History Literature / Heidi

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Everyone Calls Him Alm-Uncle Or "Alp-Öhi" in the original German. We never learn his real name.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: The concept of a person's physical health deteriorating due to being away from home may seem strange to modern audiences, but until the late 19th century, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia nostalgia]][[note]]Originally a Greek word meaning "pain for home"; the English word "homesickness" is derived from it[[/note]] was considered a genuine medical condition. It was first observed among Swiss mercenaries serving abroad, and some deaths from it were even reported. Severe homesickness could actually receive a "schizophrenia, undifferentiated type" diagnosis as late as the 1980s.

* IllGirl:
** Klara, also a LonelyRichKid.
** Heidi's mother Adelheid, and according to Dete she had what sounds a ''lot'' like epilepsy ("curious attacks, during which no one knew whether she was awake or sleeping").

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Klara, the IllGirl. Doubly so because she [[spoiler: learns to walk at the end.]]

* ''Heidi'', 2001 film [[SettingUpdate set in modern day]].

Some of the [[AdaptationOverdosed numerous]] adaptations:

!! ''Heidi'' provides examples of:

* AbledInTheAdaptation: Not abled, per se, but in the 1937 and 1968 films, Klara is wheelchair-bound due to a past injury (in the '68 version from the same boating accident that killed her mother) instead of illness, and it's only fear and doubt (encouraged in the '37 version by an [[AdaptationalVillainy especially villainous]] Fräulein Rottenmeier) that keep her from trying to walk again until Heidi helps her.

* AdaptationalJerkass: The 1968 and 1993 movie adaptations make SpoiledSweet Klara seem like a SpoiledBrat who uses her disability, not necessarily as [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkAssery a reason to be a pain]], but certainly as a way to get attention and/or pity, as well as to manipulate any given situation. By the end she [[CharacterDevelopment gets better]], though.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** The animated adaptations tend to soften Peter up quite a bit, making him more of an out-and-out NiceGuy or at least toning down his {{Jerkass}} moments.
** The 1968 film softens Fräulein Rottenmeier (in sharp contrast to the Shirley Temple version - see below) and ultimately has her PromotedToLoveInterest with Klara's father.
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** Fräulein Rottenmeier in the book is an antagonist due to her strictness, humorlessness, and being an altogether stick-in-the-mud. However, there's no hint of ulterior motives, and she genuinely wants the best (as she sees it) for Klara and the family. In the Shirley Temple version, Rottenmeier wants Klara's disability to linger so she can keep a permanent position with the family (completely irrelevant in the original, were Rottenmeier was always housekeeper and Klara suffers from ''never'' having been able to walk). She also tries to sell Heidi to the gypsies out of spite.
** In the Shirley Temple version, Aunt Dete becomes a villain who actively hates Heidi, stealing her away from her grandfather, and telling Fräulein Rottenmeier she could sell her to the gypsies if she so desires.
** Dete gets the villain treatment in the 2005 Nelvana animated movie. While she doesn't hate Heidi per se, she doesn't have much patience for her either and very blatantly only cares about what money she can get out of the Sesemanns. Towards the end of the movie, she even tries to break into Grandfather's house and steal the money Mr. Sesemann sent with Heidi.

* CompositeCharacter: In the 1968 TV movie, Miss Rottenmeier is essentially Miss Rottenmeier in appearance, but Klara's grandmother in personality, to the point where she even becomes a surrogate mother to both Heidi and Klara.[[note]]It may have had something to do with the fact that in this version, she was played by Creator/JeanSimmons.[[/note]]

** Peter's grandmother is a sweet old lady. In the 1993 film adaptation, she's also a BlindSeer who helps Heidi learn to stick up for what she wants.

* CuteKitten: Heidi and Klara like them and probably Sebastian too. Fräulein Rottenmeier, on the other hand, can't stand them. Justified in the 1968, 1993 and 2015 films, as she appears severely allergic to them (and animals in general in the '93 version; she sneezes like crazy when she encounters mountain goats in the second half).

