Manic Pixie Love & Its Opposites
by GEORGIA HARDSTARK
The current obsession with Zooey Deschanel by 20-something dudes of a certain brooding “indie” persuasion irritates me. I’m very open to the fact that it may just be jealousy on my part, as one could easily classify me as a manic pixie dream girl myself and not be that far off the mark, but I think it has more to do with how much attention and credit she gets for embodying this persona that is obviously so manufactured. I can look around the room at a bar or a show here in East Los Angeles, and find half a dozen girls that, given enough money, the right stylist, coaching in the delicate art of “how to be quirky yet aloof”, could be just as adorable and charismatic – if not more so – than Miss Deschanel.
Not to say she isn’t deserving of her fame. She’s a very talented actress, but ya know, some of us weren’t raised in Los Angeles by creative parents, didn’t attend art-centric schools or have cool older sisters. We weren't reared to be the ingénue Zooey has become. Some of us became that despite having none of the above. Just saying.
My argument against Zooey Deschanel being the embodiment of a cool, hip girl – one whom other girls would like to mirror their own personality and style after – became even more resolute as I sat in a dark theater on Monday night and found myself falling into girl-crush-land with Charlyne Yi, who plays herself in this year’s Sundance Film Festival's Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award recipient, Paper Heart.
Paper Heart is a sort of documentary/love story hybrid — the Zorse of the indie movie world, if you will.
Nick Jasenovec, who is behind the camera save for one scene where he makes a quick and quite appearance, follows Charlyne and an actor hired to play himself (the charismatic and incredibly believable Jake Johnson) as Charlyne attempts to uncover the meaning of love, how one attains and keeps it, and if she herself, having never experienced it, is capable of falling into it.
She hopes to absorb the fortune of the long married, illustrating their stories with quirky and charming dioramas. (The soundtrack is written and performed by the musically inclined Charlyne and the dude she falls for by the middle of the movie, Michael Cera.)
Honesty has a lot to do with Charlyne's charm, which is something you get the feeling she isn't aware she possesses. Where Zooey flaunts the truth and uses it as a weapon, Charlyne trips over it and punctuates it with an awkward joke, closing it up with a flash of her dimpled smile. Paper Heart never becomes overly sappy or resorts to stereotypical rom-com tactics.
The reason I'm smitten with Charlyne Yi is because she makes being awkward work, and if there's one thing I've been trying to overcome, I don't know, my entire life, it's my awkwardness — especially around the dreaded opposite sex. Conversations make me nervous. The thought of conversations make me nervous. Awkward silences scare the ever-loving hell out of me, and I've consumed enough snapped-in-half Xanax before a date or party to pacify even the most anxious people.
Sure I covet Zooey's wardrobe — her high-waisted skirts and flouncy tops — but Charlyne can rock a hoodie and a tangled ponytail and look adorable.
I won't spoil the ending for you, but I will say that instead of exhausting themselves by crushing on aloof girls who ultimately wouldn't give them the time of day, and even if they did, would probably become exhausted at the effort needed to woo a girl such as Zooey's character in 500 Days of Summer, said attention should be paid to Charlyne Yi who, even when falling for someone as she did in Paper Heart, always remains her funny, adorably awkward self.
Georgia Hardstark is the contributing editor to This Recording. She tumbls here, and blogs here.
"One Day Like This" — Elbow and the BBC Orchestra (mp3)
"Some Riot" — Elbow and the BBC Orchestra (mp3)
"The Fix" — Elbow and the BBC Orchestra (mp3)
