The above image is from the 1971 Disney movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks starring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson. It's set in 1940 Britain during the Blitz and is about three children who are evacuated from London and sent to stay in Dorset. They end up in the care of Miss Eglantine Price an eccentric spinster who is taking a correspondence course to become a witch. She drives a motorcycle- not having mastered the broom yet- with the children tucked in her sidecar. Below is the scene of their first meeting:
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Friday night we watched the first season finale of "Road To Avonlea", Nothing Endures But Change which is, naturally, about change. Throughout the season Sarah has been living on the Island because her father- Blair Stanley- in Montreal has been embroiled in a court case, accused of embezzling funds. The case is now over and Blair has been acquitted. He immediately sets out for PEI and before long is in Avonlea. He arrives at King farm to find Sarah and the other children engaged in a snowball fight with Alec, laughing and shrieking happily. Sarah and her father have a joyous reunion, the happiness of which is tempered by the news that Blair intends to take Sarah back to Montreal immediately, first thing in the morning. Sarah obviously doesn't want to leave so soon, and Janet pulls Alec aside, whispering that he must talk Blair into staying in Avonlea longer. Alec tries, but Blair is determined not to stay any longer than absolutely necessary and it becomes obvious that this is because of the longstanding feud between him and Hetty. He takes Sarah to Rose Cottage so that she can pack her things, meeting Olivia and Jasper at the door, just returning from a photo shoot for the paper. Olivia, shocked, invites him into the parlour for tea while Hetty lurks in the kitchen, not wanting to interact with him. This changes when she hears Blair say that he's taking Sarah home in the morning; she bursts into the parlour and verbal fireworks ensue. All of the old grievances are dragged up, awful things are said, and the scene ends with Blair storming out to spend the night at King farm, ordering a devastated Sarah to be packed and ready to go in the morning. She runs to her room crying, while Hetty turns her fear induced anger on Olivia, unfairly blaming her for letting Blair into the house. Meanwhile back on King farm, Janet is hectoring Alec, telling him that as head of the family, he must talk to both Blair and Hetty and convince them to make peace for Sarah's sake. Alec tries reasoning with Blair but he's too angry to listen, so Alec then heads to Rose Cottage to talk to Hetty. She refuses to budge and Alec eventually loses his temper, telling her bluntly that she's going to lose Sarah for good, just as she lost Ruth. Sarah has been listening from the stairs, but pretends to be asleep when Hetty comes to check on her. She then climbs out the window, goes to King farm, and climbs in through the children's bedroom window (Felix and Andrew are bunking on Felicity and Cecily's floor so that Uncle Blair can have their room). Her plan is to stay in hiding until Hetty and Blair make up, so the children sneak her into the barn loft. The next morning Blair arrives at Rose Cottage to find Hetty and Olivia frantically searching for Sarah. He at first accuses them of hiding her but soon comes to his senses, realizing that Sarah has obviously run off. They go to King farm to check there... the children deny having seen Sarah, and everyone joins in the search. Hetty and Blair can't stop sniping at each other, Hetty saying this proves that Sarah doesn't want to go, and Blair saying that Hetty obviously isn't capable of taking care of Sarah. Eventually Alec catches the kids in the pantry filling a basket of food for Sarah and the truth comes out. Everyone rushes to the barn, where Sarah refuses to come down from the loft until her father and Hetty stop fighting. She tells them that they aren't being fair; she loves them both and they're trying to make her take sides and choose between them. While talking, Sarah leans against the loft window shutter, not realizing that it's unlatched; it flies open and she falls out, plummeting to the ground outside. Rushing out to find her there, spread-eagle and unconscious, they frantically send for the doctor. It turns out that she has a broken leg and a concussion. Sitting by Sarah's bed as she slumbers, Hetty and Blair realize that their endless fighting is to blame for this happening and finally bury the hatchet. It's obvious that Sarah won't be able to travel back to Montreal for a while, and Blair tells her that she can take whatever time she needs. He stays for an extended visit then returns to Montreal to rebuild his business and the season ends with it up in the air as to when Sarah will decide to leave Avonlea for Montreal. This is an excellent episode of Road To Avonlea, displaying what made the show so good: an ability to depict real, heartfelt emotion but with