Lumberjanes - How old is Rosie?
Alternate title: Hey, does Rosie just not…really…age???
[ID: a panel from Lumberjanes Issue 1 showing Rosie in her office raising an axe. End id]
Under the cut because this one got away from me, and spoilers!
Rosie. Our beloved camp director. And, according to the evidence we have, maybe uhhh not aging at a normal human rate?
So, there are a few key players in this that contribute to the time weirdness.
One: The Bearwoman in flashbacks looks like 35-40ish, right? (I’m even taking that with a grain of salt, but we don’t have enough evidence on that yet). And in the present timeline, she’s definitely old. That being said, to me she’s actually not quite as old as the Grand Lodge below, which is…weird, again.
[ID: a panel showing the Bear Woman and Rosie standing next to each other. End id]
Two: The Grand Lodge apparently went to camp with Rosie. Which is…weird, because the Grand Lodge are definitely old. Gray hair, wrinkles, one of them has a grandchild that is probably 11-12. There is no debating that they are kick-butt old women, but when we learned that they are in the same age group as Rosie? That’s what really threw me off.
Three: Abigail. Abigail looks Rosie-age, though was also Rosie’s age and at camp with all of them, and like Rosie, looks maybe 20 years older, max. I mean, she’s a little taller, but to me she doesn’t really look that much older than how she did back then.
Four: nobody’s given a timeline for when the flashback scenes happen, which makes me think it’s ridiculously long ago for how old Rosie and Abigail look/are. The flashbacks are always sepia-toned, and at one point Jen questions how long ago it really happened, because something in the pictures she sees must subconsciously look way older than what logically would make sense.
[ID: a panel from the flashbacks showing Abigail, Nellie, and Rosie in their uniforms.
I know scouting uniforms don’t really change much over the years, but they are definitely influenced by the times. So, time for the obligatory vintage clothing discussion for the flashbacks.
A: everybody’s wearing skirts and there is a pretty strict gender binary enforced that is not there in the present day. This, to me, eliminates anything after the 1970′s. Given the vintage-ness of these scenes, this was unlikely anyway.
[ID: a panel of a flashback scene showing Nellie banishing Abigail to sleep alone. All of the girls pictured are wearing uniforms with skirts. End id]
B: the skirt style. Not super flared (late 1950′s), not super short (1960′s), but also not super long (1920′s). Given the utilitarian vibe of the gear and outfits, shoes, etc., this to me puts it in the 1940′s to the early 1950′s. Maybe 1930′s, but I’m leaning more towards WWII times. The late 1950′s scouts definitely started the more gendered activities and feminine aesthetic, while the earlier Campfire Girls and wartime Girl Scouts seem to fit the more military-esque attitude.
[ID: a picture of 1940′s Girl Scouts wearing brown and green dresses with kerchiefs and berets.
[ID: an image from the Campfire Girls manual from the 1940′s showing the uniform, a blouse and skirt with kerchief. End id]
C: It’s also worth noting that berets gained popularity in the late 1930′s for scouters, though sashes weren’t really a big thing until the early 1950′s. I’m not hanging my hat on the sash thing, only because they’re not wearing them the whole time in the flashbacks.
D: Rosie’s cat-eye glasses. Cat-eye style glasses started being popular in the late 1930′s. They got much bigger and chunkier in the 1960′s (think Jackie O) and fizzled out by the 1970′s. Judging by Rosie’s glasses alone, I think before the mid-sixties is fairly certain.
All of this is ignoring, of course, that any of the dates I’ve mentioned above would be ridiculous considering how Rosie looks now.
Let’s say the scouts in the flashback are 12-13. They look a little older than the main girls now, but not old enough to be counselors themselves. If the flashbacks took place in 1970, that’s 48 years ago. Rosie would be 60 years old! That even puts it a little young for the Grand Lodge, so let’s say 1955. That to me seems like the latest I would put it. The Grand Lodge would be 75 years old. That seems good, my grandma is just a little older than that.
BUT ROSIE? And ABIGAIL? 75-tooting-years old?
And Nellie? Actually, just kidding, I’ve done the math and I don’t even want to talk about it. Because at this point it’s rounding out at 100 years or more old.
Also, to not even get into the fact that Rosie…is going to turn into a feral werewolf when she gets older?? Have we all just forgotten about that little weird tidbit from the Time Shenanigans arc? Also, how does the math even work there, because while Jen de-ages 15 years-ish, Rosie all of a sudden seems to age a ton? UHHHHHH????
So, here’s my question to anyone else into theory: I know the whole time shenanigans thing with the camp is a big plot point, and I get it, time moves differently there, especially if (as implied) Rosie, Abigail, and Nellie never left the forest, but: Hey, what the JUNK?
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