Olivia Gatwood - Manic Pixie Dream Girl

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  • Опубліковано 3 тра 2015
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    Olivia Gatwood, performing at WoWPS 2015 in Albuquerque, NM.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 580

  • @chevvy427
    @chevvy427 6 років тому +2985

    "I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment I looked so human that the audience lost interest."

    • @gabriellameattray9778
      @gabriellameattray9778 4 роки тому +6

      I don't understand that

    • @gabriellameattray9778
      @gabriellameattray9778 4 роки тому +26

      @From a Bicycle seat oh my gosh, thank you. I understand now. I just don't understand why anyone would want some shallow person with no real depth who isn't real. I don't understand why the realness turns them off

    • @gabriellameattray9778
      @gabriellameattray9778 4 роки тому +9

      @From a Bicycle seat wow. That was an incredible explanation! Thank you, now I understand these people...

    • @shaziyasheikh9730
      @shaziyasheikh9730 3 роки тому

      Please explain it to me😐

    • @chevvy427
      @chevvy427 3 роки тому +55

      @@shaziyasheikh9730 The manic pixie dream girl is a plot device, not a character. When "the audience" is reminded she is a person with complexities and fears they are put off because they can no longer project whatever they'd like onto her. She is now a person with a past and intricate emotions, not just something to play off the experiences of the "main character".

  • @annikab2713
    @annikab2713 4 роки тому +1678

    Guys treat me like a concept and say things like "wow, you're so deep," and then interrupt me halfway through my explanations, my stories. These days I treat myself like a concept, too, building up a beautiful character. Built up like a religion, everything is meaningful and profound, and art. I am a coloring page in black and white that other people color in however they would like.

    • @DianaHernandez-jf5zo
      @DianaHernandez-jf5zo 4 роки тому +18

      Annika B same. My own boyfriend even does it sometimes without knowing.

    • @rineaguirre4768
      @rineaguirre4768 4 роки тому +5

      I love this

    • @kp-bh8eh
      @kp-bh8eh 3 роки тому +8

      @Alfonso Flores wow d1e

    • @briannaseverson8073
      @briannaseverson8073 3 роки тому +17

      "Manic pixie dream girl doesn't go on. Theres no need for her anymore. Manic pixie dream girl is too dream girl, and you just woke up."

    • @missaprilmayjune
      @missaprilmayjune 2 роки тому +2

      @Alfonso Flores not victims, figureheads in a faulty society.

  • @jennibendito3757
    @jennibendito3757 5 місяців тому +21

    every few years i come back to this just to light that fire back in me

  • @ThatOneGirl159
    @ThatOneGirl159 7 років тому +3456

    This poem has John Green shook

    • @siradhali9427
      @siradhali9427 6 років тому +28

      Natasseah Gomer Paper Towns

    • @lgal56
      @lgal56 6 років тому +10

      Hannah Saeed disagree

    • @THEmomfriend96
      @THEmomfriend96 6 років тому +167

      John Green’s books are about dismantling the MPDG trope and showing why it is wrong to view a person as more than a person.

    • @cuetherain3699
      @cuetherain3699 6 років тому +116

      Sherisse Cross lmfao my ass, he acts like they are and then fails miserably at it. He acts like he’s so anti mpdg and ends up making mpdg anyway

    • @EFMRP2011
      @EFMRP2011 5 років тому +2

      Can someone explain why please?

  • @mia-saraking5479
    @mia-saraking5479 3 роки тому +31

    The MPDG trope reminds me a lot of the Black Best Friend trope. They only exist to make the main character's life better, help them solve their problems, and disappear when ever they aren't convenient.

  • @TaysSparklyDresses
    @TaysSparklyDresses 7 років тому +2300

    Manic pixie dream girl says, ‘have you heard this record?’
    Manic pixie dream girl says let me save you with this record.
    Let me put the headphones on for you, and smile, while you listen;
    cut to your point of view, watch me smile while you listen.
    Hear that? That’s the sound of you becoming a better person.
    I’m gonna paint a picture of a bird on your beige wall without your permission and you’re gonna love it.
    And you thought you hated birds.
    See me? Encouraging you to take risks?
    Manic pixie dream girl wants you to do something you’ve never done before.
    Like go swing-dancing, or smile.
    You wanna know my name? You never call me by it anyway.
    If I had to guess, it would probably be a season, or after a dead actress who you loved as a child.
    But this isn’t about me!
    This is about you, and your cubicle job, your white bedroom, your white Honda, your white mother.
    Manic pixie dream girl says I’m going to save you.
    Says, don’t worry, you are still the lead role. This is your love story about the way I teach you to live.
    Everything they know about me they will learn when it is projected onto you, watch the way you pick up my bad habits and make them look good.
    Manic pixie dream girl talks too much. Says bad words out loud and cries at the commercials.
    That makes me a funny woman, right?
    The kind people like to laugh at?
    It’s easy to root for you when I act like this, so disagreeable, such a manic dream, dream girl, your almost broken accessory.
    Manic pixie dream girls says let’s play make believe with my body.
    I’ll be a vintage dress in an empty prescription bottle, good girl, just bad enough, a burp and a curtsy.
    Let me be not too pretty, hair fried from all that pink dye, sex when you need it, puppet when you’re bored.
    Let me build myself smaller than you, let me apologize when I get caught acting bigger than you.
    Let me always wait for this, let me work for this.
    The convenient thing about being a magical woman is that I can be gone as quickly as I came.
    And when you are a whole person for the first time, the movie is over.
    Manic pixie dream girl doesn’t go on; there’s no need for her anymore.
    Manic pixie dream girl is too dream girl, and you just woke up.
    Once, I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment, I looked so human, the audience lost interest.
    You saw the crow’s feet at the sides of my eyes and a small chip on my front tooth.
    I looked just like everyone else.

