History Literature / BridgetoTerabithia

* TheSeventies: The early post-VietnamWar era, referenced throughout the book but abandoned by the movie.

** Another terrifying point is that the whole is BasedOnATrueStory. [[spoiler: It was a lightning in reality making it even '''more''' tragic. One minute that little girl is happily playing on a beach, the next there is a corpse...]]

** The idea that a [[CheerfulChild cheerful, friendly, imaginative and full of life child]] suddenly dies in a freak, ''senseless'' accident ([[spoiler: best swimmer in a class drowning in creek shallow enough to ''walk'' through]]) is utterly terrifying to parents, especially since said child did nothing to deserve death.

** The idea that a [[CheerfulChild cheerful, friendly, imaginative and full of life child]] suddenly dies in a freak, ''senseless'' accident ([[spoiler: best swimmer in a class drowning in creek shallow enough to ''walk'' through]]) is utterly terrifying to parents, especially since said child did nothing to deserve death. "Bonus" points for this being the only child.

* AdultFear: The idea that a [[CheerfulChild cheerful, friendly, imaginative and full of life child]] suddenly dies in a freak, ''senseless'' accident ([[spoiler: best swimmer in a class drowning in creek shallow enough to ''walk'' through]]) is utterly terrifying to parents, especially since said child did nothing to deserve death. "Bonus" points for this being the only child.

Bridge to Terabithia is a novel by Katherine Paterson, and there are two [[FilmOfTheBook film adaptations]] (a 1985 MadeForTVMovie by the Creator/{{PBS}} and a 2007 theatrical film produced by WaldenMedia).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** A 12-year old boy in some sort of a relationship with his teacher? ''Huh?''
** Also, we can't forget the conversation after church where a little girl talks about God damning people to hell.

* StrangeGirl: Leslie.

* CreatorBreakdown: The BitterSweetEnding is inspired by a real life event that happened to the author's son. That same son would become the producer and co-writer for the 2007 film.

* EvilRedhead: Gary Fulcher in the 2007 film, though he's more of a JerkJock than evil, he's highly antagonistic throughout.

* BigBrotherWorship: Maybelle to Jess
* BitterSweetEnding: Very, very bittersweet.

** [[spoiler:TooCoolToLive: also qualifies.]]

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Leslie fits the character type in that she's full of quirks and dresses oddly, as well as livening up Jess's world, though it's downplayed in that fact that the two do not get romantically involved.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Leslie fits the character type in that she's full of quirks and dresses oddly, as well as livening us Jess's world, though it's downplayed in that fact that the two are not romantically involved.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Leslie
** Subverted: the film casts MPDG queen ZooeyDeschanel as Ms. Edmunds. The character she plays is one of her few roles ''not'' of this type.
*** She comes off that way to Jesse, though, compared with the other adults in his life, hence his infatuation with her.

* NamesTheSame: There is an island in ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' called Terebinthia; the author read the books as a child but asserts the connection was unconscious.
** And also points out that C.S. Lewis probably took the name of said island from the terebinth tree, which is often mentioned in Literature/TheBible.

* NeverTrustATrailer: Quite possibly the most baffling case in the history of cinema. The trailer for the 2007 film made it seem like a Narnia-esque fantasy movie where Terabithia was real.
** Apparently, the filmmakers were none too pleased with the way the movie was marketed, either.
*** Especially since the key screenwriter was David Paterson, the ''son'' of the original author and on who Jesse is based.
*** This also led to confusion with fans who hadn't read the book, as they watched the movie waiting for Terabithia to 'become real' only to realize it doesn't.

* AdaptationDistillation: Because the setting is changed to the present day, there's less focus on Jesse wanting to be an artist, which was the main conflict between him and his father in the book. It also doesn't make a big deal about Leslie being a {{Tomboy}}.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: There was a scene where the camera focuses on Jesse's arm becoming robotic and Jesse punching a Squoager. Near the last half of the film, Jesse confronts the Squoager's real life counterpart and punches him. Complete with the camera focusing on the arm, as if Jesse was pretending that it would become robotic.

The story has a BittersweetEnding. It has been banned on more than one occasion for HotForStudent {{subtext}} and other [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch non-existent sexual content]] [[note]]Jesse has a crush on one of his teachers, something everyone who's reached the age of 12 can probably relate to. She invites him to the museum, and insists on paying on the grounds that she's a liberated woman and invited ''him'' (and, more practically, she's a teacher and can afford it better). That's literally as far as it goes -- there's zero evidence that said teacher has any inappropriate feelings or is aware of his crush. Once more, she invited Jesse ''and'' Leslie.[[/note]] as well as religious content.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Jesse and Leslie both went barefoot (as is seen on the cover) partly because all the shoes they got were hand me downs and also it was not at all uncommon for kids in the 1970s to go barefoot, especially in the country.

The story has a BittersweetEnding. It has been banned on more than one occasion for HotForStudent {{subtext}} and other [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch non-existent sexual content]] [[note]]Jesse has a crush on one of his teachers, something everyone who's reached the age of 12 can probably relate to. She invites him to the museum, and insists on paying on the grounds that she's a liberated woman and invited ''him'' (and, more practically, she's a teacher and can afford it better). That's literally as far as it goes -- there's zero evidence that said teacher has any inappropriate feelings or is aware of his crush. Once more, she invited Jesse ''and'' Leslie.[[/note]]

*** Especially since the key screenwriter was David Pattinson, the ''son'' of the original author and on who Jesse is based.

** In the more traditional Meta sense, the characters and story are based off events and people from Katherine Pattinson's own life - Jesse off her son David, Leslie off his best friend Lisa Hill, etc., and Jesse's loneliness reflects Pattinson's own inability to fit in at school with others. Plus the poverty off the situation during the Seventies post the Vietnam War era. And the religious connotations off her own upbringing, since she learned from her father (a missionary who often travelled as part of his duties).

** At one point Jess is afraid Terrien (the dog) may fall down during crossing and drown. [[spiler: if only it were the dog, like in many other books...]]