G chat: Seriousness in comic and children's genre

Do we always understand the seriousness in what is comic or then, for children?

It’s All Fool’s Day week-end tomorrow — April Fool’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, will a holiday mean more time for tomfoolery? Some might say there’s enough going around in the general atmosphere anyway, looking at some national and international headlines of late.

Here in the entertainment world, as any professional clown will tell you, humour is no laughing matter. And as any actor will tell you, comedy is one of the most difficult genres. But done right, it is also one of the most lucrative. Movie moguls know this, which is why, despite cricket season kicking off early April, we have a B-Town comedy biggie up for release next week, the sequel to a previous comic hit. After which, there will be a bit of a lull on the big budget marquee front as tinsel town waits for cricket mania to exhaust itself.

If the wait is too long during the long hot days of April, there is always Hollywood fare on offer. In fact, James Cameron’s block buster Titanic will be released abroad in 3D next week, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship. There have been allegations of the Avatar director trying to cash in on the tragedy, but reports quote Cameron denying the same. Meanwhile, he also made news this week for becoming the first man to travel alone to the near-7 mile Marianas Trench, said to be the deepest point on Earth.

And whilst on Hollywood and the continuing draw of epic fare, I saw a movie, capturing both the dramatic and the epic recently — Warhorse, also nominated in a slew of categories, including Best Picture, at the recent Oscars. We have been drawn to films that feature both men and women as central characters, but rarely is there a movie which focuses so firmly on an animal as centre of consciousness. The loyalty and a certain nobility in so many of our four legged friends is translated on 70mm vividly here, underlining the preciousness, significance and more importantly, endurance of our eternal bond with other living creatures, should we choose to build it.

And whilst on marking significant dates, the Titanic 3D offering is not the only commemorative release — May sees a republishing of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series to celebrate the series’ 70th anniversary. Blyton might be a foreign name to most in our current generation of iPad-wielding little ones, but her children’s books are a literary legacy of no mean proportions. Interestingly, reports quote British author Michael Morpurgo, the Children’s Laureate who wrote the novel on which Warhorse was based, as emphasising her considerable influence in his growing-up years.

Perhaps the impending republishing might help bring the joy of Blyton’s wonderlands to Generation Next, today…?