In this post in the ongoing thread about frightening moments in kid’s movies, **shamrock227 ** mentions the great Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, saying that the movie didn’t help his fear of snakes. I found this statement odd, as I can’t think of a movie that does a BETTER job of dispelling primal childhood fears.
(Okay, I’m not actually trying very hard to think of such a movie, but that’s not the point. I’m not sure what the point is, but I know there is one, and tI know that’s not it.)
Anywhistle – I simply loved Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the character as a child, and desperately wanted to meet him. Even more than, say, Aslan. I mean, of course Aslan was noble and fearless: he was a freaking LION, not to mention a demi-urge. But RTT was just 5 pounds of pure balls; he was the baddest mofo in India not because he had magic powers, but because he had decided to be utterly, utterly fearless, and because he loved Teddy. I’d have loved having him around, and even today, faced with adversity, I’m tempted to ask myself “What would Rikki do?”
What about that rest of you? What children’s movie character did you want to meet, or emulate?
I remember being about 10 years old and being completely smitten with Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap. Of course, I had no idea it was released in 1961 so when my mother pointed out that she wasn’t my age but probably around 35 years old, it was quite a blow for me.
Oh, there are so many of them! Escapism was exactly why I was into books and later movies. Whenever I read something, I put myself in someone’s place, usually, but not always, the narrator. But there are those special ones who stayed with me, who I would fantasize further adventures of, starring me, of course. The strongest of these is Alanna, from Tamora Pierce’s books, and then probably Jo March (could there be a more cliched answer?). From movies, the one I wanted to be the most, or at least look like, was Kira, from the Dark Crystal. Recognizing my failure to sprout wings, I switched my wanna be to Annie Warbucks.
I’d still like to be Tara from the Buffyverse someday.
My favorite movie as a kid was The Sword and the Stone. Merlin in the movie was my introduction to magic and I always, and still do, wanted to be a merlin type magician.
I was convinced that my perfect boyfriend would be Tony from Escape to Witch Mountain. I loved him with all the love a devoted seven year old could muster.
Not quite a movie but I really wanted to be part of the Baby-Sitters Club. Man I loved those books. I really wanted to be like Claudia, the creative eccentric one.
Oh, and the Fraggles. There was this tiny hole in the corner of one of the stairs in my house. The hole led to the basement and if you looked closely you could see light coming from it, and I was certain that the Frggles lived in the walls of my house. I used to sit on the stairs waiting for one of the Fraggles to come out and visit. They never did
Menolly from Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsinger series. She had fire-lizards! Little tiny dragons!
When I was a bit older I got into Mercedes Lackey and I could never decide if I wanted to be Tarma or Kethry.
Oh, I know that now.
But I didn’t at the time, and neither did my mom. I was probably 8 when I read the Pern books, and maybe 10 when I started on Mercedes Lackey.
Hey, I had a crush on his sister (what was her name - Tia?)!
This isn’t a movie, a series of books instead, but I really wanted to hang out with The Famous Five (a series of books by Enid Blyton - these plucky English kids discover treasure, spend a summer in a lighthouse, find underwater tunnels going to an island, etc.)
