Friday 13 April 2012

L is for Longstockings, Pippi




Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on her porch, and a flair for the outrageous that seems to lead to one adventure after another!



Pippi Longstockings, in german, Pippi Langstrumpf. Aah, this girl reminds me of my younger years *dreamy sigh* Minus the red hair, stripped mismatched stockings, no parents.

This is also my daughter's favourite tv series. She loves Pippi so much that during the Fasching (Carneval) season here in Vienna, I searched high and low to find a wig that resembled Pippi's hair, the strip stockings as well.



A Little about Pippi Longstockings.

Pippi Longstockings is in truth an unusual young girl. She is financially independent since she owns a sackful of gold pieces. She can shoot a revolver and sail on the seven seas. She is both cheeky and kind, she can carry a horse and she can outlift the strongest man in the world, Mighty Adolph.




I truly admire how Astrid Lindgren created this character (maybe I am biased because in a way, I was like Pippi, well not carrying the horse part and outlifting Might Adolph, but I was cheeky. Very cheeky) she made a loveable character. Even when she is upto no good, I can't help but love this 10 year old. I've watched the DVDs with my 7 year old daughter (that's part of our bonding ritual) and we both adore Pippi. 

A fun read — not a feminist agenda

Astrid Lindgren was not exactly proceeding from an explicit feminist agenda when she wrote her wonderful stories about this remarkable girl and her two close friends. That, however, has not prevented Pippi from becoming a source of inspiration in the struggle for gender equality. She is still the hero of the day.

Throughout the world, girls have been encouraged to have fun, to be a bit more daring and to have faith in their own ability. Pippi Longstocking has performed wonders. Source


Long live Pippi Longstockings! :D


7 comments:

  1. oh what memories of my daughter going through a phase, where all she wanted to do was be pippi and dressed that way all the time!!

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  2. I absolutely love Pippi! She was my role model as a kid (and still is in a way). Her total sense of strong independence is delightful. I'm doing A to Z (today at 607) so pop on over of you like! Following you now. Catherine

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  3. I loved Pippi's fierce sense of independence, and still do!

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  4. I loved Pippi! She was so fun. I totally wanted to do everything she did when I was little.

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  5. I didn't know any of that about Pippi Longstocking, although of course i have heard about the books, so thank you, I enjoyed that!

    If you are interested, I'm leaving you my A-Z link as blogger
    always identifies me as my shared blog with other poets - my A-Z is this one: http://www.lizbrownleepoet.com

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  6. @Lynn: LOL...I'm going that phase with my daughter. again. It's fun though

    @Catherine - I agree with you about her sense of independence. and fierce too. Really fun girl.

    @Kelly - She was fun, wasn't she? There is an episode she climbs on the ceiling with her glued shoes. MY daughter always wants to imitate her.Good thing she knows the pain of what can happen when something goes wrong.

    @Liz - I never got to read the books, I watched the videos more. Always a blast watching the videos.

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  7. This is such a classic character...I remember her from my childhood...

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