TV Trope's entry for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl begins, "Let's say you're a soulful, brooding male hero, living a sheltered, emotionless existence. If only someone could come along and open your heart to the great, wondrous adventure of life... Have no fear, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is here to give new meaning to the male hero's life!"In all the criticism lobbed her way, the MPDG is forever framed by the guy. She's seen as a projection, a waif with even thinner character development created to make a male protagonist's life more interesting. But the thing that seems to be overlooked is that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl doesn't need a man, he needs her. She was doing just fine on her own.Perhaps the most maligned of the MPDGs is Garden State's Sam, played by Natalie Portman. Sam is cartoonishly wacky. She has an expansive pet cemetery in her backyard. She does strange bits of interpretive dance. She watches her old figure-skating home videos with her family. But more than anything else, she's happy. She doesn't have an idyllic life. She has a chronic, scary illness that cost her something she was passionate about. But she's making the best of it, with a genuinely positive attitude and a natural curiosity that only comes off as crazy next to the mopey Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), who uses his PAIN to sit sadly and say deep, sad things. If Sam never met Largeman, she would be totally fine. He would remain a mess.