My Nightmare Would Be My Heroine Being Seen As ‘Manic Pixie Dreamgirl…With A Gun’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Well, it’s times like these that being aware of the Vox worldview where all art is reduced to tropes and you can’t just have fun because of the Big Ideas associated with being A Very Serious Person who speaks with Authority on their Tik-Toks.

I am WELL AWARE that because I’m a man, pretty much it’s impossible for me to not be judged if I have any type of heroine. I’m not even suppose to try. I’m just a member of the patriarchy and, as such, just want to “fridge” female character that I construct simply to have sex with them in my mind.

UGH. Fuck that!

My heroine is unique. And if you add to this the fact that I simply don’t take myself very seriously, then there’s a real chance that my heroine may come across as a manic pixiedream girl…with a gun.. to the Vox people who are on a hair trigger to find some sort of trope in any work of pop art. In all honesty, my heroine isn’t meant to be my interpretation of a manic pixie dreamgirl, but rather my imaginary wilful child!

So, you should be seeing her as me thinking up a really cool — if difficult — daughter that I have to struggle with, rather than me constructing some sort of ideal woman for me to fuck.

But I understand why Vox might say she’s nothing more than a manic pixiedream girl…with a gun. Ok, ok, I get it. But I will say that such thinking is how we got Trump. Can’t there just be pop culture for pop culture’s sake? Do we all have to limit ourselves to one Twitter comic no one’s heard of that passes the Vox litmus test?

I guess what I’m saying is I’m working so hard to create a really unique person that you want to hang out with and root for, but I’m hypersensitive to accusations of her just being a manic pixie dreamgirl…with a gun. I’m so paranoid about this, that I’m thinking up every possible way to give the character depth.

It makes you think — to Vox, is ANY interesting female character some variation of the manic pixie dreamgirl trope? And yet not only am I suppose to write strong, interesting women, I can’t ever actually be successful because of identity politics? What the what?

But “publish or perish” as they say. Gotta finish a first draft and soon.

Author: Shelton Bumgarner

I am the Editor & Publisher of The Trumplandia Report

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