Hello hello hello hello. It's a beautiful, sunny spring Sunday morning. Hello.
I love Spring. Everything bursts into fresh colour, new tints, happy life. Little flowers peep their heads into the sunlight, giving the garden patches of pink and white and yellow. The streets are crowned with pink candy-floss blossom and the mornings actually involve sunlight. It's too hot for winter coats, too cold for short sleeves, it's a time of nature being happy, and us humans being happy alongside it. As much as I love my winter with the cosy stormy days, spring makes me freaking happy. I love the boost it gives. The odd sense of excitement.
SO HELLO THERE SPRING, OL CHAP.
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7 Movies that have those Spring-vibes
(in no particular order)
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1. Emma 2009
Emma has its winter scenes (yes, I am thinking about the adorable one where Mr Knightley teases Emma about her pickety etiquette ideas at the Christmas party) but the whole movie reminds me of sunlight and summer bonnets and dresses with little flowery prints and painting in the garden so BAM SPRING.
2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
I'll admit, just because of the 'Spring Spring Spring' song. Ha. So original, right, Naomi? Seven Brides for Seven Brothers has quite a lot of snow scenes (*swings axe to the ground*) but you know, it ends with everyone singing about spring and it has those bright dresses and an outside dance so watch this to celebrate spring, okay? Good.
3. Heidi 1993
This movie screams SPRING IS HERE. I have so so many memories of this film. It was one of the only movies I saw as a young girl and aside from being unhealthily petrified of the grandfather and that midnight scene in Frankfurt where Heidi's sleepwalking, I loved it to death. The mountains and the Swiss summer frocks; the goats and the flowers and the birds... Spring heaven.
4. Pride and Prejudice 1995
Let's be real, I'd add this to any list of Period Dramas haha, but no really, this brilliant mini-series is filled with wood walks, pastel regency frocks, chilly weather + sunlight, and Bennet sisters picking flowers while talking about young men they either hate or love. Still the best film ever. I stand firm.
5. Bright Star
Terrible movie in my opinion (no really, I didn't even finish this. The costumes are nauseating and the characters complete weirdos and the couple isn't even cute together despite their extreme sappiness) but I've got to mention it because it's filled with bluebells and butterflies and spring being in the air. So thus the mention. But don't watch it. :-P
6. Cinderella 2015
This is spring in a fairy-tale. Beauty and the Beast is going to be wintery, but Cinderella was spring. The light colours, the horse-back scenes, the yellow curls, the flowers in the garden, the exciting midnight clock in the warm night... it's a springtime fairy-tale and I'll always love it.
7. Anne of Green Gables.
Think about the White way of Delight, the garden party where Anne and Diana saw Josie fall in the pond from their little boat, Anne putting pink flowers on her hat before Church, Gilbert coming to rescue when Anne was 'fishing for lake trout'... both the book and the movie have such spring vibes. I love how Anne loves spring and how she's so in love with the blossom tree in front of her window. Marilla is like, 'blossom fiddlesticks.'
You know, it's been too long since I talked about Period Dramas on this blog. I'm still quite as in love with them as I was when I started blogging, don't you worry. Mama and I are currently watching Season 6 of Call the Midwife and yes Tom and Barbara are engaged yes yes yes they're cute yes yep. Okay, I'll stop saying yes. But yes about Tom and Barbara. They're the CUTEST YES.
Happy spring, everyone.
Not that I'll have time to watch any of these movies or any of your recommendations, but for conversations sake and the to-watch lists' sake:
... and I apologise in advance. (I also apologise in advance about the disastrous and cringe-worthy amount of times I use the word 'like' in this post. But sometimes one must pretend to be fashionable.)
So, there's this young girl called Ella. Has a mother, has a father. Never a moments sorrow. In fact, the first time she cries in her life is when her mother dies. (Which, it cannot be denied, is very sad.) Ella grows up, her father and best friend (the same person) grows up, too. Then one day the father's like, 'Hey Ella, I'm going to marry an evil stepmother bye.' And then he's like, 'Oh hey Ella, I'm going off and I'm going die bye.' So then Ella's stuck with three evil people who randomly decide to put the word of something which makes her dirty before her real name. Fortunately, it sounds quite elegant, the name. (It's Cinderella, for anyone who lives under a rock and has never heard of this story.)
