Line #22 YMMV/Pollyanna


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: The Disney film is probably more commonly known than the book it was based on. Things such as Nancy having a sweetheart Aunt Polly disapproves of, the town being Harrington Falls and characters such as Angelica and Tilly are inventions of the film. Likewise there was a silent adaptation starring Mary Pickford, as well as a couple of TV adaptations. But if someone says 'the movie', they're usually referring to the Disney one.
2	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
3	** Pollyanna seems like an ''extremely good'' junior version of a StepfordSmiler. At least until she starts to move toward the DespairEventHorizon.
4	** Aunt Polly's dislike of Pollyanna's father is tied to her sister marrying him. Is it because she wanted her sister to marry Mr Pendelton (as in the book)? Or does she resent him for the fact that her sister died of malaria in the West Indies because he was a missionary? This is heavily implied in the book as well- she felt sorry for Mr. Pendelton, but Old Tom says she hated Pollyanna's father for taking her sister away across the country- and, presumably, for letting her die so young out there. Jennie (Harrington) Whittier died 'a few years after' announcing Pollyanna's birth, which puts her at about age 37 or so (5 years older than Polly, who is 40 when Pollyanna is 11)
5	** Does Mrs Snow have depression? She never gets out of bed and talks constantly about dying, as if she were terminal. It's quite possible that after the death of her husband, she may have just given up altogether.
6	* AngstAversion: The [[spoiler: sudden [[DroppedABridgeOnHim death of Dr. Chilton]] and Aunt Polly's personality [[CharacterCheck returns to old self]]]] in the second-half of ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' are off-putting to some readers and feel unecessary.
7	* CommonKnowledge: Everyone 'knows' that Pollyanna is a silly naive optimist. They'd be surprised to discover that the story hints she's a StepfordSmiler - as she does crack once or twice before [[spoiler: her accident causes a DespairEventHorizon]]. Notably the author spoke against ThePollyanna trope - claiming Pollyanna did not deny any kind of sadness or negativity, but rather maintained a positive outlook in the face of such tragedy.
8	* ContestedSequel: ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' can be seen as this. Some readers enjoyed it but others dislike it for several reasons. There are also people who think it's okay for what it is but felt it doesn't [[FirstInstallmentWins hold up to its predecessor]]. The contested part lies primarily from recycling some concepts from the first book (e.g. Pollyanna trying to cheer a crabby aunt, romantic misunderstandings, etc.), the HappyEndingOverride time skip in the second-half, [[ValuesDissonance dated romantic relationships]] and the ending can be seen as [[SweetnessAversion too mushy and predictable]].
9	* EsotericHappyEnding: While ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' ends with a positive note with some major characters get a happy ending, some readers have pointed out that [[spoiler:Aunt Polly]] was neglected after getting the short end of a stick.
10	* FirstInstallmentWins: Many people aren't aware that ''Pollyanna'' has an official sequel called ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' and other "Glad Books" written by different authors.
11	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
12	** ''Pollyanna'' is very popular in Japan and Turkey. The former even made [[Anime/TheStoryOfPollyannaGirlOfLove an anime based on it]].
13	** The book is quite popular in United Kingdom, leading to have some live-action versions produced there.
14	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Some readers have pointed out that ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' should have covered her life in Germany in her teenage years. That idea never comes up in favor of romance for some reason.
15	* TearJerker:
16	** When Pollyanna meets Aunt Polly for the first time, she gets rudely cut off whenever she speaks about her father, and Aunt Polly coldly says not to speak about him. Pollyanna holds back tears and tries to be glad about that, wondering if not talking about her father will make it easier to go on without him.
17	** Pollyanna had been looking on the positive side about going to live with Aunt Polly - that she might have a room of her own for the first time. Indeed, she gets excited passing all the splendid rooms in Aunt Polly's BigFancyHouse, wondering which one might be hers...and she's shown to a plain, almost bare attic room. She tries in vain to find things to be glad about, but at least there's a genuine thing when she likes the view from the attic window.
18	** Pollyanna misses supper because she's exploring the front of the house. Aunt Polly is annoyed at her being late, so she tells Nancy to punish her by just giving her bread and milk. The maid had seen how downcast Pollyanna was at her room and has to hold her tongue about how the little girl is being punished when "she'd only just cried herself to sleep".
19	** Pollyanna then cries before she goes to sleep in her first night in the attic room, praying to her father than it's so hard to be glad when she's up in the room alone without anyone.
20	* UnbuiltTrope:
21	** This is indeed the TropeNamer for ThePollyanna. But the trope itself Flanderises this part of Pollyanna's character. As noted above, she appears to be a bit of a StepfordSmiler and the Glad Game is really all she has - and we see that happy face disappear once or twice. [[spoiler: She's nearly broken by the end, but gets better]].
22	** Parts of the story feel like a deconstruction of WhiteMansBurden, and the novel was written back in 1913. The book criticises the fact that Aunt Polly donates her money to various causes, because she only does it out of a stuffy sense of obligation. There are also some stinging barbs at 'charity' organizations that send money and goods to children in Darkest Africa but neglect the children in their own town. Pollyanna is baffled by this, though she finds a clever way to work the system.
23	* ValuesDissonance:
24	** At one point in the book, Pollyanna mentioned that she had a neighbor who was forced to sleep outside every night because the latter has [[VictorianNovelDisease consumption]].
25	** In the second book, the idea of [[spoiler: Pollyanna potentially marrying Mr. Pendleton due to obligation can be seen as plain creepy to many readers nowadays. While it turned out to be false and the latter didn't actually fell in love with the former, the fact some people all around them found it tolerable doesn't help.]]
26	** Also from the second one, Aunt Polly [[spoiler: refusing to allow Pollyanna in marrying Jimmy due to different social class, despite that they know the latter much for many years]] can be seen as absurd in today's standards.
27	* TheWoobie:
28	** Pollyanna herself. She's lost both her parents by the age of twelve, and growing up she never had enough money for luxuries like toys or new clothes. What's more is that she's saddled with an aunt who couldn't give a rat's ass about her (at first anyway). It's hinted that the Glad Game is really the only thing keeping her going.
29	** There's a case to be made for Millie Snow too. She's forced to put up with her crabby old mother every day. Imagine how she must feel hearing her own mother talk as if were going to die any minute. Although Mrs Snow's WhenSheSmiles moment is PlayedForLaughs, there is something a little unnerving about the idea that Millie is so shocked at her mother being ''nice''.

Context YMMV / Pollyanna