Characters / My Life as a Zucchini

The Orphans

General

Left to right: Zucchini, Ahmed, Camille, George, Beatrice, Simon and Alice

The group of orphans the movie follows. They live in a group home together.

• Children Are Innocent: Zigzagged; All of the kids have very rudimentary understandings of adult subjects, like how their parents are abusive, but are very confused by stuff like sex or mental illness.
• Dark and Troubled Past: All of the kids in the orphanage have one:
  • Zucchini’s mother was an alcoholic and implied to be neglectful, given that we see Zucchini playing with her empty beer bottles instead of actual toys. She also may have been physically abusive, if her attempts to get up the stairs before Zucchini slams the entrance on her is anything to take note of.
  • Camille’s father shot her mother for an affair, and then shot himself. Afterwards, she was left with an emotionally abusive aunt.
  • Simon’s parents were drug addicts and implied to be negligent, given Simon’s habits for stealing and wanting attention.
  • Beatrice was taken into the orphanage after her mother was deported. Even worse, given that her mom comes to see her, it seems that she was merely taken because of her mom’s immigrant status and not for any explicit neglect or abuse.
  • George’s mother seemed mentally unstable and likely either neglected George, or convinced him that doing bizarre things like drinking toothpaste was normal and healthy, even when it’s shown to make him very sick.
  • Ahmed was taken from his parents after his mom left his father, and his dad ended up in jail.
  • While not given much detail, whatever Alice’s father did to her was most likely severe abuse.
• Freudian Excuse: Every kid has moments where they act insensitively and inappropriately, but it can justified in how they all had abusive parents and are all young kids.

Ikare/Icar/Zucchini

• Abusive Parents: His mother was neglectful, leaving him unattended for long periods of time while drinking and watching tv. She’s also implied to be physically abusive, considering that we don’t know what exactly she was planning on doing when she reached Zucchini’s room.
• Accidental Murder: He accidentally hits his mother on the head when she was climbing up into his room, knocking her down the stairs and presumably killing her. Making it more tragic is how he was simply shutting the door on her because she was likely going to harm him.
• Meaningful Name: His real name is Icare, like Icarus out of Greek Mythology, and is often shown flying kites up in the sky
• Nice Guy: He’s genuinely a sweet kid, just one dealt a bad hand at life.
• Perpetual Frowner: He’s this at first, likely because he’s used to people letting him down. He smiles more as the movie goes on.

Camille

• Abusive Parents: Her aunt is abusive, and certainly seems no better at caring for Camille than her parents were.
• Cool Big Sis: She acts as this towards the other kids, particularly Alice.
• Tears of Joy: She cries these near the end when she gets adopted by Raymond.
• Ship Tease: Has this with Zucchini, who seems to have a small crush on her. Their relationship remains platonic at the end, as both are adopted by Raymond.

Simon

• The Bully: He starts off the movie picking on Zucchini and on everyone else, but he slowly becomes kinder over the course of the movie.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Simon is definitely affected by his parents giving him up due to their drug addiction, and just wants to be adopted and loved by an adult. This bitterness is what fuels his hostility and acting out.
• Cool Big Bro: He evolves into this, and by the end, he watches over all the younger orphans.

Ahmed

• Fat and Skinny: Skinny to George's fat
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: He has curly black hair with pasty white skin

Beatrice

• Affectionate Nickname: Called Bea for short.
• Black and Nerdy
• Those Two Girls: Is always seen with Alice
• Token Minority: The only black kid at the orphanage.

Alice

• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Probably due to lack of sleep, or her father hitting her.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She may be quiet and seem a bit odd, but she's sweet when she warms up to you.

• Parental Incest: Her father is implied to have sexually abused her as Simon tells Zucchini that her dad was a creep.
• Plagued by Nightmares: Simon tells Zucchini that she has nightmares every night.
• Shell-Shock Silence: Rarely says a word or acknowledges anyone, thanks to her abuse.
• Those Two Girls: Is always seen with Beatrice.

George

• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Thinks eating paste is okay.
• Fat and Skinny: The fat to Ahmed's skinny
• Pointless Bandaid: Imitating his mother's obsessions with health and cleanliness, George likes to stick on plasters he doesn't need.

Adults

Raymond

• Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair, brown eyes
• Friend on the Force
• Good Parents: To Camille and Icarr after he adopts them.
• Police Are Useless: He is an aversion

Camille's Aunt

• Big Bad: Of the movie.
• Fostering for Profit: She'd want nothing to do with Camille if it weren't for child support paychecks.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: While verbally abusing Camille, she doesn't know that her voice is being recorded and it's used against her in court as proof she's a bad foster parent.