three Why wasn’t it called Bunsch of Munsch? This will bother us for eternity.
The Paperbag Princess
This story was a childhood favourite of ours. (Wasn’t all Munsch? But anyway.) I always remember it as having some very smart things to say about fairy tales.
If you’re not familiar with the tale, this one is about a princess who tries to save her prince from a dragon, except – oops, it burned up all her clothes. So she throws on a stylish paper bag and heads off to her man’s rescue.
But then he’s all “come back when you’re dressed like a princess”, so… she shrugs, ditches him, and befriends the dragon instead.
So we remember this one being pretty profound. What we didn’t remember was the hideously rapping dragon. (Watch at your own risk.)
50 Below Zero
So we threw on 50 Below Zero, because…
Anyway, we watched it. Turns out, that one’s about parents who force their kids to act like adults before they’re ready. By sleepwalking all over the house and nearly getting them both killed in arctic conditions.
With terrible music.
This house is going CRRAAAAAZZZZYYYYYYY!
Mortimer
Why is Munsch so poignant? Has it always been?
Mortimer is a child whose weary parents keep telling him to be quiet (even if he’s not actually the one making noise). So he gets louder, and louder, until the army and, literally, a nuclear warhead show up to apprehend him. Then he goes to sleep, because he’s just a kid being a kid.
With god-awful music.
Thomas’ Snowsuit
Thomas is being bullied and doesn’t want to wear his ugly snowsuit. But instead of telling his mom, “Mom, I’m being bullied because this snowsuit is ugly”, he just says NO. To her, his teacher, his principal, everyone. No one likes it.
At one point in his miserable song about ‘no’, he mentions that sometimes he tries to reason with adults, and it never works. So he just says no.
Seriously. What is this?
