“We do not learn from experience...
we learn from reflecting on experience.”
― John Dewey

At the beginning of my project, I identified a number of texts that would be worth considering, as well as various theoretical texts to develop a stronger understanding of femininity in the media and the cultural background of the manic pixie dream girl trope. I then narrowed down my list of manic pixie dream girls to consider for the purposes of this project.  I was surprised at how difficult it was to determine the right number of texts to analyze. 

I started by reading a number of background texts on the feminism, media, and the manic pixie dream girl trope. My first goal in the project was to come up with a working definition of "manic pixie dream girl" for the purposes of my project so that I could easily identify them in the books and films I had chosen to study. After developing this definition, I created a worksheet with several critical questions I wanted to consider when looking at these characters. Initially, I intended to adhere to these questions, but as I began to study my chosen media, I found that they were much more helpful as a jumping off point, rather than a strict rubric. 

I found my biggest obstacle to be myself- I would often find myself doubting my work and needing to take a step back. When I came across this problem, I would try to write out everything I was thinking and send it to my faculty advisor. Her notes and comments on my thoughts helped me a lot when it came to this kind of self doubt; she would affirm that I was on the right track, or if I was slipping, she would guide me back to where I needed to be. 

After studying all of the books and films I had selected at the beginning of the summer, I looked at all of my notes and tried to identify the common threads among the "manic pixie dream girl" characters and tried to develop a theory as to why they keep appearing in media and what their effect might be. I had come into the project with some ideas and biases about the trope, but over the course of the project my opinions on the trope evolved as I developed a much more nuanced understanding of the trope. That understanding made it difficult to come up with a unifying theory, especially since I had begun to look at each character as an individual, rather than grouping them all into a trope. Eventually, I was able to form a thesis and write the first draft of a paper detailing my findings and analyzing the trope. 

Working independently on this project over the summer was significantly different than any experience I have had working on large-scale projects during the academic year. With only this project to focus on, I was able to devote more time to it, and thus I was able to look at a wider variety of texts. It also allowed me to work at my own pace and use my time as I felt most comfortable. Rather than needing to juggle the responsibilities of classes, schoolwork, and extracurricular activities, I was able to focus all of my time and energy into this one project. I felt much more motivated to work on it, as opposed to a school assignment. 

In my frequent emails to my faculty mentor, I reflected on each of the texts I read in detail and their significance to my project. In these reflections, I was able to build on my understanding of what it means to be a scholar, a feminist, and a critic. I was also able to build on my initial thoughts on each text through these written reflections. In turn, the broadened perspective that these activities granted me allowed me to have well thought out, cohesive notes to refer back to while writing my final paper on my project. 

Extenuating circumstances made it difficult for my faculty mentor, Katharine Kittredge, and I to meet in person regularly. I did, however, update her with frequent emails detailing my thoughts on the media I was studying at the time and how it connected to the other books and films I was analyzing. In her responses, Professor Kittredge commented on my notes, offered feedback, and asked questions that helped me look deeper at a point that I had made and expand it even further. As I transitioned into writing a paper about my findings, Professor Kittredge commented on my drafts, offering notes on where to expand my analysis or where I could tighten up my writing to ensure the best academic paper possible. 

Working with Professor Kittredge over the summer, she treated me more like a peer than as a student. I've had several classes with her before and we are considerably friendly, but in the context of this project, our relationship was much more casual than in a classroom setting. While I still had deadlines for goals I had within the project, they were a bit more flexible than in class, and I was much more heavily involved. Rather than a formal class discussion, our meetings (which took place in Professor Kittredge's office) were much more casual and candid. 

I hope to continue to work on further drafts of the paper I am currently writing and eventually publish it in an acedemic journal. I also hope to use the knowledge I gained on the trope of the manic pixie dream and femininity in the media to combat problems with feminine representation in my future professional career as a popular culture scholar. I believe that my ability to identify the problematic elements of this trope will allow me to work towards helping create more diverse, accurate representation of women in literature, television, and film.