As a rule, I very rarely go back to re-read books, or re-watch films, at least not within a couple of years. Years of library borrowing has meant I have read hundreds more books than sit on my bookshelf, or on my kindle. Our DVD collection isn’t vast, and those we have don’t get watched that often. However, those books I have bought and read I am reluctant to let go of, even though I know I may never read them again.
A large part of this is because there are always more books, or films which I want to read or see, before going back to ones I already know the story of, however much I loved it the first time. I have a shelf full of books saved from when I was a girl, Little House on the Prairie, Ann of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Ballet Shoes, Enid Blyton… I keep hold of them mostly because of the memories and times they represent, but now I have a growing girlie myself I hope Phoebe might enjoy them one day, or both of us together.
Of late I have been forced into another way of thinking by Phoebe, as although the repetition of books I had expected- her favourite at the moment being Za Za’s baby brother-films have been a whole different story. Since I found Tangled at a charity shop for a small price and decided to get it as a treat for Phoebe and a break (or so I thought!) from her then favourite, Enchanted, she’s hardly wanted to watch anything else. We were watching Enchanted on the odd occasion, when feeding Simeon or as a post nap grump activity, but I must have watched Tangled over 100 times in the past four months. We quickly got wise to starting it near the end, so that TV time is still kept low!
It has surprised me that despite my normal unwillingness to return to the same familiar story, that I am not actually sick of it yet. Probably partly to do with my love of the songs, and generally my initial enjoyment of an interesting adaptation of a familiar tale, but there are still new things I notice each time we see it. We are not yet at the stage where I can recite the words, thankfully! Phoebe now asks to read the Rapunzel story from her fairy tale book by putting her hand to her mouth as if she was the witch, and calling ‘puh!’ (She hasn’t got the ra-puh-nzel thing figured out yet!)
The latest Disney we have watched is Frozen, the other week, but I actually feel like I need to watch that another, oh, fifty? times or so before I can adequately comment or contrast it to Tangled. I genuinely don’t feel like the four times I have seen it are enough for me to fully appreciate it! Yet another surprise of parenthood, Phoebe is teaching me that a story can be appreciated multiple, or hundreds of times, and not lose it’s initial charm. That maybe I don’t need to wait two, four, ten years before going back to a book I loved, so that I have forgotten most of it and it’s more like the first time, but that I could read the same one over and over if I wanted. Because some stories are worth returning to.
Tanya Littleberry says
Timothy can’t watch a full-length movie yet. He can watch a few short cartoons in a row – but gets bored, regardless…
Zoe Rose @ papillonroses says
Phoebe had barely any attention span for the TV before Tangled, 10 mins tops!