Bonus Books: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and Sleeping Beauty by the Grimm Brothers

What have you been doing with your summer? To me, summer directly correlates with childhood. Running barefoot outside. Staying up late. Sleeping in until noon. Trying to save your soft serve ice cream from melting faster than you can eat it. Maybe it is because I am a teacher and I have the luxury of having my summers off. I have no husband or kids to plan around. I can simply be. This time in summer gives me time to recharge my battery and let me enjoy the simple things that I don’t usually see everyday, but maybe children do. This doesn’t mean I just sit around sucking my thumb and watching cartoons all day. You can still express your inner child as a fully functioning adult. Let loose for a little while, let your imagination flow, enjoy the spontaneity of the summertime.

Gene Wilder (original) vs. Johnny Depp (remake)

            It is fitting that the two stories I am going to focus on are ones that many of us associate with our childhoods. It is well known to every Gilmore Girls fan that one of Lorelai and Rory’s favorite movies is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original, duh, not the Johnny Depp remake). In episode 7, we hear about their Willy Wonka night for the first time and their

tradition of watching with a copious amount of sweets. I have seen the original movie many times throughout my childhood. I loved it, but had to watch it sparingly because it always made me want sweets I knew I could never actually have (I wanted to drink that chocolate fountain so bad!).

            When I read Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as an adult, I finally realized how dark and twisted the novel actually is. Four of the children almost DIE in the

factory, or are eliminated from the competition in Wonka’s eyes, in a manor that corresponds to their flaws. Augustus is sucked into a pipe after disobeying Wonka’s order to not drink from the chocolate river. Violet turns into a blueberry after chewing Wonka’s unfinished meal replacement chewing gum. Veruca is discarded with the “bad nuts” in the Nut Testing Room. And Mike is shrunk and transported into a television. Even though each of these children are brats and disobeyed direct request from Wonka, these punishments are quite dark for a children’s story. As a child watching it, you have enough distance from the real world to not realize how dark the story is. You just see that the bad kids are punished and the good kid is rewarded. Roald Dahl did say that when writing children’s stories, one has to exaggerate the badness in the bad characters and the goodness in the good characters. If you think about it, Charlie has no flaws and does nothing wrong without the story. He is not a very complex character, but children aren’t reading this for the intricacies of the character; they want to see larger than life situations. That is what keeps them reading. It is only when you are older that you appreciate the subtle nuances in characters.

            Both Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella were also mentioned in this episode. I already discussed my thoughts on Cinderella in a previous post. It is like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in that it is much darker than it originally appears. The Grimm Brothers’ version of Sleeping Beauty is also dark, but not to the extent of Cinderella. As a child, I always preferred Sleeping Beauty to Cinderella. My hair was a lot blonder as a child so I always thought she was the Disney Princess that looked the most like me. So, naturally, I was Sleeping Beauty for about three Halloweens in a row. She wouldn’t be the princess I would choose to be now. Although, I am extremely jealous by her ability to sleep.

    

        The first issue I have with the original tale of Sleeping Beauty is that the entire situation could have been avoided if they just invited all the fairies to the party. The only reason Princess Aurora and her people are cursed is because her parents only had room to invite twelve out of thirteen fairies. Come on! How difficult would it have been to invite just one more?! Of course, she would find out about it. Do you really want to piss off a fairy?

            Joking aside, I know that it is no fun to be the person left out. It hurts, you are angry, and you wonder why you weren’t included. I also know what happens when someone is left out of something you are involved in. It always comes back to bite you in the butt. Maybe the moral of Sleeping Beauty is to make sure everyone is included.

            The second issue I have with all versions of Sleeping Beauty is WHY IN GOD’S NAME WOULD YOU PURPOSELY PRICK YOUR FINGER ON A NEEDLE? ARE YOU DUMB? I am sorry, but once you are past the age of five you should know better. When I was little, I always touched the prickly part of a cactus at Home Depot and would scream bloody murder. Every single time we went. I’m pretty sure I stopped doing this by the time I became a teenager. Come on, Aurora, you should know better.

            Now I know Sleeping Beauty can be a romantic story; only the kiss from your true love can break the spell. That is nice in theory, but if my true love wakes me from my slumber, I will be mad. Considering I don’t always sleep, I would be extremely displeased if someone woke me up when I didn’t have to be up (to put it lightly). I guess if I were under a sleeping spell, it would be a nice way to be woken up. In real life, though, it wouldn’t be a pretty situation.

             I always enjoy rereading books that I read as a child. I gain new insights as an adult, but I also miss the innocence I had when I read them as a child. I look at these stories in a different way. In my memories, these stories appear as one way; but now I realize that I can't experience these stories the same way anymore. It is sad in a way, but also shows the power of literature. Each time you read a book, you gain something new. The experiences you have impact how you interact with the text and that is magical. If you look at it that way, no one is ever reading the same exact book. 

