Okay, so this one took about three days, which didn't include rewatching the movie and making preliminary notes. I spent most of the first day writing a preamble about Britain's traditional embarrassment regarding fantasy, all of which I ended up cutting completely. Argh!! Really should have planned it a bit more tightly. I've wanted to do a piece on Watership Down for ages, but couldn't get hold of a copy, then found out the BFI were re-releasing it, so I reached out for a screener. The disc came with a booklet, which was very useful and saved me a lot of time in terms of research. But I still ended up going down other rabbit-holes. I knew a lot of it already - having previously covered the movie in my film book Empires of the Imagination, but still had to update a lot of it as I felt a little differently about it twenty years on. God, that's a lot of work. Really need to turn those payments on. :P
I remember being confused as a kid, taking it home from the library thinking it was some sort of nautical tale. Don't think I would've read it if I'd known it was about rabbits, but glad I did!
Watership Down! This unassuming book exploded like a thermonuclear bomb in my child's mind, when I was about 10 years old. In these days before the Internet and with two channels and no subtitles on the TV, I used to reread books. Lord of the Rings was an annual reread. I read this book twice in very close succession, just because it blew me away so much. I then saw the animated film (no subtitles), must track down the new version so I can read the script too. This was a formative book in terms of its anthropomorphism, and I borrowed Shardik and The Call of the Wild that year. Thanks for the memories, Alec!
Exhaustive and entertaining! How long did it take u to write this
Okay, so this one took about three days, which didn't include rewatching the movie and making preliminary notes. I spent most of the first day writing a preamble about Britain's traditional embarrassment regarding fantasy, all of which I ended up cutting completely. Argh!! Really should have planned it a bit more tightly. I've wanted to do a piece on Watership Down for ages, but couldn't get hold of a copy, then found out the BFI were re-releasing it, so I reached out for a screener. The disc came with a booklet, which was very useful and saved me a lot of time in terms of research. But I still ended up going down other rabbit-holes. I knew a lot of it already - having previously covered the movie in my film book Empires of the Imagination, but still had to update a lot of it as I felt a little differently about it twenty years on. God, that's a lot of work. Really need to turn those payments on. :P
Oh, and thanks for reading, Andrew. Glad you enjoyed.
I remember being confused as a kid, taking it home from the library thinking it was some sort of nautical tale. Don't think I would've read it if I'd known it was about rabbits, but glad I did!
:D
An astounding use of animation for storytelling, especially for an unexperienced animation director!
This film broke my heart as a kid. It’s nice to see people posting something a little bit different on here. 💛
Broke mine two (especially the ending). Thanks for reading, Deborah.
Watership Down! This unassuming book exploded like a thermonuclear bomb in my child's mind, when I was about 10 years old. In these days before the Internet and with two channels and no subtitles on the TV, I used to reread books. Lord of the Rings was an annual reread. I read this book twice in very close succession, just because it blew me away so much. I then saw the animated film (no subtitles), must track down the new version so I can read the script too. This was a formative book in terms of its anthropomorphism, and I borrowed Shardik and The Call of the Wild that year. Thanks for the memories, Alec!
You're very welcome!
Comprehensive and concise. Great piece Alec!
Thank you!
Such an amazing movie & book. This post made me want to re-watch & read both!
It is scary, but it teaches a valuable truth we must all eventually learn.
And teaches you empathy for rabbits.
Thanks, Ada. I've always loved this movie. Great for me to finally understand why. :D
I love this film and I love this book (I first read it when I was nine, and it's no exaggeration to say it changed my life). :)