  • @amatiara
    @amatiara 4 роки тому +125

    "let me build myself smaller than you"

  • @skyr1877
    @skyr1877 7 років тому +364

    "Manic Pixie Dream girl is too dream girl - and you just woke up. Once I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment I looked so human the audience lost interest in me...I looked just like everyone else." I literally love this piece so much!!!

  • @TaysSparklyDresses
    @TaysSparklyDresses 7 років тому +1924

    my heart is breaking and I am crying because I just realized I make myself to be like this. I built myself to be Summer. I am Alaska Young. And Margot. I am them to other people. Oh my God. I just don't know what to do, I am 19 and realized I've been building myself up that way since I was 13. I wanna be remembered. I wanna have real friends, who love me and wouldn't leave me. I don't wanna be a magical woman who disappears just like that. That's not right. That's not fair.
    This was 2 years ago.
    Edit, 2020:
    I didn't even remember this. Thank you all for the kind comments. I am 22 now. Life is a lot better. I have watched many videos and films such as gone girl that talk about this feeling that I had and who I thought I was. I put myself in the position of the cool girl for a long time and it took a lot of effort to realize what was me and what was made up just to impress people. I think it's never 100% clear, because we need attention, we want to be liked. But, honestly, I have developed such a strong, beautiful relationship with myself, that I see myself as the coolest, even though I know the "actual cool kids" find me weird. I simply don't care, because I like my opinions and my ways. Also, I have friends and family and I finally believe they truly love me, they're not faking it. I'm at peace with who I am. On the men subject (hahaha), I got my heart broken by my own expectations of someone and I started building these walls to protect me from getting fooled by men, but I am working on being more vulnerable and balanced. I've put a lot of effort on myself, I've been to therapy, I've read, I've really spent time trying to find my peace. And it's in constant change, just like life. There's no recipe, for anyone. I find myself trying to impress people many times still, and I get very insecure about a lot of things. But I'm the main character now. All this struggle is my life story being unfolded. I hope you all find a lot of light and good. Again, thank you for taking the time to write. I genuinely believe that things like these change the world.

    • @madilynharder3433
      @madilynharder3433 6 років тому +73

      Believe me girl we all feel you

    • @carolalbuquerque910
      @carolalbuquerque910 6 років тому +25

      it's noy rly ur fault, but you still can change, be yourself

    • @xime320
      @xime320 6 років тому +44

      19 is ok. im 30 ...still trying. its ok. everything is ok.

    • @LindzFletch17
      @LindzFletch17 6 років тому +36

      That's so relatable. Realising everything that you've been doing and not knowing where to start to change things yet knowing that you can't erase time. I'm sorry that your insecurities made you feel that you had to do this - I've been a people pleaser most my life, and ironically, it drew people away. Don't be afraid of independance and commitment to things, you can take control and be who you want to be! I know how you feel, I hope you feel a bit better since it's been about it a year down the track now

    • @damnit4360
      @damnit4360 6 років тому +15

      You're 19, you're still figuring out who you are and what you're about. The real secret to life that I have to remind myself of when I feel Manic Pixie Existential Dread: no one really cares, and tbh you probably rarely cross their mind. Just be yourself and live your life, it doesn't matter which fictional characters inspire you!

  • @Moonlightmad
    @Moonlightmad 4 роки тому +77

    I watched this two years ago, and it didn't resonate to me on a personal level until today.
    Men have always loved their idea of me, and they somehow end up projecting their fantasies on me. When they see who I really am, they leave. The spell's broken, and they try to find someone else to fulfil their delusions.

  • @SoniaSephia
    @SoniaSephia 4 роки тому +935

    The manic pixie dream girl is basically the whimsical nostalgic waifu for an edgy/awkward artists or writer. It's such wish-fulfillment cringe I'm glad it's getting the criticism it deserves!

    • @ahabgaddis7277
      @ahabgaddis7277 4 роки тому +9

      What's wrong with cringe? You like this poetry genre, don't you?

