Growing Up Backwards

Something I've noticed is that when people are little, they want to grow up, and when people are grown up, they want to be little again.  When we're tweens we want to break free of our childhood and when we are teenagers we want to re-connect with it.  Perhaps it's because we figure out how stressful it is to be a teenager and we realize how much freedom we lost when we lost childhood.  When we're in middle school we want to act cool, and we detach ourselves from sentimental belongings, but when we're in high school we just want to hug our stuffed bunny, and our want for growing up simmers down to indifference.  At least, all of this has been something I've observed in many people.  As for myself, I never wanted to let go of the stuffed bunny - I wanted to play all day with no worries for as long as possible.  I hated the idea of growing up when I was little.  I remember crying on my fifth birthday because I was heartbroken I was never going to be four years old again.

Every girl I knew that was my age when I was little wanted to be a teenager.  They would watch Lizzie McGuire or Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and other shows or movies based on teenage characters.  I remember watching The Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews at one of my best friends' houses when I was little.

Well, I remember liking Julie Andrews in
this movie, but that was about it.
I didn't know about Anne Hathaway then.

The truth was, I hated those teenage-y and over-the-top girly tv shows and movies.  Hated them.  I despised them, and I found little enjoyment in watching what little I did watch of them.  But then, something a bit confusing happened to me as a teenager.  Suddenly, I felt nostalgia for all of these teenage-y shows and movies that every girl I knew loved when they were little.  I started to like them.  Well, except for Lizzie McGuire.  I still find that unbearable.  But take Ella Enchanted with Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy, for instance.  Ella Enchanted is exactly the sort of movie I used to regard as an enemy.  But now, I love it.  It's such a light-hearted (yet impressively emotional and even a bit dark at times) movie and one just can't help but feel a certain fondness for it.  I mean, come on.  They sing "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" at the end.  Who could dislike that?  Frankly, Ella Enchanted is an adorable movie.

Hey look!  It's Fantine when she was young!

I suppose this was when men were kind, love was blind, and the world was a song, wasn't it Fantine?  I guess he did go breaking your heart in the end.  I wonder if Prince Charmont is Cosette's father...