I said in an earlier entry to view individuals as a people, not personalities. I was browsing through blogs and the below quote stood out to me as a significant way of illustrating what I was talking about. The subject matter was something called a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and this particular example was the lead female character in the romantic comedy/drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Clementine works because she’s real. She is a Manic Pixie Girl*, but she’s also a Woman. She’s bouncing off those all-important Expectations to create herself. There’s more to her than quirks and likes. She’s self-aware, and has a history, and a life outside of Carrey’s Joel. She’s contradictory, something underlined by the sharp cuts between distant timeframes. She is a person.

 

 

But no-one knows that better than Clementine:

 

“Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a [messed]-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours.”

*The other Manic Pixie Dream Girls mentioned by the author were Ramona Flowers (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World), Summer Finn ((500) Days of Summer), Juno MacGuff (Juno), and Sam (Garden State).

A strong reminder to everyone seeking romance: I know that everyone's seeking someone with an ideal personality, who's interested in all the same things that engage you. I sure as heck want to end up with a nerd who likes Superman the same way I do and wears ties so as to challenge conventional female fashion, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to get it, and ultimately I'm in love with the personality, not the real person. If all I'm after is a bunch of quirks and personality traits, I might as well get myself a convincing imaginary girlfriend, because there's no point in loving someone if all I'm doing is enjoying her personality. To me, that's the same thing as wanting to make out with someone just because she's pretty.

Merida