I do love Grandpa and Grandma Longneck. They are very sweet, and seem to take delight in Littlefoot and the kids’ youthful energy and sincerity. They are the type to take some value in whatever life throws at them, and that keeps them going from day to day. They have an even-keel temperament they passed on to their daughter and grandson. That allows them to adapt to and get used to the hurdles the world throws at them, for good and ill.
I think that like Mama Longneck, they merely passed on the belief that herds stick among their own kind more because that’s the way the world then worked than any genuine belief of certain kinds’ superiority or inferiority. Once integrated herds started becoming the norm, they quickly and gladly adapted to it. Their temperament mean that they are very tolerant and patient to the variety of personalities around them. Just because someone might be frustrating doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be disrespected or allowed to die. Though even they have their limits. There were a few times such as in movie 3, 11, and 12 where one or both express frustration with Mr. Threehorn. Still, their temperament mean that they could help work the valley calmly through a crises and deal with the tempers that flare up.
Though sometimes I think that same temperament could work against them. Whether they just learned to accept events or they’re at the age where they can’t be active all the time, they can in certain scenarios be a bit passive. When Grandpa fell ill, he and Grandma accepted he’d likely not survive and didn’t go to find the Night Flower. After the swarming leaf gobblers drove them out of the valley, they couldn’t put up much resistance at the threat of the herd being broken up. When the Tinysauruses were the targets of a witch hunt, the pair objected but didn’t appear to do much else to dissuading. No one checked to make sure the Tinysauruses were okay when the rocks collapsed on the opening. When Bron got stranded at Fire Mountain, the pair hesitated at immediately going to rescue him until the eruptions died down.
Admittedly, some of these were understandable exercises in caution and they aren’t at the level of Willy Wonka deadpanning, “Stop. Don’t. Come back.” However, the grandparents seem to believe there’s only so much one can do about some problems or dangers. I wonder if that could come to be a point of conflict between them and Littlefoot, whose more of a person of action. They get along so well, so it would be interesting to see what might drive a wedge between them.
Of course, the grandparents can also be quite proactive, as seen in the times they save the gang from sharpteeth. Nothing could get in the way of them protecting their grandson and their friends, and they fight quite well for dinosaurs of their age. They must have the patience of saints to put up with Littlefoot’s frequent adventures. Nevertheless, I do think they might value some of those adventures. They are learning as much as Littlefoot about how the world works and that there might be different ways of doing things.
I like the moments where they are light and entertaining the children. Grandpa playing in the snow in movie 8 along with many of the other characters is adorable and those scenes of him telling stories to the gang is pretty sweet. Learning he was a storyspeaker could explain why he can be so patient and forward among crowds, since he had to deal with an speaking to audiences on a regular basis. I do have the amusing mental image of how storyspeaking somehow made its clumsy way into the courtship rituals for the grandparents. I can see Grandma struggling to reciprocate in that, with predictable hilarious results.
Speaking of Grandma, yeah we haven’t seen as much about her. The first several minutes of movie 13 does give the impression of someone who tries to instill safety with her wisdoms – they may seem like simple common sense but as we’ve seen with the gang and even some adults, there are many who forget to follow common sense. She’s someone who appears to be aware of those mental flubs and is concerned to correct them but rather than being strict, she seems to be as easygoing and tender as her husband. Though Grandpa does speak more at meetings and goes out in times of danger, I do like those moments where she doesn’t hesitate to participate in conversations and fights. Does she sometimes not participate in things like rescuing the gang because she has another task to fulfill or if anything happens to Grandpa, Littlefoot would have her? If there are any more movies or episodes, I hope we get more focus on her.
With Mama Longneck, I wonder if during their journeys to the Great Valley they resigned themselves to the possibility that she (and Littlefoot) were dead or if they were unsure until Littlefoot came around to tell them what happened. It must have been hard to hear she was gone, that they didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to her. The death of even a grownup child must be a pain different from the pain of loving a parent. I wonder if they talk about that difference, comparing the pains in attempting to understand the comfort each other. I do have the sense with the understanding temperaments, the grandparents would be the most understanding of the questionable decisions the gang made in their journey to the valley, chalking it up to children cracking under difficult conditions.
With their shorter lifespans, Grandpa and Grandma probably have worries. They have likely made contingency plans like arranging for him to live with the gang’s other parents but with Mama Longneck’s death, they likely fear he isn’t going to take their inevitable demise well. They would try to make sure they could teach him as much as they could not only for him but for themselves. I don’t know how Mama Longneck’s death influenced the grandparents’ relationship to Littlefoot and vice versa but I’m under the impression they have since come to value their bond with their grandson on its own terms. They value the good work he does in teaching and helping others even if it can worry them. They don’t want to sour their bond with Littlefoot by their deaths.