Then one day Ella's like, 'Hey I'm going to go to ride on my white pony bye.' And she meets a man who is coincidentally three things: 1. Young 2. Handsome 3. Single. Oh, and hey, also a prince. They're like, 'We're madly in love guys' for days after exchanging like, three sentences and three eyeglances. Um, okay.
The prince is rather desperate to exchange the fourth sentence, so he's like, 'hey dad lets invite EVERYONE to my ball.' And the dad's like, 'Fine son.' Even though his idea means that terrorists and beggars and dogs and barmaids are welcome too. But okay, everything to exchange the fourth sentence; I get it. They need to meet again. But wait - will they? Because the stepmother's like, 'No Cinderella, madam will do and your dress won't.'
But it doesn't matter, that - in fact, it's a blessing in disguise because a white thing changes garden things into carriage things and suddenly Cinderella has a blue dress on. Like, wow, thanks, white thing. That was really much appreciated. So thus Cinderella walks into the ballroom and everyone's like, 'Okay let's look at that random girl so that the prince will notice her in this big crowd and so they can exchange the forth sentence.' Cinderella and the prince are like, 'Oh HEY! Let's dance' and they dance even though Cinderella has never had dance lessons and she has never practised dancing in a big dress. Then they walk in a garden and the prince is like, 'Hey let me put on your shoe.' Cinderella's like, 'Oh dear, it's midnight I gotta go, I gotta goooo!' And then her shoe falls off again and Kit's like, 'Wow couldn't she have put on shoes that fit?'
Anyways, back home the stepmother realises Cinderella had come to the ball, and she realises that the prince and her are on their way to matrimony. She's like, 'Mwuhaha, let me lock her up in the attic and break the glass slipper.' But the MICE are like, 'Let's save the day' and they open the window. Cinderella is like, 'I'm going to sing even though I'm locked in' and then Kit hears her et voila. They meet for the third time, exchange their tenth-or-something sentence and why, yes - why yes, they are ready to promise each other to have and to hold till death them to part.
This was on my to-see list before the trailer was even available. You want to know how long I had to wait to see this? About a year. I heard of it first back in 2014 December (or maybe it was even-longer-ago; it might have been in 2014 SUMMER) and I watched it last month, FINALLY and YES. OF COURSE IT WAS SPLENDID.
Of course I loved it. My heart will always be this place which delights in glitter and fairylights and gowns and blue eyes. I LOVED it. :-)
My Cinderella History, first.
1. I didn't actually grow up with the animated "classic" Disney Cinderella. I have, in fact, never even SEEN it (and I don't care to because why would I when the 2015 one exists). I was, however, as a little girl, very familiar with the Cinderella story, as was every other girl in my continent.
2. My favourite Dinsey princess was (and IS) Cinderella; and, at the age of about seven, when I got this notebook with Cinderella on the cover I was ELATED. (Sleeping Beauty was on the back cover but humph, I didn't look at her. Cinderella was my favourite.)
3. I also got a rubber with Cinderella on it.
4. And a pack of cards with the Disney Princesses on it. (I took out the one of "the weird fish-lady", as I called her, and kept the ones of Cinderella especially. My favourite cards were the two where Cinderella dances with The Prince because DUZH.)
5. Anyway. Point of story: I loved Cinderella. (Ah, those years when I only had three fandoms. Little House, Heidi and Cinderella. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of those years. Now I can't even start to count my fandoms.)
6. Then my teens doomed close and I discovered Jane Austen and Anne of Green Gables, and poor Cinderella was shoved in the fartherest corner of my brain. (No, my-fourteen-year-old-brother, don't say 'do you HAVE a brain?!')
7. But then... I saw that one first-released picture of Lily James in an old, exotic-but-worn blue dress on a white horse (the first picture of this post) and I thought OHH DARN HOW PRETTY.
8. Wait, that was a lie. I actually thought, 'Ohhh! LOOK it's LADY ROSE on a HORSE with her HAIR DOWN.' :-P But I soon got really exited about the movie. I got reallyreallyreally excited.
