100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #51
51. Vada Sultenfuss, as seen in the films My Girl and My Girl 2, portrayed by Anna Chlumsky
There is nothing I love more than a coming-of-age story. No matter what sex, race, ethnicity, or religion the character is, the coming-of-age story is essentially the same. It's the universality of it which appeals to so many, and most of my favorite books/movies/television shows center around that theme. And My Girl is easily one of my favorite movies because of this.
For those who don't know, My Girl is the story of Vada Sultenfuss, who lives in a small town in Pennsylvania in the 70s. She lives with her father and grandmother in the funeral parlor her father runs; her mother died giving birth to her, and, as a result, Vada has an obsession with death and dying. She is constantly going to the doctor, certain she is dying, and her only friend, Thomas Jay, indulges these beliefs. The summer which is depicted in the movie, a woman named Shelley becomes the makeup artist at her father's funeral parlor and begins to date her father, which Vada does not like; it is also the summer she signs up for a summer writing class with her favorite teacher, whom she has a crush on, in a class which is decidedly not for 12-year-olds. It is the summer she gets her first period, the summer she has her first kiss, and the summer she gets her heart broken.
It is also the summer her best friend dies.
For anyone in my generation, the phrase, "He can't see without his glasses!" will probably bring you to tears. In his official capacity of best friend, Thomas Jay goes out into the woods to look for Vada's mood ring, which she loves. While there, he stumbles upon a giant bees' nest, and the bees swarm him. Having a severe allergy to bees, the stings kill him. Vada is not able to handle Thomas Jay's death well, and the rest of the movie shows Vada learning to cope with the loss of another important person in her life.
What makes Vada such an amazing character is how genuine she is. Even at her most ridiculous (playing dead during dinner and declaring it's her prostate) Vada is a character you root for, a character you want to see succeed. Her pain is so sharp and real, it moves you to tears. I am fascinated with stories about people coping with grief and death, and Vada's entire life is focused around death: her birth killed her mother, her father is an undertaker, the only friend she had is killed. It is not until Thomas's death she really needs to confront her pain about everything, and the climax of the story where she reads her poem to her creative writing class full of adults never fails to show just how vulnerable and wonderful she is.
And that's sweetly kick-ass.
There is nothing I love more than a coming-of-age story. No matter what sex, race, ethnicity, or religion the character is, the coming-of-age story is essentially the same. It's the universality of it which appeals to so many, and most of my favorite books/movies/television shows center around that theme. And My Girl is easily one of my favorite movies because of this.
For those who don't know, My Girl is the story of Vada Sultenfuss, who lives in a small town in Pennsylvania in the 70s. She lives with her father and grandmother in the funeral parlor her father runs; her mother died giving birth to her, and, as a result, Vada has an obsession with death and dying. She is constantly going to the doctor, certain she is dying, and her only friend, Thomas Jay, indulges these beliefs. The summer which is depicted in the movie, a woman named Shelley becomes the makeup artist at her father's funeral parlor and begins to date her father, which Vada does not like; it is also the summer she signs up for a summer writing class with her favorite teacher, whom she has a crush on, in a class which is decidedly not for 12-year-olds. It is the summer she gets her first period, the summer she has her first kiss, and the summer she gets her heart broken.
It is also the summer her best friend dies.
For anyone in my generation, the phrase, "He can't see without his glasses!" will probably bring you to tears. In his official capacity of best friend, Thomas Jay goes out into the woods to look for Vada's mood ring, which she loves. While there, he stumbles upon a giant bees' nest, and the bees swarm him. Having a severe allergy to bees, the stings kill him. Vada is not able to handle Thomas Jay's death well, and the rest of the movie shows Vada learning to cope with the loss of another important person in her life.
What makes Vada such an amazing character is how genuine she is. Even at her most ridiculous (playing dead during dinner and declaring it's her prostate) Vada is a character you root for, a character you want to see succeed. Her pain is so sharp and real, it moves you to tears. I am fascinated with stories about people coping with grief and death, and Vada's entire life is focused around death: her birth killed her mother, her father is an undertaker, the only friend she had is killed. It is not until Thomas's death she really needs to confront her pain about everything, and the climax of the story where she reads her poem to her creative writing class full of adults never fails to show just how vulnerable and wonderful she is.
And that's sweetly kick-ass.