History Literature / JamesAndTheGiantPeach

[[quoteright:190:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9780140374247_james_giantpeach.jpg]]

* ChekhovsGunman: The old man who gave James the crocodile tongues. He appears in the crowd in New York, and leads a chant of "Let the boy go" when Aunt Sponge and Spiker try to claim custody of James as well as the peach. This turns the public opinion and gives James the courage to stand up to his aunts. You can tell he's a good guy, through and through.

* ShamedByAMob: At the end of the story, the New York crowd is disquieted when two old British ladies that just showed up want to claim custody of the boy that the rescue workers just saved, as well as the peach. They can see he's frightened of them. Then the old man who gave James the crocodile tongues chants, "Let the boy go," and soon everyone else takes it up. Aunt Sponge and Spiker are briefly stunned that an entire crowd of strangers would stand up to them; they quickly get over it when James calls them out, and grab the axes.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: The film retains the basic personalities of all the characters from the novel, with the exception of Ms. Spider. Whereas in the novel, she was more of a GenkiGirl (though not as much as Ms. Ladybug), the film turns her into a snarky French chick who isn't one to be messed with.

* BagOfHolding: Ms. Ladybug pulls out a hand mirror (which is about half her size), a megaphone, three bouquets of fully bloomed flowers, and Grasshopper's top hat and cane! How many things can Mrs. Ladybug carry in her bag? Who knows?

* BetaCouple: Debatable. Most fans of the film end up pairing Mr. Grasshopper and Ms. Ladybug together for no reason other that they are simply there and single.

** After finding a compass, Mr. Centipede takes his task very seriously to a point where he fends off of sleep so they won't get off course like what happened. As he tries so hard not to doze off, Mr. Grasshopper relieves Mr. Centipede by bringing him a chair and blanket and playing him off to sleep with his violin to make up for kicking him in the face earlier.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: The people from New York at first laugh at James's tale of crossing the ocean with a group of giant bugs, this after he literally fell from the sky on a ''Giant Peach'' and landed on top of the Empire State building.

* BigNo: James yells "No!" just before he and the peach land on top of the Empire State Building.

'''Grasshopper:''' You, sir, are an asp!

---> Somewhat played straight offscreen. James is separated from his insect family when the peach first makes it to New York, though they manage to reunite with him. As such, it was likely that while James was being helped by the New York Police and had to confront Spiker and Sponge, the bugs were searching for a way to get back to New York and looking for James as well.

Creator/RoaldDahl's first children's novel, published in 1961, was made into a 1996 live-action/stop-motion animated film from Creator/{{Disney}}, directed by Creator/HenrySelick and produced by Creator/TimBurton (the respective director and producer of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''), with music composed by Music/RandyNewman. Unlike the book, which is ambiguously set contemporary to its publication, the film explicitly takes place in the summer of 1958. Despite doing poorly at the box office, the film is one of the better adaptations of Dahl's work, though it can be considered... trippy.

* OminousClouds: When James and the bugs arrived at New York City at night, they saw dark, stormy clouds heading towards them. The stormy clouds indicate that the rhino, the same monster that killed James' parents earlier, is coming to get them

* LighterAndSofter: Despite the overall DarkerAndEdgier feel of the movie, it's LighterAndSofter in two very notable aspects: First, the fact that [[SparedByTheAdaptation Spiker and Sponge survive]]. Second, the old man with the crocodile tongues has been softened up considerably. In the book, he seems unhinged and vaguely predatory, and you genuinely wonder if it wasn't a good thing that James accidentally lost the tongues -- the movie version, while still mysterious and weird, is a lot milder and more obviously a good guy.

* TheHerosBirthday: James celebrates his eighth Birthday with his parents in the beginning of the film. They surprise him to a trip to New York City. Unfortunately the rhino came along to spoil the fun.

* SatelliteFamilyMember: In the film version, James had lived with his [[GoodParents kind mother and father]] near the beach. On James' [[TheHerosBirthday eighth birthday]], his parents were planning on going to New York City. But an angry rhino came and killed James' parents, and he was forced to live with his two Aunts, Sponge and Spiker. With the death of his parents and the abuse from his aunts, James wanted to escape from his troubles and go to New York City.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* PoliceAreUseless: Zigzagged with the rescue crew. They at least get James down safely from the peach, though he had the sense to tether himself with the remaining silk threads before trying to explore where he landed.

** After finding a compass, Mr. Centipede takes his task very seriously to a point where he fends off of sleep so they won't get off course like what happened. As he tries so hard not to doze off, Mr. Grasshopper (who knocked one of his teeth out in anger) makes it up to Mr. Centipede by bringing him a chair and blanket so he can rest, and playing him off to sleep with his violin.

'''Grasshopper:''' You, sir, are an ass!

* VillainousBreakdown: In the film, Spiker and Sponge come at James with axes, after he calls both of them out.

* LongList:
** The main characters are often listed in the narrative.
--->"The furniture went sliding across the room, and crashing into the wall. So did James and the Ladybird and the Old-Green-Grasshopper and the Earthworm and Miss Spider and also the Centipede, who had just come slithering quickly down the wall."
** The peach gets caught up in a massive cloudburst, and a great solid mass of rainwater comes crashing down upon them, bouncing and smashing and sloshing and slashing and swashing and swirling and surging and whirling and gurgling and gushing and rushing and rushing.