9. AND THEN THE TRAILER CAME OUT.
10. *Naomi rewatches the trailer every day for three months*
11. Then came those months when everyone saw it except meeee and OH the torment.
Basically.
AND THEN I SAW THE GLITTERY THING.
What Cinderella did to me:
1. It transformed me back to being seven years old. I loved that feeling a LOT.
2. It made me believe in love at first sight for a few hours. (Because basically Cinderella and the prince are ENGAGED after 1. A conversation in the woods 2. A dance and 3. A conversation in the garden and it seemed perfectly natural and perfect to me.)
3. It made me love Patrick Doyle's soundtracks even more.
4. Blue is one of my favourite colours now. I used to quite dislike it; but now it's just perfectly elegant.
5. Blue eyes aren't too bad, either. :-P
6. It made me want to be in a ball so badly. Not that I didn't before watching Cinderella, of course.
7. *Me when I finished the movie* Oh. Oh. Oh yes, Fairy godmothers don't really exist. (Because I thought they did for those two hours while I watched the movie.)
8. All the glitter of the palace made me SWOON.
9. And it made me super angry at a certain lady.
10. It gave me THRILLS.
The scenery of this movie was GORGEOUS, the COSTUMES I CAN'T EVEN (will ramble about the amazing, epic blue ballgown shortly, BRACE YOURSELF), the music was twinkly and sweeping, and the characters vivid and real.
I loved that the Prince had a name.
I loved that the stepmother had a past.
I loved that the stepsisters had a good side.
I loved that Cinderella was unique.
I loved that it felt so fresh and real, despite that fact that this story is hugely overdone in the history of cinema.
The scenes of Ella's childhood were gorgeous - summery, colourful, happy, simple, childlike. Ella's mother was a darling; and her father was a darling, too. The butterflies, the sunlight, the flowers, the tinkly music - it was definitely fairy-tale-ish. (I thought the girl-Ella looked a lot like a mini Taylor Swift. Anyone agree?)
And then the mother died. That was so sad. (Hayley Atwell looked gorgeous in blonde, by the way.)
Just look at the happy family. And Hayley's white-and-yellow dress. (I see what you did there, costume-designer.)
And then we saw the Lily-James-Ella, and a some-what-older Father. The house is still the same; and life is still good, although in a more quiet way. But theeen. BAMBAMBAM. The father marries again. (For some reason or the other, I didn't feel badly about him for doing so. He didn't seem to realise, the poor chump.)
Then we met lady Tremain. And Daisy Anastasia and the other one. What's-her-name.
Cate Balnchett made a stunningly evil and wicked and slimy step-mother. Her hair was exquisitely and shockingly un-Victorian (it looked vintage) and her silky wine-and-green-coloured dresses were evil and elegant and EVIL.
(My sister and I LOVE the way she laughs. SO EVIL. And horrible.)
The step-sisters were good too. UGH. The way Daisy (I call her Daisy) plays the piano. And the way the other one draws. They were pathetically bad and silly and stupid; but it was funny and good and it strangely enough seemed real. :-P
And then POOR ELLA. An endless list of woes comes knocking at her door.
1.Her father dies.
2. The servants get expelled.
3. She has to sleep in the attic.
4. She has to do all the work.
5. She gets nicknames; including 'Cinderwench', 'Dirty Ella' and - Oh, I know one! I know what we'll call her! - Cinderella.
6. She can't sit at her seat at the table.
7. She doesn't have much food.
8. JUST THE POOR KID.
In the middle of her woes, Ella escapes to the woods one day, on horseback. And GUESS WHAT.
I'll tell you by pasting a picture here. A picture of a blue-dressed, blonde-haired, horse-back-ed damsel in distress and a gold-trimmed, dashing-looking, sword-on-his-hip-ped Prince, meeting for the first time in sunlit, light-green woods. *Cue darling fluttery music and call all the butterflies and bluebirds to come and fly in the air because it fits.*
She meets this blue-eyed guy who is an apprentice (just kidding, he's a prince. Good try.) and whose name is Kit, and who really is quite handsome you know. Quite. And he's also super kind and he also believes in love at first sight.
(Because duh. It's a disney movie just saying.)
(Awful jacket, but handsome face. No really. He's really good-looking. And he wears the jacket well. He even wears the turquoise waistcoat well. And the white skinny jeans.)
