#tbt: A Little Princess (1995)

Director:

Alfonso Cuarón

Writers:

 Frances Hodgson Burnett (novel), Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Elizabeth Chandler (screenplay)

Stars:

 Liesel Matthews, Eleanor Bron, Liam Cunningham

Cinderella!!!

Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) is forced to leave her beloved India after her father (Liam Cunningham) enlists to fight for the British in WWI. He moves Sara to New York to attend the same boarding school as her late mother attended, in hopes she would have the utmost care. Sara's creativity and kind-nature soon lead her and the head-mistress Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron) to clash. As Sara continues to struggle staying true to herself and trying to follow the stifling rules of Miss Minchin, tragedy strikes. Now Sara must find away to believe in her dreams, while dealing with the harsh realities of the cold, cruel world. 

What do these girls even talk about? "Oh I like your green dress!" "Your's too!"

I kinda made this movie sound more depressing than it is. Sorry. It's really not! It's actually an amazingly positive and sweet movie! This movie is so ingrained in my childhood memories, it's right up there with Wizard of Oz, Sleeping Beauty and Steel Magnolias (Yes, Steel Magnolias was one of my favorite movies as a child, we'll talk about it later.). I would watch this movie over and over. It's very much a modern fairy-tale, except it takes place in 1914, so it's not that modern. 

Someone's wearing their fancy-pants today. 

I got HBO last weekend as some special new year promotion, and I saw this was coming on. I hadn't seen it in YEARS. It's probably been a good ten years, which is surprising considering I have two much younger sisters, but they were so into Hannah Montana and High School Musical shit, I guess this masterpiece somehow fell through the cracks for them. Anyway, I decided to watch it, but I was a little scared that I wouldn't be able to make it all the way through. You know how you re-visit a childhood movie or cartoon and it makes you cringe SO BAD and you hate yourself for ever liking it in the first place? That's happened to me a few times (Ahem, Ed, Edd and Eddy), but with this movie it wasn't the case. 

How did her father know to dress her like that? I mean, I know he's British but... still.

I LOVED IT! It made remember being a kid again! I always wanted to be a little princess like Sara Crewe! Looking at it as an adult, I can so appreciate this movie for what it is now. The costumes, the set design, the lighting, the script, the acting... everything is just perfect. It's one of these rare movies you come across that just work. The directing is absolutely superb. I looked up Alfonso Cuarón and saw that along with this movie, he's also directed Great Expectations (1998) and Children of Men. I'm not in the least bit surprised. Though this movie is a intended for children and has a whimsical, almost dream-like vibe to it, it's still very dark and stylized. The green hues and drab, muted earth tones that come into play after Sara moves to New York, starkly contrast the world she once knew in India, where the film opened. This really helps us see things through Sara's eyes, and helps us relate to her. Little things like changing the color scheme is such a nice touch in a movie like this. Alfonso Cuarón did something very similar things in Great Expectations. 

"I have to fight a war now, I'm just gonna leave you hear with the weird bitch lady. PEACE!"

Now lets address the elephant in the room. The story. It's messed up. In case you haven't seen the movie, SPOILER ALERT! Sara's father is presumed dead and she's left alone in the world. Not only is Sara's father taken from her, but the British government seizes all his wealth and property. WHAT? Is this for real? After a man signs up to help YOU fight in a vicious war and "dies" you're going to take all his shit and peace out leaving his little girl, the only family he has, NOTHING?!?! 1914 ethics were FUCKED! I never understood that part as a child. I was always very worried about the financial situations of my fictional characters when I was young. To me, a happy ending = money, fame, marriage or all three. 

Someone "Arms of an Angel" these children! 

Watching this movie again as an adult, I still found myself feeling HORRIBLE for Sara. Not only did she lose the only person she had in the world, she also lost all of her assets. Miss Minchin, supposedly being in a financial rut because of Sara, takes almost everything she has and forces her to move to the attic and work as a servant girl. It's very Cinderella. Despite everything, Sara never gives up on her fantasies and imagination. She still believes everything will turn out for the best, despite what Miss Minchen preaches at her. This movie may very well be why I was (and still am) kinda delusional and imaginative sometimes.

What a fucking bitch!

The acting was spot-on. I haven't really seen any of the actors in this film in anything else that I know of, but they were all great! I have to give a special shout-out to Liesel Matthews. She was incredible! She played the President's daughter in Air Force One along side Harrison Ford, but after that she seemed to disappear. It turns out, Liesel's real name is Liesel Pritzker Simmons and she's an heiress to the Hyatt Hotel fortune. When she was a teenager, she found out that her father's relatives were secretly swindling money from her and her brother, Matthew (Where she got her stage last name.). Liesel hired a lawyer and sued them for her and her brother's rightful inheritance. It was an ugly battle. It was found out that the family memeber Liesel sued were actually stealing her inheritance and dividing up the money amongst themselves. Under the settlement, Liesel and Matthew each received roughly U.S. $280 million in cash and were given more control over other trusts valued at about U.S. $170 million each. Liesel now does charity work in Africa along with her husband, and dabbles in business. I'm happy for Liesel and her charitable projects, but I feel like she would be one of the top actresses in Hollywood today if she had stuck to it.

Guuurl! You gonna get pneumonia! That's dangerous in 1914!

