labellementeuse: a girl sits at a desk in front of a window, chewing a pencil (Default)
worryingly jolly batman ([personal profile] labellementeuse) wrote2007-09-28 10:08 am

(no subject)

Hi y'all, I have a quick question.

We've been doing "Matilda" in English at the moment, which has been really fun. Some things people have suggested in terms of the kind of film/text it is is as a part of a kind of "children's noir" or "family black comedy", texts that are darker, more sophisticated, and much more intertextual than books or films for children are generally considered to be - children reading/watching these texts have some understanding of stereotype, parody, they understand the conventional storyline and they also understand when the conventional storyline is deliberately being twisted. A really good example of this is A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is another good one. I was wondering if anyone else had any examples? it's a really interesting idea and I'd like to look at it in more detail, maybe for an essay I'm writing.
ext_2569: text: "a straight account is difficult, so let me define seven wishes" image: man on steps. (sad robots)

[identity profile] labellementeuse.livejournal.com 2007-09-30 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
Hee, Millie & school stories! Heh.

I specifically didn't include WFM because I felt that it was much more straightforward than The Amazing Maurice. I possibly need to re-read it. I'm really thinking of stuff that expects a lot more, a broader, awareness from a still-young audience - Pratchett's work for adults, especially the City Watch and Death books, would fit there, but obviously those aren't children's books. Hm.

The class is only so-so, and this was a five-minute sideline, but I can't stop thinking about it! I'm intensely interested in it.