the Digital Sea

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mockingbirdsin:

erosum:

Feminist Frequency - Tropes vs. Women: #1 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl

I understand this and I watched the whole thing, but I disagree.

I don’t remember much of Garden State and I will admit that  Kirsten Dunst’s character fits this role, but I don’t think that really fits for Summer or Clementine at all.  I don’t think Summer in and of herself was Tom’s inspiration- it was love. Yes, she got him to yell “penis” in a park, but she didn’t open him up to weird tastes, he already had them.  You can see from the reactions of the other characters, like his friends and sisters, that Tom was pretty weird to begin with.  Plus, Summer doesn’t fix him, she breaks him. The whole tagline is “This is a story about love, but not a love story” or whatever. It isn’t about happily ever afters, it’s about the rush and the anguish and the comfort and how it alters your perspective.

I really don’t understand Clementine as this trope.  She definitely brings Joel out of his shell because she is a quirky powerhouse. She’s definitely challenging. 

She even mirrors what this woman is saying in the bottom  left hand gif mirrors when she says “ 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. ”

I would say Amelie, from the french film of the same name, could be seen as this trope in that she is the quirky girl who is changing other people’s lives. But she’s the title character and the movie is about her own personal development.

I question whether or not the whole concept behind inspiration or a “muse” is understood here.  Yes, sometimes men see a woman and that inspires them to write some kind of shitty thing about how that woman was a tool in their own life.  But I believe other filmmakers, authors, etc  are inspired by women to write characters that mirror their strength or complexity.  Just because you are a muse, doesn’t mean you aren’t also being written as a real character.  

As far as this trope goes, I have no problem with it. I don’t think it should be limited to women, and I’ve seen things where it’s not. I’ve seen a short film where a heart broken woman is taken on a magical rode to healing and self discovery by a group of drag queens. In fact, in Ten Things I hate About you, isn’t Heath Ledger’s character the wild one who teaches Kat to get out of her box? Or that one movie with Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl? We need other people to teach us to get out of our shell. Other people are constantly changing us. This is just a stereotypical storyline. 

black-tangled-heart:

Photography by Amelia Fletcher

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mockingbirdsin:

I’m literally the exact opposite of this.

(Source: theinternetsuckstoday)

fuckyeahbookarts:

Wonderland Series by Kirsty Mitchell

Kirsty Mitchell’s late mother Maureen was an English teacher who spent her life inspiring generations of children with imaginative stories and plays. Following Maureen’s death from a brain tumour in 2008, Kirsty channelled her grief into her passion for photography.

She retreated behind the lens of her camera and created Wonderland, an ethereal fantasy world. The photographic series began as a small summer project but grew into an inspirational creative journey. ‘Real life became a difficult place to deal with, and I found myself retreating further into an alternative existence through the portal of my camera,’ said the artist.

Read the full story here.

gaksdesigns:

blue_paper_crane

dedication-to-daria:

Daria & Jane would be 31 now. Trent would be 36 and Quinn would be 29. Wow, can you believe it? I sure can’t.

(via punkzelda3)