Summer é a perfeição, mas a perfeição não tem profundidade: o clichê da Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Abstract

The present study proposes a discussion about female representation in media, more specifically diving on the birth, dissemination and consequences of the trope called “Manic Pixie Dream Girl”, created by the movie critic Nathan Rabin (2007). This phenomenon was mainly analyzed through the movie (500) Days of Summer (2009) and other female characters from cinema considered Manic Pixie Dream Girls. This work will also discuss neurodiversity and the romanticization of mental illness to trace a parallel between those concepts and said characters. Our objective here is to elicit possible causes for this kind of female representation, to conclude its quality and to raise hypotheses for future improvement of how women are represented.