I like this part because it establishes that Lilo and Nani are both on the same playing field, on the same level. Nani is trying to be her authority figure, but she doesn’t get anywhere with that, she gets farther just as LILO’s sister. Because Lilo wants someone who’s in the same boat as her. It gets closer to “friend,” which is what she
needs. Nani keeps showing Lilo that she’ll stay. That she won’t leave even though Lilo is being difficult. If Nani is too much like a mom, if she’s accepted as
that in Lilo’s mind, then that idea that “I won’t leave even when you suck” is less impactful. To a kid who’s had good parents, it’s sort of a given that your mom-figure, or any authoritative adult, is not going to leave even when you suck. It’s an unspoken rule.
But if she’s the high-school-age older sister? Who regularly has her own friend group and her own life in addition to her home-life with her 6 year-old little sister? Then there’s a sense in which Lilo doesn’t HAVE to have the same assurance that Nani isn’t going anywhere. Nani MIGHT leave. Nani HAS a job, friends, school, whatever. And since the parents are gone, and it’s just Lilo and Nani, the movie NEEDS that tension, where Lilo COULD be unsure of how long Nani will stick with her.
Do you see? It’s not just that Lilo likes her better as a sister than a mom. It’s that the movie
needs Lilo to see Nani as a sister, in the
absence of the
security of a mom. Otherwise it’s not as amazing when Nani sticks with her. Otherwise Lilo doesn’t learn, from that, to stick with Stitch even when he’s a pain. Otherwise LILO’s WHOLE EMOTIONAL JOURNEY is slightly
weaker.
