How To Train Your Dragon - Books vs. Movie

The backstory: Laney and Meg saw the movie How to Train Your Dragon in 3D Imax when it came out. Following that, we listened to the books on our drive home. And listened to them again. And listened to them again. The books are narrated, wonderfully, by David Tennant. We've also seen the movie a couple of more times via rental.

Meg

You need to know this first: the movie has almost nothing to do with the books. They both have vikings, dragons, and a similarly unlikely hero named Hiccup. But they remain entirely separate entities.

That said, I liked them both. The movie was one of those rare 3D movies that was worth the extra cost. The animation was thrilling, we had a main character worth rooting for, and a lesson that kindness and cooperation are more effective than violence. All in all, a good flick.

But the movie doesn't touch the books. In fairness, much credit must be given to David Tennant's really excellent narration (note: the first book isn't narrated by David Tennant and, as such, isn't nearly as good). But, there's this whole, hilarious world in the books, brought so vividly to life by David Tennant and it's such a fun place to be. Laney and I are in the car about an hour and a half every day. And we listen to a LOT of books on tape. But nothing has come close to these in terms of genuine entertainment value for both child and adult.

If you have a long car trip ahead of you, trust me: these are the books to get you through it (except the first one... maybe read that one yourself).

And Camicazi is 10 times the girl hero that Astrid is. I love Camicazi so much.

Laney:

I like the books better. The books have more adventure because there's more of them. Also, Toothless can talk and is funny.

The books are much funnier than the movie. I like all the characters. I like Zigarastica and Stoik and Hiccup and Camicazi the most. Hiccup is the main character. He is a very small, ordinary looking boy. He is not like the other Hairy Hooligans because he actually thinks instead of just bashing things and yelling and screaming. He can speak Dragonese which means he can talk to dragons. He's also nice to the dragons instead of just screaming at them.

My favorite of the books is How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse because it really shows how Hiccup can stand up for his friend, Fish Legs. Hiccup is very loyal.

Toothless is Hiccup's dragon. He is disobedient, not all the time, but sometimes loyal. He's lazy. Once he did a poo poo in a helmet, but it was a bad guy's helmet. I think he loves Hiccup but he doesn't always show it. Toothless is really funny.

While the movie has almost nothing to do with the books, it does have the same name and Hiccup is also very skinny and small. I still enjoyed the movie, but compared to the books it's just the big pile of poo poo in the bad guy's helmet.

Beauty and the Beast

Yesterday, Meg and Laney went to see Beauty and the Beast.

Let's face it, with the possible exception of Tiana and Mulan, Disney princesses are remarkably anti-feminist. Their beauty is their most important (and sometimes their only) aspect. Meg really hates this about Disney princesses. But, she has also long been fond of Beauty and the Beast despite this. She loved that Belle is odd because she is bookish. And she loved that Belle was so brave and kind. And, sweet FSM, when Jerry Orbach sang "Be Our Guest," all bets were off.

But watching this movie with her eight and a half year old daughter, made her look at it in a different light. And this morning there was a conversation. Here's a transcript:

The Conversation

Meg: So, what'd you think?

Laney: I liked it. I liked that Belle liked to read. I thought that the candle (Lumiere) was funny. The music was pretty nice. The Beast was nice to Belle.

Meg [deciding to skip over the whole "nice" thing and go straight to the hypothetical she'd been noodling on since watching the movie]: Let me ask you this, what if the movie was about a strong, handsome boy who preferred reading to things like hunting or playing sports and he ended up as a captive in a castle which was run by a female Beast; a huge, scary woman who was all covered with hair - do you think that there could be a movie like that?

Laney: That wouldn't make sense because boys usually like pretty girls. Boys and girls are different.

Meg: So why did Belle like the Beast?

Laney: Either it was because he was kind or it was because the library - probably choice 1 (the kindness). He was sweet to her."

Meg: But he held her prisoner.

Laney: But instead of the dungeon, he gave her that nice room with an actual bed and not a lump of straw.

Meg: Hmmm... well, what about the Beast's terrible temper.

Laney: When Belle was around he tried his hardest to control his temper.

Meg [desperately wondering if it's just Disney or the world at large or some huge, gaping flaw in parenting that resulted in her darling girl accepting such toxic realities. She goes back to the easiest of the questions]: Would Daddy still love me if I were big and fat and all covered in hair?

Laney: Yeah because he loves you for who you are and because you're married.

Meg: So why couldn't a handsome boy fall in love with a girl who was big and mean and all covered in hair for who she was.

Laney: Because he wouldn't know who she really was.

Meg: Well, in Beauty and the Beast, Belle didn't love the Beast right away. She fell in love with him after he was kind to her. Do you think that could happen in my alternate story of the big, mean girl Beast and the handsome boy?

Laney, dubiously: Maybe.

Meg: You sound real dubious. Do you think that girls are supposed to be pretty and boys don't have to be handsome?

Laney [objection! Leading]: I didn't say that.

Meg [I'll rephrase]: Is it possible that a handsome boy could fall in love with a big, mean, hairy lady?

Laney, Uh, yeah... I guess... actually no, he couldn't because you said mean. The Beast wasn't mean to Belle. He gave her the actual room.

Meg: Because he gave her the room that made it OK to not let her leave?

Laney: Listen, it wasn't his choice that she leaves or not.

Meg: Yes it was.

Laney: She could run away without him knowing.

