Basically an inverse of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A hyper, quirky and free-spirited young man rejuvenates the life of a miserable, constrained and by-the-books young woman and the two later fall in love (or at least he allows her to see the fun and beauty in life.) Are there any examples?
From Wikipedia: Recently there has been discussion of a male version of this trope, the Manic Pixie Dream Boy or Manic Pixie Dream Guy. Augustus Waters from the film version of The Fault in Our Stars (2014) was given this title in a 2014 Vulturearticle,[34] in which Matt Patches stated, "he's a bad boy, he's a sweetheart, he's a dumb jock, he's a nerd, he's a philosopher, he's a poet, he's a victim, he's a survivor, he's everything everyone wants in their lives, and he's a fallacious notion of what we can actually have in our lives." The Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope has also been pointed out in sitcoms such as Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock. The female protagonists of these shows are married to men (Adam Scott's Ben Wyatt and Rob Lowe's Chris Traeger, respectively), who, according to a 2012 Grantland article, "patiently [tamp] down her stubbornness and temper while appreciating her quirks, helping her to become her best possible self".[35] The character Jesse, played by Skylar Astin, in the film Pitch Perfect (2012) embodies the Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope. His role in the film appears to be to coax the very serious character Beca, played by Anna Kendrick, out of her gloom and embrace life to the fullest. He has no backstory of his own, and no major goals of his own in the context of the film. According to an article on Ohio State's Entertainment News site: Jesse, the male protagonist, never fails to break my heart. His character is seemingly flawless: he is sweet, charming, funny, boyishly handsome, and talented, but in a self-deprecating way. The character radiates youthful appeal in a way that makes me want to sit close to him and watch John Hughes movies with him. He takes on the selfless task of cracking open the stony girl protagonist by showing her The Breakfast Club and becomes a victim—Jesse is unusual. Jesse is a background story-less charisma machine.[36]
Interesting. I hadn't thought about the inverse before, but I think it faces a similar problem to the girl trope: are they really viable characters? I mean, if a character's primary purpose is always kick the main character's butt down the plot road, how long can they really last? They would seem more like plot devices than actual characters to me, but I could be wrong in that assesment. I think of Arthur from the film The Holiday, where the older gentleman's main purpose is to help Iris see that she has to put herself first. In that sense he fulfulls the MPDG trope but it's averted because while his backstory isn't important per se, Iris also helps him to come out of his reclusion. He is wise, quirky, and charming - even though he is older, I think that that is a good example.
IMO if they have their own arc, they're not a MPDG/B - but I think that Andy Dwyer is more of one than Ben Wyatt in Parks and Rec, as an example. He's much more of the energetic, wacky, quirky type. But he does have an arc. He's not even interested in April for a while (granted he starts off as auxiliary to Ann). I feel like manic pixie dream boys might be more prevalent in romance? Dunno.