** In the 1993 film, [[spoiler: he blames himself for his son and daughter-in-law's deaths: they were leaving the mountains after an argument with him, when they were killed by a falling tree.]]
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Peter's blind grandmother in the 1993 miniseries.]]
* DisabledMeansHelpless: In most adaptations, Herr Sesemann and Fräulein Rottenmeier react to Klara like this. Her grandmother on the other hand is aware of Klara's fragility but doesn't buy the helplessness angle.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: In the book and its many film and TV show adaptations, Heidi is often seen going barefoot, and only wears shoes when she absolutely has to. Peter can be this way as well.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Everyone Calls Him Alm-Uncle Or "Alp-Öhi" in the original German. We never learn his real name. He's named in at least two adaptations -- the 1993 film gives us a first name of Tobias. The 1937 version with Shirley Temple calls him Adolph.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: In the 1993 film, at least. Fräulein Rottenmeier is portrayed by Jane Seymour, who in real life is a very classy, polite lady.

* ObfuscatingDisability: Klara does this in the 1993 film. Not only is she in a wheelchair, but she appears to have fragile lungs. This can cause her to experience what look like severe asthma attacks, which then causes Fräulein Rottenmeier and the servants to rush to get her a breathing treatment. Even when these attacks are real, the servants and family (except Grandma) treat them as catastrophic and give in to Klara whenever it looks like she's having one. Klara catches on; from that point, it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't because she conveniently starts breathing heavily whenever Heidi or someone else mentions leaving.

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In the 1968 version, Herr Sesemann and Klara are Heidi's uncle and cousin. [[note]] Between this change and Klara's [[SpoiledBrat initial characterization]], this version makes the parallels with ''Literature/TheSecretGarden'' stronger than usual. [[/note]]
* ReligiousEdutainment: Well, not really, but the 1968 TV movie has enough religious references[[note]]Moreover, in this version, the grandfather was previously a church organist.[[/note]] that it occasionally appears on religious based TV networks and stations[[note]]As of this writing, it mainly airs occasionally on TBN's Smile of a Child network.[[/note]]

** Averted by Klara and pretty much the entire Sesemann family, who are rich but pretty nice. Their head housekeeper, on the other hand, is ''not''. In the 1968 and 1993 adaptations, Klara shows shades of being a RichBitch, but gets over it pretty quickly.

* CastingGag: Shirley Temple and Marcia Mae Jones starred together in ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'' too - where the latter instead played the antagonistic AlphaBitch Lavinia. What makes this even more amusing is that she received contrasting fan mail afterwards. After ''A Little Princess'', she got hate mail from people complaining how mean her character was. After ''Heidi'', she got letters of thanks from disabled children.

** Dete gets the villain treatment in the 2005 Nelvana animated movie. While she doesn't hate Heidi per say, she doesn't have much patience for her either and very blatantly only cares about what money she can get out of the Sesemanns. Towards the end of the movie, she even tries to break into Grandfather's house and steal the money Mr. Sesemann sent with Heidi.

** Not to be confused with an AnimatedAdaptation released the same year, which was made by the Canadian animation studio Creator/{{Nelvana}} with help from Britain's Telemagination and Germany's TV-Loonland AG.

* AdultFear: Your beloved granddaughter is stolen away from you while you're out on the mountain. [[TearJerker Poor Heidi's grandfather.]]

** Not to be confused with an AnimatedAdaptation released the same year by the Canadian animation studio Creator/{{Nelvana}} with help from Britain's Telemagination and Germany's TV-Loonland AG.

* FoodPorn: Heidi's diet of bread and toasted yellow cheese, which she thrives on. As one writer put it, "raclette is essentially the book's protagonist."

%%* FoodPorn: [[MemeticMutation Admit it]]. ''[[MemeticMutation You want the cheese toast]].''

* ''Heidi'', 1993 two-part TV-movie staring Noley Thornton, with Jason Robards as her grandfather and Creator/JaneSeymourActress as Fräulein Rottenmeier

* CheerfulChild: Heidi, of course. Klara as well...except in versions where she isn't.

* CheerfulChild: Heidi, of course. Klara as well...except in versions where she isn't.

%%* FoodPorn: [[MemeticMutation Admit it]]. ''[[MemeticMutation You want the cheese toast]].''

