Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Tell Me About The Rabbits
I was Googling around looking for an outlet to sell my "General Woundwort Lives" button that I purchased when I saw the movie "Watership Down" back in 1978. I stopped collecting buttons over a decade ago but have held on to most of my collection, figuring they would be worth something someday.
Over the years, I'd remembered "Watership Down" as having been a tad too "misty-moisty," "fair maiden" and "Man Is Evil" for my liking. The music was by Art Garfunkel, for cryin' out loud!
So today I saw a lot of fan pages ("Find out what your name means in Lapine!") and fanfic, but also this study guide that summarized the story and made me remember what was good about the book and the movie.
The tagline that was on the movie posters: "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and when they catch you, they will kill you." I loved that tagline. The constant flight of the rabbits and the warren being gassed always gave the story Holocaust overtones to me. Rabbits: The Chosen People.
I'd found the rabbit language a kind of cutesy device, but as soon as I heard the rabbit word for droppings, my mind worked overtime imagining the possible uses it could be put to, and as the book went on, I wasn't disappointed. (It's also the name of a popular blog.)
General Woundwort could be any totalitarian dictator from Hitler and Stalin to the Ayatollah. And the warren of snares, where rabbits become dangerously complacent, could be any warren of cubicles in a large corporation. Sure, they fatten you up, but...
And I did sniffle a little at the Art Garfunkel song. Also at the end.
I don't know if I'd go out of my way to rent "Watership Down," but if my husband were channel-surfing and I heard British voices saying "Hazel" or "Fiver" or "hraka," I'd definitely walk into the living room and tell him, "Watership Down! Let's watch this if there's nothing on you really have to see." And I would take the book out of the library again, maybe every few years.
But I'm still selling the button, so let me know if you're interested.
Over the years, I'd remembered "Watership Down" as having been a tad too "misty-moisty," "fair maiden" and "Man Is Evil" for my liking. The music was by Art Garfunkel, for cryin' out loud!
So today I saw a lot of fan pages ("Find out what your name means in Lapine!") and fanfic, but also this study guide that summarized the story and made me remember what was good about the book and the movie.
The tagline that was on the movie posters: "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and when they catch you, they will kill you." I loved that tagline. The constant flight of the rabbits and the warren being gassed always gave the story Holocaust overtones to me. Rabbits: The Chosen People.
I'd found the rabbit language a kind of cutesy device, but as soon as I heard the rabbit word for droppings, my mind worked overtime imagining the possible uses it could be put to, and as the book went on, I wasn't disappointed. (It's also the name of a popular blog.)
General Woundwort could be any totalitarian dictator from Hitler and Stalin to the Ayatollah. And the warren of snares, where rabbits become dangerously complacent, could be any warren of cubicles in a large corporation. Sure, they fatten you up, but...
And I did sniffle a little at the Art Garfunkel song. Also at the end.
I don't know if I'd go out of my way to rent "Watership Down," but if my husband were channel-surfing and I heard British voices saying "Hazel" or "Fiver" or "hraka," I'd definitely walk into the living room and tell him, "Watership Down! Let's watch this if there's nothing on you really have to see." And I would take the book out of the library again, maybe every few years.
But I'm still selling the button, so let me know if you're interested.
