[eilonwy]

The thread about watching A Wrinkle In Time brought this to my mind. I've read/seen a lot of (fictional) gifted children portrayed in various media, and most of them strike me as terribly unrealistic. There's the Hermione Granger sort-- perfect student, brilliant, unrelenting mind, and a bit of a showoff. There are kids like the youngest girl on 7th Heaven (Lucy? I can never remember their names, I didn't/don't really watch the show) who are manipulative and scheming, and who seem to feel entitled to something because they're bright.

My all-time favorite portrayal of a highly gifted child on television would have to be Malcom of Malcom in the Middle. He's absolutely brilliant, but just as clearly a child. They did a really good job of making him asynchronous-- intellectually he was on one level, physically a second, emotionally a third. Slightly below-average impulse control with well-above-average intelligence made for a combination I found endearing (and rather familiar). I think he's the most realistic that I've encountered, and that in general gifted children on that show were portrayed very well (and hilariously).

Anyone else have thoughts? Favorite and least favorite characters, shows, movies, books?

 

[monkaha]

one of my favorite blogs is "unwrapping the gifted" and she has a list in her last post of books with gifted kids. (sorry no link-it's bookmarked on the other computer)

i love malcom too-very well written. can't think of any others right now-prolly they'll come to me as soon as i log off.

 

[Freeman]

As far as TV goes, I liked Rory Gilmore from The Gilmore Girls.

 

[GuildJenn]

Growing up I loved the Great Brain books. Also the John Christopher Tripod series (not exactly gifted although one of the kids is kind of gifted, but the "different brained" theme is not exactly... subtle).

 

[loraxc]

A picture book DD really enjoyed was Insects Are My Life. It's about a young girl (I think she is K or first grade age), obviously very bright, who loves insects and wants to be an entomologist. It's not made specific that she is gifted, but I think the book would be enjoyed by other bright young kids with a passion for a subject. There is also a follow-up called Reptiles Are My Life.

Anne of Anne of Green Gables is pretty clearly gifted.

 

[eilonwy]

My mom loved Gilmore Girls, but I never really got into it... but I do remember the Great Brain books, those were fantastic!

 

[St. Margaret]

The ones I thought of upon reading the thread title were Rory Gilmore, Willow and Oz from Buffy, Matilda from Dahl, and Mary Russel, from the Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R King.

I loved Gilmore Girls... growing up I felt like basically a combo of the mom and daughter.

Oh! One more, one of my favorites of all time: Thomasina from Stoppard's Arcadia. The play tracks her development from brilliant girl to brilliant blossoming woman... so bittersweet and wondering, and great character! She opens the play with (looking up from a book) "Septimus, what is carnal embrace?"

 

[Bird Girl]

We're enjoying the Tiffany Aching books from Terry Pratchett. (The first is Wee Free Men.) Tiffany is at home in her own mind, which I associate (perhaps wrongly) with giftedness.

 

[TEAK's Mom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by St. Margaret The ones I thought of upon reading the thread title were Rory Gilmore, Willow and Oz from Buffy, Matilda from Dahl, and Mary Russel, from the Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R King. ... Oh! One more, one of my favorites of all time: Thomasina from Stoppard's Arcadia. The play tracks her development from brilliant girl to brilliant blossoming woman... so bittersweet and wondering, and great character! She opens the play with (looking up from a book) "Septimus, what is carnal embrace?"

It's funny, I love the character of Thomasina on paper, but have never seen an actress do an good job with the part. They either play her as an adult without any sense of fun or focus too much on jumping up and down and giggling. Why is it so hard for anyone to play, what has always seemed to me, a very real character? I think it points to some of the ambivalence society feels about gifted women.

 

[Aliviasmom]

What about Encyclopedia Brown? I LOVED those books as a kid!

 

[eepster]

Amusingly, DS and I were watching Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium this evening. Basically all 4 of the main charaters are gifted children though only one of them is chronologically a child. All 4 are highly asynchronous.

I'm not a big Gilmore Girls fan and haven't ever watched it regularly, just caught episodes here and there, but I never got a "gifted" vibe from Rory. She always struck me as more of a bright high achiever.

 

[daytripper75]

Millicent Min: Girl Genius (by Yee? Am I remembering correctly?) is a great book. Poor Millicent is highly pressured by her parents but does all right.