ANYWAY.
AND THEN WE HAVE THE BALL AND IT'S JUST NOT FUNNY HOW GORGEOUS EVERYTHING IS.
NO SERIOUSLY.
I MEAN. GOLLY PETE HELLO I'M DONE DEAD.
(Wow, now I sound like a fangirl. I might be slightly exaggerating, but of course I won't admit that now because I'm reviewing Cinderella and this is the climax of the review. And guys - girls - really; everything about and before and after the ball scene dazzled me like a bird entranced by Tinklebell and fairy dust... and seriously, what am I even saying. You guys don't want to hear me talk. Pictures. That's what you want. Pictures.)
(I might or might not have this picture as my desktop background right now. Of course it's not true. I mean, why on earth would I choose to put this picture on the entire screen of my laptop. That's just absurd. (I told you I was sarcastic.))
Anyway, basically everything about the ball is perfect. I can't even start.
1. First, her pink dress. It was cute and adorable and gorgeous, and I'd wear it in a heatbeat.
2. But then hopes were shattered, dreams were crushed, and fabric torn.
3. BUUUUT.
4. Fairy godmothers exist. Remember?
5. And they change pumpkins into exquisite carriages; and lizards into green-faced footmen, and ducks into carriage drivers. Very clever.
6. And what's more... THEY MAKE BLUE DRESSES. And such blue dresses.
7. The dress seriously was EVERYTHING. (Look I italicized and capitalized the word. That means it really is beyond my description.) It was dazzling; huge; and had SUCH A SWISH. I do envy any girl who owns a gown with a luxurious, gorgeous, extravagant SWISH. And then the butterflies and the sparkles and the sheeny white and blue...
8. NOT FAIR.
9. REALLY NOT FAIR.
10. I WANT THE DRESS.
11. Santa? ARE YOU LISTENING?
12. And then they arrived; after riding in the gorgeous gold carriage, and after getting the glass shoes which fit no-one but her. (Quite amazing, that. She really must have tiny feet.)
13. And then the ball room. THE BALL ROOM. (I should have warned you about the caps in the post. Sorry.)
14. All the CANDLES and all the GOLD and all the sparkles and coulour and glitter and glamour and bizazz and sheen and... you get the point. It was glamorous beyond measure and I sank into the glory of it with all my happy heart.
15. AND THEN THEY DANCED.
16. Loook, his collar matches her dress. Such a coincidence. This really IS true love. That proves it. (And his eyes fit the dress too! WOW. Match made in heaven. SO match made in heaven.)
17. Okay... here's the video of the dance. Because there's no way I can put my girlish love for it in words.
18. And after the dance, they somehow manage to leave the room without people following them; and Kit shows Ella his garden. (Which means he really IS interested in her. Because he even swings her on the swing, and puts on her shoe when it falls down.)
19. Oh, we need a picture of the swing garden, you said?
20. I'd be happy to oblige. I'm rather fond of this picture. Not very, just rather. (Sarcasm, again.)
TOLD YOU.
Then the clock strikes twelve; and before Ella knows it, she's on the road in her wet, torn, not-very-pink dress, holding horses mice in her one glass shoe. (What I've never understood is why the shoes didn't change back to normal after the clock struck twelve. Doesn't make sense. But who cares, right? This is Cinderella.)
Anyway; then we have all the everyone-fits-the-shoe-but-no-one-can-squeeze-their-foot-in-the-darn-thing-calava.
But Ella sings "Lavender's Blue" in the attic, and the horses open the window...
And then that happens.
My thoughts on the wedding:
1. OBVIOUSLY IT WAS GORGEOUS.
2. Her wedding dress... all the flowers and the tiny detail had me in awe. It really didn't get enough screen-time. We needed a camera which gave us close-up detail of it. (I don't love it as much as the blue one, of course. But it's still stunning.)
3. Kit looked pretty good too. He's rocking the boots.
4. ALL THE FLOWERS. The balcony kind of looked like heaven.
5. And they kiiiiissed and people cheered and all was right in the world forever and ever. They had children and sang songs and fed the mice and held balls every fortnight. (But they forgot all about the stepmother, Anastasia and Drisella, and the fairy godmother.) (I had to write it.)
