Critic Nathan Rabin first coined the term “manic pixie dream girl” to describe a young woman whose whimsy exists solely as a catalyst for change for the leading man. While he used it in reference to Kirsten Dunst in 2005’s Elizabethtown , plenty of characters have been labeled manic pixie dream girls retroactively. This wish-fulfillment feminine trope often holds hands with traits typical of mental illness, from Penny Lane’s ( Kate Hudson ) struggle with addiction in Almost Famous , to the mood swings of Clementine ( Kate Winslet ) in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . Sam ( Natalie Portman ) in Garden State literally meets Andrew at a clinic.

While this character type can be found as far back as Susan ( Katharine Hepburn ) in Bringing Up

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