When we were little we longed to be big. Once we reach big we long to be little again. Little can have great appeal. While little boys and girls may like to imagine being big and using grown up things there are still ‘little’ things they like.
The world of toy makers knows this better than anyone. These companies have made it big, cashing in on ‘little’. Little Tikes have the most popular range of outdoor ride-ons and toys available. What house with kids doesn’t have at least a few Fisher Price little people hanging around?
It seems that ‘little’ has always been popular. Perhaps it is that young people feel comfortable with that familiarity, no matter how much they may wish to be big one day. Even our old nursery rhymes and fairy tales are full of ‘little’ appeal. Little Jack Horner, Little Boy Blue, There was a little girl, The three Little Pigs… I am sure you can think of others.
Books, movies and TV have not been immune to the ‘little’ effect either, many becoming well-loved classics. Louisa M. Alcott’s ‘Little Women’ is a prime example, and who doesn’t know the story of Gulliver’s Travels and the little people? Disney cashed in with ‘The Little Mermaid’ while ‘Little House on the Prairie’ was one of the most popular TV shows. While the ‘Little shop of horrors’ takes quite a different spin it still makes use of ‘littleness’ to pull in an audience.
There is no doubt that ‘little’ is big business and much of this revolves around adult’s feelings of nostalgia. Whether you were daddy’s little girl, or mommy’s little helper being little had a feeling of safety to it. Sure being little people in a big world could be scary sometimes, but maybe not as scary as the big wide world of responsibility that is adulthood.