I've done posts in which I've gushed nonsensically over dresses and frills. I've done about fifty of those, when it comes to that. (Well, sliiight exaggeration is allowed now and then.) I've done posts in which I've exclaimed in - oh horrors of horrors - capital letters my fondest love for certain fictional characters. (No, I did not mention Mr Knightley in every one of those posts. Hush.) I've talked about all kinda stuff.
But I've never really gushed over that BEAUTIFUL scenery in those movies. And those often-ignored Settings. So I am to do so now.
Okay, before we talk about ANYTHING, I'm going to point out that Cinderella has the best inside settings ever. (I haven't seen this yet, but OH I KNOW IT.)
Now we can carry on.
The Sound of Music has THE most GORGEOUS Scenery EVER. Well, I never, and all that jazz. It's all so greeny blue and bluey green and free, free and melodious. It seems to chirp out music - GAH. The Sound of Music is such a pretty movie. Remember that scene where Maria sings about the Hills being Alive, and she goes and swings between the trees? That is SO pretty.
I love that the Sound of Music ends AND starts with mountains and grassy hills. And oh, the way the wind BLOWS on the grass and makes all those RIPPLES.
God really is the most amazing artist ever.
And also the gazebo scenes. Like, it's sooo gorgeous and romantic. With all the moonlight shining through the glass, and the garden all quiet around them. Also, all the inside scenes. I know it's easy to have beautiful interior settings when the movie is about a stinking rich Sea Captain with expensive dance floors, but STILL.
Ahh, you know the scene where they DAAANCE. The Laendler dance?!! That scene's BEAUTIFUL too. :-D
Yeah, I'm going to shut up.
BUT THIS MOVIE IS BEAUTIFUL. Just look. Those white-topped mountains looking so splendid and royal above all the green hills. I want to go on a hike now.
War Horse is not my favourite movie (1. Because it's too horsey. I'm not a huge horse fan. And 2. Because it's a War movie and War movies tend to make me upset.) BUT what I have always loved about War Horse, from the first time I watched it, was the scenery. Seriously, Albert's farm was situated in the prettiest place ever.
I still want to go and live there.
Lark Rise to Candleford has SUCH gorgeous scenery! All the yellow golidness of the fields, the lovely English countryside, the villages, the forest. I. NEED. TO. VISIT. THIS. PLACE. (Gah, wouldn't it be the coolest thing ever? To be able to visit all these filming areas. I'd love to visit Lark Rise and Candleford. Of course, I'd imagine all the characters to be there, but still. :-D)
Yeah, the scenery is gorgeous.
I love also that, after a while, because you see the scenery often (seeing as there are many episodes), that you soon recognise those trees and that path. I love this show like crazy.
We just finished episode five of Season three yesterday - I've witnessed some CRAZY Minnie-Alfie cuteness (shut up you two why are you so cute and please ughhhh ahh (!!!)) and I am becoming very good friends with Daniel, who I Really Like. :-)
Testament of Youth also has some Very Exclamation Point Worthy scenery. Let the pictures speak for themselves. (Besides I am very touchy when it comes to Testament of Youth. I'd rather not talk about it. One doesn't talk about Testament of Youth. One cries about it.)
*snifffff*
And of COURSE, Downton Abbey. The show with All the actors, All the plot lines, All the quotes and All the good scenery. This show has everything and that SO includes the most perfect perfect PERFECT scenery. Possibly out of every movie, Downton Abbey has my favourite scenery.
Duh, the inside settings are wayyy to gorgeous too.
Just look. Sink in it.
I could go on and on about beautiful movie settings and beautiful movie scenery, but this shall be all for today, Jeeves. Have a lovely Sunday! :-)
WHAT-HO!(now and then I really have to use that word to start off a blog post. Today was one of those 'now and then's.)
Dear folks, do all of you follow Melody's blog? (You can find it here.) Melody's blog is one of my uber-favourites in this highly entertaining blogging world, mostly because practically ever blog post is centered around Jane Austen, which, y'know (or y'should know) is always a good idea. Anyway, Melody has started this thing called 'The Stereotype Busters' in which anyone who wishes to (which could very well include you or you or you) may write rants against those annoying pecsy stereotypes around the world. Because Stereotypes ANNOY us, right? (So head over to this post for information, if you're interested, and all that.)
