So, last night I had one of my more enlightening parental experiences. We didn't do anything spectacular, just sat home and watched a movie, but it was some of the most fun I've had in a long while.
We normally watch Wheel of Fortune during dinner. Shut up, you watch TV while you eat too. At least Wheel of Fortune can be passed off as a learning experience (or so I tell myself) and we do talk about the sounds each letter makes and he tried to read the words. He's 5, this is super educational people!
For some reason we ended up eating a late dinner and Wheel was over before we were finished, so I pulled up the guide and saw that The Wizard of Oz was coming on. I flipped the channel thinking it would get us through dinner and then I'd turn it. Wrong! He was fascinated! Fas-in-nat-ed! He had seen the Munchkinland set on the Great Movie Ride at Disney World, but never the movie itself. First he wanted to know why it was all in one color (silly me, he'd never seen a b&w movie before), then he wanted to know why that mean lady tried to take that girls dog away. He was incensed! He commented that if anyone ever tried to take his dogs away he'd call the Army and they'd be in serious trouble!
I cleared the dinner table and he moved over to the sofa, where he settled in to watch this crazy movie that went from one color to techni-color. He made several interesting observations that make mom proud (I actually started writing stuff down after a while, so I could share it with you lovely folks).
.
On the munchkins:
C: Mom, I think there's something wrong with those munckins.
Me: You do?
C: Yeah, they're weird. Something is really wrong there.
On Dorothy's house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East:
C: Did that girl kill that witch?
Me: Yes.
C: Is she going to get in trouble?
Me: No.
C: Well, if I killed somebody, I'd get in trouble.
Me: Yes, you probably would.
C: I think she needs to go to the bad chair.
On Glenda the Good Witch:
C: Why is she in that bubble?
Me: That's how she travels.
C: Is she sick?
Me: No. Why?
C: Sick people have to go in bubbles.
Me: How do you know?
C: I saw it on TV. At Gigi's house.
Me: Oookaaay then. Well, Glenda travels in a bubble.
C: If she's a witch she should be on a broomstick then, not in a bubble. It could pop and she could get hurt.
On the Scarecrow singing about needing a brain:
C: He's smarter than he looks.
Me: You think?
C: Yeah, he's good at rhyming.
Me: You're right. He is good at rhyming.
C: Yeah, we do that at school, but we're not that good. He must be pretty smart.
On the Tin Man:
C: How does he work if he doesn't have a heart?
Me: Um, well, he's kind of like a robot.
C: Why does he need a heart then?
Me: I don't know. So he can be kind, maybe?
C: I think he's already kind, he just doesn't know it yet.
On the Cowardly Lion (and Dorothy slapping him on the nose for growling at Toto):
C: Ooooh! He's not being very nice! I'd smack him on the nose too if he tried to bite my dogs. He's a big meanie.
Me: He's trying to act brave.
C: Picking on little dogs isn't nice.
Me: No, it's not.
C: It's not brave either.
Me: You're wise beyond your years, little man.
C: No I'm not, I'm just a kid.
On the Cowardly Lion song:
C: Why does he want to be king of the forest?
Me: They call lions king of the jungle, but he lives in a forest, so that's what he'd be king of.
C: Well, if I were king, I'd want to be king of a city, not a forest.
Me: Why?
C: So I could do stuff.
Me: Like what?
C: Go see movies and eat all the popcorn I want.
Me: Is that all a king does?
C: (thinks for a moment) I'd go to the museums too, and I'd touch the dinosaurs and mummies.
Me: Because you'd be king?
C: Uh-huh. If I were king, I could do that. But not if I lived in a forest.
On the flying monkeys:
Me: When mommy was a little girl, those monkeys used to scare me.
C: They did?
Me: Yes.
C: Did they scare the bejebers out of you?
Me: I guess they did.
C: Those monkey-birds are scary.
Me: Yes, they are.
C: Are you scared now?
Me: No.
C: Do you need me to hold you?
Me: If you want to. Are you scared?
C: Maybe a little. But they're not scaring the bejeebers out of me.
Me: It's okay to be scared. When I was a little girl I used to sit in Gigi's lap when I got scared of the monkeys.
C: How old is this movie?
On the trio beating up the "Oh-wee-oh. Wee-oh-oh" guards:
C: Did they kill them?
Me: No, I don't think so.
C: How do you know?
Me: I don't really, but I'm pretty sure they didn't.
C: But they could have.
Me: I suppose so.
C: I thought they were the good guys.
Me: They are. They're trying to save Dorothy.
C: If they're the good guys, why do they keep killing people?
Me: No idea. Watch the movie.
On Dorothy killing the Wicked Witch of the West:
C: There she goes again.
Me: What?
C: That girl killed that witch.
Me: She was a bad witch.
C: Is that girl in trouble now?
Me: Nope.
C: No bad chair?
Me: Nope.
C: I don't believe it.
On the Wizard giving out the "awards":
C: See, I knew it! That Scarecrow was smart!
Me: He sure was.
C: And the Tin Man was kind!
Me: Yes. You were right. And the Lion was brave all along.
C: Yeah, but he still picked on that little dog.
On Glenda telling Dorothy she had the power to go home all along:
C: What? She could use her shoes?
Me: I guess so.
C: She should have told her that before.
Me: Well, then we wouldn't have a movie.
C: I guess. (Pause) It was all about the magic red shoes.
Me: You should see if your red high tops are magic.
C: They're not.
Me: How do you know?
C: You bought them at Wal-Mart.
Me: And?
C: Mom, you can't buy magic at Wal-Mart.
On Dorothy waking from her dream:
C: You mean it wasn't real?
Me: No, it was all a dream.
C: That was a long dream.
Me: Yes it was.
C: Hey, that guys looks like the Scarecrow!
Me: He sure does!
C: He's not as smart though.
Me: Why do you say that?
C: He has to work. Don't you remember? We saw him earlier. He was working on the farm.
Me: Oh, yeah.
C: All the Scarecrow had to do was hang around.
Me: And that makes him smarter?
C: Well, he wasn't working.
Me: You're a genius.
There was ever so much more (I have 5 pages of notes), but these are the real highlights. Here's what I learned from watching the movie with him:
The munkins are weird, I'm old, hanging around on a post is better than working, I should really talk to my mom about what she lets him watch at her house, witches should travel on broomsticks not in bubbles, picking on small dogs is not brave, if you're going to be king, be king of a city where you can do stuff, you can't buy magic at Wal-Mart and Dorothy is a serial killer.
2 comments:
Snort (literally-- LeBatt's up the nose and everything). I see a career as a movie critic in C's future.
I love "you can't buy magic at WalMart". LOL!! Cute kid!
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