    • @CuervoLetrado-
      @CuervoLetrado- 4 роки тому +24

      @@ahabgaddis7277 I think he wasn't refering to the poetry genre but to the concept of a manic pixie dream girl

    • @paperfox8794
      @paperfox8794 2 роки тому

      Maybe, but I wish I could be this for someone. A perfect picture of what they wanted, just surface enough to disappear at the perfect moment... Or maybe it could build into something deeper, but I love that trope and wish I could be it for someone

    • @acutecloudd7970
      @acutecloudd7970 2 роки тому +4

      It can be cool in some movies. Movies are supposed to be a fantasy for people, what you find cringe others find interesting

  • @mariachampss1275
    @mariachampss1275 4 роки тому +66

    I started crying listening to this. I was with a boy for 4 and a half years. Told me he'd never be the man he is today without me, said I encouraged him to take the risks he never thought he had the courage to take on his own and once he became the person he wanted to be, he left. There wasn't a fight or an argument it was as if I fulfilled a part of him and once my job was done I was thrown away. Similar to the poem how she said the story is never about the girl I felt like I served a purpose to him. "let me build myself smaller than you... when you are a whole person for the first time, the movie is over". It killed me.

  • @katn6979
    @katn6979 5 років тому +177

    I've been exploring this topic and it kind of hurts. When I was younger I always had fantasies that one day I could guide a man to happiness and a new perspective on life and I could change his life and we would fall in love. In real life, the man is only using you as a trophy or as an escape but as soon as any flaw or insecurity shows through it's all about him, or how your flaws affect him. They don't love you, they love the way you make them feel.

    • @Lunaaaaaa03
      @Lunaaaaaa03 3 роки тому +10

      They don’t like you they like the idea of you ..

  • @rattatattattattat2027
    @rattatattattattat2027 4 роки тому +61

    "Once I told you I was afraid of my father. And for a moment, i looked so human, the audience lost intrest" that one really hit hard

  • @evelynyoung4004
    @evelynyoung4004 5 років тому +12

    Ever since I was 3 my father has called me his manic pixie child, because I would laugh after falling out of trees I wasn't supposed to be in and sing happy songs about butterflies while refusing to brush my hair. Now, my nick name is just 'Pixie' because 'manic-depressive pixie nightmare' doesnt quite have the right ring to it. People are people. You cant just expect someone to be smiles all the time. It messes with their head.

  • @catgash
    @catgash 9 років тому +753

    i was thinking about the manic pixie dream girl complex last week, and this completely explains whats wrong about it and why in a rly prolific way, one i probably never wouldve thought of. beautifully done

  • @ElanaVital83
    @ElanaVital83 5 років тому +249

    My ex made me into his MPDG. He loved how I had finger puppets and candy in my purse, did modeling so he could brag to his friends, gave blowjobs without asking for my own orgasm in return. But if I ever had sadness, cut my hair too short, or needed a shoulder to cry on, he saw me as a bummer. I'd lose my sparkle. How dare I ever need someone to be there for ME? I was a fashion accessory that was only allowed to be perfect. And when I fell short of that...I was abandoned.

  • @DemonDarakna
    @DemonDarakna 5 років тому +27

    To become the main character, manic pixie dream girl needs to have her own story. She needs time away from all people to find her own hobbies. Sometimes it's painful, but she deals. She deals with loneliness with her interests growing. Growing until her first thought isn't: they need to hear THIS! Until her first thought is: this is beautiful. Until she goes through ups and downs of her interests. And when someone opposes her, she can back up her claim with actual sentences. She starts writing her story without characters. The characters slowly seep in, and they are simple, expendable ... unless they respect her story - then they may share it as the side characters. And manic pixie dream girl shall do the same.

  • @shootmewithawatergun
    @shootmewithawatergun 9 років тому +173

    "i look just like everyone else" woo0000oooow yes

  • @davieg2
    @davieg2 4 роки тому +11

    She's from my hometown. Proud!

  • @Caro-ul7so
    @Caro-ul7so 9 років тому +183

    She's so amazing and talented, her voice is really powerful. I can't stop listening to her poem Collapse the economy

  • @isabelleroach7582
    @isabelleroach7582 5 років тому +98

    This is "Perks of Being a Wallflower" pretty much from Sam's perspective

    • @pedrorocha3674
      @pedrorocha3674 2 роки тому +3

      I've only read the book, but Sam is definitively not a MPDG. She is "quirky, funny, dreamy", all that, but she has problems and personality and desires. If someone on the book is idealised is Charlie, he's always there for everyone, less for himself, never wanting anything back. Sam even confronts him about how he's always what the others want him to be and never what he really wants. A MPDG doesn't criticize the protagonist.

  • @TheRealZRo
    @TheRealZRo 9 років тому +349

    Can't wait for the paper towns movie, which is basically this in 2 hours with marginally more Walt Whitman.

    • @rebornpurpleskye
      @rebornpurpleskye 9 років тому +15

      TheRealZRo Are you saying that it destroys the whole magic pixie dream girl image, or that it perpetuates it?

