Small Beings: The Borrowers aka The Secret World of Arrietty

 

Did anyone else here adore The Borrowers as a child? It's probably no surprise that I hunted them and don't know how many I read from the series since that kind of information wasn't a few computer clicks away back in the dark ages. What was available in my school library, I read, the end. I know none ever lived up to the first which is bargain priced in ebook for $1.59 right now on Amazon so I had get it although I still have a paper edition, too.

Anyway, a new movie based on the book is being released here after its original release in Japan, so yes, there is an anime influence. Now it's The Secret World of Arrietty which I am not so sure is more magical that The Borrowers, but that's me. I  am not the target audience anyway.

Jerry Griswold, recent presenter at Grimm Legacies, has an article in the Los Angeles Times to go along with the movie, 'Arrietty,' 'The Borrowers' and the appeal of all things small. Thumbelina and other fairy tale tinies are mentioned, so it fits here, right? Right?

Kids understand how size correlates with power. Adults talk over their heads. At McDonald's, they can't see over the counter to order and they can't pay for a meal with their own credit card. Indeed, restaurants kindly provide high chairs and booster seats in the same way they provide wheelchair access. When Tom Hanks magically changes from a kid into an adult and gets his own apartment and a job on Madison Avenue, the movie is called "Big." Likewise linking size and power, billionaire Leona Helmsley famously said, "Only the little people pay taxes."

That's not to say small fry can't take advantage of their size. That rascal Peter Rabbit goes places where the portly Mr. McGregor can never pursue him. The diminutive Stuart Little does a favor by slipping into a sink drain to recover a lost wedding ring. And Tom Thumb and Jack (once he climbs the beanstalk) are tricksters who have their way with the humongous.

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This is the world the Borrowers inhabit: where a drop of water is a pending threat to those below, where a ticking clock causes the floor to vibrate and where tissue paper is stiff and loud. It is the same world where Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina is "pelted" by a snowflake and where E.B. White's mouse-sized Stuart Little must manhandle a straw when proffered a drink. A change of scale makes us see the ordinary with different eyes.

Oh, children and a few of us adults do love to read about things smaller than us, don't we? If anything, Griswold's article reminded me of some beloved books from my youth.

And while we are here, in case you haven't seen it, here's the movie trailer:

Advertising: Nike and 7 League Boots

Nike VC, with a new Shax System. Now at City Sport

Agency: JWT, Paris, France
Creative Director: Pascal Manry
Art Director: Ahmed El Zoghlami
Copywriter: Hadi Hassan
Illustrators: Gustave Dore & Ahmed El Zoghlami
Published: March 2007

Via Ads of the World. Now this is one I can't imagine ever being used in the US. But in France where Dore's work is better known to the public? Okay. The original image, by the way, is "Hop O' My Thumb Succeeds in Pulling off One of the Giant Ogre's Seven League Boots" by Gustave Doré.

Esben and the Witch...The Band

I had heard of this band somewhere before rather recently--perhaps a reader email or on the SurLaLune Discussion board or somewhere completely random, I just don't remember. Then I forgot about them. I do that. I bombard myself with information and, yes, so much slips through the many cracks in my brain. Thus this blog, actually. I'm trying to preserve more of this information in one place and share along the way.

Last week serendipity led me to this article about the band on The Quietus website: Esben & The Witch Interview: From Aeschylus To The South Downs.

Now for those of you who are unaware, Esben and the Witch is a fairy tale from Denmark and was included in Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book. It is also classified as Aarne-Thompson 327B: The Small Boy Defeats the Ogre of which Hop o' My Thumb is perhaps the most famous variant. Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the Beanstalk are closely related. I knew this obscure information that will never appear on a game show, so when I saw the name of the band, I had to learn more this time, leading me to the article. Yes, you can capture my attention by naming something after an obscure fairy tale.

They explain the name choice in the article:

How did the name come about? It sounds like a fairy story about a posh girl getting caught up with a crone during a residential gymkhana. Where does the fairy tale on your MySpace come from?

It's a Danish fairytale popularised by Andrew Lang. The vivid imagery and ideas it contains have become intrinsically linked with our ethos.

Were you not worried that the fairytale implications were a little twee?

Not particularly. In our eyes Fairytales are far more melancholic and enigmatic than they first appear. We perceive tales such as this one as vehicles for interesting and sinister thoughts disguised as something palatable for children.

You can also sample their music and be immersed in their visual aesthetic on their MySpace page: Esben and the Witch. My husband--our household's music afficiando--loved their music, comparing them to Bat for Lashes, Björk and even some Jim Morrison after a few minutes. I always find comparisons difficult, but we loved the sound and think it is quite aptly self-described as "Melodramatic Popular Song / Electronica / Gothic." So if that appeals, you might enjoy it, too.

The band appears to be pretty new so downloads of their music are almost impossible to find. They have several streaming on their MySpace page and perhaps more will become available for actual downloading if word of mouth helps their fan base grow to a marketable size. So essentially this entire post is a teaser for something difficult to obtain. But come on, aren't you impressed with a UK band that names itself after a fairy tale?