History YMMV / PippiLongstocking

** Pippi's father is titled "Negro King of the South Sea" or "Cannibal King". The books were written in the middle of the 20th century, when this was still considered socially acceptable. Lindgren made it clear early on that the Kurrekurredutt were not really cannibals, having given it up many years before Ephraim was there. The AnimatedAdaptation from 1997 tried to soften it by changing it to "Rear Admiral of the Kingdom of Kurrekurredutt", and recent Swedish editions of the book as well as the modern Norwegian audio adaptations refer to him only as a "King of the South Sea". Astrid Lindgren herself later expressed embarrassment at giving him that title.

* TearJerker:
** In-universe for both the original books and the 1988 and 1997 films, this is why Pippi decides to stay in Villa Villekula rather than go traveling with her father. She sees Tommy and Annika crying and tells her father that she can't leave her friends behind and make them miserable. He agrees while promising that he will visit and they can come with her when they go to the South Seas.
** The scene where the shark nearly eats Tommy in ''Pippi in the South Seas''. He escapes with a cut on his leg thanks to Pippi, but that's not what makes it sad. What does is Pippi's OOCIsSeriousBusiness moment; once he's out of the water, she hugs him and then breaks down into tears. She lies that she's sad the shark didn't get any breakfast, but everyone knows she was scared Tommy would die.

** Pippi's father is titled "Negro King of the South Sea" or "Cannibal King". The books were written in the middle of the 20th century, when this was still considered socially acceptable. Lindgren made it clear early on that the Kurrekurredutt were not really cannibals, having given it up many years before Ephraim was there. The AnimatedAdaptation from 1997 tried to get rid of the UnfortunateImplications by changing it to "Rear Admiral of the Kingdom of Kurrekurredutt", and recent Swedish editions of the book as well as the modern Norwegian audio adaptations refer to him only as a "King of the South Sea". Astrid Lindgren herself later expressed embarrassment at giving him that title.

---->[[MightyWhitey A white guy who arrives in the south seas, puts on a bamboo skirt and is immediately crowned king?!]] Times change, and there's no way I'd make him a "negro king" today. He would have been a sea captain or a pirate.

-->[[MightyWhitey A white guy who arrives in the south seas, puts on a bamboo skirt and is immediately crowned king?!]] Times change, and there's no way I'd make him a "negro king" today. He would have been a sea captain or a pirate.

-->[[MightyWhitey A white guy who arrives in the south seas, puts on a bamboo skirt and is immediately crowned king?!]] Times change, and there's no way I'd make him a "negro king" today. He would have been a sea captain or a pirate.
* WTHCastingAgency: Astrid Lindgren was not happy with the 1949 film partially due to nine-year-old Pippi Longstocking being played by then-26-year-old Viveca Serlachius.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Except for [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything useless pirates]] that are [[APirate400YearsTooLate 300 years out of date]] to a country which never even practiced pirating (unless you count [[HornyVikings vikings]]), the [[PoliceAreUseless useless police]] in the live action series and movies paradoxically have the police uniforms of 1979, while there appear to be only two policemen in the town, despite Sweden since 1973 have been divided into police districts. Also, no governmental organization has had the authority to take a child into custody of the Child-and-Charity-organization, if the child resides in a house that either belongs to a legal guardian or a legal guardian has given to the child.[[note]]According to the first book, Ephraim bought the house years ago, as a place to live when he retired. He could have made her co-owner legally, or simply put the house in her name, anticipating he'd be away a lot.[[/note]] The 1988 movie takes this up to eleven.

** The scene where the shark nearly eats Tommy in ''Pippi in the South Seas''. He escapes with a cut on his leg thanks to Pippi, but that's not what makes it sad. What does is Pippi's OOCISSeriousBusiness moment; once he's out of the water, she hugs him and then breaks down into tears. She lies that she's sad the shark didn't get any breakfast, but everyone knows she was scared Tommy would die.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Except for [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything useless pirates]] that are [[APirate400YearsTooLate 300 years out of date]] to a country which never even practiced pirating (unless you count [[HornyVikings vikings]]), the [[PoliceAreUseless useless police]] in the live action series and movies paradoxically have the police uniforms of 1979, while there appear to be only two policemen in the town, despite Sweden since 1973 have been divided into police districts. Also, no governmental organization has had the authority to take a child into custody of the Child-and-Charity-organization, if the child resides in a house that either belongs to a legal guardian or a legal guardian has given to the child.[[note]]According to the first book, Ephraim bought the house years ago, as a place to live when he retired. He could have made her co-owner legally, or simply put the house in her name, anticipating he'd be away a lot.[[/note]] The 1988 movie takes this UpToEleven.

** In-universe for both the original books and the 1988 film, this is why Pippi decides to stay in Villa Villekula rather than go traveling with her father. She sees Tommy and Annika crying and tells her father that she can't leave her friends behind and make them miserable. He agrees while promising that he will visit and they can come with her when they go to the South Seas.
** The scene where the shark nearly eats Tommy. He escapes with a cut on his leg thanks to Pippi, but that's not what makes it sad. What does is Pippi's OOCISSeriousBusiness moment; once he's out of the water, she hugs him and then breaks down into tears. She lies that she's sad the shark didn't get any breakfast, but everyone knows she was scared Tommy would die.

** In-universe, this is why Pippi decides to stay in Villa Villekula rather than go traveling with her father. She sees Tommy and Annika crying and tells her father that she can't leave her friends behind and make them miserable. He agrees while promising that he will visit and they can come with her when they go to the South Seas.
** The scene where the shark nearly eats Tommy. He escapes with a cut on his leg thanks to Pippi, but that's now what makes it sad. What does is Pippi's OOCISSeriousBusiness moment; once he's out of the water, she hugs him and then breaks down into tears. She lies that she's sad the shark didn't get any breakfast, but everyone knows she was scared Tommy would die.

* UnfortunateNames: “Pippi” sounds exactly like(and is one letter away from) the word “pipi”, which is french for “piss”.