    • @JasminWithoutTheE
      @JasminWithoutTheE 9 років тому +55

      TheRealZRo paper towns is literally about the injustice of not being imagined complexly. or in simpler terms, how much it sucks to be thought of as/to be a manic pixie dream girl.

    • @zechariahrosenthal8212
      @zechariahrosenthal8212 9 років тому +32

      Paper Towns is great in that it systematically destroys the Manic Pixie Dream Girl fantasy. I meant my original comment in a positive way =)

    • @TheRealZRo
      @TheRealZRo 9 років тому +6

      Whoops wrong account^
      Anyway. Both this poem and Paper Towns are fantastic.

    • @JasminWithoutTheE
      @JasminWithoutTheE 9 років тому +1

      TheRealZRo sorry! I totally agree with you!

  • @justcallmeteacup4711
    @justcallmeteacup4711 4 роки тому +16

    It's odd to see yourself in a trope that is barely even a person. My ex was only interested in me when it made him feel like a good boyfriend with an interesting girl on his arm. I was artsy and smiley and quiet while he talked uninterrupted. But when it came to my flaws and insecurities and real problems, he was completely uninterested. He leaned on me and made me the therapist for his anxiety, calling me late at night to dump his negativity and tell me how I could do better as a girlfriend, but then told me one week that he knew something was wrong with me during a weekend I'd spent crying but hadn't reached out because he "kind of didn't feel like dealing with it."

    • @rosylagoon3600
      @rosylagoon3600 3 місяці тому

      Yes yes yes! I know this is a three year comment but I can relate to your story. My ex had mental issues and was getting help but he just wasn’t ready for a relationship. These issues didn’t excuse his personality and lack of commitment however.
      When I was with him it seemed like I was an accessory to him. The girlfriend he could show off to his friends on Snap, which he would always do when we were together. When he spoke around others, it was always self centered and I was expected to just sit and listen never adding input. He always thought he was more knowledgeable and wiser than me about everything as well. He would subtly “disapprove” of things I did, how I was and how I live simply because it was different from him. He never even called me by my name.
      I would often comfort him and try and be there for him, and he wouldn’t do the same. When we broke up he even admitted he felt like he was putting up a front with me and he just needed to focus on himself which I agreed with fully. It’s crazy though how I cried and cried, thinking he was the perfect guy and I would never find anybody else like him. Only after I made a list of all the ways he was a bad person and talked with my mom did I realize how blind I was.

  • @ashandsteph2981
    @ashandsteph2981 8 років тому +58

    literally every single thing about this poem describes Playlist for the dead; the manic pixie dream girl being Astrid, everything down to fried hair from having died it so much, down to dissapearing when she became too real, down to him gaining her qualities and the audience still siding with him. this is literally exactly Playlist for the dead, anyone else with me?

    • @twosecondboy3378
      @twosecondboy3378 8 років тому +2

      yes i totally agree, i dont know how i made it all the way through that terrible book

    • @bellagrace6454
      @bellagrace6454 8 років тому +4

      It's pretentious, too. Like, the girl's named Astrid for crying out loud.

    • @AlexTheCrayChick
      @AlexTheCrayChick 7 років тому

      ashandsteph okay true

    • @madelinevlogs5898
      @madelinevlogs5898 7 років тому

      Omg you're right

  • @krittikaroy187
    @krittikaroy187 7 років тому +413

    I don't see anything wrong with being quirky offbeat artistic and whimsical. according to me the problem isn't the manic pixie dream girl.. it isn't the broody soulful guy whose life has been made meaningful by the girl either. it is the portrayal of the mpdg and how 2 dimensional it is and the fact that she just exists to provide the protagonist more excitement and an interesting light. so the commenters who say that the poem slams a certain type of personality shouldn't feel offended because the mpdg trope 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. but the mpdg is a whole character in herself and in almost all the cases a much better one than the protagonist. the problem lies with how little of the mpdg is projected as an individual.

    • @ikPatriciaclips
      @ikPatriciaclips 4 роки тому +72

      That's... literally the whole point behind the critisism. She's not pictured as an individual, merely there to improve the protagonist

    • @yota5912
      @yota5912 4 роки тому +8

      HommelDraak I think that’s because it isn’t her story, the whole movie is usually a coming of age of the male protagonist and is told from their point of view..

    • @thejava.witchiswhispering
      @thejava.witchiswhispering 4 роки тому +16

      I think shes using the trope to point out how, like in film, shes experienced men who treat her like a mpgd, but just like the end of the movie, as soon as that quirk and personality is too much, or it comes away and she shows a human side, shes not interesting to them anymore. They eternal sunshine the shit out of her.

    • @solarprogeny6736
      @solarprogeny6736 4 роки тому +1

      That much is obvious. The problem is the writing.

    • @tictac4063
      @tictac4063 2 роки тому

      This. So true

  • @beadenise
    @beadenise 9 років тому +129

    This is so relevant. As a reader I've seen this on so many books and everyone buys it.