humorous- and sometimes downright ridiculous- moments thrown in. The most obvious "change" the title is referring to is Sarah's position. She's become a member of the family and community in Avonlea and is now facing being uprooted once again and returning to Montreal. She will be with her father, whom she loves, but deprived of her extended family- her uncle and aunts, and all her cousins. And, due to the animosity between Hetty and Blair, it seems that the bond will be forever severed. This feud between Hetty and Blair is one of long standing and, frankly, is mostly Hetty's fault. She blames him for taking her sister Ruth away from the Island and her subsequent death although this is clearly irrational. And, as we've seen on multiple occasions, Hetty is not one who easily admits to her mistakes, and she can hold grudges for years. She also deals with fear (ie. losing Sarah) by taking refuge in anger and lashing out, which we see her do at both Blair and Olivia. But of course, these behaviours merely exacerbate the problem, pushing away the people Hetty most fears losing. This doesn't let Blair off the hook though: he's quick to lose his temper, and by insisting that Sarah leave with him right away, he's completely ignoring the fact that Sarah loves her newly discovered family and it's going to hurt her to be ripped away from them so suddenly. Both he and Hetty are so wrapped up in their bitterness and resentment that they're not considering what their constant fighting is doing to Sarah. It's only when Sarah's hurt takes physical form that the two of them come to their senses and realize that they need to do what's best for her (and themselves) which is forgiving each other and uniting in their shared concern for her. This episode is also about the necessity of Hetty accepting that change is inevitable. Whether Sarah stays or goes, her relationship with Hetty will change as she gets older, becoming a teen and then an adult. More change is on the horizon as well, as it's obvious in this episode that the shy, tentative friendship between Olivia and Jasper is slowly and awkwardly but steadily progressing towards romance. Hetty can see this and it has led her to being rude, and just this side of hostile, towards Jasper. Yet if she can't bend and learn to accept that change happens and that isn't necessarily a bad thing, she risks making the same mistakes with Olivia- and Sarah- as she made with Ruth. As season one closes out, it remains to be seen whether or not the lessons Hetty's learned in this episode will leave a lasting impression, or if she'll slip back into her old controlling ways. Related Posts:The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost. G. K. CHESTERTON Well, yesterday was Canada Day although it never felt less like it. To be honest, I've never felt more disconnected from my country and its purported values. Sure, I've disagreed with governments before now- I haven't been a fan of any of them, to be honest- but never have I felt that our governing party was actually hostile towards me... I do now. I'm a Christian who believes in freedom of speech, the right to life for every individual regardless of their stage of life, freedom of religion, and equal treatment before the law for every Canadian citizen. We currently have a government which believes in none of these things and is actually actively working to dismantle them- and punish those who push back. Worse, between the people who have signed on to their anti-freedom agenda, the demoralized, and the just plain apathetic, it seems that they will not be voted out anytime soon. I love my country, but my heart aches for what we're losing and may never regain. What's to be done? To be honest, I have no idea other than build strong families and teach them true and good things so that they grow into men and women of integrity. This means, I'm sorry to say, getting your kids out of the public school system if at all possible because it has been totally co-opted by the progressive agenda. My family was never anti public school: I and all of my brothers and sisters went through the system; it was adequate if not great. But now almost all of them with kids of their own are either homeschooling or have them enrolled in Christian schools. One of the last holdouts was one of my sisters but she found out last month that her seven year old's teacher was telling the class that boys could become girls and vice versa. She called the teacher and politely required that my nephew be excused from that class. The teacher made the mistake of arguing with her... my sister and her husband have now pulled all of their kids. In the end, raising your children to be faithful, independent, and freedom loving may be the greatest act of defiance there is. "The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself." -G. K. CHESTERTON, Fancies Versus Fads So how did I spend Canada Day? With family naturally, being thankful for them and the beautiful country in which we live: Related Posts: |
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