Worst thing about the movie...

Yeah, you may have a point. I think the problem is that Kate Maberly was way too adorable, even when being a racist bitch. She was such a pretty (and healthy-looking) little girl!

In the book, Mary is described as too thin and sort of sickly-looking... but Kate's rosy cheeks don't seem to fit that description very well. Anyway, Mary's 'change of character' happens after she discovers the garden, and I think that's the idea the writer were trying to convey.

On the other hand, she's shown being pretty mean towards Colin and stuff, so the transition isn't really THAT abrupt.


Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy
KEIRAHOLIC Nº4

I never disliked her because she was a lonely girl who was never really taught any better. Her parents were, I am sure, very racist and also unloving towards her. She had never experienced love so she didn't know how to give love either. The garden, and the robin accepting her, helped her inititally to discover how to love. She changed because she finally had something to care about.

I've heard it both ways

You're all projecting your modern sensibilities regarding racism onto a work written at the turn of the twentieth century and set in the same period. Mary was the daughter of British citizens in India and is a product of the colonial system, a system that is inherently racist, classist and segregationist. So yes, Mary is racist, but not any more racist than the whole of the society in which she lived. To single that out as a personality trait distinctive to Mary is not accurate or truly reflective of the character,

[deleted]

I just saw the film again and was thinking about the book too. Yes, Mary is racist by our standards (at least at the beginning) but she seems to have a certain amount of respect for Indian culture.

She excitedly tells Colin the story her Ayah told her about the prince whose throat showed the whole world, told Colin that he reminded her of him and got mad when Colin said that it was stupid.

In the book, she tells Colin about Rajahs in Indian and how rich and respected they are. She then tells she'll call him one from now on. That doesn't happen in the film but when Colin is having one of his tantrums, she tells him to stop trying to act like a Rajah. They're Indians but she still seems to think of Rajahs as people worthy of respect and awe.

When she gets mad at Martha, she calls her "a daughter of a pig!" which the text explains is the worst think to call somebody is India (I wonder if that's a Muslim thing considering how they seem to feel about pigs). It's a negative example but she uses an Indian insult when she gets really mad.

I have no idea what I'm talking about but I was thinking that the scene where Colin uses magic to call his father seems like it could be inspired by Indian culture, or at least Mary's view of it. I couldn't find any information on what kind of magical rite Colin was trying to do and I would think it was inspired by something. Mary's life in India would make sense. Or I could be totally wrong. :)

I'm not sure if that's all but it's a general feeling I got. I'm not excusing any of Mary's behavior at all but I just wonder if she was less racist that she initially seemed, at least by her standards of the time and social class. She was raised almost entirely by Indian nannies and, while she looked down on them and was rotten to them, I think they rubbed off on her more than she realized.

Well doesn't that happen in the book? Granted I haven't seen the movie nor read the book in probably 15 years, so I don't remember about it, but the basic was that Mary is mean, rude and alone and the garden and her two friends along with (Martha?) help her discover happiness in her life.

Now the writer of the film could have rushed this, but if my above is remembered correctly it's right from the novel.

Well doesn't that happen in the book? Granted I haven't seen the movie nor read the book in probably 15 years, so I don't remember about it, but the basic was that Mary is mean, rude and alone and the garden and her two friends along with (Martha?) help her discover happiness in her life.

Now the writer of the film could have rushed this, but if my above is remembered correctly it's right from the novel.