  • @myap7779
    @myap7779 5 років тому +5

    You see, I liked this poem before but never understood it. I stumbled upon a video talking about the actual term "manic pixie dream girl" and when I finally understood what it meant, its like a whole world opened up and this poem was at the center of it. I felt it so deep, deeper than I could have understood anything else had I not learned what it actually meant.

  • @sarahshepherd2559
    @sarahshepherd2559 8 років тому +2519

    *coughs and looks pointedly and John Green*

    • @angelicavences9357
      @angelicavences9357 8 років тому +4

      when?

    • @fairytal3bandit
      @fairytal3bandit 8 років тому +146

      Alaska is the epitome of MPDG in the beginning and John's whole point is to deconstruct the trope. He didn't do a great job, but she definitely fits there.

    • @annaashley4788
      @annaashley4788 8 років тому +95

      +Kirsten Carlisle Alaska Young as a MPDG is debatable, but that's sort of the fun part of literature anyway. Either way, he sort of wrote Paper Towns entirely to correct and apologize for transgressions in that area. He certainly isn't perfect but he gets a terrible wrap for something he's made up for tenfold.

    • @hkoxnw
      @hkoxnw 8 років тому +136

      +Sarah Shepherd
      “That didn’t happen, of course. Things never happened the way I imagined them.” -the narrator of looking for alaska says this
      "“Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.” - alaska says this
      “Don't you know who you love, Pudge? You love the girl who makes you laugh and shows you porn and drinks wine with you. You don't love the crazy, sullen bitch.” -alaska also says this
      "“For she had embodied the Great Perhaps--she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave behind my minor life for grander maybes, and now she was gone and with her my faith in perhaps.” -the narrator again
      ...do you get it? and this is just one book, here's another book:
      “What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.” this sentence is the crux of paper towns. the exact polar opposite of the manic pixie dream girl trope, literally exists to deconstruct it and thoroughly succeeds, imo. this is said by the narrator
      "I didn’t need you, you idiot. I picked you. And then you picked me back." -margo says this
      "“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
      okay that's about enough i think. i could do any of his books though. very curious why you and 100 other people accuse john green of this.

    • @danieibay8298
      @danieibay8298 8 років тому +4

      +angelica vences margo roth spiegelman

  • @1Dfangirl97
    @1Dfangirl97 8 років тому +889

    This is Alaska Young spot on

    • @nelliecomplains5365
      @nelliecomplains5365 8 років тому +57

      Except LFA is about how viewing someone as just a MPDG is a pretty crappy thing to do.

    • @Nanancay
      @Nanancay 8 років тому +17

      +Nellie Ruth I haven't read it, but that sounds like the premise of Paper Towns as well?

    • @nelliecomplains5365
      @nelliecomplains5365 8 років тому +103

      +NANCAY WANG It is! One of the biggest points John Green makes in his books is that it's wrong to think of someone as more than a person ("What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person"). The idea is that each person has the own faults and struggles. No one is some magical creature sent from the heavens to show you the world. This is why it bothers me when people claim all of the girls in John's books are MPDG's. It's really backwards to assume that all girls in literature only exist as such. In all of his books, he points out that the trope is ridiculous.

    • @swampvulture
      @swampvulture 8 років тому +66

      +Nellie Ruth Alaska Young was definitely a MPDG, and it only revealed that she was a real person after she died and Pudge had learned something about himself and life. She was only seen as a real person after her death.

    • @nelliecomplains5365
      @nelliecomplains5365 8 років тому +93

      +Lily Griffith what makes a MPDG a MPDG is that she only exists to make the protagonist happy and she him that the world is oh so beautiful. They are happy and carefree. That was never Alaska. She had a lot of vulnerable moments throughout the book. Not to mention that in the end, she made Pudge miserable. He wanted to solve the great mystery of who she was, but he couldn't.
      Also, little fun fact. The guy who coined the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" now hates himself for it. You wanna know why? Because people like you overuse it and reach to apply it to every female character because tumblr said so.

  • @ahobimo732
    @ahobimo732 8 років тому +328

    That was pretty damned brilliant, actually.

  • @ivetawelborn
    @ivetawelborn 6 років тому +64

    She destroyed my favorite book right here, and I’m not even mad. Holy shit-thank you.

    • @robertsteinberger5667
      @robertsteinberger5667 3 роки тому +1

      She is trying to destroy movies I love and characters I love and I blame her dot yhat

  • @2195Arshi
    @2195Arshi 7 років тому +28

    I've only just discovered the wonderful gem that is Olivia Gatwood. I don't know how I never knew of her before but I'm glad I do now. Manic Pixie Dream Girl Says is such a beautiful poem and her delivery is just perfect. I wish I could see her live!

  • @annejoleneiran
    @annejoleneiran 8 років тому +22

    I LITERALLY WATCH THIS EVERYDAY

  • @arianaclay5512
    @arianaclay5512 6 років тому +6

    i've been called manic pixie dream girl several times over the past year and i think the people who've said it have meant it as a compliment but it always makes me think of this poem and wonder

  • @Carrie11177
    @Carrie11177 8 місяців тому +1

    Girl, YES!!!! 46 here and still being labeled. Thanks for this.

