That Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Naturally, I am a huge fan of John Green, the author of Looking for Alaska, as well as An Abundance of Katherines and his new, NY Times Bestseller, Paper Towns. While watching a live broadcast from a stop on his Book/Nerdfighting Tour, I quickly became obsessed with something called the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl was something I had never heard of. Forgive me if I'm a bit slow and you're thinking, "How could you not know what a Manic Pixie Dream Girl was?" Although, I'm not sure I know anyone who would know the term so you can blame the company I keep.

The term was coined by Nathan Rabin to describe Kirsten Dunst's character in Elizabethtown (which I've never seen so I won't talk about it much...) According to Rabin, a manic pixie dream girl "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 Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a fascinating creature in my eyes. There are several notable MPDGs, and I'm not going to talk about them (although, I'm already addicted to Natalie Portman's MPDG in Garden State and you should check that out yourself). I'm going to talk about the ones I know the best and the ones I care for the most.

Mimi Marquez, the HIV-positive, heroin addicted S&M stripper from Rent is a MPDG and I never even saw it. She believes that today is all that matters, she runs without regrets. Roger is a recluse, recovering from a heroin addiction. Mimi yearns for someone while Roger doesn't even want to leave the heatless loft, let alone form new relationships. Her one wish to go "out tonight" changes Roger's life forever.

What a mighty fine sentence to end on because that leads me right to the newest and most fascinating MPDG I have come across (in these last two weeks): Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo's wish to go out tonight had similar effects on Quentin Jacobsen, otherwise known as Q. In Paper Towns, Margo Roth Spiegelman (who is really so awesome even to me that her full name MUST be used) has been Q's next door neighbor since they were two years old. With three and a half weeks of senior year left, Margo Roth Spiegelman crosses that dog-shock-collar-line created by high school cliques, and reunites with Q. At his bedroom window. Just before midnight. Dressed like a ninja. It only gets better from there. I don't want to spoil anything for you but Margo Roth Spiegelman is so incredibly amazing with her crafty plans of revenge and enough awesomeness to break into a theme park in the middle of the night that I wish she was my best friend.

Rabin writes, of the MPDG, that you "either want to marry her instantly... or [you] want to commit grievous bodily harm against them and their immediate family." For parts of the book, I was swinging for the latter team. She had Q wrapped around her finger and so caught up in her game that I was actually pissed off. But part of me always loved her. In the end, I did love her. And I wish that I had even .01% MPDG in my soul. I want to be that MPDG!

While most people would be quick to point out that the MPDG is not real- that she is a fictional device, floating among the Knights in Shining Armour and the Mary Sues, I would like to argue that the MPDG must be out there some where. She is out there. But maybe she's a little bit more manic than pixie. And maybe she's a little bit more girl than dream. Perhaps the crazy and wild is nothing but a cover for the fragile and beautiful girl that's underneath... but still- she's out there.