Life through Emma Darcy's eyes
A couple days ago, I was sitting on the couch, musing over the title of a book, and I muttered: "Something's rotten." Without a pause, and in a thoughtful tone, Emma Darcy answered "Mr. Slope." I was surprised at her apt (if unintentional) insight into that morally rotten character from this movie.
Next, we were eating graham crackers with chocolate dip, and Emma Darcy hadn't been served any. She demanded: "Give me chocolate!" Purring Piggy responded by dipping her cracker into The Queen's chocolate and giving it back to her. Emma Darcy burst into dramatic tears, and put her head in her hands. When asked what was wrong with the chocolate, she responded (as if it was a perfectly natural sentiment, and one that should be obvious): "[I] not want The Queen's"
On Friday, when we went to see the science documentaries, one of them was a 3D ocean film. There were a couple frightening parts, especially for a 2 1/2 year old. After the movie, I asked her if she liked it (the rest was very cool). She put her finger to her lip in a thoughtful way, then turned her head on its side and said very decidedly: "Not really."
And just this morning, she had a stuffed animal piggy, and was bugging Purring Piggy who was on the computer.
"Mom, give me snack!"
Purring Piggy said no.
"Have snack please?"
No answer.
(thinking to try a different tack) "Piggy wants snack!"
No answer.
I asked if I could hold the piggy. She let me, but then added as a caveat: "[If] you have pig, me get snack."
And though this isn't about Emma Darcy, it fits in this post better than any other. Purring Piggy, Clankeeper, and I were discussing Schoolhouse Rock, which are animated music videos that teach science, history, math, etc. Purring Piggy and I think they are very educational (watching them again with The Queen and Emma Darcy, I realized that I learned many things for the first time there), but Clankeeper did not. One of the songs is the Preamble to the Constitution, and Purring Piggy said: "There are many people our age who only know the Preamble from Schoolhouse Rock." Clankeeper responded: "I didn't watch Schoolhouse Rock and I know the Preamble." When requested to recite it, he responded: "We the People, in order to form a more perfect union...yada yada yada." We laughed.
And lastly, The Queen, Emma Darcy, and I were listening to Wuthering Heights: The Musical (which is one of the few recent musicals based off of books that I enjoyed), and during the track "Cathy", The Queen asked what "that boy" was singing about. I told her that he was singing about Cathy. She asked again, puzzled, "But why is he singing about Teddy?"
4 comments:
Wuthering Heights - the Musical? Wasn't the book depressing enough without them singing about it? It gives me shivers to think about Heathcliff singing about Cathy - ugh!
Disclaimer - My only insight into Wuthering Height was in a movie version that MerryK got from the library, which she said was fairly accurate to the book. What an incedibly depressing story! I can't imagine how depressing the actual story must be. Who would have thought to make a musical out of it? Someone with WAY too much time on their hands!
Wuthering Heights is only really depressing if you view Cathrine and Heathcliff as the "heroes." If they are the villains, then it's not so bad.
The ending is actually kind of happy, but I think the musical left out the end of the book.
They are the villains. I think that's the point. ;) Edgar, Hareton, and Cathy Linton are the real heroes, IMO. That's the one important point where the film is at fault (Masterpiece Theatre; the best adaptation): it spends too much time on Heathcliff and Catherine. The book is excellently written, though, and beautiful in parts, as well as being almost totally original, so I like it a lot. I guess I must not be easily depressed, either. ;-)
(Yes, the musical left off the end of the book. But it's very beautiful music, and fits the book very well. I really like the song that Edgar and Catherine sing together.)
I think they are the villains, too, but a whole lot of people view them as the heroes of the story. If you view them as the heroes, it's really depressing.
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