Sunday, November 10, 2013

True observations about Brigadoon

Tonight I insisted on putting on Brigadoon instead of Treasure Planet. I billed it to Meg as a grown-up movie with singing and dancing and (just to make sure she was properly excited) said if she didn't like it now,  she would someday. She seemed okay with that and started a running commentary on it.

Me: "Those are the two guys this movie is about. Do you know where they are?"
Meg: "No."
"Scotland!"
"Scotland?! Dad has a story about Scotland!"
"Yeah! It's a good place."
"I wish we could visit Scotland, but it's not in Virginia."

Sadly true. Then some cows swam into view.

Meg: "And those are the cows this movie is about."
We had a brief digression on hairy cows or harry coos. Then Meg got to the essential question of any art analysis.
Meg: "Are there any dinosaurs in this movie?"

"The girl in red is the one getting married. The one in yellow is her sister."
"Is she getting married?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because... she hasn't found anyone to get married to yet."
"Maybe she could marry the guy singing Bonnie Jean."
There, she solved it. Note: if my bright three-year-old can predict the plot, your plot is not, um, twisty.

A minute later she sees them singing about heather together. "Hey, her sister found someone to marry!"
Yep.

Scene change.
"He's trying to make her go away so he can take a nap. He's tired."
"Why is he tired?"
"He was lost in the woods all night!"
"Is he a wood man?"
"No, he's an American."

The American who isn't a wood man: "If there's anything I hate, it's you. Any civilized person would be dead by now."
Meg, disapprovingly: "He's not kind."

"They're all going to the wedding? Are they all going to marry each other?"
"Well... the bride and groom are going to marry each other."

"Did he fall out of a tree?"
"Yeah, he fell out a tree because Jeff the American, the hunter, wasn't careful and he shot him!"
"He should be more careful next time. I'll be more careful when I shoot a monster--"
"YOU don't get a gun until you're older and we teach you how to use it!"
Maybe we need a new rule: no shooting monsters in the house.

"What's going on?"
"She's sad because he's going home to America and she has to say goodbye forever."
"Oh. Maybe she'll find someone else to marry."

"Is that the end?"

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