  • @lizziewatson74
    @lizziewatson74 8 років тому +61

    Why am I watching this for the 4th time in an hour

  • @SapphireJinxedAtLoveGarnet
    @SapphireJinxedAtLoveGarnet 8 років тому +289

    *cough cough* Stargirl.... Oh Jerry Spinelli!

    • @SweetasSugar42
      @SweetasSugar42 8 років тому +13

      Omfg YES I remember reading it and being so annoyed because you never learned anything about her and everyone told me it was a good book!!

    • @SapphireJinxedAtLoveGarnet
      @SapphireJinxedAtLoveGarnet 8 років тому +18

      SweetasSugar42 Isn't there a second book that's more focused on Stargirl called, "Letters to Stargirl"? I mean, I haven't been able to read it, but maybe it opens up a more realistic side of her.

    • @basielu
      @basielu 8 років тому +2

      wait really?!

    • @SapphireJinxedAtLoveGarnet
      @SapphireJinxedAtLoveGarnet 8 років тому +1

      sausagekay uchiha Yeah.

    • @sweebo3465
      @sweebo3465 7 років тому +18

      The sequel is called "Love, Stargirl"! I love it so much.

  • @hj5520
    @hj5520 7 років тому +22

    The beginning few lines is definitely about Garden State

  • @amylibby4793
    @amylibby4793 8 років тому +39

    Olivia you are so consistently badass and inspiring.

  • @whaddayaknow17
    @whaddayaknow17 8 років тому +9

    I want. to like this. a thousand. times.

  • @meghanherring
    @meghanherring 7 років тому +3

    This album inspired my band Doll Skin's new album. It's named after this poem. Thank you for inspiring us to make an entire album.

  • @Tiger-Snark
    @Tiger-Snark 11 днів тому

    I come back to watch this periodically as therapy, healing, and a reminder 🫠💜 Big love to all my fellow magickal people out there ✨️

    • @ButtonPoetry
      @ButtonPoetry  9 днів тому +1

      It's amazing to find something you connect so deeply with 💜💜 Thank you for sharing

  • @user-qf1ql2eh2m
    @user-qf1ql2eh2m 8 років тому +177

    eternal sunshine of the spotless mind ?

    • @leslieblanco3536
      @leslieblanco3536 8 років тому +10

      YESS!! as much as I love the movie this is so fucking true.

    • @Fmradio803
      @Fmradio803 8 років тому +155

      Clem is classified as MPDG, but she calls it out IN the movie so she isn't. She knows people see her as MPDG but she refuses the trope.
      "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours."

    • @indiestripper5374
      @indiestripper5374 7 років тому +47

      I like to think of Clem as a real life mpdg. She is cute at first but once you get to know her and you learn there is a history to her she is ridiculous. If women were just these adorkable artsy girls running about being impulsive and immature they probably wouldn't have wondrous life. She was a drunk. She was defensive. She was impulsive and that took a toll on her relationships in life. It wasn't all happily ever after at the end because they knew it was going to end. Her and Joel just learned that it's okay that it ends and to just try and enjoy it while they can because it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

    • @safelyheartfelt8142
      @safelyheartfelt8142 7 років тому +1

      Wow, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite movies. Never thought about it through the lens of MPDG. I like these comments! Good points! Maybe that's part of why I love it (plus it's just such a well-made movie). It's so real. And fantastical at the same time though. But yes the ending (I won't spoil it) is just so...real. I actually liked that movie Friends With Benefits too cause, even though it's still a slightly predictable romantic comedy, it was more realistic than movies often are about romance and sex...like they were just buddies who kinda accidentally fell in love.

    • @veronicaproctor184
      @veronicaproctor184 6 років тому +7

      @kassidy technically, just because the writers acknowledge they know they've made a manic pixie dream girl and try and cover it up by giving her one (1) line making some kind of feminist statement does NOT mean she's suddenly not a manic pixie dream girl. in the same way plenty of writers have tried to 'subvert' the trope of MPDG but have ended up making their female character still serve that purpose by the end, so it didn't even matter. If anything, acknowledging that they knew makes it even worse, because they still never fixed it.

  • @KeymoEmbryoSagan
    @KeymoEmbryoSagan 9 років тому +316

    Manic Cannibal Nightmare Boy

  • @gabs3466
    @gabs3466 9 років тому +3

    Simply amazing. Another awe inspiring, thought provoking piece by Olivia G.

  • @cleobuendicho3002
    @cleobuendicho3002 6 років тому +2

    Love the poem and the delivery. I'm obsessed with this ...

  • @lupesalazar2877
    @lupesalazar2877 5 років тому +7

    As someone that suffers from manic depression, this poem always lifts me up when the thought won't stop.

