Bando
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
I've got some regrets!
Posts: 2,431
|
Post by Bando on Aug 4, 2008 13:31:58 GMT -5
This character archetype has been bothering me for a while, and leave it to the good folks at the Onion A.V. Club to put a name on it: the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, as best exemplified by Natalie Portman in Garden State. Has this annoyed anyone else besides me? |
|
hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,387
|
Post by hifigator on Aug 4, 2008 14:00:12 GMT -5
I haven't got the slightest clue what the heck you are talking about. There was a time when I considered myself somewhat the expert on current events/pop culture etc... That is certainly not the case now.
|
|
FewFAC
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,032
|
Post by FewFAC on Aug 4, 2008 14:44:41 GMT -5
What, no Love Story?
|
|
Bando
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
I've got some regrets!
Posts: 2,431
|
Post by Bando on Aug 4, 2008 15:23:39 GMT -5
I haven't got the slightest clue what the heck you are talking about. There was a time when I considered myself somewhat the expert on current events/pop culture etc... That is certainly not the case now. Read the link, HiFi. Some of the examples go back a while. |
|
hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,387
|
Post by hifigator on Aug 4, 2008 15:52:21 GMT -5
Gotcha, it didn't even remotely look like a link on my screen -- same color, same text, same font size etc ... I didn't catch it as a link. I just figured it was more of the modern pop culture of which I am tremendously out of the loop.
|
|
SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,783
|
Post by SFHoya99 on Aug 4, 2008 16:31:00 GMT -5
Well, it didn't annoy me until you pointed it out.
Thanks.
|
|
Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
Posts: 10,355
|
Post by Boz on Aug 4, 2008 18:25:34 GMT -5
I have only one response to this archetype......
"Dharmaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!"
(and no, I am not referring to anything in 'Lost')
(Seth McFarlane is way ahead of The Onion when it comes to these things) ;D ;D
|
|
Bando
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
I've got some regrets!
Posts: 2,431
|
Post by Bando on Aug 4, 2008 19:14:20 GMT -5
I have only one response to this archetype...... "Dharmaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!" (and no, I am not referring to anything in 'Lost') (Seth McFarlane is way ahead of The Onion when it comes to these things) ;D ;D Oh man, she was the queen of this sort of thing. "Dharma, why are you standing on the couch?" |
|
|
|
Post by strummer8526 on Aug 4, 2008 19:44:03 GMT -5
I admit: Natalie Portman in Garden State did it for me. But I'm glad to know exactly why and what to call her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Coast2CoastHoya on Aug 4, 2008 22:41:00 GMT -5
Give me Smart Curvy Fun Girl over MPDG any day.
|
|
hoyatables
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,603
|
Post by hoyatables on Aug 5, 2008 8:36:50 GMT -5
Give me Smart Curvy Fun Girl over MPDG any day. Damn straight. What would some examples of her be? |
|
Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
Posts: 10,355
|
Post by Boz on Aug 5, 2008 9:46:58 GMT -5
Give me Smart Curvy Fun Girl over MPDG any day. Damn straight. What would some examples of her be? Elizabeth Shue in Adventures in Babysitting Reese Witherspoon in that FedEx movie Alicia Silverstone in Clueless Kristy Swanson in....well, pretty much anything. |
|
Elvado
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,080
|
Post by Elvado on Aug 5, 2008 12:59:07 GMT -5
And here I thought this was another thread about Senator BH Obama.
|
|
|
|
Post by Coast2CoastHoya on Aug 5, 2008 17:36:17 GMT -5
Gettting to the Board a little late today ... thanks for covering that one for me Boz.
Add:
Jessica Alba in Sin City
Drew Barrymore in ... everything
Monica Bellucci in the Matrix movies (well, maybe not the fun part ...)
Katherine Heigl in .... everything
|
|
Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
Posts: 10,355
|
Post by Boz on Aug 5, 2008 17:41:39 GMT -5
Clearly, C2C and I have taken a liberty or two with the "Smart" part of Smart Curvy Fun Girl, but I think that's alright.
Curvy Fun Girl is just okey-doke by me.
|
|
SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,783
|
Post by SFHoya99 on Aug 5, 2008 17:46:20 GMT -5
Yeah, you guys just basically degenerated from the character type to "hot girl."
|
|
|
|
Post by Coast2CoastHoya on Aug 5, 2008 17:53:08 GMT -5
Hey, now:
Jessica Alba's character "studied all the time"
Drew Barrymore .. ok I'll give you that
Monica Bellucci is a sentient program
Katherine Heigl plays a doctor.
The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests. We did. The issue is whether Boz & I get to decide what "smart" means. We do.
|
|
SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,783
|
Post by SFHoya99 on Aug 5, 2008 18:06:31 GMT -5
No arguments, C2C, however getting back to Bando's point, the original character's defining personality trait is more her quirkiness/joie de vivre that take the uptight male lead and makes him realize how he should truly live.
In that Katherine Heigl doesn't only not fit because she's a pixie but in the two movies I've seen with her, it's the other way around.
Same reason why Jen Connelly in Career Opportunities doesn't really seem to work...she's not really a curvier version of that character.
In the original scenario - pixie - I also nominate Natalie Portman in "Beautiful Girls."
|
|
|
|
Post by Coast2CoastHoya on Aug 6, 2008 10:24:06 GMT -5
True indeed, SF. Though I wasn't really concerning myself with definitions  [/hijack] |
|
FormerHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,262
|
Post by FormerHoya on Aug 11, 2008 12:14:35 GMT -5
The real problem here is that anyone is listing Drew Barrymore as "pretty" without the modifier "ugly" behind it.
I was always of the opinion that she was one of the those actresses that hollywood puts in pretty roles and we're not supposed to mention that the emperor (or empress in this case) is wearing no clothes. [Did this only make sense in my mind?]
Other examples of this phenomenon would be:
Uma Thurman (butterface to the nth degree)
Julia Styles (thankfully she seems to have totally disappeared)
Others that are slipping my mind now...
|
|
[/hijack]