I am reading Watership Down for the second time ever. I'm aware that it's a classic and an easy read, but I've always been wary about it. Maybe because, for about 25 years now, it's been attached to vaguely remembered childhood trauma.
When I was about 4 or 5, I was shown the 1978 movie version (I want to say by my father, but it could have been either parent). What I remember is the scary stuff: rabbits killing rabbits, dogs killing rabbits, and (I think) a cat killing rabbits. Basically, lots of bunny blood-- in a cartoon! I woke up in bed that night crying, bawling something along the lines of "but some of the good bunnies died!" when my parents came to see what was wrong. Nowadays, I don't mind some gore in my movies (Tarantino, anyone?), but back then it was quite the shock indeed!
So I haven't watched Watership Down since. I didn't touch the book until I was 18, even after years of prompting and well-meaning literary suggestions. And you know what? I liked it. It wasn't as scary as I remembered it (recently a friend/coworker said they added bunnies to the movie for extra carnage, so that explains something). Even though I hadn't opened it in over a decade, I like the book even better during my current reading. I hope hope hope that my students like it when I assign it soon.
But then there issue of the movie. Do I show it in class, and revisit that night? Do I confront my childhood fears of lapine slaughter? We shall see. But yes, my longstanding prejudices against the book version of Watership Down have finally been purged.
No comments:
Post a Comment