I know that was not really a part of the movie, but I thought I would share it because it's super interesting. Anyway, the movie is awesome, and if you haven't seen it... what's wrong with you? Go watch it! This cynical, negative world we live in these days, really gets me down sometimes, so this movie was perfect for me to re-visit. The movie teaches that magic is real, and that real magic is within all of us. Those who believe in magic will find it, and those who follow their dreams and stay true to themselves will have their happy ending. 

some little boys are too... just sayin'.

For more information, click here.

Buy it here

I'm just gonna say it: black women pull off hats better. That's not racist, it's SCIENCE!

Fan Friday: Daphne Blake

Hi. Welcome back. If this is your first time reading my blog... WHERE YOU BEEN BIATCH!?!?! Just kidding... but seriously.Today we're doing something a bit different. I decided to talk about some of my favorite fictional characters. I know I already do this with Malicious Mondays, but those are times I focus on evil characters. Contrary to popular belief, I like other characters besides the villains... not often, but occasionally. I'm starting off with the vivacious red head Daphne Blake from the Scooby-Doo franchise. Let's get purple up in here!

I like your eyeliner gurl. 

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? originally aired on CBS as part of their Saturday morning lineup in 1969. This was dicey time children's television due to parent run organizations, such as the  Action for Children's Television (ACT), had began pressuring TV executives about the violence children's cartoons such as Jonny Quest and Space Ghost. The executive in charge of daytime programming at CBS at that time was Fred Silverman. Silverman began looking into other cartoons to revitalize their Saturday morning programming.  He contacted two geniuses known as William Hanna and Joseph Barbera to come up with a show similar to The Archie Show which had been wildly popular. After a lot of creative teamwork and brainstorming, the show Scooby-Doo, as we know it today, was born!

In case you've been living under a rock for last four decades, Scooby-Doo is about the adventures of five teenagers and their dog who solve spooky mysteries. They call themselves Mystery Inc and they drive around in a groovy van. Mystery Inc. consists of Fred, the leader of the pack, Velma, the smart-one of the group, Shaggy, the goofy one, Daphne, the princess and of course they're sidekick Scooby-Doo. Each episode, the crew find themselves in the midst of a mystery, usually involving "supernatural" elements. All the monsters and ghouls they chase end up being people who are usually doing it to swindle or steal money or precious objects. It's a typical "whodunnit" series.

We can forgive the scarf. It was different time.

The character of Daphne Blake was inspired by the character of Thalia Menninger, portrayed by Tuesday Weld, on the popular late 1950's/early 1960's sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. In the first incarnation of Scooby-Doo. Daphne is the typical "damsel in distress" stereotype. She is even referred to as "Danger-Prone Daphne" due to her clumsy nature and ability to get kidnapped/imprisoned by the villain, usually resulting in her needing to be rescued.

Goddammit Daphne.

As Scooby-Doo went on and began to evolve over the decades, Daphne was made a stronger, more self-confident character as times began to change and attitudes toward's women changed. In the later incarnations of the franchise, Daphne becomes a serious member of Mystery Inc. helping solve the mysteries, rather than being hindrance on the investigation.

Hey, don't forget, Timmy had to be rescued by a dog too!

To me, Daphne is more than just a cartoon character. I might over think things, but I see Daphne as a sign of the times. At first she's seen as the typical pretty girl of the team. The weak link, often targeted by the bad guys. While most of the character of the franchise are static characters, Daphne proves to be a dynamic character over the many incarnations of Scooby-Doo.

"Where's Fred and Velma?" WHO CARES!?!?! #ByeFelicias

After original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and it's various spin-offs, Fred, Velma and Daphne disappeared from the show, now strictly focusing on Shaggy, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. After a four year absence, Daphne returned in The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show (1983) later changed to The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries (1984). Daphne was now a successful investigator in her own right. She was more confident, intelligent and able to defend herself. She then got a starring role in the short-lived The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985). Gone was the helpless female that Daphne was before. The mid-80's was a time when more and more women began filling the workplace, starting careers of their own. Daphne was example that women can be successful and follow their passions.

Daphne in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.

Scooby-Doo was re-vamped again in 1988 with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. This showed the Mystery Inc gang as children, solving various mysteries. In this incarnation, Daphne is far more sassy and intelligent than her other variations before. In the late 90's several direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies came out, showing Daphne as a glamorous, successful TV investigative journalist with her own show. This was during the time female journalists such as Katie Couric, Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters were extremely popular.

Celebrity status! 

In the live-action theatrical films, Daphne is portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Gellar breathes a bad-ass, sassy vibe into Daphne, which of course she does, she's fucking Buffy! This version of Daphne is not one to be fucked with! She's smart, vivacious, fashionable and she knows martial-arts. In the movies, Daphne actually beats up the bad guys! It's AWESOME!

SMG as Daphne. We love you Buffy.

Yes, maybe you can say I over-think things, or that I'm stupid, but I love the character of Daphne. I've always loved her. It's so interesting to watch a character evolve over the decades. It shows how society's views change and grow. Daphne is one character that you can definitely see this with. She has grown and evolved with us as a culture and will continue to do so, hopefully, with many more generations of Scooby-Doo to come.

Daphne got 80's all up in dat bitch!

She's still going in. Daphne don't care! She has 0 fucks to give! PEACE!

Daphne in What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2002 - 2008)

Daphne is born again in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010 - 2013)

I hope I didn't bore you too much. Have a fantastic weekend! Do everything I would do, which is probably everything you shouldn't do, so you should do it.

GET A GREEN SCARF!!!

BYEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!