For this the sixteenth installment of the CineTV Contest, we are required to write about a movie that most represents kindness. Below is my entry.
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“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.”
My choice of film is the 1973 classic animated tale, Charlotte’s Web. In this adaptation of E.B. White's 1952 Newbery Award-winning children’s novel, kindness is the dominant theme. And this kindness is expressed through the many bonds that are formed in this film. First, there is the friendship between Wilbur the pig – a runt, and Fern, Farmer Zuckerman’s daughter, who pleaded with her father to spare Wilbur when she found out he was going to do away with him.
After persuading her father, Fern took Wilbur into her care and developed a very close bond with him. One can imagine how gutted she was when her father decided that he should be sold to her uncle, Farmer Zuckerman. “He is no longer a pet,” said the father to a crying Fern.
But it was on Zuckerman’s farm that we experienced some of the greatest acts of kindness ever on film. The friendship that was developed between Wilbur and Charlotte the spider, the creature who saved him from being turned in Christmas dinner. When she finds out that Wilbur was going to be slaughtered, Charlotte wove a series of webs with words written on them. Words like Terrific, Humble, and Some Pig, woven over the entrance of his sty made Wilbur a sensation and thus he was saved from the butcher's ax.
Like many fans of this children’s classic, Charlotte saving Wilbur’s life is the most interesting part of the film. As a predator, much of Charlotte’s life is spent killing to survive. With her web as a weapon, she traps many an insect to whet her palate. To think that she used that same web to capture the hearts of people and turn Wilbur into a sensation shows how an instrument of harm can be converted into a tool of kindness. This approach takes us from the normal two- dimensional black and white assumptions of what constitutes natural proclivities and informs us that between dualities are the gray areas that film if it is to have depth and meaning, will take us. Charlotte’s Web takes us there.
And within these gray areas, we are so often mesmerized by the wonderful words of Charlotte. A more erudite character one can scarcely find. If I were to list and analyze my favorite quotes of hers, this piece would become a book. Charlotte’s words are what I love the most in this film.
This scene in particular, to this day, stops me in my tracks whenever I watch it. On her dying web, Wilbur asked why she had been so kind to him. His response was, “By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
It continues to resonate with me because it shows the power of kindness. So often we engage in quid pro quo relationships, not realizing that some of the greatest encounters in life have nothing to do with reciprocity. But that the act of doing for others is a reward in itself. And while I might not be as generous as Charlotte, one tries to employ a similar philosophy when dealing with the people in one's life.
These days, it is often hard to find people and things to be hopeful about. However, Charlotte’s acts of kindness show significant interpersonal relationships can be, and how friendships can develop between the unlikeliest of creatures.
I will conclude, by quoting one of Charlotte’s last lines. Just before she died she assured Wilbur that he would have a long wonderful life:
“These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, then the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zuckerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur — this lovely world, these precious days…”
This and Charlotte’s many wonderful quotes were delivered through Debbie Reynolds’ voice which was as soothing as it was captivating. And though her role was that as a voice-over, her execution of this following line is undoubtedly my most beloved moment in film,
“After all, what’s a life anyway? We’re born, we live a little, we die.”
If you are interested. Here is a direct link to the competition.
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