Now, the Stereotype I'm going to prove the contrary to, are those 'Oldest Sister' Stereotypes. Yes, there are several, when it comes to that. Oldest Sister stereotypes rile me to no end, mainly because I am the oldest girl in a family of ten, and I feel I must defend myself. Heehee.
I'm going to talk about three Older-Sister-Stereotypes, but I'm going to focus most on the last one, because it's the one that irritates me the most. Please bare with me.
FIRST // THE STEREOTYPICAL PERFECT AND HELPFUL OLDER SISTER
Dear Jane Austen, I love you to itty-bits, but Jane Bennets do, frankly, not exist. At least not in my world.
So this older sister Stereotype sometimes gets paired with me. *Snort* No, not because people think I'm perfect. But because people assume that, because I'm the oldest girl in a large family, I spend the whole day changing diapers, cooking, cleaning, and being a 'second mother.' (Ugh I HATE that phrase. 'Second Mother.' If someone calls me that EVER again, I'm going to collapse in a frensie of fury.) (I am happy to say, though, that fewer people call me that now I'm older. But I got pestered with the entirely irritating phrase in my younger years a lot. *Shudder*)
That's an Very Annoying Older Sister Stereotype, people. That older sister who never complains. That older sister who literally has no life aside from working at home and being a 'second mother.' That older sister who ends up being the old maid in books because she was too busy helping at home. YEAH, THAT.
SECOND // THE VAIN, BOY-CRAZY STEREOTYPICAL OLDER SISTER
Now we also have a completely different stereotype! Oh goodness, where do these all COME from? (I will make them disappear.)
You know what kind of stereotypical older sister I'm talking about now, don't you? That kind of 'going-out-of-the-house', 'I'm-OLD-enough', 'make-up-crazy', 'high-heels-primpy', '1000-boy-friends-at-the-same-time' kind of older sister. Sometimes slash rather often that kind of character gets shoved to the youngest sister (as in the case of Pride and Prejudice), but I've seen or read more than enough books or movies where the older sister is like this.
Often, such as in 'Cheaper by the Dozen' and 'Sound of Music' it will be the case of a slightly sheltered family, and the oldest girl will rebel by doing something like wearing a daring dress or cutting their hair or secretly going out to visit the telegram-boy. You get the point. Rebels and rather without-a-head-ish kind of girls.
Seriously, like, ARE there stories without vain oldest sisters? (Yes, there are. Of course.)
I find this Stereotype rather annoying, because, I admit it (there, don't say I don't tell you everything!), one of my worst fault is being rather... well, I am sometimes a bit vain. I do care what I look like. Don't most girls? But I'm not the stereotypical vain older sister at all - I'm kind of 'Meg March'-vain, not Scarlett-O'Hara-vain. I'm not the boy-crazy, loity-toitering in heels older sister at all, thank you very much.
And now we can move on to the 'main' one I'm talking about in this post. The Stereotypical older sister that gets so horrible misused in literature, cinema and real life. Are you ready for my rant? Because there's one.
When I was younger, like eight or nine and soso, there were times when I HATED being the oldest sister, and the reason was not because I "had" to look after babies (snort, I rather enjoyed that, and I didn't have to at all, that's just a stereotype) and things like that. Nope, the reason was because I so often read books where the oldest sister was vain and bossy, while the younger sister was the fun, main character.
Now, the word "bossy." That's a strong word.
It is NATURAL for the older kids in families to, y'know... be protective. To kind of POINT OUT things. Like, if I see my little sister put her hand in a jar of jam, I'm not going to go 'okay, fine, bleh', I'm going to be practical and use my common sense and go, 'Nope! Don't do that. What are you thinking?' (I might add a Woosterish 'Well! Of all the bally NERVE!' for fun.) Us older kids are just... not being critical to anyone here, but often the older ones of the family just... kind of DO less silly things. And therefore they must point things out to prevent millions of stupid things to happen.
Elinor, just pointing something out. That's not being bossy.
