Manic

The guy who invented the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" would like to give it a rest.

Here are some thoughts on it, just in case his dream comes true.

First - because hey, this is all about history except for the part about math - let's note that his article was written in 2007. That places it on one edge or another of the Crisis, since everyone is sure this Turning started by 2008  -- even if some were convinced by 2005.  And since the author is concerned about reductive contextualizing, it could be said that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is all about embracing a fantasy that can't possible actually happen - just like we are all doing before the Crisis when we expected to change the world or make a million when that dot-com went public. And that it therefore is an excellent marker of the start of the Crisis or end of the Unraveling, the point where everyone realized what was slipping away.

Taking a look at the list of sixteen Manic Pixie Dream Girls, and breaking their movies down by years and Turnings, we find that

• Three are between 2005 and 2008 
• Six are solidly in the Third Turning (1984 - 2004)
• Four are in the Second Turning (1964-1984)
• Two are in the First Turning (The Apartment in 1960, Breakfast at Tiffany's  in 1961)
• One (Bringing Up Baby, 1938) is in the previous Fourth Turning.

Which actually supports the above off-the-cuff assertion. Although it could also be recency bias, as the counts decrease logarithmically going back in time - maybe the authors naturally happened to remember recent movies.

Although one could instead note that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl isn't a fantasy. She's the embodiment of what almost every guy has gone through. She's too attractive, way out of your league. Every minute with her is like stepping into an animated forest with chirping birds and friendly rabbits. Her very existence cheers you up, makes you happy, reminds you why it's worthwhile to be alive. She's quirky and different and not at all what you expect, and that's one reason why you think she's so great.

In other words, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is what it means to be in love. Any guy falling in love with any girl is going to recognize the feeling of finding that too-pretty, too-fun, too-exciting girl that he can't believe he has a chance with. And maybe it doesn't always work out, but it's clear that there's a common enough feeling there to make it resonate.

Even if Elizabethtown wasn't that great.