Line #23 Film/WildChild


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wild_Child-Poster-Emma_Roberts-Natasha_Richardson_7405.jpg]]
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3	''Wild Child'' is a 2008 American/British/French teen romantic dramedy film starring Creator/EmmaRoberts, Creator/AlexPettyfer and Creator/NatashaRichardson. Roberts plays Poppy Moore, a spoiled California [[SpoiledBrat brat]] who is sent to a boarding school in England as punishment for her bad behavior. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensues]].
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5	Sadly, most notable as Natasha Richardson's final screen appearance before her untimely passing the following year in a skiing accident.
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7	----
8	!!This film contains examples of:
9	%%* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Which is run by Harriet, who isn't exactly suited for the role.
10	* AcademicAlphaBitch: Head Girl Harriet is a perfect example of this trope, she rules the school with an iron fist, but uses intellectual prestige and extracurricular overachieving instead of fashion and hotness. Her BetaBitch posse are deputy Head Girls, and it's clear they have been sucked into being her minions because she's on such a power-trip.
11	* AliceAllusion: Mrs Kingsley lends Poppy a copy of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' to read. References to it are [[StealthPun peppered]] throughout the story, especially in Poppy's interactions with Freddy, but it is mainly used to [[StealthPun mirror]] Poppy's feelings of being out of her depth and wanting to find her way home, before she ultimately acclimates to her surroundings, grows out of her narrow view of the world and allows herself to be more open and vulnerable.
12	** Amusingly enough, the fire and the trial are also reminiscent of key plot points from the book, with extra points for the Honour Court room having black and white tiles, much like a chessboard.
13	** Poppy's leaping off the cliff at the beginning of the movie could also simultaneously be a nod to Alice's long fall down the rabbit hole and the pool of tears.
14	** The game of lacrosse could be the equivalent of the croquet game from the book, especially given that Harriet - the Queen of Hearts of Abbey Mount - is the one who initially issues the challenge to Poppy.
15	** As mentioned above, Freddy and Poppy routinely trade quotes and shout-outs to Alice, which extends to Freddy referring to [[ThoseTwoGuys Charlotte and Jane]] as "Tweedledum and Tweedledee".
16	* AlphaBitch:
17	** Harriet. Back at her school in California Poppy seems to have been this. After she leaves, Poppy’s close friend Ruby takes over her role as the Queen Bee, though Ruby and Poppy are less obvious.
18	%%* AmbitionIsEvil: Harriet.
19	* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch: Harriet's minions decide not to tell her crucial information about how close Poppy is getting to Freddy because she'll shoot the messenger.
20	* BadBadActing: Drippy and Kate's attempts at pretending to be old enough to buy alcohol.
21	* BigEater: Drippy regularly sneaks into the school freezer at night for an ice-cream fix, plus she can't resist some cream eggs when the girls are attempting to buy alcohol.
22	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Harriet, Charlotte and Jane, respectively.
23	* BookEnds: In the beginning of the movie Poppy jumped off the cliff by her house, which was one of the key factors that her got to sent to Abbeymount. At the end of the film, Poppy jumps of the cliff again, but this time with her new friends reluctantly doing it with her.
24	%%* BoardingSchool: The primary setting.
25	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Poppy. Though, it is mostly a fabricate [[spoiler: to hide her sadness with losing her mother and struggle to move on.]]
26	%%* BritishStuffiness: Harriet, especially when Poppy gives out her details as a telephone sex line.
27	* ButtMonkey: Whenever the plot calls for (or even when it doesn't call for) a student of Abbey Mount to make a fool of herself, get hopelessly drunk and pass out in a puddle of vomit, someone other than Poppy to be bullied or even for someone to be in a life-threatening situation, it WILL be Drippy.
28	* CelebrityParadox: Poppy mentions Hogwarts once in the film; [[Creator/ShirleyHenderson Shirley Henderson]], who plays Matron, also portrayed Moaning Myrtle in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' film series.
29	* ChekhovsGun: Poppy was warned to log out of the computer when done using it. She forgets after writing an email she never intended to send, allowing [[spoiler: Harriet]] to print out copies of the email and use it to turn her friends against her.
30	%%* CloserToEarth: Kate.
31	%%* CloudCuckoolander: Drippy.
32	* ColdHam: Harriet mostly acts hoity-toity and coldly arrogant, but she still reacts in a hilariously over-the-top way to things that upset her.