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Heidi, on occasion, will insult people or say things that upset them, but it's purely out of innocent ignorance. It's especially prominent in Frankfurt, where she's a total FishOutOfWater, and Fräulein Rottenmeier has this tendency to just ''expect'' her to know what not to do or say without ever thinking to explain to the girl ''why'' she shouldn't do or say those things. Heidi's intentions are never anything but the very best, though, and luckily her earnestness tends to charm people more often than upset or insult them.

* LongLostRelative: A complicated version. [[spoiler: In ''Heidi's Children'' Jamy and Marta turn out to be Heidi's cousins. Their grandmother was married to Heidi's grandfather but the couple separated under difficult circumstances, the Alm Uncle taking their older son Tobias (Heidi's father) and the grandmother taking the younger son (Jamy and Marta's father). Guess it's just lucky [[{{ContrivedCoincidence}} Heidi and Jamy ended up attending the same school]].]]

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: In the 1993 film, at least. Fräulein Rottenmeier is portrayed by Jane Seymour, who in real life is a very classy, polite lady.

* MatronChaperone: Fräulein Rottenmeier's role seems to be preventing Heidi from having too much influence on Klara.

* ParentsAsPeople: Mr. Sesemann does love his girl, but can't be with her as much as he likes.

* TookALevelInKindness: Peter starts out as rather sulky and bitter, but becomes much more selfless and hardworking as well as kinder and friendlier[[spoiler:--and in the two sequels, he proves himself to be a wonderful husband (to Heidi) and father (to their children).]]

* ''Heidi'' a 1978 InternationalCoProduction of a TV series.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Everyone Calls Him Alm-Uncle Or "Alp-Öhi" in the original German. We never learn his real name. He's named in at least two adaptations -- the 1993 film gives us a first name of Tobias. The 1937 version with Shirley Temple calls him [[UnfortunateName Adolph. A perfectly fine name, but then World War II rolled around...]]

* FoodPorn: [[MemeticMutation Admit it]]. ''[[MemeticMutation You want the cheese toast]].''

* ''Film/{{Heidi|2015}}'', 2015 film starring Anuk Steffen.

* LovableCoward: Though Sebastian tells himself he's not afraid at all, he is very easy easy to spook, and more likely to run away from things that frighten him than stay and face them. He's still one of the more sympathetic characters in the book.

* ServileSnarker: Sebastian. Tinette, the maid, has her moments as well, but is played less sympathetically.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: In the book and its many film and TV show adaptations, Heidi is often seen going barefoot, and only wears shoes when she absolutely has to.

* ''Heidi'', 1968 TV film starring Jennifer Edwards. Infamously known in the USA for the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game Heidi Game]]". [[note]]Its broadcasting interrupted the end of a tense american football game, because viewers phoning in to inquire about the schedule caused the network switchboard to jam and prevented the network from communicating the revised schedule to the technicians, which is the reason why sports games that go long ''always'' [[UsefulNotes/SportsPreemption override regular programming now]].[[/note]]

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: The concept of a person's physical health deteriorating due to being away from home may seem strange to modern audiences, but until the late 19th century, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia nostalgia]][[note]]Originally a Greek word meaning "pain for home"; the English word "homesickness" is derived from it[[/note]] was considered a genuine medical condition. It was first observed among Swiss mercenaries serving abroad, and some deaths from it were even reported. Severe homesickness could actually receive a "schizophrenia, undifferentiated type" diagnosis.

* BigEater: Peter the goatherd. Actually, everyone who arrives or visita the Alps discover that they become {{Big Eater}}s -- even Klara, who barely ate at all back in Frankfurt -- which is explained as the effect of the mountain air. Peter is still the biggest eater, though; he's always hungry and never turns down food.
* BlitheSpirit: Heidi.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: The concept of a person's physical health deteriorating due to being away from home may seem strange to modern audiences, but until the late 19th century, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia nostalgia]][[note]]Originally a Greek word meaning "pain for home"; the English word "homesickness" is derived from it[[/note]] was considered a genuine medical condition. It was first observed among Swiss mercenaries serving abroad, and some deaths from it were even reported.