A video from Flavorwire reveals that the trope of the charmingly unstable ingénue -- often attributed to recent indie cinema -- actually goes back decades. The film critic Nathan Rabin coined the term "manic pixie dream girl" in a review for the A. V. Club in 2007. The manic pixie dream girl, he wrote, "exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." Edited by Michelle Rafferty, this clip proves that the "fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors" have been at it all along. 

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