Manic Pixie Dream Girl
This hand-bound book investigates and challenges the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope in film. The MPDG - which is often written for the sole purpose of helping a male protagonist self-actualize - these characters are often portrayed as vapid, and are used as stepping stones or supportive props - not actual characters. This trope is an alternative look at the male gaze, and reinforces the continued necessity to write independent female characters that exist for larger purposes than their male counterparts. My book is a tongue-in-cheek critique of this notion, and beyond it's physical form - a design artifact, it exists to question and probe pre-fabricated gender roles. As a personal project, "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" supports a body of work that tackles identity, society, empowerment, and culture.