The charm of Beatrix Potter?

Philosophy Forums Psychology and Mind
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Anyone who thinks Beatrix Potter’s stories for children are “charming” needs their head looked — which includes, therefore, this morning’s panel of guests on a weekly radio show.

The guests did the usual: they expressed nostalgia for Potter’s stories, referring to them as charming and delightful. They also commented that Potter’s stories had frightened them when they were children.

So, Potter’s stories are both charming AND frightening? I think not.

As a child, I too found Potter’s stories frightening. Some, in fact, gave me nightmares. I did not, and do not, find the stories “charming”. In fact, I recently re-read some of the stories which clarified just why I had found them so frightening.

Do you think the film Jaws is charming? No? What, then, is so charming about the Tale of Jeremy Fisher?

Do you think the film Silence of the Lambs is charming? Do you think it is charming for a young woman to be tricked, abducted, imprisoned and horribly murdered by a serial killer? No? What, then, is so charming about the Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck?

Do you think the film Jurassic Park is charming? Do you think it is charming to be relentlessly pursued by a predator, a Tyrranosaurus Rex? No? What, then, is so charming about Mr McGregor’s murderous pursuit of Peter Rabbit?

Alternatively, consider common nightmares: who among you has not woken up in a sweat after dreaming of being relentlessly pursued by a person or a monster? Who among you has not woken up in a sweat after dreaming of being attacked by a crocodile lurking invisibly under the water (or some similar scenario)? Think of a Potter story and there’s probably a common nightmare scenario that it can be related to.

So Potter’s stories too are the stuff of nightmare. Just because Potter’s characters are cute baby bunnies or mother ducks or gentlemen foxes or matronly hedgehogs and are written for very young children does not make a horror story “charming”. And that’s just it. Potter wrote HORROR fiction, NOT “charming” stories for children.

It is a sign of the sickness of our society that people are unable to distinguish between horror and “charm”.

It is important also to recognise the relationship between the creative writing people do and their dreams: they are equivalent; the subconscious speaks through the writing. Thus Beatrix Potter’s fictional output is equivalent to a series of dreams. These dreams, as I have pointed out, are horrific nightmares. Anyone who is troubled by such dreams is seriously disturbed.

These “charming” and “delightful” stories are the nightmares of a disturbed woman — you really do not want to trouble your children with this sort of stuff.

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Dragon, just because some C is F, doesn’t mean all F is C.

And just because B can be described as C, doesn’t mean C is its essence and entirety.

You have not presented a logical argument, but then you do seem particularly emotionally disturbed by the content so perhaps this is not surprising.
Personally I don’t think there’s anything wrong in exposing children to fear, and perhaps a bit of excitement to go with it. Children are capable of having frightening nightmares, hallucinations and actual experiences anyway - no point in trying to shelter them from such things by denying them stories. Reading such stories has a lot to do with who you identify with anyway. Do you find you tend to identify with the victims of scary stories? Perhaps this has much to do with why there’s always something wrong with society in your posts - because you feel like a victim?

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If you were less of a philosopher you would not be asking this question. If you were using your human senses when reading my posts, you would KNOW that there is nothing of the victim, or victim-identifying, about me. In fact, it’s really quite interesting: people read some of my posts and tell me I am arrogant, superior, a troll, a bully etc. Then they go on to read another post such as the one above and offer suggestions of the kind you have done, suggestions that I am suffering from feelings of inadequacy, of inferiority, of having been abused etc. I wish you’d make up your minds!

As to Potter’s books: as a rule, parents do censor the amount of “horror” they allow their children to read/view etc. It is therefore merely a question as to at what age should children be exposed to the horror stories of Potter. Further, Potter’s stories are not classified as horror, but as charming and delightful. Parents may rely on that classification without thinking about what exactly they are feeding their offspring. You may find charm and delight if you dig deep enough; snakes use charm to ensnare their victims, so even charm can be more than it seems.