  • @eleonoraprandini8135
    @eleonoraprandini8135 7 років тому +1

    When i hear one of her poems i never want it to end

  • @Whoopdewhoo
    @Whoopdewhoo 9 років тому +8

    The beginning practically SCREAMED Garden State lol

  • @cgwifey08
    @cgwifey08 9 років тому +2

    wow this brought me back to some of my "friends" that I had in my past that pretty much screwed me over in the end. this is incredible, I hope to see more from her.

  • @AngelaInnes
    @AngelaInnes 9 років тому +3

    this is so incredible and so important

  • @GYB36
    @GYB36 8 років тому

    This is unbelievably beautiful.

  • @emeliewilliams1302
    @emeliewilliams1302 7 років тому

    why do i love this so much

  • @torifurman9608
    @torifurman9608 6 років тому +1

    She is truly so talented such a huge inspiration to me💕💖

  • @safelyheartfelt8142
    @safelyheartfelt8142 7 років тому +2

    I've thought about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl thing too. Great poem. Especially the ending! Love your passion.

  • @swoonify
    @swoonify 9 років тому +2

    This is an excellent piece. I was very moved on how relevant it is to both our pop culture and even in our own life experiences. Thanks for the great poem.

  • @migguzi23
    @migguzi23 9 років тому +3

    So spot on

  • @Adrasteia213
    @Adrasteia213 4 роки тому +1

    I wish I could like this twice.

  • @Chronochrome
    @Chronochrome 8 років тому +399

    Ramona Flowers

    • @shadowwwwwwwwwww
      @shadowwwwwwwwwww 8 років тому +5

      is ramona flowers a mpdg?

    • @littlechicken8443
      @littlechicken8443 8 років тому +88

      She's like the definition of a mpdg.

    • @ooooo4897
      @ooooo4897 7 років тому +43

      Burke Boydell she's satiric, not a genuine mpdg

    • @dshirlz3646
      @dshirlz3646 6 років тому +54

      Ramona was a lead character, she wasn't manic, and she definitely wasn't the " let me save you" type. If anyone in that movie was a MPDG it was knives

    • @skullbunnyvideos
      @skullbunnyvideos 6 років тому +43

      The definition of a MPDG is a quirky girl whose purpose is to care for the protag and help him reach his goals. Yes, at first glance Ramona Flowers is a MPDG but she has her own goals as well. Which is less apparent in the movie, but in the comics she has bigger goals. She's her own person, MPDGs are not.

  • @XxMadiMxX
    @XxMadiMxX 9 років тому

    Oh my god, this is brilliant.

  • @LessThanLindsey
    @LessThanLindsey 9 років тому +31

    Preach, baby. PREACH.

  • @rhiannonsalt
    @rhiannonsalt 9 років тому

    This is phenomenal

  • @panicatdx
    @panicatdx 9 років тому +1

    woah this was incredible

  • @shenlock
    @shenlock 4 роки тому +3

    I just finished watching Crazy Ex-girlfriend and I immediately searched for this video again.

  • @lavenderlemonade4322
    @lavenderlemonade4322 7 років тому

    Easily my favorite poem ever

  • @laurenolguin3791
    @laurenolguin3791 9 років тому

    That is so good, man I can't say enough

  • @joleenturple2174
    @joleenturple2174 9 років тому

    I love this me and my best friend have memoized it it's amazing!!!!

  • @emxoxo9704
    @emxoxo9704 7 років тому +363

    aka every female character John Green has ever written. Particularly Alaska.

  • @gemmaskate
    @gemmaskate 7 років тому

    Love this!

  • @leighajs
    @leighajs 2 роки тому

    had to hunt down the video because i loved this so much

  • @rachelconnolly5951
    @rachelconnolly5951 9 років тому +4

    i'd never thought about the film in that way before

  • @TricksterPrince
    @TricksterPrince 9 років тому

    LOVE this.

  • @monalletinie143
    @monalletinie143 2 роки тому +4

    6 years later and this poem still resonates with me so deeply

  • @SimplyMayaBeauty
    @SimplyMayaBeauty 9 років тому

    Wonderful!

  • @caveymoley
    @caveymoley 6 років тому

    AWESOME relationship advice!
    Big love to the manic pixie dream girls

  • @sopranophantomista
    @sopranophantomista 9 років тому

    Go off! I was just thinking about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl complex the other day searching for writing prompts. I can't believe the timing.

  • @giagiavannas7972
    @giagiavannas7972 7 років тому

    love it!

  • @natashahendler6531
    @natashahendler6531 6 років тому

    this is amazing

  • @alexm.toribio2739
    @alexm.toribio2739 7 років тому

    Beautiful!!!!!

  • @cstephens198
    @cstephens198 2 роки тому

    Wow! That was EXCELLENT!
    ✨🌷🧡✌🏼🌷✨

  • @inertia86
    @inertia86 9 років тому

    love this

  • @gina333
    @gina333 5 років тому +1

    Favourite !

  • @awaitingdisaster17
    @awaitingdisaster17 7 років тому +119

    Before I knew the meaning of the "manic pixie girl" I thought this poem was about manic episodes of bipolar disorder.

