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Zooey Deschanel rejects Manic Pixie Dream Girl label

Zooey Deschanel doesn't identify with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl label.

In an interview with The Guardian to promote She & Him's seventh studio album, Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson, the New Girl actress was asked for her thoughts on being associated with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl description, a term first coined by film critic Nathan Rabin to refer to a stock character type in movies.

"I don't feel it's accurate. I'm not a girl. I'm a woman," explained Zooey. "It doesn't hurt my feelings, but it's a way of making a woman one-dimensional and I'm not one-dimensional."

Characters played by Natalie Portman and Kirsten Dunst have also been associated with the label over the years.

And while Zooey doesn't see the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope in as many prospective film scripts, she doesn't always feel female characters are made to be as complex as male ones.

"I think the tendency is still to make women one-dimensional, so you have to add dimension, if you can. The more screen time a female character gets, the more space there is to show complexities, but there has been a shift, so I'm optimistic," the 42-year-old continued.