Quick! Name 3 classic childhood films! Your answer may depend on your age but there’s a pretty good chance they include The Sound of Music, Miracle on 34th Street, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original one – not that remade freak show – shame on you Johnny Depp, you so disappointed me), and The Wizard of Oz. Their annual appearances on network TV were highlights of my youthful TV viewing. Yesterday driving home from my nephew’s birthday party my kids asked for Family Movie Night – which entails a movie (duh) and — more important — eating in front of the TV. Since we rarely permit this in our house, this is a big treat for the kids. And since I had been driving for 6 of the last 24 hours, something along the lines of popcorn and tomato soup sounded like the perfect plan. Plus, The Wizard of Oz was on at 8pm! What fun – who couldn’t use a little return to childhood every now and again?
Unfortunately, Beans didn’t think this was a good idea. In fact, she thought this was a fabulously BAD idea.
“Oh, OK,” she sighed. “I’ll watch it if you want to.”
“Hon, don’t you like The Wizard of Oz?”
“No,” she says.
“Why not?”wait for it…
“Because Dorothy is Dumb.”
hmmm….
“Uh…why is she dumb?”
“Well…she’s all ‘LALALA, I’m lost and I need help! I can’t find my way!’ She’s dumb and silly.”
“She’s dumb because she’s lost and scared?”
“MOM. She’s dumb because she’s scared of a place that isn’t even real!”
“Well, she doesn’t know it’s not real!”
“That’s why she is dumb!”
“Oh. Well, why is she silly?”
“Because she acts silly. She was asking silly questions.”
hmmmm…really, I am too road-weary at this point to parse this in a way an 8 year old can understand…
“Well, it’s a pretty old movie. I can see why she’s a little too dorky for you.”
“I like Nancy Drew better. And Hermione. They ask smart questions, not dumb ones.”
Sometimes this child leaves me speechless.
That’s actually pretty cool that she analyzed Dorothy’s character that way. Maybe she should try The Princess Bride and Labyrinth. Two films that came to my head right away and both have great female characters.
What a wise old soul your daughter has.
My 3 movies would have been “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and the Wizard of Oz”
Ooooh, TPB – one of my absolute favorites! Great idea – I will watch that with her soon. I don’t own many movies but I have that one!
Hi SillyDreamer – nice to meet you. I’m glad you stopped by! I forgot all about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – great movie. I also remember liking the original Herbie the Love Bug and the movies about the Dog…not Lassie – I forget his name! He was white and shaggy…a mutt, I think.
beans is my new hero 🙂
i always hated that helpless, ohmeohdear, whatever shall we do attitude of dorothy. you’re right: hermione is much smarter. there are some smarter girls in films, but not a whole lot showing up in those family favorites. other than smarties like the perpetual kate hepburn character in ’30s and ’40s flicks, you don’t run into too many smart women in film; and if you do, they end up being killed or put in their place for being…smart.
depressing.
i’ll try to think of suggestions. let’s have a movie night 🙂 (and i promise not to make them beatles movies 😉