    • @karimecolettadominguez
      @karimecolettadominguez 7 років тому +1

      awaitingdisaster17 what is the meaning of manic pixie girl?

    • @awaitingdisaster17
      @awaitingdisaster17 7 років тому +35

      Karime Colletta
      man·ic pix·ie dream girl
      noun
      (especially in film) a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist.

    • @karimecolettadominguez
      @karimecolettadominguez 7 років тому

      thank you!

    • @sleepless-cc4mo
      @sleepless-cc4mo 6 років тому

      What does it mean?

    • @sleepless-cc4mo
      @sleepless-cc4mo 6 років тому

      Oh

  • @dogsilliam
    @dogsilliam 4 роки тому

    Queen!!

  • @StanleyGemmell
    @StanleyGemmell 8 років тому

    MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!!!!!!

  • @dollydagger4306
    @dollydagger4306 5 років тому +1

    I only learned today what a manic pixie dream girl is. Something told me to look it up and it was not even close to what I thought the term meant. I think I be been one in my 20s. Now I have I boyfriend I've been seeing for ten and a half years. So I haven't manic pixie dream girl'd in a long time.

  • @annejoleneiran
    @annejoleneiran 8 років тому

    EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY

  • @lakshminameirakpam8135
    @lakshminameirakpam8135 6 років тому

    I love it. 💜

  • @bluehousephl
    @bluehousephl 5 років тому +7

    I usually hate slam poetry just because it's super aggressive, but this topic has been in such interest to me, and maybe it's because we see this character in film and media so much and no one ever realizes it. She killed it :)

  • @kimmycourtney3553
    @kimmycourtney3553 2 роки тому +3

    i only seem to exist to be the girl that changes someones way of viewing the world. then they leave. and i repeat the process. over. and over again. i want to be someone's life long friend. i want to be loved for longer than the honeymoon stage.

  • @frostedflakes334
    @frostedflakes334 9 років тому

    this is so unique and beautiful wow

  • @hannaherasmus1480
    @hannaherasmus1480 8 років тому +2

    goosebumps

  • @laurenjohnson395
    @laurenjohnson395 9 років тому

    Wow. So good.

  • @laurenolguin3791
    @laurenolguin3791 9 років тому

    Just amazing

  • @arielpospisil7931
    @arielpospisil7931 6 років тому

    New favorite. Wow.

  • @polevaultgirl33
    @polevaultgirl33 7 років тому +13

    I am so afraid that I am the manic pixie dream girl in my current relationship.

    • @katcoyne9562
      @katcoyne9562 4 роки тому +4

      Holy fuck... I just realized that too... In like every single relationship I've ever had

  • @kgomez2013
    @kgomez2013 9 років тому

    Saw her on HBO! So good

  • @madisoncarnahan6561
    @madisoncarnahan6561 6 років тому

    Love it. 😍😭

  • @lailayas
    @lailayas 5 років тому +13

    Manic pixie dream girl says, ‘have you heard this record? '
    Manic pixie dream girl says let me save you with this record.
    Let me put the headphones on for you, and smile, while you listen;
    cut to your point of view, watch me smile while you listen.
    Hear that? That's the sound of you becoming a better person.
    I'm gonna paint a picture of a bird on your beige wall without your permission and you're gonna love it.
    And you thought you hated birds.
    See me? Encouraging you to take risks?
    Manic pixie dream girl wants you to do something you've never done before.
    Like go swing-dancing, or smile.
    You wanna know my name? You never call me by it anyway.
    If I had to guess, it would probably be a season, or after a dead actress who you loved as a child.
    But this isn't about me!
    This is about you, and your cubicle job, your white bedroom, your white Honda, your white mother.
    Manic pixie dream girl says I'm going to save you.
    Says, don't worry, you are still the lead role. This is your love story about the way I teach you to live.
    Everything they know about me they will learn when it is projected onto you, watch the way you pick up my bad habits and make them look good.
    Manic pixie dream girl talks too much. Says bad words out loud and cries at the commercials.
    That makes me a funny woman, right?
    The kind people like to laugh at?
    It's easy to root for you when I act like this, so disagreeable, such a manic dream, dream girl, your almost broken accessory.
    Manic pixie dream girls says let's play make believe with my body.
    I'll be a vintage dress in an empty prescription bottle, good girl, just bad enough, a burp and a curtsy.
    Let me be not too pretty, hair fried from all that pink dye, sex when you need it, puppet when you're bored.
    Let me build myself smaller than you, let me apologize when I get caught acting bigger than you.
    Let me always wait for this, let me work for this.
    The convenient thing about being a magical woman is that I can be gone as quickly as I came.
    And when you are a whole person for the first time, the movie is over.
    Manic pixie dream girl doesn't go on; there's no need for her anymore.
    Manic pixie dream girl is too dream girl, and you just woke up.
    Once, I told you I was afraid of my father, and for a moment, I looked so human, the audience lost interest.
    You saw the crow's feet at the sides of my eyes and a small chip on my front tooth.
    I looked just like everyone else.