A couple of months ago, my husband watched a British documentary called “Seven Up”directed by Paul Almond and his young team of assistants. They randomly selected a group of “typical” seven-year-old British children who came from financially strapped working class, privileged upper class, or what was vaguely defined as British middle class.
In various locations and situations, the filmmakers interviewed the kids about their backgrounds, their present lives, and their hopes and dreams for the future. Intended as a one-time project, Seven Up took on a life of its own when one of Almond's assistants, 22-year-old Michael Apted, thought it would be fascinating to keep tabs on the 14 children and update their stories at seven-year-intervals.
With this in mind, Apted -- becoming a full-fledged director himself -- rounded up the kids in 1970 for a followup TV documentary, Seven Plus Seven. Thus began what amount to a lifelong creative mission for him, yielding very fascinating, and, at times, heartrending filmed studies as 21 Up (1977), 28 Up (1984), 35 Up (1991), and 42 Up (1998).
My husband was fascinated and inspired by this documentary. He has three siblings and two of them have kids range from one to six and half years old. Since they can not always get together every year, he decided to grasp the opportunity last Christmas (2005) during the family reunion and conducted the first interview for all the kids.
The questions were loosely similar to what’s in the Seven Up which were designed for 7 years old. At the time of the interview, Olivia was three weeks away from turning six and Evan just turned three. Auntie Ashlie conducted the interview for both of them. The following is Olivia’s interview.
Ashlie: All right, tell me what your name is, sweetie.
Olivia: Olivia.
Ashlie: How old are you?
Olivia: Five and a half.
Ashlie: Do you have any brothers and sisters?
Olivia: A brother.
Ashlie: What’s his name?
Olivia: Evan.
Ashlie: What is your favorite holiday? Is it Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving...?
Olivia: Valentine’s Day.
Ashlie: Why that’s your favorite holiday?
Olivia: Because we send people cards.
Ashlie: What’s your favorite Halloween costume?
Olivia: A fairy.
Ashlie: What are you going to dress up next Halloween?
Olivia: Mary (Daddy, the reading of those bedtime short bible stories seemed working).
Ashlie: What is your favorite season? Do you like spring, summer, fall or winter?
Olivia: Winter.
Ashlie: Why?
Olivia: Because you get to play in the snow, make snow angels and do all different kinds of stuff.
Ashlie: That’s great! What is your favorite day of the week?
Olivia: Mm… Sunday.
Ashlie: Why is it Sunday?
Olivia: Because you get to stay home.
Ashlie: What is your favorite time of the day? Do you like morning, afternoon, dinner time or night time?
Olivia: Midnight/> !
Ashlie: Midnight/>? Why?
Olivia: Because I can stay up until midnight/> at Auntie Holly’s house (laughs).
Ashlie: What’s your favorite song?
Olivia: Mm…I am not sure if I have a favorite song yet.
Ashlie: Can you sing a song for me? Maybe one of your favorite songs?
Olivia: Mm…Mm…Twinkle, twinkle little star… (Singing the song)
Ashlie: Very good! Okay, what is your favorite movie or video?
Olivia: The Princess and the Pauper.
Ashlie: Okay, what is your favorite book?
Olivia: (Playing with her lips) Mm…Mary Poppins.
Ashlie: Who is your best friend?
Olivia: Hahaha…Olivia, Olivia, Olivia !
Ashlie: Olivia, Olivia, Olivia? Is it somebody else besides you?
Olivia: (Nodded head)
Ashlie: Who do you admire the most in the world?
Olivia: Mm… (giggling) Olivia.
Ashlie: Olivia too?
Olivia: Ah-ha.
Ashlie: Who would you like to meet the most that you have never met before?
Olivia: Joseph.
Ashlie: Joseph?
Olivia: I mean God.
Ashlie: Okay, that is a good one. Do you have a boyfriend?
Olivia: No, not yet but I am going to get one soon.
Ashlie: You are? Okay. What is your boyfriend would be like?
Olivia: Mm…I do not know yet.
Ashlie: Well, what do you think he will be like?
Olivia: I think he will dance good. Has yellow hair. Has peach skin…I think that’s it.
Ashlie: Okay. What store do you like to go?
Olivia: Store? Toy store.
Ashlie: What do you like to buy at the toy store?
Olivia: Ah…a chocolate maker. You can make chocolate and after you make it you can put sprinkles on it.
Ashlie: Oh, that is neat! What restaurant do you like the best?