33	* ComedicSociopathy: One of Poppy and the girls' pranks to get Poppy expelled involves touting Harriet as a phone sex operator. Bearing in mind that Harriet is a schoolgirl and a minor, this is horrifying. On the other hand, [[AcademicAlphaBitch it's]] [[SmugSnake Harriet]], which makes it all the more hilarious when she fails to grasp just ''why'' the strange man wants to know what she's wearing and answers truthfully.
34	-->'''Harriet:''' They are a simple polyester. Sturdy and practical!
35	* {{Cool Big Sis}}: Poppy to Molly.
36	* CruellaToAnimals: Harriet's love of hunting and shooting are used to show she's not a nice person.
37	* CultureClash: Strong-minded, independent American girl Poppy does not fit into the atmosphere of Abbey Mount, an old boarding school in the UK at first, since they're more [[BritishStuffiness strait-laced and reserved]].
38	* CustomUniform: Poppy's uniform on her first day at Abbey Mount, that is basically the school's uniform made stylish.
39	--> '''Kate:''' You will never get away with that uniform, for start.
40	* DarkestHour: [[spoiler: Occurs right after Poppy's date with Freddy, when all four of her friends turn against her after they find an insulting and inflammatory message from Poppy's email written about them, and Freddy finds a similar one about him. With nowhere to turn, Poppy calls her friend Ruby for support, but the latter winds up blurting out both her true colors and ongoing affair with Poppy's boyfriend. Poppy messes around with her lighter and accidentally sets the curtain alight, but successfully puts it out and runs back to her room when she hears approaching footsteps. Next thing you know, [[FromBadToWorse the cook's sitting room is ablaze with Drippy trapped inside]].]]
41	* DeadpanSnarker: A lot of the girls, especially Kate.
42	* DirectToDVD: Unlike many US/UK films produced by Working Title, this was its fate in the US. [[Film/FourThreeTwoOne It would not be the last time this happened to a Britflick starring Emma Roberts]].
43	* DisposableLoveInterest: Roddy, Poppy's boyfriend back in LA, gets a single line of dialogue and we don't even realize he's supposed to be Poppy's boyfriend until we find out he's sleeping with Ruby behind her back. Poppy easily forgets out about him and moves on to Freddy.
44	* TheDogBitesBack: Harriet's errand girl winds up getting back at her during the trial by joining in on [[IAmSpartacus the wave of support for Poppy]], which causes Harriet to flip out.
45	* DrivenByEnvy: Despite her assertion that she dislikes Poppy for basically going against everything the school stands for, this is arguably the real, root cause of Harriet's vendetta, starting when Poppy makes her flashy entrance onto the school grounds, instantly capturing the attention of the first years and earning a miffed glare from Harriet. It gets worse when Harriet's crush Freddy starts displaying some interest in Poppy, but Poppy taking Harriet's position as the lacrosse team captain is the straw that breaks the camel's back.
46	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Poppy gets one about halfway through the film, switching from blonde to brown as she becomes less of a shallow jerkass. Interestingly, Harriet dyes her hair from blonde to brown as well, but she changes hers back after the school dance. (She was dressed as Keira Knightley at the time.)
47	%%* EvilBrit: Harriet.
48	* FalseFriend: Poppy initially thinks of Ruby as her closest friend, and routinely tries to reach out to her while she's away at boarding school, whereas it's made abundantly clear to the viewer that Ruby scorns Poppy to the point where she puts in zero effort to maintain contact and even sleeps with Poppy's boyfriend. Thankfully Poppy wises up to it near the climax.
49	* FashionShopFashionShow: Well, it's in a charity shop so not exactly, but the girls do get a clothes montage at one point.
50	* FiveManBand: Poppy and her four dorm mates easily qualify.
51	** TheLeader: Kate, the most level-headed of the girls and Poppy's "big sister" at Abbey Mount.
52	** TheLancer: Arguably Poppy, the newest addition to the gang who initially gives them a lot of attitude.
53	** TheSmartGuy: Kiki, who hatches the plans for the girls' schemes and frequently provides explanations and answers.
54	** TheBigGuy: Josie.
55	** TheHeart: Drippy.
56	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: A mild example with Poppy and her little sister Molly, respectively: Poppy is vain, spoiled and frequently causes mayhem to spite her father, whereas Molly seems more prudent and timid, and her pleas for Poppy to rein in her destructive behavior fall on deaf ears. Molly also seems aware of Ruby's two faced nature since she clearly dislikes her, whilst Poppy naively thinks of Ruby as her best friend.