 

[eilonwy]

I love Matilda but I always thought that she was a very unrealistic sort of character. She's cute, but just as clearly fictional in my mind. I've met kids like Meg and Charles Wallace even, and I *have* a kid like Malcom but Matilda just came off as a bit too wholesome to be real. Then again... I've been told that mine are particularly "unholy."

 

[Freeman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eepster I'm not a big Gilmore Girls fan and haven't ever watched it regularly, just caught episodes here and there, but I never got a "gifted" vibe from Rory. She always struck me as more of a bright high achiever.

I respectfully beg to differ! I never thought that I'd be writing about the Gilmore Girls here on MDC, but I do think that Rory and Lorelei (Rory's mother) were clearly portrayed as "gifted" on the show. And what about Jess, the Jack Kerouac-ish boyfriend? I'm sure the writer of the show was prob. gifted and a student of literature. The dialogue on the show was very witty and heavy with literary references. For all you GG fans on the MDC gifted forum, I propose that Paris, not Rory, was characteristic of the "bright high achiever" go-getter, and Rory was characteristic of the innately gifted. Anyway, I wish it had been on back when I was in school. Rory and her friends were way better role models and way more interesting than the 90210 people.

 

[isaoma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeman For all you GG fans on the MDC gifted forum, I propose that Paris, not Rory, was characteristic of the "bright high achiever" go-getter, and Rory was characteristic of the innately gifted. Anyway, I wish it had been on back when I was in school. Rory and her friends were way better role models than the 90210 people. I digress...

I agree. (Although I can't believe I'm writing about GG on mdc or anywhere). I think that Rory was innately gifted too.

I remember one episode when Lorielie & Rory's dad (don't remember his name) were at a parents' orientation reception at Yale (Yale right?). Anyway Rory's dad, after talking to another father about HIS hard work in 'preparing' his son for an ivy league collegue, tells Lorielie how guilty he feels because he wasn't there to help guide Rory. Lorielie responds that Rory never needed to be guided and that Rory was a naturally amazing kid who just got things on her own (or something to that affect).

On another note, I don't remember the actual show, I do remember all the references to Doogie Howser M.D., the "boy genius" who practices medicine at age 12

 

[Tigerle]

Probably not the period you were thinking of when you asked, but some of Jane Austen's heroines strike me as gifted, and talented (Austen's term) women's social and paritcularly intellectual isolation in the closed country society her heroines grow up in is a recurring theme in her novels. Some autobiographical features there, I suppose.

Specifically Emma Woodhouse and Anne Elliot are portrayed as girls who, when their mothers died, lost the one person who could meet them intellectually and part of what makes them so happy in finding their husbands is finally having an intellectual equal in the family. I think "Emma dilemma" is even a term brought up on this neuroscience blog the name of which I keep forgetting - can someone provide the link?

Fanny Price even has schooling trouble - she is made fun of by her cousins because she cannot spout out facts about Roman emperors and semi-metals and her hypersensitivities make people think she is stupid. Jane Fairfax ahs to deal with Emma's envy because of her musical talents...

 

[Freeman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tigerle Probably not the period you were thinking of when you asked, but some of Jane Austen's heroines strike me as gifted, and talented (Austen's term) women's social and paritcularly intellectual isolation in the closed country society her heroines grow up in is a recurring theme in her novels. Some autobiographical features there, I suppose. Specifically Emma Woodhouse and Anne Elliot are portrayed as girls who, when their mothers died, lost the one person who could meet them intellectually and part of what makes them so happy in finding their husbands is finally having an intellectual equal in the family. I think "Emma dilemma" is even a term brought up on this neuroscience blog the name of which I keep forgetting - can someone provide the link? Fanny Price even has schooling trouble - she is made fun of by her cousins because she cannot spout out facts about Roman emperors and semi-metals and her hypersensitivities make people think she is stupid. Jane Fairfax ahs to deal with Emma's envy because of her musical talents...

Yes! This thread made me think about Jane Austen, too. Emma Woodhouse is great!

 

[Tigerle]

Found it!

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspo...nfronting.html

 

[Daffodil]

I like Salinger's Glass family (from Franny and Zooey, etc.) Maybe not exactly like real people, but he does a good job of making them seem real.

 

[Freeman]

The Royal Tenenbaum children were all gifted, weren't they? They were portrayed as quite eccentric and troubled, as I recall. Remember Gwyneth Paltrow's character? Yikes!