Bridge to Terabithia: Difference between revisions

* [[Foreshadowing]]: There was a scene where the camera focuses on Jesse's arm becoming robotic and Jesse punching a Squoager. Near the last half of the film, Jesse confronts the Squoager's real life counterpart and punches him. Complete with the camera focusing on the arm, as if Jesse was pretending that it would become robotic.

** There's also lots of shots of the water rising and the rope close to breaking.

* [[Jerk Jock]]: Gary Fulcher, who in the 2007 film is split into ''two'' characters - himself and Scott Hoager. The latter seems to take the primary antagonistic role in the film.

* [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]: Jesse's father, Jack Aarons (Jesse Snr. in the novel). He is very strict towards his son and can seem as rather harsh at times, but it's understandable given the family's level of poverty. He's also shown to be a good parent in spite of it all, and the scene where {{spoiler|he comforts his son after Leslie's death}} is one of the more poignant moments, especially in the film.

** Subverted: the film casts MPDG queen [[Zooey Deschanel]] as Ms. Edmunds. The character she plays is one of her few roles ''not'' of this type.

*** She comes off that way to Jesse, though, compared with the other adults in his life, hence his infatuation with her.

* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: One of the plot points, and conflict between Jesse and his dad, revolved around this trope. Set in the 70s, Jesse was into art and only had a girl for a friend, so his parents were quite [[Values Dissonance|uncomfortable]] with him spending so much time with Leslie.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: OH YES.

* [[The Namesake]]: The title "bridge" finally appears {{spoiler|in the last chapter, when Jesse builds it}}.

** And also points out that C.S. Lewis probably took the name of said island from the terebinth tree, which is often mentioned in [[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]].

** The fact that the kids constantly reference the Narnia books for inspiration in creating their own kingdom renders this argument moot.

** Go an hour or so west on I-66. You'll find it.

* {{spoiler|[[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]]: Boy howdy.}}

* [[Write Who You Know]]: An interesting variant in the 2007 film, in that Jess and Leslie base the creatures and inhabitants of their imaginary world off of people they know. In particular, the ''Squoagers'' and ''Hairy Vultures'' are monsters based off the bullies Scott Hoager and Gary Fulcher and even resemble them to a degree. The troll is based off Janice Avery, {{spoiler|and does a [[Heel Face Turn]] after Leslie comforts her}}, while {{spoiler|the Dark Master is based off Jess's father, and [[Fridge Brilliance|disappears at the end, when the two of them finally understand one another]]}}. The wish-fulfillment of this arguably helps them both - but Jess in particular - to grow stronger in [[Real Life]] as well.

** In the more traditional Meta sense, the characters and story are based off events and people from Katherine Pattinson's own life - Jesse off her son David, Leslie off his best friend Lisa Hill, etc., and Jesse's loneliness reflects Pattinson's own inability to fit in at school with others. Plus the poverty off the situation during the Seventies post the Vietnam War era. And the religious connotations off her own upbringing, since she learned from her father (a missionary who often travelled as part of his duties).