57	* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Mrs Kingsley rightfully suspects that the fire was no accident, and tells her students as much during assembly the following day. She addresses the culprit and says "You have until the end of the day to come forward". The camera pans to a stricken Poppy, but not before lingering uncomfortably close to ''Harriet''.]]
58	* FrameUp: Poppy is framed for burning down the school by [[spoiler:Harriet]]. She caused a fire accidentally but put it out, which then [[spoiler:Harriet]] restarted so she'd think it was caused by her.
59	* FreudianExcuse: Poppy, even though her younger sister Molly has experienced [[spoiler: the loss of her mother]] as well and doesn't act like a brat. However, it's possible she was too young to remember the incident. Poppy states she herself was eleven when it happened.
60	* HateAtFirstSight: The moment Poppy arrives at Abbey Mount, she and Harriet take an instant and mutual dislike of each other, not helped by Poppy's bad attitude. It only intensifies when Poppy gets Harriet's crush Freddie's attention, and then replaces her as Captain of the school's lacrosse team.
61	* IAmSpartacus: During Poppy's trial, Mrs Kingsley asks her if anyone was with her the night of the fire, to which Poppy says she doesn't think so. Kate, Josie, Kiki and Drippy lead every single girl in the room (except Harriet) into getting up one after the other and saying they were with her that night.
62	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler: Harriet rants at Poppy for starting the school fire, and brings up Poppy's lighter - unfortunately for Harriet, nobody else knew that a lighter was used to start the fire.]]
63	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Harriet. [[spoiler:At least until she set the school on fire and tried to frame Poppy for it!]]
64	* KickTheDog:
65	** Harriet's treatment of her Year Seven "maid" almost borders on ComedicSociopathy.
66	** Poppy starts the movie this way, by giving away and destroying all the stuff belonging to her dad's girlfriend--though KarmaHoudini greatly averted when Poppy's dad punishes her by sending her to Abbey Mount.
67	* MakeWayForThePrincess: Averted; Poppy seems to expect this at first, only for Harriet to coldly inform her that Americans rank somewhere below vermin in the school's pecking order.
68	* MoralityPet: Molly seems to be this to Poppy, as up until she was sent to Abbey Mount the only time she was nice, kind, and sweet was towards Molly.
69	* NationalStereotypes: The girls assume Poppy is sexually experienced because she is from California. Turns out she's a virgin.
70	* OffToBoardingSchool: After Poppy plays a very mean-spirited prank on her dad's girlfriend, Mr. Moore punishes her by having her sent to Abbey Mount in England.
71	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Drippy is actually her nickname, except when Mrs. Kingsley calls her name on the school register. Her real name is Jennifer.
72	* OopNorth: Several of the girls have Northern accents, particularly Josie, while Kiki's accent is distinctly Scottish (Glaswegian, to be precise) and Kate's has a mild Welsh lilt to it. Drippy, Harriet, Charlotte and Jane on the other hand all have more Southern accents. The setting is in the North, however.
73	* PetTheDog: Despite Poppy's mean attitude towards everyone, she remains kind to younger sister, Molly, acting the surrogate mother figure to her and cutting the crust off her peanut-butter and jelly sandwich for her sister.
74	* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: Poppy's friends oddly don't question the origin of the damning printed email taped to their door and easily believe that Poppy actually wrote it.
75	* PromotionToParent: Implied in the beginning that Poppy is this to her little sister.
76	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Mrs. Kingsley is a kind and responsible headmistress who cares about each of her students and wants nothing more than for Poppy to be happy and well adjusted.
77	* RichBitch: Poppy is this for most of the film, until she [[DefrostingIceQueen softens up]]. Harriet is also one, contrasting Poppy's spoiled Malibu princess qualities with her chilly upper class toffness.
78	* RuleOfSymbolism: After Poppy changes her hairstyle to something more "natural", her CharacterDevelopment quickly begins, such as begins acting nicer and more like a proper young lady, acts less spoiled, and becomes true friends her roommates, [[spoiler:showing that from this point she is starting to accept her mother's death and being a student at Abbey Mount, especially when she discovers her mother was a student there.]]
79	* RunningGag: Poppy constantly using hand-sanitiser on everything. She stops once she goes through her CharacterDevelopment.
80	%%* {{Schemer}}: Kiki.
