children's stories
This is only a half thought out thought right now, but I am throwing it out anyway.
I've been reading *a lot* of kids books recently. (yeah, no kidding). Anyway, a recent hit is Beatrix Potter - the stories, and yay, youtube, because someone has posted some of the BBC animations and the 2007 London ballet. Ian loves the transgression of the two bad mice dancing their way through mayhem in a doll's house.
The thing is, I've always thought of Potter as "fluffy bunny stories"; that is, trivial.
Now, is it because I am reading them as a parent? a historian? I see them a lot differently. As a historian, I recognize some of the Victorian class and other social references, and she can be pretty caustic about them. As a parent, I am really surprised to see just how scary they are under the surface of cute bunnies. Parents are murdered, irrelevant, well-meaning but useless, or abandoning. The larger world is unknown and dangerous, the adults threatening and often murderous.
So *why* did I think these were fluffy bunny stories? As kid, I thought much like Peter "yeah, yeah, he was put in a pie by Mr. McGregor, get on with the story". Now, I think, "your dad was murdered by your next door neighbour for theft, and you are going *where*?! to do *what*?!!"
I've been reading *a lot* of kids books recently. (yeah, no kidding). Anyway, a recent hit is Beatrix Potter - the stories, and yay, youtube, because someone has posted some of the BBC animations and the 2007 London ballet. Ian loves the transgression of the two bad mice dancing their way through mayhem in a doll's house.
The thing is, I've always thought of Potter as "fluffy bunny stories"; that is, trivial.
Now, is it because I am reading them as a parent? a historian? I see them a lot differently. As a historian, I recognize some of the Victorian class and other social references, and she can be pretty caustic about them. As a parent, I am really surprised to see just how scary they are under the surface of cute bunnies. Parents are murdered, irrelevant, well-meaning but useless, or abandoning. The larger world is unknown and dangerous, the adults threatening and often murderous.
So *why* did I think these were fluffy bunny stories? As kid, I thought much like Peter "yeah, yeah, he was put in a pie by Mr. McGregor, get on with the story". Now, I think, "your dad was murdered by your next door neighbour for theft, and you are going *where*?! to do *what*?!!"