I thought that Vada treated Thomas rather mean throughout the movie-she was kind of a witch with the way she spoke to him, telling him that he couldn't join the Brady Bunch and calling him a baby at one time and shoving him right across the porch just because of being on her period. It wasn't his fault.
"Munchkin doesn't like being pushed!" HP
I think her bond with him was harmless. She was the aggressor, and he just went along with it. It was basically kid stuff.
shareShe was the bossy, dominant one of the two but she still cared very much about him. Many friendships have one friend who is more bossier than the other person.
"I always pretend to root for Gryffindors but, secretly, I love my Slytherin boys."~ Karen, W&G
Vada wouldn't be that bossy to Henry Evans in The Good Son. LOL!
sharehahahaha
shareOh no way lol...one push and Vada would be tied to the tree with the beehive!!
When you're 17 a cow can seem dangerous and forbidden...am I alone here?
lol i agree. ;)
shareShe may have been bossy to Henry .... but just ONCE. 😃
shareI don't think it was that bad. A lot of it was her just being a guy with him. If he had lived, I'm sure her attitude would tone down a bit as they got older (although I wouldn't expect her to stop teasing him... it's something a lot of friends just do).
shareAlso, Vada felt like a lot of her life was out of her control (Grandma's health failing, Dad not knowing how to connect with her, feelings of guilt about her Mother's death, the new romance between the adults, etc.)
Acting a little aggressive towards Thomas J. was her way of gaining back some of that control. Because she could do that to him, and she knew it wouldn't drive him away or hurt him too much.
I saw it as just kids being kids. Growing up I had those "fairweather" friends who would hang out with me if no one better was around to hang around with and I remember friends being downright rude, but kids are still learning things like social graces, lol. Like once for example, a few friends had been over to another girl's house before coming to my house and one girl's mom gave them all popsicles. They apparently told her that they were going over to my house and asked for one for me, but her mom replied that she wasn't going to "feed the whole neighborhood" so they just sat down and joyfully ate their popsicles in front of me while I was left with nothing :(
And as for her pushing him when she was on her period, well Thomas J. just got his first taste of PMS, lol
When I was little and used to watch this movie, I remember thinking the same thing. I remember wondering why Thomas J's mother said to Vada, "You were such a good friend to him," when in reality, she wasn't all that nice to him. However, now that I watch this as an adult, it makes a lot more sense. Vada was the one in the friendship with the aggressive personality, and Thomas J was just so enamored with her, he would have gone along with anything she asked him to do. She was the leader, and he was the follower. She did most of the talking, while he did most of the listening.
Also, when you really look at the kind of kid Vada was, and the life she led, Thomas J was the one person who allowed her to let her guard down. She could dump all her anger and frustration onto him, and he took it. She could share her feelings with him, and he just listened. At the end of the day, no matter what, things never changed between them. Like Erin mentioned in an earlier post, so much in her life was out of her control, but her relationship with Thomas J was different. Regardless of what happened or what was said, he would always come back to her the next day.
And Vada truly did care about him. In-between her moments of aggression, there really were tender moments as well. He was her closest friend, and she was so young, she just took it for granted. She proved that when she told Shelley at the end, "I should have told him that he was my best friend."
What's interesting about this movie is I had a friendship with a girl just like Vada. In essence this movie plays out sort of like our friendship at that age, however I didn't die from getting stung by bees. But, our friendship died when we got to high school, so that's kind of the same thing!
Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus!
Hmmm I was always mean to the guys I liked lol.
shareWhen you're best friends, you can get away with things because you mean a lot to each other. Like Vada could mess with Thomas J but she didn't let anyone else. Going back to the scene where she was charging the neighbors to see dead bodies and Thomas J said he had to go home. One of the other kids said something nasty to him and right away Vada told them to leave him alone.
Truck or Squad. What side are you on?
I'm watching this again for the first time in years, as an adult, too. I had the same thought--Vada is mean. I had friends like that, too, and yes, our friendships have ended (if not been downgraded to acquaintances). I was always shy and insecure--like Thomas J.'s character. I think some of them treated me that way b/c I was that way, and for whatever reason, they were mean. We fit like puzzle pieces.
And Vada had some troubles--Shelly did ask if there was something wrong with her. I think she was mean b/c she was hurting and Thomas J. was there for her at that time in her life so she could grow up. This is a beautiful movie IMHO, b/c it's true.