am watching frankenstein on tv. silly scientist.

cricket tomorrow for the last time this season. tempted not to go as i'm very tired, and lacking enthusiasm even for the beers afterwards (and during) but after watching todays efforts (new zealand vs australia) and the excitement it produced i'm probably going to go out. and especially if it's going to be as hot as it was today.

i read today, a intellectual synopsis, or more correctly, a dissection, of chitty chitty bang bang by ian fleming (yes, that ian fleming). it's been many years since i saw the movie version, having never read the book, but i'm glad i only read this now instead of when i was a child.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is an extended dream sequence as the child leads slip from life into death, much in the same vein as the Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge.

Very early in the movie, the children, Jeremy and Jemima, are nearly struck by a car driven by Truly Scrumptious, or so we are led to believe. I am certain that the children actually were struck by that car and killed, but before falling into death’s cold embrace, their addled minds produced a rich fantasy. A similar story structure can be found in 2001’s Waking Life. Waking Life has its main protagonist wandering through a series of events and experiences in what appears to be a lucid dreaming state, with little regard for making clear what may be real or not. Similarly, an extended fantasy sequence occurs beginning halfway through Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This sequence apparently has real-world implications; it is not until 15 minutes before the end of the film that we are certain those events did not happen.

This is also supported by the way Time loops and whorls in on itself as various events and motifs are constantly repeated. This is indicative of the human mind seeking out patterns in an attempt to make sense of what is happening. Specifically, the motif of nearly being hit by a car or an accident involving Truly’s car happens at least three times after the initial impact. The young children are revisting that final moment, as if to glean greater meaning from it, or to remind themselves that they are, in fact, dead.

All adult characters act in a persistently childish manner; a Baron enjoys his large toys, Grandfather and Lord Scrumptious are caught playing an intrictae game of toy soldiers. This further evidences that everything is a complete creation of a child’s mind applying their logic and actions to the world.

It may be noted that, yes, there are two children, so how can there be only one extended death sequence? Well, there is the popular, though as of yet unsubstantiated theory, that twins can share a telepathic link. The same aged, both blonde-haired boy and girl are almost certainly twins. And throughout the movie they make various spontaneous exclamations at the exact same time with the exact same wording, suggesting some kind of group mind.

And finally, and perhaps most daming of all, is the role that Truly Scrumptious takes on as the Three-in-One, or Mother-Maiden-Crone, the Jungian Triple Goddess. As the Bringer of Death by Motorcar, the children attach meaning to her and seek her out as a Mother Figure. For much of the film she wears all white, signifying maidenhood; the children then proclaim their fondness for Truly and their wish that she become their mother. Truly then begins wearing pink, signifying that she is no longer pure for having known man, fulfilling her role as the Mother.

In the end, the car, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which has become a familar representing the children, levitates into the air and flies off towards the heavens. The children have finally accepted their reality and move on to what dreams may come.


now i'm watching faye dunaway, william holden, o.j. simpson, steve mcqueen, paul newman and fred astaire.