thoughts on thumbelina

I watched Thumbelina earlier this week while babysitting for a friend. I've always been fairly familiar with the film but it's been several years since I last actually watched it so my reactions were pretty fresh and I thought I'd share a few with you guys.

I'd forgotten how immediately the story jumps from meeting Cornelius to "Let Me Be Your Wings."

"Let me be your only love!"

I was kind of surprised at how uncomfortable this made me, like, woah girl! You just met this guy three seconds ago. Maybe we should slow down on the whole "will you meet my parents tomorrow?" thing. Or not. Yes, let's teach girls that they should basically agree to marry the first guy that gives them any attention. Super.

Fairy tale relationship pacing aside, though, the longer I watched the better I felt about the whole Cornelius thing - and that wasn't just because I'm crazy envious of his ride, because I am. But here's the thing: Cornelius is the only healthy relationship option in the whole film.

Let's go through the "suitors," shall we? We shall, because it's my blog.

Grundel the Toad

because who wouldn't jump at the chance to marry that? [gags]

Grundel is the perfect animated version of the infatuated, immature man-baby. He tells his mother that he wants to marry Thumbelina based on a two-second encounter that he wasn't actually a part of but he took as romantic interest on Thumbelina's part. Most girls have encountered a variation of this species at a party or bar. We don't know if kidnapping Thumbelina was Grundel's idea but even if it wasn't, he doesn't seem terribly concerned about his mother's actions. He treats Thumbelina like a present or a pet, with the attitude that because he loves her, she is his.

I'm just going to leave this here...

The most innocent-seeming of the suitors, Grundel is also the most obsessive. He tracks Thumbelina through the film in order to "bring her back" because he loves her [and his brothers made fun of him for basically not being able to keep a woman]. Thumbelina's needs and wants don't matter at all to him. He doesn't care that she wants to go home or what her dreams are or the fact that she repeatedly asserts that she loves Cornelius and he's coming back for her. Grundel wants her, so he will have her.

Berkeley Beetle

aw yeah, razzmatazz

Berkeley is a classic self-absorbed dude-bro - big man on campus who's most concerned with his own image and reputation and only cares about other people when they can boost these. He's a performer so he's attracted to Thumbelina's voice. When he begins talking to her, he's smooth and suave, feigning a willingness to do her a favor if she sings for him but when she doesn't immediately comply with his demands the conversation immediately escalates to him giving her orders and then completely by-passing her suggestions by kidnapping her. 

There's a lot of kidnapping in this movie, guys.

Berkeley, like Grundel and his family, makes an attempt to assimilate Thumbelina into his life by making her change something about herself [Grundel's family wanted to incorporate her into their way of life and "maybe make [her] blonde." Berkeley dresses her up like a beetle] But Berkeley only wants Thumbelina as long as she fits in with his life and lifestyle. When her disguise falls apart and, more importantly, when he sees his peers' reactions to her real appearance, Berkeley wastes no time in siding with the crowd that calls her ugly and gives her the boot with a parting "you'll get over me someday."

Thumbelina went along with Grundel and Berkeley [post kidnapping], however briefly, because of their attention and flattery. She almost ends up marrying Mr. Mole, however, out of despair.

Mr. Mole

Does anyone else think of Governor Ratcliffe when you see that picture? No? Just me? Well, moving right along.

Mr. Mole is a selfish, miserly collector that pays Ms. Field-mouse [whom Thumbelina is indebted to for saving her life] to convince Thumbelina [who has just been told that Cornelius is dead] to marry him so he can have her at his disposal as story-teller and singer [like the music box she stands on when she sings the story about the sun] under the guise of "companion." He consistently dismisses and derides her comments about loving the sun and living above ground - she is simply another object for him to collect and horde to himself. And, as Ms. Field-mouse puts it, Thumbelina should be grateful to receive the attentions of a man as wealthy and well-to-do as Mr. Mole, her own needs and wants are unimportant. The idea that she would say no to such a proposal is preposterous because what could anyone need aside from material comfort?

Let's jump back, now, to Cornelius:

wittle bby

Incidentally, if they ever did a live-action version of this film [yes, that would be weird since most of the characters are animals/insects] Chris Pine would have to be Cornelius.

I mean come ON

Anyway. To return to Cornelius, he's the only healthy relationship potential Thumbelina has in the film. Whereas the toads flatter her as a means of keeping her with them, the beetle flatters her only as long as he looks good as a result, and the mole literally can't even see her as a person since he's blind - Cornelius thinks she's beautiful because she is, regardless of her relationship to him or what she might think of him for saying it. The first three want her for her voice - it could boosts the toad family's fame, the beetle's own reputation, and provide diversion for the mole - and while Cornelius first comes across her as a result of her singing it's not the other value he sees in her. On top of that, he's the only one that even freaking listens to her and is invested in doing things for her. He literally sings "anything that you desire, anything at all - everyday I'll take you higher." Of all the suitors he's the only one interested in building her up. She tells him that she wishes she had wings? Well, girl, he'll get you wings because it's something you want in order to be a part of a group like her, rather than something he wants in order to turn her into something/someone else.

So yeah, if my future kids ever watch this movie I'm going to do my darndest to keep the focus off of the time-line issues of fairy tale romances but that flaw won't keep me from helping them learn the good lessons this story has to offer. Every woman out there has encountered at least two of the nasty suitors and a significant portion has had the misfortune to date at least one of them. Teaching girls what a healthy relationship is founded on involves showing them what qualifies as unhealthy/abusive/manipulative as well as what's good. If those bad examples come as animated animals/insects I'm fine with that.