Stargate fanfic:
They were sitting around little Sam watching Sam play.
"Daddy?"
All heads turned. "Yes?"
"My foot hurts." He pulled off the sneakers that she was wearing, they were tight on her. Then everyone noticed the flower print shirt suddenly becoming tight as well.
"I think it's time everyone left." Janet said, knowing that it was time and Sam was going to need her own sized clothing. Janet pulled out the fatigues and boots that she had nearby. She placed them on the bed. Everyone started to leave the room.
"Daddy? Where are you going?"
Jack gave little Sam a memorable long hug, then said, "Be right back princess."
Sam looked confused. "OK." She was left alone in the room. She looked down to her body, her shirt and shorts were really tight. She let out a groan and took her clothes off. A few minutes later, she was back to her self.
"Wha..." she looked down and saw her nude form, then the small pile of children's clothing. She went to the side of the bed where she saw her clothes and put them on. While she was dressing, she had blurred memories. Of her childhood, memories she didn't remember till now. She got out of the room to see Janet, and Hammond.
"You're back!" Jack leaped forward and hugged Sam. After an awkward glance, everyone else hugged Sam, one by one.
manga/anime
Going from childhood to adulthood. Going from a little girl, to a young woman...
Though specific physical changes aren't brought up that much (Aside from dirty jokes from the series' lecher, which is actually rare in the magical girl genre) sometimes they are talked about. This usually is if another girl is growing up in a more 'developed" way and making the magical girl feel self conscious that maybe there is something wrong with her body or that she is just not attractive.
Most times, the magical girl is a rather plain girl, not that attractive at all really, and sometimes she feels self conscious, though she usually turns out to be a real knockout later or realizes that such things don't really matter.
Well, the transformation sequence is symbolic of the growing up process. This is evidenced by the fact that the magical girl appears just as before, but slightly older, maybe by a few years, and more mature. Hips are wider, breasts are larger, and her body's curves have become prominent.
It is as if she was a child before, but now is a little older and more mature. She never appears fully grown, because then she would not be a magical girl anymore since adults lack the purity and innocence a magical girl needs. Also because at this point in her life she is in a transitional time between being a child and a young adult, she wants to be more adult, but secretly fears all the things that being grown up will bring her. So she appears half way between the childhood (The safety she is still afraid to leave) and adulthood (The freedom she craves).
"The magical girl is usually surrounded by light and the background of the shot changes to something like blinking, flashing lights."
The lights let the viewer know that something is happening. This part of the transformation is probably symbolic of everyone seeming to notice when a young girl begins becoming an adult.
"The magical girl's clothes usually disappear in a flash of light leaving her momentarily nude (This is often edited out of American versions of magical girl series).
This is symbolic of the "rebirth" one experiences as one goes from childhood and is reborn as an adult. The clothes leaving her body are symbols of her childhood, the clothes she wore as a child, and them leaving her body symbolize childhood leaving her and her beginning life as a new adult.
The nudity is more symbolism of rebirth, and also of the many new physical changes of the young girl's body as she grows.
"Her eyes are usually visible as normal, even if it's just briefly."
The eyes are the windows of the soul. The eyes stay the same because this shows that even though the girls outer body is changing, the girl's soul, her inner person is staying the same.
The process of growing up may change our bodies, but our personalities are the same, even if they are a bit more mature, we are always the same person.
"Then the magical girl spins through this magical space"
The process of growing up often feels like one is spinning out of control.
"and she reappears wearing her magical girl costume, which usually seems to fly onto her as she transforms."
The clothes represent adulthood like her old clothes did childhood. The clothes fly onto her because adulthood seems to come flying at her quickly.
After the turbulence of growing up, she reemerges, slightly different physically, as symbolized by her more mature features and the new clothes, though with her inner self intact.
She then reappears in her costumed identity and does a pose while telling the bad guys who they are fighting and how bad she is going to beat them.
In 1994, Kate Moss was the nation's sweetheart and many girls I knew were flirting with anorexia in homage to the flat-chested androgyne. I was short, dark and coping with an unwieldy bust. Like Liz Taylor, my breasts appeared overnight. As soon as she got hers, MGM made sure the whole world knew about them, zipping the child star into the lowest-cut dresses they could find faster than you can say 'Lassie!'.
previous - next - home