The Borrowers: Difference between revisions

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The Beeb had previously run a couple of miniseries in the nineties that were more faithful adaptations of the books.

The first book has also been adapted into an animated movie by [[Studio Ghibli]], titled ''[[The Borrower Arrietty]]'' (released in the US as ''The Secret World of Arrietty''). [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|And there was much rejoicing.]]

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* [[Dying Race]]: Arrietty is afraid that Borrowers may be this. In both the 1997 and 2011 live-action movies it gets disproved rather hard.

* [[The Edwardian Era]]: Time period when the series is set.

* [[Framing Device]]: The first and second books have framing stories of how the author, as a child, meets and talks to people who knew the Borrowers long ago.

* [[Ill Boy]]: The human boy was in the house because he was recovering from [[wikipedia:Rheumatic fever|rheumatic fever]], which even to this day is considered a dangerous and chronic disease.

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: The Borrowers aren't "thieves".

* [[Lilliputians]]

* [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]: The story of the Borrowers is presented as something told to the author when she was a child (she gives her younger self the name "Kate," to distance herself from the [[Take That Me|"wild, untidy, self-willed little girl who stared with angry eyes and was said to crunch her teeth"]] she apparently was back then), and which she wrote down for her own children when she was an adult. This is most clear in the first two books, where the [[Framing Device]] is the story of how "Kate" meets and talks to old people who either met or were told of the Borrowers in their youths. The latter books (and almost all the adaptations) drop this device, but still include people who could conceivably have talked to "Kate" many years later and told her the story.

* [[Mouse World]]

* [[The Movie]]: By now, there are several, though it varies how true they stay to the source material.

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* [[Annoying Younger Sibling]]: Arrietty is given one, Peagreen, played by Tom Felton.

* [[Color Wash]]: Everything is orange, for no readily apparent reason.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Peagreen, as part of his [[Bratty Half-Pint]] shtick, gets in a few really biting comments.

* [[Humiliation Conga]]: Mr. Potter for the entirety of the movie.

* [[I Take Offense to That Last One]]:

{{quote|'''Arrietty''': Peagreen, try to understand, there won't be a "here" unless we get this will to Pete before that nasty, cheating, thieving, evil, greedy, vicious, ugly bean destroys our house.

'''Potter''': Ugly? Who they calling ugly? }}

* [[Large Ham]]: John Goodman. Why are we not surprised?

* [[MacGuffin]]: A [[Will]] which entitles the Lenders to the house and thus stands in the way of Potter's scheme to replace it with condos.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: The last name of the human family who owns the house where the Clock family lives? The Lenders.

* [[The Millstone]]: Peagreen's two main functions in the movie is to be sarcastic and to [[Dude in Distress|get into trouble so the others will need to rescue him.]]

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Ruby Wax as the City Hall receptionist.

* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: Exterminator Jeff is a rather nice, friendly man who's fascinated by the Borrowers and is only helping Potter because he's been hired as a pest exterminator.

* [[Retro Universe]]: Seems to be set in one, complete with [[Zeppelins from Another World]] visible in the sky.

* [[Shout-Out]]: The exterminator's appearance is not only a tribute to [[Ghostbusters]], but also to [[Arachnophobia]], which featured John Goodman as an exterminator.

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* [[Adaptational Attractiveness]]: Neither Homily nor Pod were described as very good-looking in the books. In this movie they're played by [[Hot Mom|Sharon Horgan]] and [[Christopher Eccleston]].

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Spiller tries to invoke this with Arrietty. Not played completely straight, though; she's enticed by him but quickly begins finding him annoying.

* [[The Atoner]]: Pod, or at least he feels so. {{spoiler|The Borrowers view him as a hero, since he several years ago saved them from being discovered by humans and killed -- but Pod never got over the one little girl he ''couldn't'' save, his niece Eggletina. Her death is the reason why he's now being overprotective towards Arrietty.}}

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* [[Race Lift]]: Professor Mildeye. In the books, Mildeye was a villainous [[Roma|Rom]]. In the movie he's a pompous scientist played by [[Stephen Fry]]. Basically the two characters have nothing in common apart from the name and the role as antagonist.

* [[Screening the Call]]: Arrietty is stated to have inherited a natural gift and thirst for adventure from her father. Pod, however, refuses to let her go out Borrowing, and unlike his book counterpart won't let himself be talked into it. He turns out to have his reasons.

* [[Soft Spoken Sadist]]: While she at first just seems to be a socially-awkward [[The Stoic|Stoic,]] Jenny reveals herself to be one. While Mildeye is simply interested in catching the Borrowers [[For Science!]] (and for personal glory), Jenny wants to kill and cut them up for the hell of it.

* [[Soft-Spoken Sadist]]: While she at first just seems to be a socially-awkward [[The Stoic|Stoic,]] Jenny reveals herself to be one. While Mildeye is simply interested in catching the Borrowers [[For Science!]] (and for personal glory), Jenny wants to kill and cut them up for the hell of it.

{{quote|'''Jenny:''' ''(pulling out a scalpel)'' Does this mean I get to dissect the little skebangas?

'''Mildeye:''' ''(looking at the scalpel)'' I have to say I find it a little disconcerting that you had that quite so readily to hand. }}