Oh Natty Gann, I Love You
January 16th, 2009 by elliott
This weekend my housemates and I relaxed to a Disney masterpiece. No, it wasn’t animated. No, it didn’t star talking fish or dancing kitchenware. This was a 1985 live action classic starring then-child-actress Meredith Salenger, a nigh-pubescent John Cusack, and a wolf. This was The Journey of Natty Gann.
Want a mini-encapsulation to whet your whistle? Okay, here goes: Natty Gann is the gender non-conforming daughter of a wildcat labor leader in depression-era Chicago. When her father is forced to travel west on short notice, in search of dangerous work in the logging camps outside Seattle, Natty must cross the country to reunite with her only living family.
On her tumultuous journey across the tableau of American class struggle, Natty flees the clutches of thuggish railroad cops, witnesses raids on impoverished hoovervilles, and escapes a prison-like orphanage for girls, where authorities enforce strict gender roles behind barbed wire. Along the way she befriends a wolf and a charming hobo played by John Cusack, who she later kisses for no apparent reason.
That’s right: Natty Gann. The movie is up there with other pseudo-lefty kid flicks like Newsies–especially since both gave viewers pre-teen crushes on protagonists in early 20th century regalia. (In this case, Natty Gann is the tomboy of every 11-year-old’s dreams.) Check it out soon!
