Im reminiscing about my favourite childhood movies...
OH Gosh, I’ll not only be showing my age, but I’ll be
disclosing the depth of my absurd childish tendencies, well into my 4th
decade of living.
The story centres around a 12 year old boy called Jimmy
(played by Jack Wild, the boy with the Strange British accent) who wags school one
day, only to find himself kidnapped by a wicked witch who wants to steal the
diamond encrusted talking flute called Freddie(pronounced FWEDDY), when he lands on
an Island that has talking trees and talking magical spell books.
And a dragon for a Mayor.
As a four year old, it didn’t ever once enter my mind that
any of this was anything but a fantastic story that sparked my imagination, got
me singing along (I still know all the words), and began a lifelong obsession
of trying to track down the record. (mine was melted in a window when I took
it to school for show n tell in 1972)
I’m having a bit of a laugh here today, looking at this
movie through adult eyes, absolutely gobsmacked and profoundly thankful for the
gift of childlike innocence.
In today’s politically correct, nanny state society,
this movie would not have gotten past the story board stage for fear of GASP…
promoting such wild ideas.
Let’s start with Jimmy, the boy I had a crush on for most of
my childhood…(that’s before I saw Billy Mummy, and before I discovered Michael
Jackson) ok, so I have a thing for boys
who are not quite normal, who live in fantasy worlds and refuse to grow
up…projection much???? Maybe
Jimmy forgets that he is even supposed to go to school…OH
SCHOOL””…!!!. Promptly wags school, is clumsy, gets teased,
ostracized, is an outcast…
In today’s world of overzealous diagnosis, Jimmy would more
than likely be on serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, lithium, Ritalin or any number
of medications to control hallucinations, and unruly behavior. He’d promptly be labelled with a number of
disorders…ADHD, schizophrenia, Goodness knows what else…
I seriously wonder what kind of affect this movie actually
had on my young impressionable mind.
What messages was I learning? How
much of it did I take into my adult life???
Well, from what I can remember, I saw it as the Bible on how
to live life.
School most definitely was boring, and I could relate to the
mind lapses “OH SCHOOL” !!!????
I thought school was NOT a place conducive to learning, and
that maths was NOT necessarily going to teach me how to learn some of the more
important lessons I would have to face in my teenage and adult years. Like, figuring out that you are somehow
DIFFERENT from everybody else, you don’t fit in.
I was always comforted by the lament of the witches
and their song Different. Celebrating
diversity, and teaching that in life, it’s not about conforming to please, or
to be someone you clearly ARE NOT.
Rather, it’s about finding like-minded folk to be around, and thus
lessening those feelings of being alone because you are not the same.
“coz I’d rather be different, than be the same” It became my anthem.
Living Island is a very tolerant place. A most amazing place. With hippy trees for Peace and Love…
“Living here in harmony and hope someday, we hope someday,
the whole world will live this way”
It also taught me to call on the Angels to stamp out any
evil I felt in my life, and that good will always outweigh evil, selfish,
greedy manipulators. When I was bullied,
I called in my own Angel Raid.
It was politically incorrect on every level, it would not pass censorship for children by
todays standards, and yet, I have no problems allowing my 10 year olds watching
this gem of a movie, with an underlying message of LOVE, and TOLERANCE.
The fact that the witches look like a bunch of drag Queens, on a cane toad hallucinogenic trip dancing…
no… floating… is no turn off to me… I
want that to be their normal. It takes
all kinds to make up this world.
Bless this movie, and it’s wonderful message, and soundtrack
I remember this well... even tho I was more of a "Wacky Races" guy. Thanks for the stroll, Tee!
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