World Book Day: 5 Great Movie Book Worms
When I was a child, I was a massive bookworm. I don’t entirely want to say I’ve lost that but I’ve definitely been seduced by my one true love cinema and she is one demanding lady. I do read occasionally but I don’t have my nose tipped to dusty pages as often. That’s not important, what is important is the will to read and the drive to explore worlds. Children all over the world should be entitled and inspired to journey through different adventures. That’s why movies often lend a hand to guide people into a library or bookshop.
And often with bookish characters such as these….
The Bookworm – Toy Story 3
I am only picking this because this is a brilliant visual pun that Toy Story really peddle. I mean, even the short before The Muppets, Small Fry, is filled with best toy puns. Toy Story 3 is set in a fiendish Day Care centre named Sunnyside where the ruthless Lotso Teddy Bear delegates the toys to different horrible rooms. Inside the library lives a cantankerous caterpillar or, well, plastic worm (because who wants that as a toy) that helps reset Buzz and makes him one of Lotso’s soldiers. His role is small but I couldn’t not put in a literal book worm into this article.
Matilda – Matilda
Matilda knew from a young age that there was power in books. Despite having a downright awful family who abandoned her every day, she was able to learn from her stays in the library and develop this wide knowledge. And it’s not just story books – its non-fiction, poetry and maths. In fact, her entire IQ and mystical powers comes from learn so so much!
Roald Dahl was notoriously against television and cinema, the idea that it rots your brain comes up quite often. In defence of all I love, films and TV at their most excellent gift us effective story-telling and massive teams. But Matilda is one of those films based on a book where the power of the page is really effective.
Belle – Beauty And The Beast
Right, hands up who wanted the library that the Beast gave Belle? Like, swear to god, I’d drop my pants right now if you revealed one of the biggest book collections and say “oh hey babe, this is all yours.” Anyway, Belle is the beautiful heroine from Disney. Of course, her roots date back beforehand but her bookish ways are really hammered home in the Academy Award Winning film. She spends the majority of her time with a “nose stuck in a book” that ostracises her from her village. The film shows how much a true love should nurture your book obsessions too. And she has become a heroine for countless amount of Princesses ever since.
Hermione
Hermione considers 10000 worded book as light reading and throughout the book and film series, she is constantly found researching spells. She is the character version of a plot device; she always has read about the solutions before the situation happens so she’s handy to have around. Ok – that being said, Hermione is a strong witch. She has faults – she’s demanding and bossy but she is also tender with a drive and thirst for knowledge. In fact, what sets her apart from Ravenclaw is that she is brave and unashamed to rally behind her best friends to save the day
Clementine Kruczynski – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
She isn’t an idea which happens so often in independent films. Actually, she’s someone who smashes through the perceptions that her love of books, quirkiness and “not being like the other girls” in Michael Gondry’s epic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Played effortlessly by Kate Winslet, Celmentine and Joel meet at the bookstore where she works. This becomes a somewhat epicentre for them and she also delivers one of the most powerful speeches that cleverly unhinges that “Manic Pixie Girl Dream” to remind us that; hey, women aren’t fantasies, we are human beings trying to get our shit in order.
What other Bookworms are there in movies?