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Production Company: Patricia Rozema
Director: HBO Films/Picturehouse
Cast: Abigail Breslin, Stanley Tucci, Joan Cusack, Chris O'Donnell, Julia Ormond, Glenne Headly, Jane Krakowski, Max Thieriot, Madison Davenport, Zach Mills, Willow Smith
Rating: G
By Gregg Tubbs
UMC.org—The year is 1934, the middle of the Great Depression, and the location is Cincinnati, Ohio, the heart of Middle America. In the middle of it all is Kit Kittredge, the all-American girl. She is also the quintessential American optimist—a spunky, sunny survivor who is convinced that happy days are just around the corner, the result of hard work and mutual support. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is an homage to those simple, happy films that helped America through the depression by giving its citizens a reason to hope and smile. But at its heart (and it has plenty of that), the film delivers an important and relevant lesson about how we as individuals and as a society respond to hard times.
Although several of the popular American Girl characters have been made into television movies, Kit Kittredge, introduced in 2000 as the seventh American Girl historical character, is the first to appear on the big screen. While summer blockbusters boom along with big budget and big action, Kit Kittredge is a little movie about big dreams and the kind of big problems faced by real people: finding a job, paying the bills and keeping a family together.
Kit (Abigail Breslin) and her mom (Julia Ormond) are kind and hospitable to those who have fallen on hard times—even before they are themselves in the same condition.
Kit, winningly played by Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), is a clever and resourceful nine-year-old who dreams of becoming an ace reporter for her hometown paper. Cincinnati, like the rest of the nation, is in the grip of an economic crisis that affected virtually every family in America, and Kit and her family are no exception. When her dad’s car dealership fails, he (Chris O'Donnell) leaves to find temporary work in Chicago. Kit and her mom (Julia Ormond) take in boarders to help make ends meet.
Despite the potentially heavy subject matter, the film stays warm and humorous, focusing more on Kit and her mom’s natural hospitality and the comical extended family formed though misfortune. Over time, it becomes clear that the Kittredges have taken in these boarders as much out of kindness as financial need.
The house is soon packed with a colorful group of inhabitants—a magician, a travelling librarian, a vivacious dance instructor and one of Kit’s schoolmates and his mom. Each does what he or she can to survive. We eventually learn their stories, dreams and disappointments; and witness their inner resolve to make it through the tough times. Here, the film teaches powerful lessons about faith, optimism and the bonds that hold us together.
One of the things I really liked about the film was its focus on a believable family. Two excellent recent films, Seabiscuit and Cinderella Man, were also set during the Depression and focused on how sports underdogs helped lift the spirits of average Americans. Kit Kittredge centers on a story about average Americans. We can identify with these characters who persevere and overcome through realistic rather than unrealistic means—by economizing, working hard and making sacrifices. Their struggles ring true today in the midst of the mortgage crisis and the rising cost of food and medical care when some people are faced with having to choose between buying food and medicine or heating oil and gas.
Kit (Abigail Breslin) briefly feels ashamed of her neighbors who are reduced to selling eggs to get by until her own family ends up in the egg business.
Dealing with hard times is Kit Kittredge’s central theme. They say adversity brings out either the best or worst in people, and this film shows both. It also draws on several biblical concepts: care for the poor, hospitality and scapegoating. Kit and her mom are great role models for the mostly young audience that will flock to this film. They are kind and hospitable to those who have fallen on hard times—even before they are themselves in the same condition. They also learn to not judge others too harshly. For example, Kit briefly feels ashamed of her neighbors who are reduced to selling eggs to get by until her own family ends up in the egg business.
The film also cautions us about creating scapegoats for our problems like the drifting hobos who are the objects of fear and suspicion. Kit’s dad reminds her, “When times are hard, people look for someone to blame.” And the largely innocent hobos are falsely blamed for a local crime spree and vandalism, and for bringing their poverty on themselves. One doesn’t have to look very hard to see those same attitudes—mostly driven by fear and ignorance—in today’s overheated immigration debate.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is sweet, old fashioned, but never stodgy entertainment with something for the whole family—not just “tweener” girls.
Study Questions
- Do you know the origin of the scapegoat concept? Read Lev. 16 and discuss how our modern understanding compares.
- How did people scapegoat the hobos in the film? How are immigrants sometimes made to be modern-day scapegoats?
- Do you think the poor should be blamed for their own condition? What does the Bible tell us about caring for the poor? (See Ex. 22:25–27, Lev. 19:10 and Lev. 25:35–38.)
- What are the similarities and differences between the economic conditions in the Great Depression and in today’s economy? How have you been affected by the economy?
- If your neighbor needed help, like Kit’s, would you offer it? What things could you do?
- What does the film tell us about feeling shame? Does Kit’s dad feel ashamed for losing his job? How does his family's love help him overcome his shame?
- What do we learn from the “chicken feed dress”? Have you ever found yourself in a situation like Kit and had to wear your own version of a chicken feed dress?
- What does the film teach about judging others? Have you ever prejudged someone unfairly? Have you ever felt yourself unfairly prejudged? What did you do?
- Although the film is set during hard times, how is it a film about optimism?
- How does the film promote hospitality to strangers and aliens? How did Kit and her mom show hospitality when they invited the hobos in for the meal? What does the Bible say about hospitality? (See Deut. 10:18 and Heb. 13:2.)
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