There's also Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, setting aside the troublesomeness of Willy Wonka himself (it's been far too long since I've read the book and so can't really remember). But yeah, adults suck is a not-exactly-subtle theme in Dahl.
OTOH, the children are very... adultlike. I mean, part of who Matilda is is a little girl who thinks like an adult - I haven't read the book recently, but I don't think there's anything really equivalent to that ending montage with its reclaiming-of-childhood ideal. Huh.
I love Matilda's Ravenclawness (if we must use HP metaphors) and the idea that they make her into more of a Gryffindor in the film adds to my reasons not to see the film -- because I am way more comfortable with her bookishness than with her tricksiness.
It's not just tricksiness, it's stupid-frelling-pointless-bravery, which is how I define Gryffindor and which makes me want to slap her. Her intelligence isn't really downplayed so much as her bravery is played up, but there is a shift from Matilda as generally intelligent to Matilda-as-bookworm that upsets me.
If you'll recall, in the book she demonstrates her ability to multiply and explains that she doesn't know how she does it - she just thought if a pocket calculator could do it, so could she - in the movie she says, "I learned how from a book," or similar. It's a minor change, but consistant - everywhere that Matilda demonstrates intelligence, it goes back to book-learning and lots of it, and I remember her having a much more rounded intelligence in the book.
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OTOH, the children are very... adultlike. I mean, part of who Matilda is is a little girl who thinks like an adult - I haven't read the book recently, but I don't think there's anything really equivalent to that ending montage with its reclaiming-of-childhood ideal. Huh.
I love Matilda's Ravenclawness (if we must use HP metaphors) and the idea that they make her into more of a Gryffindor in the film adds to my reasons not to see the film -- because I am way more comfortable with her bookishness than with her tricksiness.
It's not just tricksiness, it's stupid-frelling-pointless-bravery, which is how I define Gryffindor and which makes me want to slap her. Her intelligence isn't really downplayed so much as her bravery is played up, but there is a shift from Matilda as generally intelligent to Matilda-as-bookworm that upsets me.
If you'll recall, in the book she demonstrates her ability to multiply and explains that she doesn't know how she does it - she just thought if a pocket calculator could do it, so could she - in the movie she says, "I learned how from a book," or similar. It's a minor change, but consistant - everywhere that Matilda demonstrates intelligence, it goes back to book-learning and lots of it, and I remember her having a much more rounded intelligence in the book.