81	%%* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Oh, Harriet.
82	* SelfProclaimedLoveInterest: Harriet seems to think her feelings for Freddy are mutual, which... doesn't seem to be the case.
83	-->'''Harriet:''' I don't understand! Freddy has a crush on ''me''. Why was he looking at her?
84	%%* SeriousBusiness: Lacrosse.
85	* SingleGirlSeeksMostPopularGuy: Somewhat of an aversion; Poppy's initially only after Freddy because he's the son of the headmistress, but she eventually comes to genuinely like him and the two ultimately become an OfficialCouple.
86	* SternTeacher: Mrs Kingsley initially doesn't come across as this since she is a kindly, mild mannered headmistress, but she makes it very clear that she cares about her students and believes in them; not once does she flake out on Poppy for the sake of convenience, though she does counter Poppy's attitude with a fair amount of unimpressed cheek. She's doubly unimpressed with Kate and Drippy's hangover the day after the school formal, but the fire truly consolidates the fact that Mrs Kingsley does not mess around with the students' safety. [[spoiler: In fact, she's [[MamaBear utterly livid]] when Harriet outs herself as the culprit.]]
87	* StrongFamilyResemblance: Poppy remarks she looks like her mother after she gets her hair dyed brunette. A photo of her mom from her youth confirms this (it's the same actress in the image), with her dad also later being astonished, saying they look just alike.
88	* TeachersPet: Harriet tries to be this to Mrs. Kingsley, but her attempts are fairly transparent.
89	* ThoseTwoGirls: Harriet's minions, Jane and Charlotte. At least until the Honor Court, [[spoiler:when they get suspicious of Harriet after she [[INeverSaidItWasPoison mentions Poppy's lighter that she used to start the fire]], which Freddie found and returned to Poppy before anybody saw it. They even agree with Poppy when says she’s innocent after she realizes it was ''Harriet'' that ''restarted'' after Poppy put it out.]]
90	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The theatrical trailer for the film reveals Poppy finding a picture of her mother and discovering she was a student at Abbey Mount.
91	* TranquilFury: [[spoiler: After Harriet's confession to restarting the fire after Poppy put it out, Mrs. Kingsley sternly summons Harriet to her office without raising her voice.]]
92	* {{Vanity is Feminine}}: Poppy is vain and spoiled and she is also dresses very traditionally feminine.
93	** Harriet is shallow, snobby and has very traditional views.
94	** Ruby is shown to be vain and unconventionally feminine.
95	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Harriet, after the above mentioned IAmSpartacus moment and her [[INeverSaidItWasPoison slip up about Poppy’s lighter]], which inadvertently helps Poppy piece together what really must've happened the night of the fire. Harriet flies off into an unstoppable rage, ranting and cussing out Poppy and accidentally admitting in front of ''the entire student body'' that it was she who restarted the fire.]]
96	-->[[spoiler:'''Poppy:''' Freddie found the lighter before anyone saw it. How could you possibly know unless... ''[[EurekaMoment unless you were there?]]''\
97	'''Harriet:''' …Well, this is absurd. I refuse to sit here and listen to these wild—\
98	'''Poppy:''' I ''had'' put it out. And I heard footsteps, it must’ve been you! Oh my God, you restarted the fire, didn’t you?\
99	'''Mrs. Kingsley:''' Harriet, is this true?\
100	'''Harriet:''' Of course not!\
101	'''Poppy:''' It all makes sense now, I knew it! I... think I’m innocent.\
102	'''Jane and Charlotte:''' We think so too!\
103	'''Harriet:''' YOU’RE NOT! You awful bitch! You’ve turned this school upside down! You’ve ruined everything! ''You'' started it! ''I ONLY FINISHED WHAT YOU STARTED!'']]
104	* VomitDiscretionShot: Drippy is sick on the grass right by Poppy's feet after the school dance, but you only hear it.
105	* WakeUpMakeUp: At the beginning of the movie, Poppy has suspiciously perfect makeup for somebody who is supposed to be just waking up.
106	* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"How do you know that, Harriet? [[INeverSaidItWasPoison No one’s mentioned a lighter before]]."]]
107	* WithFriendsLikeThese: Ruby, Poppy's BFF from before she got sent to Abbey Mount, hooks up with Poppy's boyfriend while she's in England--eventually, Ruby (accidentally) reveals how much she dislikes Poppy and how Roddy's been cheating on Poppy with her.

Context Film / WildChild