Images
Gene Wilder/Johnny Depp: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjq9dyi_Z7dAhXLV98KHar2CsYQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fconsequenceofsound.net%2F2016%2F09%2Fgene-wilder-believed-tim-burtons-willy-wonka-remake-was-an-insult%2F&psig=AOvVaw3NUI0tOMQY8Xi2djASCXsQ&ust=1536069036275545
Book Cover:https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi-49vo_Z7dAhVqc98KHX65AZcQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2FCharlie-Chocolate-Factory-Roald-Dahl%2Fdp%2F0142410314&psig=AOvVaw06GSNNz7rrPUWuBQ_e1uBD&ust=1536069193990269
Sleeping Beauty: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiY2cSV_p7dAhWGT98KHZWmDQsQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.transparentpng.com%2Fcats%2Fsleeping-beauty-2.html&psig=AOvVaw1tcmYghEltP9OkAwoooygH&ust=1536069279482385
Movie Still:https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiYqvi9_p7dAhVFT98KHY7WCPoQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kidspot.com.au%2Fparenting%2Freal-life%2Fin-the-news%2Fmum-wants-sleeping-beauty-banned-as-it-has-an-inappropriate-message%2Fnews-story%2Fd658efeae1355e0fa17c979adef2e2e2&psig=AOvVaw1tcmYghEltP9OkAwoooygH&ust=1536069279482385

Book #30: Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers and Bonus Book: Cinderella

 For this post, we are looking into some childhood classics (and their respective Disney movies). Lorelai and Rory reference both Cinderella and Freaky Friday in the episode “Rory’s Birthday Parties;” however, it is unclear if they are referencing the books or the movies. Oh well! Doesn’t matter! I will read them both!  

Cinderella

            Cinderella is our Bonus Book here as it is not on the “official” list. (What is official by the way? I stick to the one from Buzzfeed. I don’t care what people say. I love Buzzfeed.) Everyone knows Cinderella, the quintessential princess story. You may picture Cinderella’s Castle, which is front and center within the Magic Kingdom. When you are a little girl, she is the first princess you are introduced to. The story is simple, but classic. The story of a young girl who is bullied by her stepsisters, but is given a magical gift by a Fairy Godmother which allows her to earn the attention of Prince Charming. This story has spurred countless adaptations and revamps through the years. My personal favorite is Hilary Duff’s A Cinderella Story with Chad Michael Murray (gosh I love early 2000s Chad Michael Murray). I am going to forgo discussing how Disney Princess stories and Cinderella teach young girls unrealistic expectations and discuss some of the fun gory parts of the original story.

            I read the Grimm Brothers’ version of the classic tale. Of course, there were many variations of the folk tale before this, but the Grimm Brothers’ version is the basis for the story we know today. When Disney created their cartoon version, they cut

out (ha see what I did there) the dark undertones of the tale and the gruesome parts of the story. In their tale, the evil stepsisters cut off their toes and part of their heel in order to force their foot into the glass slipper. Then, as a punishment for their cruel deeds, birds pecked both of their eyes out during Cinderella’s wedding to Prince Charming. Imagine watching that in a Disney movie! Personally, I like the Grimm version of fairy tales. I think that is what make fairy tales more interesting and fun. When everything is hunky dory and everything turns out how it should, it is boring to read. I also really love scary stories, books, and movies so these darker stories are right up my alley.

            Maybe this is why I don’t necessarily like the idea of Prince Charming. I’m sorry, but Prince Charming just sounds bland. In the Disney movie, he barely has any personality. Yeah, it’s nice to imagine a handsome prince coming to save you when life gets awry, but wouldn’t you like someone with a little spunk? (I think this is why Prince Harry was so popular with the ladies). Personally, I’d like a man like the Beast or Aladdin rather than Prince Charming. They would keep things interesting and challenge me when needed. Plus, they both have better hair than Prince Charming. 

Freaky Friday

I believe I read Freaky Friday at some point during elementary or middle school, but I didn’t remember much of it so I reread it. Like Cinderella, the original novel of Freaky Friday is much darker, more anxiety provoking, and…well…more disturbing than the Disney version (I’m talking about the 2000s version here). The Disney version is teen comedy gold with the fabulous hair of Chad Michael Murray at his peak dreaminess (I think you are learning more about my love for Chad Michael Murray in this post than anything else). But the book…man…it really makes you think how creepy it would be to change places with your mother. For one, in the book, Anna’s dad is still in the picture and that just makes things…welp…almost incestuous if you think about it. It’s like a reverse Oedipus situation here! Thankfully nothing like that happens because it is a children’s books, but there are just some strange interactions. This is definitely not a lighthearted children’s book. Anna contemplates suicide by jumping off a building when she is in her mother’s body and has thoughts of her own teenage body being run over by a bus. You know, just your normal thoughts you want your child to be thinking about.

            Because this book was written in 1972, many of the conflicts are unrealistic for today and are outdated. A child reading this book today might not appreciate the comedy Mary Rodgers intended. However, older readers might and those are the people who might enjoy this novel more. I certainly enjoyed reading it, but this is one of the cases where I liked the movie better than the book. You do have to treat them as two different entities, though, because other than the fact that the mother and daughter switch bodies, the entire plotlines are completely different. It is similar as to what the world has done with Cinderella; the concept is the same, but it is just used as a framework to tell a different kind of story.

You knew it was coming, right?

#MyMotherAlwaysSaidILikedBlondes

You know he was on Gilmore Girls right? 

Images

Cartoon Cinderella:https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/3/3e/637-cinderella_label1.png/revision/latest?cb=20130715054139

Grimm Brothers' Cinderella: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/86/d8/fc/86d8fc3a613a2eff45bede5761310de6.jpg

Prince Charming:http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/37700000/Prince-Charming-disney-37796536-500-421.png

Freaky Friday Book Cover: https://media.newyorker.com/photos/59095ace019dfc3494e9f44f/master/w_649,c_limit/freakyfriday-290.jpg

Freaky Friday Movie Poster:https://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BYmU4NTk4OWYtMjE4My00MGVkLTgwY2EtZTZjN2YyOGFiMDQ0L2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_.jpg

Chad Michael Murray:https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gilmoregirls/images/f/f5/104tristan.jpeg/revision/latest?cb=20160209213525