Hello and welcome back to Favourite Character Praise Friday!
This is one of my absolute favourite posts to write and I hope you enjoy my
picking apart of my favourite characters enough to stick around while I examine
my next victim, I mean, character. Don’t worry, I do not rank these characters
in a particular order, it just so happens that some characters are better worth
sharing praise for at a different point in time to others! Remember, every
fifth instalment is Least Favourite Character Praise Friday, so keep an eye out
for me probing at characters I can’t stand and raving about how well they were
written in order to evoke such a reaction.
So, who is the subject of my next Favourite Character Praise
Friday?
Donna Sheridan from Mamma Mia & Mamma Mia Here We Go
Again!
Warning: This will contain spoilers
Mamma Mia has been a part of my life for over a decade. I
remember watching it on DVD throughout my early-teens and being obsessed with
it. My sister and I learned all the songs and it was one of our favourite films
to just sit down and watch. My mum used to put it on solely to make us shut up
for an hour. We became very invested in the story of Sophie and her parentage. But
eventually it became a film we were tired of.
It was a movie that wasn’t a big part of my life until my
second year at university, where on a whim during a girls’ night in, my housemates
and I decided to watch it, and we were belting out the lyrics, discussing who
we thought was Sophie’s father and whether we were excited to see the sequel
that was due to come out in the summer.
I saw Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again several times while it
was in the cinema. Each time, the conclusion made me emotional. I didn’t
realise how fond I was of Donna until I watched it at home with one of my
housemates, Emma. The two of us ended up watching the previous film several
times when we were living together in the previous year. So, for Donna to have
died in the follow up film was a big shock to us.
Now! Onto what you guys are here for! The praise!
The first reason I adore Donna as a character is she showed
complete and total devotion to her daughter. It seems clear from the state of
their business that most of the profits are going toward Sophie’s wedding.
Donna is having to repair broken shutters, as well as cracks in the paving by hand
instead of hiring a professional from the mainland to provide a service,
meaning the quality of her hotel is slowly falling into disarray. Not that
Donna outwardly appears to mind, or will care to admit, as long as Sophie is
happy, she’s fine putting in all the extra effort. She doesn’t want to become a
bother to either her friends, nor her only family, her daughter, and instead
shoulders all of the responsibilities, knuckling down until the point where she
is emotional at the thought of people giving her a hand.
I love how free-spirited Donna was always shown to be, when The
Dynamos, Rosie and Tanya recall their glory days, they refer to her as the life
and soul of the party, however, it is hard to imagine, until seeing the second
film, where you get a glimpse of the summer that lead to Sophie’s conception.
You see how fluid and graceful Donna was, not caring where she ended up, or
how, she just wanted to experience life to the fullest. She is relatively
care-free which can be misinterpreted as careless. She just wants to experience
everything as soon as she encounters it, which does lead to her being with
three men in a short space of time. I love that she could just go from being a
completely free, fluid and happy graduate to a full-time single mother. It is a
dramatic change and the way that she adapts shows how dynamic of a character
she is. I really admire that about her.
I also loved the fact that ultimately, at the end of the
first film, she was happy to let the love of her life, Sam Carmichael slip
through her fingers once again. She had no intention of making a scene when he
returned to her life and simply hoped that he would leave without causing
hysteria. He made it very clear from his first interaction with her that he
came in peace, raising his hands in mock surrender, and offering her assistance
instead of belittling her for her efforts. As far as Donna was aware, he knew
nothing of their potential child together, and it was just fate that had
brought him back to the island. She made it clear, when singing The Winner
Takes It All on the cliffside that she felt that Lorraine, the woman he left
her to marry, had already managed to succeed in capturing his heart, and he was
simply there to mock her for her efforts twenty years ago. Unbeknown to her,
he had returned to reconcile and instead would end up proposing to her, in
order not to waste all of the time, effort and money Donna had thrust into the
wedding for Sophie, which would have otherwise been wasted. She, finally having heard his side of the story, accepts his proposal and they are married, something she always wanted.
Please, if you have opinions on Donna Sheridan, feel free to
share them with me! Don’t forget you can check out my previous Character Praise
by looking through the hashtags below.
And remember!
Per Aruda Ad Astra
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