Meg: So it's Belle's responsibility to run away and not the Beast's responsibility for holding his girlfriend captive?

Laney: Actually, I guess he was keeping her captive. But it was a nice place. You should take me to that library. I'm going to go play iCarly.

In Conclusion

Meg still loves "Be Our Guest." but, after this conversation, found her lingering fondness for the movie diminished to the point of non-existence. This is a movie that teaches little girls that:

- You can cure a man's temper by being sweet

- Holding a girl captive is a mild to moderate malfeasance

- Men get to be mean and ugly but girls don't

Meg is frankly disturbed by the whole thing. And Laney ran off before she had a chance to talk about the class issues in the film (it's always bugged Meg that the movie leaves unquestioned that the staff be punished for the arrogance of their employer).

And yet, not for nothing, The Little Mermaid is so much worse.

Our children (note: this stuff is as bad for boys as it is for girls) consume so many toxic notions of femininity in pop culture. They won't go away - but as parents we can keep on making them question these perceived realities. After a few generations of questions, maybe they'll go away.

In Which We Disagree About iCarly

Laney discovered iCarly a few months ago and has been a passionate devotee ever since. Meg is less enthralled. Let's start with Laney. She says...

iCarly is one of my favorite TV shows. It is funny. iCarly is about three kids who do a web show that has comedian stuff on it... like REALLY funny. And if you don't know what "comedian" means, it means "a person who tells jokes in front of an audience." They have a web show part and each episode has two other stories happening. I think the web show stuff is funnier. I think my favorite two clips from the web show are when they pumped air into Freddie's pants or when they were swinging on swings debating on which one was more important, pudding or legs.

I don't care about Sam and Freddie being girlfriend and boyfriend. iCarly isn't about romantic relationships, it is about laughing and doing funny stuff and also sharing a neighbor's apple with them (I just said that to make some people laugh).

Sam is (most of the time) kind of mean to Freddie. Yet, Carly is (most of the time) with Sam and Sam isn't mean to Carly. Sam and Carly are good friends. And Carly and Freddie are good friends. Yet, if you consider, on Sam's birthday, Freddie said "I still think of you and me, Sam, as really good friends." I don't get that at all.

I that legs are more important than pudding. Vote here, people!

Now let's hear from Meg:

First a note about my personal TV/parenting philosophy: I'm disinclined to forbid Laney from watching things that I disapprove of. I find that banning things just make them more exotic, hence more appealing. I learned this from the great Bratz Doll embargo of 2006. Instead, if she wants to watch it, I'll watch it with her and then bore her to death with endless questions about why she likes it and endless speeches about why she shouldn't like it. This is one of Laney's favorite things about watching TV with me.

Now, iCarly. There are some things that I like. I like that it's about purportedly funny girls. I like how consistently it passes the Bechdel test. I like that these girls have a solid friendship based on their goofy senses of humor. These are things I like. These are the only things that I like.

In a nutshell, the prevailing iCarly ethos seems to be that some people are special and gifted enough that they are entitled to be jerks. I've never seen an ancillary character show up without being exposed as somehow beneath the attention of the iCarly crew or deserving of their derision. Everyone outside of the principals is dull and dim-witted. And because everyone else in the world is dull and dimwitted, it's OK for the iCarly crew to behave like utter jerkwads.

Take, for example, Spencer's response when a woman denies him a professional courtesy. He attempts to bribe her with "How about dinner with me? That's GOT to sound good to you." In another episode, Spencer says he has to leave to meet a date. "Who?" asks Carly. "The social worker," he replies. "Oh, she's gross. She'll wait," respond Carly and Sam in unison.

This is the thing that worries me about Laney watching the show - that she'll somehow internalize this notion that it's OK to be mean if you're smart enough, or funny enough, or good looking enough.

Fortunately, whenever Laney says something sarcastic or mean, I can respond, "I think you get that from iCarly. Keep it up and you're not going to get to watch it anymore." And since Laney mostly loves the show for moments like the great legs v. pudding debate, she's cool with that.

And, it's legs. Legs are clearly more important than pudding. Laney's father disagrees.

Hello

Welcome to Kids Kritiques, a blog by Laney (the daughter) and Meg (the mother). Laney and Meg like to read books, watch television and go to movies and often find that their opinions of the books, movies and TV shows are somewhat divergent. For example: The Smurfs. Meg was surprised that its sheer terribleness was unmitigated by the presence of Neil Patrick Harris (whom she adores). Laney, on the other hand, thought it was OK.

Laney is eight years old, and a third grader at Suder Montessori School. Her favorite TV show is iCarly. She enjoys chapter books (Meg has urged Laney to discuss which chapter books she particularly enjoys, but Laney doesn't want to get pigeon-holed). Her favorite movie is Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets.

Meg is not eight years old and has not been a third grader for many years. Her favorite TV show is Community... or Parks and Recreation. Meg also enjoys chapter books, and is less loathe to be pigeonholed so she'll call out Lonesome Dove, Middlemarch and Charlotte's Web among her favorites. Meg thinks Hop is the worst movie ever made with the possible exception of Swept Away. She also likes the Harry Potter movies almost as much as the books.

In this blog, Laney and Meg will discuss various bits and pieces of kid-oriented pop culture and our often disparate takes on them. Tomorrow we shall tackle iCarly. Laney says "BOOM". Meg says, "oh, for crying out loud."