Manic Pixie Dream Guys

Following up my last post, there’s this article on Nerve, which asks why there aren’t more manic pixie dream guys? They exist in real life, where are they in the movies?
The same theme I mentioned in the last post—the love that redeems you, transforms you, makes your life better in more ways than just having a partner—shows up in a lot of romances where it’s the male who does the redeeming. But it’s not usually a pixie. It’s the titled lord, the millionaire, the rising entrepreneur, the rugged ex-Special Forces adventurer who turns her life around. Because, I think, there’s still a bias against morganatic relationships (where the woman is higher status) in movies: the guy is supposed to be the smarter, cooler, richer, etc. character (in Good Will Hunting, as I noted, Minnie Driver is rich and smart, but she’s nowhere near as smart as Will).
In Jenna Elfman’s short-lived series Accidentally on Purpose, she plays a successful TV producer who has a one-night stand with a guy (a med student, I think) living out of his van. From the one episode I caught, I’m inclined to agree with the critic who said that we weren’t supposed to find the guy living in the van embarrassing or funny. It’s the fact Elfman is involved with a guy who’s less successful than she is that’s funny (if I’ve misjudged the show from limited viewing, I apologize).
Even the wacky funster shaking up the straight-laced girl is usually someone equal or superior in rank (the madcap playboy and womanizer for example).
I think more manic male pixies would be cool, but it may be a while before we see them.