Have you ever thought what is similar between the characters played by Anushka Sharma in jab tak Hai jaan, Kareena Kapoor in jab we met and Deepika Padukone in Tamasha?
They’re all representing a stereotypical female character where the protagonist is beautiful, deep, whimsical, quirky and always full of life. But most importantly she’s not like other girls. This pop-culture character is termed as Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a term coined by film critic Nathan Rabin. Rabin claimed that the MPDG "exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries."
MPDGs solely exist to help the male protagonist on his journey towards success and happiness which is extremely problematic to say the least young women grow up watching these MPDGs and assume that the best thing they can do is to help and support a man in his story instead of becoming a hero of their own story. MPDG trope celebrates individuality and women’s choice to be unconventional but it fails to express the female character as anything more than a supporting role in the story
Never quite realized this, but now that I think about it, its actually true. This women are essentially playing supporting roles in the larger picture, to allow for the character development of their male counterpart; which is portrayed as their biggest achievement. What a wonderful read, thankyou!
I actually never thought about it this way, in these movies specifically, the broader view is always that the woman was the lead, the different one, and the one holding the story together. Interesting read