Euphoria's Jules is a much-needed deconstruction of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope

Entertainment Weekly

Hunter Schafer's Jules was essentially a "trope-burning character," says Clarkisha Kent. "Euphoria cleverly uses the MPDG trope to make the audience view Jules as this free and ethereal spirit here to cheer up and uplift a depressive and lost soul like Rue, and even stand up to psychotic and despotic bullies like Nate (Jacob Elodri). The trope is already somewhat subverted by Jules being a trans girl who has adventures outside of interacting with our lead, and Rue being a young black female protagonist instead of the usual lost white man reluctant to grow up. And then it quickly flips the script on us completely by giving us Jules’ tragic backstory, complete with self-harm, psychiatric hospitals, rejection from her mom, and a complicated personal life that can’t be summed up as 'quirky.' Her ambition and bubbly nature are also quickly ensnared into Nate’s terrifying scheming and the notion she is this ethereal and somehow untouchable force violently goes out the window."

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