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The reason I’ve always had an interest in writing comes from the closing narration off a cartoon I watched as a kid:
It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.
Even as a boy of four or five, I got the lesson that I should be a good friend and a writer; we’ll focus on the writing part.
Of course, we’re talking about Charlotte’s Web based on the E. B. White book.
I hadn’t seen the animated Hanna-Barbera film from 1973 in years, possibly a decade or more. Even though I bought a copy months ago, I finally had the time and the desire to rewatch it. Boy, was that uncomfortable, because I saw the film through adult eyes!
In roughly film-order, here are some observations about the film. Please note, I have not read the book.
Wilbur Has No Agency*
The first thing I noticed during this viewing was that Wilbur has absolutely no agency. He is saved because Fern intervenes as a sentimental idealist. From there, Charlotte saves Wilbur by writing words in her web. Wilbur’s only act that comes from his own volition is to take Charlotte’s egg sac back to the farm from the fair. Hence the asterisk at the end of this section’s header.
Fern Is A Human McGuffin In The First Act
Fern enters the story consequently twice: once as a McGuffin and once as a deus ex machina: once Fern has done her bit to save Wilbur, she disappears from the story like a good McGuffin does. She’s that catalyst that gives us the conflict and set the story in motion.
Wilbur Is FAT
I know Wilbur is a pig, but the way he’s drawn, he has no chin. Let’s not forget that Wilbur is supposed to be the runt of the litter. Boy, did he fatten up fast!
Wilbur Doesn’t Have To Learn How To Talk, He Just Sounds Out One Word And Then He’s Fluent in English.
Ok, strictly speaking, he sounds out his name. Immediately after this, Wilbur is fluent in English and breaks out into song. I suppose that’s how it feels when you’re a kid and you from non-verbal to verbal, but that’s not how human speech works.
The Film Is A Musical In Disguise
Charlotte’s Web wants to be a children’s film, but we know that kids don’t like movies that don’t have music in them, so we have to have a song every few minutes. This version of Charlotte’s Web was released in 1973; it was a hang over from the halcyon days of big musicals like Sound of Music, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The King And I, Fiddler on the Roof, et. al.
Charlotte Needs Templeton’s Help Coming Up With Words, But She’s A Writer?!?!
This one baffled me. Charlotte is supposed to be a good writer, but other than “some pig”, she needs help coming up with what to write in her web to save Wilbur. True, it’s the goose that suggests “terrific”. But Templeton has to fetch every other word she write into her web. So really, at best, Charlotte is a scribe, not a writer.
What’s more, Charlotte is allegedly a writer, but she appears to either have bad eyesight or doesn’t know how to read, e.g. she makes Templeton read her every scrap of writing that he brings back to her. You’d think she’d have a pretty good vantage point from high in the doorsills where she hangs her webs. God forbid she have to take a vision test.
Deus ex machina, Fern Edition
When Wilbur is at the fair, Fern visits him and rekindles–at least in Wilbur’s mind–the relationship they once had. Unfortunately, it’s time for Wilbur to learn a hard lesson that is totally wasted on the prepubescent audience the film was intended for: female nature is to stay with one guy until she finds one more exciting.
The Red Pill community would call this monkey-branching: she doesn’t let go of the vine she’s swinging from until she’s firmly got hold of a new branch she’s swung to. Fern may have been Wilbur’s first love, but Wilbur was just one of Fern’s social justice projects.
Fern moved on to Henry Fussy–a boy she couldn’t stand–when he learned to relax and show a modicum of masculinity vis-sis-vis confidence. Of course, it helped that he had bucked much his mother’s oppressiveness.
Parental/Guardian normalities 1972 vs 2025
Perhaps the oddest thing in rewatching the Hanna-Barbera production was that the children ask for money to go enjoy the fair without their parents/guardians/responsible parties hovering over them the entire time. The adults give the kids money and tell them to meet back at a specific place at the fair at a specific time and let the kids have their autonomy.
This was quite normal in the 70’s, 80’s and even the better part of the 90’s. While we don’t know exactly where the Arable or Zuckerman farm was located, it is depicted as being in a fairly rural area. Given these events took place fifty years ago and the book pre-dates the film, everyone would have known everyone in this small, rural, homogenized town.
But letting kids go for hours on end at a county or city fair today? Verboten!
How does Charlotte’s Egg Sac Hatch Into Baby Spiders?