So there's a difference between that kind of 'pointing-out-hey-there-just-stop-that-silly-thing-will-you-'bossy'', and the real-bossy-kind-of-bossy.
And what I HATE is that those two kinds - the 'just pointing out', what people sometimes unrightly call 'bossy', and the mean, 'GO AWAY'-evil-stepsister real kind of bossy - are always mixed up. Because of stereotypes. Like, people automatically think, 'Oh look, that's one of those mean bossy sisters again' immediately, without assuming the fact that there is a 'not-bossy-kind-of-bossy.' Am I talking nonsense, or do you kind of get it?
To show you the difference, here are some examples.
Let's start with Eliza Jane, shall we? Have you all read 'Farmer Boy'? That Little House book about Almanzo's childhood with all the food and horses? Yes, that one. Well, if you've read it, you'll surely remember the extremely annoying and bossy older sister, don't you? Eliza Jane. She doesn't let Almanzo do anything, let alone touch a crumb before dinner is announced. She, I admit it, is a rare mean sister. She is also the kind of stereotypical bossy sister. Just MEAN.
Now, you'll have to agree, this (Eliza Jane-bossy) is not the same kind of (let's-call-it)-bossy that, say Elinor Dashwood has.
The first word that comes in my head to describe Elinor Dashwood is not 'bossy'. SO not. Elinor Dashwood is sensible and therefore has the need to point things out to her slightly-less-practical sisters and mother. Things like telling Marianne to please say more than just 'yes' and 'no' and stuff like that. That's not bossy, right?
And Mary Ingalls. I used to be the biggest Little House fan, ever, so I have my 'defending Mary Ingalls' paragraph all over-thought and ready for you. Mary Ingalls was written in the eyes of her very-different younger sister. If my younger brother or whatevs would write a book about his life I'm afraid there would be a rather big possibility of me being portrayed in a cringe-worthily stereotypical-bossy-sister (hopefully not as bad as Eliza Jane, though. Really, I do my best to be reasonable). Laura also often writes about how she admires Mary, so I'm sure Mary was a lovely girl. She and Laura had tons of good childhood memories together. Mary just felt the huge need to SAY those doggoned obvious things to Laura now and then, that's all. She was just being a good older sister.
So, please, everyone who has older sister, please do not go around and call them bossy (unless they are REALLY as mean as Drisella or Anastasia or Eliza Jane. But please, those are uber-rare.) I hate nothing more than being called bossy when I'm just pointing things out that need to be done or that SO need not to be done. It's a hard thing, being an older sister.
(Of course, I'm not critising any of the 'younger sisters' out there. Wouldn't dream of it, I wouldn't! I'm sorry if I offended you when I said that about the older sisters feeling the need to point out stupid things. I don't mean to say that you're stupid, not at all. Just, sometimes younger siblings can do disastrously WHAT THE PORRIDGE things. For instance, deciding to throw out all contents of the marble bag. Of COURSE I feel the need to tell them to tidy it up. That's not bossy.)
SOME OLDER SISTERS IN LITERATURE THAT AREN'T STEREOTYPICAL
I often find myself sympathising enormously with the older sisters in movies and books, especially when they aren't portrayed in stereotypical ways (actually, ONLY when they aren't portrayed in stereotypical ways, heehee.)
I absolutely love Meg March. She does what older sister's do (y'know, point out things (that's not bossy, remember? ;-P)) and she has her faults, such as being carried away by the latest fashions and ball gowns, but she's sweet and has a darling original personality. She can be mistaken for a stereotype (in fact, that's why I didn't like her when I was younger - I thought, 'Oh, there you go. ANOTHER vain older sister'), but she really isn't.
I also love Elinor Dashwood, of course. She's a chump.
I love it when I come across a very quirky, very different older sister! I did so yesterday evening, when we watched 'Summer Magic.' Nancy Carey is a chirpy, chattery oldest girl, very good-natured, and a bit hot-tempered. She rather delighted me. :-)
Fanny Dorrit, in 'Little Dorrit', is by no means an older sister I heartily approve of, but she has a very un-stereotypical side to her too. She's hilarious and almost-sweet, under that silly stereotypical bossiness. She was a very kind of refreshing character, for an annoying older sister. I like Charles Dickens.