Olivia: Bob Evans.
Ashlie: What do you like to eat there?
Olivia: Grilled cheese sandwich and French fries.
Ashlie: That sounds good. What do you like to eat at home?
Olivia: Chicken nuggets.
Ashlie: Do you cook?
Olivia: I cook with my easy bake oven but that was only one time.
Ashlie: Do you cook at your house?
Olivia: I help cooking.
Ashlie: Okay, what do you help cook?
Olivia: Noodles and strawberries and one more… (Thinks for a while) Chinese food (sweetie, mommy does not know what you are talking aboutJ).
Ashlie: Okay, what is your least favorite food?
Olivia: Berries. But I like jelly made of berries but I do not like berries themselves.
Ashlie: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Olivia: (Biting her lips and thinking for a long time) a cook at a restaurant.
Ashlie: How old do you think you will be when you get married?
Olivia: Ninety-six.
Ashlie: Ninety-six ! What kind of wedding do you like?
Olivia: A dancing wedding (I hope you can still dance at ninety-six, babyJ)
Ashlie: How many children do you think you will have?
Olivia: Three.
Ashlie: Do you know any of their names yet?
Olivia: Julianne for a girl, Kate for a girl. Justin for a boy. That’s three.
Ashlie: Where will you live when you grow up?
Olivia: In a farm house.
Ashlie: Do you like animals? What is your favorite animal?
Olivia: Horsey.
Ashlie: What are the animals you like to see at the zoo?
Olivia: Giraffes.
Ashlie: What kind of pet would you like at your house?
Olivia: A hamster. Just like my pet “Hammy” but he is going to die really really soon (That was what the teacher told us when we got the “Hammy” from daycare because he is very old. But half a year has passed, he seems to be doing fine.)
Ashlie: He is? Okay. Do you like to travel far from home?
Olivia: (Nodding head)
Ashlie: What is your favorite trip?
Olivia: To
Ashlie: Where would you like to go if you can go anywhere in the world?
Olivia:
(They both laughed)
Ashlie: Do you play any sports?
Olivia: No. But I want to play tennis when I am a little bigger but I am not sure where to play.
Ashlie: What’s your favorite sport?
Olivia: Tennis!
Ashlie: What is your favorite sport team?
Olivia:
Ashlie: What do you like to do outdoors?
Olivia: Exploring…for cool stuff.
Ashlie: What do you like to do when you are in your house?
Olivia: Drawing and play with my brother.
Ashlie: Tell me about your bedroom in your house.
Olivia: There is a medium size bed. Above it is a curtain that goes around my bed (mosquito net). It almost looks like a princess bed. Ah, my drawers are all brown with my clothes inside. My bookshelf does not have too many books on them.
Ashlie: Tell me about your house.
Olivia: My house is all white. The roof is brown and my house has three doors in the front place (only one).
Ashlie: How about your neighborhood?
Olivia: There are houses on each side (of my house) and there is a road like this (used her hand to show that the road is parallel to our house) and there are houses across the road.
Ashlie: What is your most precious possession? What is the most important thing you have?
Olivia: My favorite book will help you learn.
Ashlie: Who is your favorite teacher in school?
Olivia: In my old school, it was Miss Ashley. In my new school, it is Miss Liz.
Ashlie: Why do you like them the most?
Olivia: Because they are very nice to me and give a lot of surprises like brownies and cookies everyday.
Ashlie: Wow. What is your favorite subject in school?
Olivia: I don’t know what subject means.
Ashlie: Okay, what kind of things do you like to learn about in school?
Olivia: How God was made and Jesus and Mary (I have no idea where this answer is from, probably from the bedtime bible book reading again).
Ashlie: What do you like the best of the school?
Olivia: When you go outside and start to play and stuff.
Ashlie: What do you like the least of the school?
Olivia: When we have to do work. I want to tell you something. When I first came to school, we had easy stuff and then in a little while in the Kindergarten, we split up to do the hard work.
Ashlie: Now tell me about the hard work. What kind of work do you like to do? Do you like to do Math?
Olivia: I like to draw letters the right way and stuff.
Ashlie: Handwriting?
Olivia: Yeah, handwriting without the tears.
Ashlie: Are you going to college?
Olivia: Yes.
Ashlie: Where do you think you will go to college?
Olivia: (biting teeth and thinking hard)
Ashlie: Well, that’s it. Thanks Miss Olivia!