The reason I’ve always had an interest in writing comes from the closing narration off a cartoon I watched as a kid:
It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.
Even as a boy of four or five, I got the lesson that I should be a good friend and a writer; we’ll focus on the writing part.
Of course, we’re talking about Charlotte’s Web based on the E. B. White book.
I hadn’t seen the animated Hanna-Barbera film from 1973 in years, possibly a decade or more. Even though I bought a copy months ago, I finally had the time and the desire to rewatch it. Boy, was that uncomfortable, because I saw the film through adult eyes!
In roughly film-order, here are some observations about the film. Please note, I have not read the book.
Wilbur Has No Agency*
The first thing I noticed during this viewing was that Wilbur has absolutely no agency. He is saved because Fern intervenes as a sentimental idealist. From there, Charlotte saves Wilbur by writing words in her web. Wilbur’s only act that comes from his own volition is to take Charlotte’s egg sac back to the farm from the fair. Hence the asterisk at the end of this section’s header.
Fern Is A Human McGuffin In The First Act
Fern enters the story consequently twice: once as a McGuffin and once as a deus ex machina: once Fern has done her bit to save Wilbur, she disappears from the story like a good McGuffin does. She’s that catalyst that gives us the conflict and set the story in motion.
Wilbur Is FAT
I know Wilbur is a pig, but the way he’s drawn, he has no chin. Let’s not forget that Wilbur is supposed to be the runt of the litter. Boy, did he fatten up fast!
Wilbur Doesn’t Have To Learn How To Talk, He Just Sounds Out One Word And Then He’s Fluent in English.
Ok, strictly speaking, he sounds out his name. Immediately after this, Wilbur is fluent in English and breaks out into song. I suppose that’s how it feels when you’re a kid and you from non-verbal to verbal, but that’s not how human speech works.
The Film Is A Musical In Disguise
Charlotte’s Web wants to be a children’s film, but we know that kids don’t like movies that don’t have music in them, so we have to have a song every few minutes. This version of Charlotte’s Web was released in 1973; it was a hang over from the halcyon days of big musicals like Sound of Music, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The King And I, Fiddler on the Roof, et. al.
Charlotte Needs Templeton’s Help Coming Up With Words, But She’s A Writer?!?!
This one baffled me. Charlotte is supposed to be a good writer, but other than “some pig”, she needs help coming up with what to write in her web to save Wilbur. True, it’s the goose that suggests “terrific”. But Templeton has to fetch every other word she write into her web. So really, at best, Charlotte is a scribe, not a writer.
What’s more, Charlotte is allegedly a writer, but she appears to either have bad eyesight or doesn’t know how to read, e.g. she makes Templeton read her every scrap of writing that he brings back to her. You’d think she’d have a pretty good vantage point from high in the doorsills where she hangs her webs. God forbid she have to take a vision test.
Deus ex machina, Fern Edition
When Wilbur is at the fair, Fern visits him and rekindles–at least in Wilbur’s mind–the relationship they once had. Unfortunately, it’s time for Wilbur to learn a hard lesson that is totally wasted on the prepubescent audience the film was intended for: female nature is to stay with one guy until she finds one more exciting.
The Red Pill community would call this monkey-branching: she doesn’t let go of the vine she’s swinging from until she’s firmly got hold of a new branch she’s swung to. Fern may have been Wilbur’s first love, but Wilbur was just one of Fern’s social justice projects.
Fern moved on to Henry Fussy–a boy she couldn’t stand–when he learned to relax and show a modicum of masculinity vis-sis-vis confidence. Of course, it helped that he had bucked much his mother’s oppressiveness.
Parental/Guardian normalities 1972 vs 2025
Perhaps the oddest thing in rewatching the Hanna-Barbera production was that the children ask for money to go enjoy the fair without their parents/guardians/responsible parties hovering over them the entire time. The adults give the kids money and tell them to meet back at a specific place at the fair at a specific time and let the kids have their autonomy.
This was quite normal in the 70’s, 80’s and even the better part of the 90’s. While we don’t know exactly where the Arable or Zuckerman farm was located, it is depicted as being in a fairly rural area. Given these events took place fifty years ago and the book pre-dates the film, everyone would have known everyone in this small, rural, homogenized town.
But letting kids go for hours on end at a county or city fair today? Verboten!
How does Charlotte’s Egg Sac Hatch Into Baby Spiders?