples were Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown and Natalie Portman in Garden State.) You can see a list of films featuring MPDGs here. There's a really nice article in this week's New Yorker that mentions it. And Rabin himself as incorporated it into his terrific book, My Year of Flops, in which he spent a year looking at cinematic disasters.

There's a serious point as well, which is worth any film or fiction writer considering. The MPDG has no desires of her own. She only exists to rescue the slightly ineffectual/depressed/shy hero and show him how to lighten up/get a life/discover himself. When you're writing, you should try imagine the story from the point of view of every characer, however minor. What do they want? What drives them? 

Bringing Up Baby is very nearly my favourite film. But I've always been nagged by something. I can see what Katherine Hepburn is bringing to Cary Grant's life. But what is Grant bringing to Hepburn's life? (Apart from being Cary Grant.)