MovieChat Forums > Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) Discussion > The 'dream/story' was unnecessary

The 'dream/story' was unnecessary

posted 10 years ago by jmarkoff2
9 replies | jump to latest

I liked this film in spite of the bad press it gets. I only found it unnecessary and distracting to have the best part of the film be a dream or "story within a story." It harmed the suspension of disbelief. Of course fantasy isn't real, but why does it have to be not real even within the fantasy world? I think the Vulgaria plot should have been presented as "real" instead of a fiction-within-a-fiction. The inner fantasy idea can be done well in movies like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, where it's used cleverly, but here there was no point to it. It would have been more satisfying to know that the Vulgaria story was "real" and that it brought Potts and Truly closer together to lead to a satisfactory ending for them. I prefer to ignore that aspect and imagine that Vulgaria "really" happened to them and brought them together within the story.

[–] virgiltx 10 years ago

I'm trying to figure out why they thought the fantasy needed to be a story within a story.
-Did they think they needed more logic to appeal to older kids and adults?
-Maybe they thought that inventors and magic together don't make sense. Why bother to invent airplanes and zeppelins if things can fly by magic.
-Maybe they thought Lord Scrumptious was not a sufficient antagonist, but needed a part-way antagonist for the first half.

I wonder if they're thinking was ever documented.
____________________
The story is king.

[–] BenJJedi 10 years ago

Interestingly enough, in the stage musical version, the "dream/fantasy" portion of the story wasn't a story within a story. Therefore, Vulgaria, the Child Catcher and especially Chitty's magic are 100% legit in the stage musical. ;)

[–] Etherdave 9 years ago

Because there is no such state as Vulgaria, there cannot be a society where children are forbidden or driven underground, and (let's face it) Chitty's wing rotors are simply incorrectly placed and insufficiently powered to achieve a vertical takeoff. Suspension of disbelief here, is a two-sided coin: you're either with the programme, or you're not. As a modern fairy-tale the storyline works well, transitioning from a world operating according to the sensibilities of adults, where business, practicality, and profit are king, and children are either seen and not heard, or heard but not seen, to a world that is clearly run by the mind of a child: cars fly, idiot-monarchs run oppressive, childless kingdoms, and candy can be had for free. The return to rational, sober sensibilities at the tale's end serves to create dramatic tension leading to the film's finale, where some childlike dreams and wishes can and do, in fact, come true. The issue of whether or not any of it happened is, like the film itself, purely subjective; surely this is sufficiently demonstrated by the car rising, wingless and rotorless, into the air at the film's conclusion. Such symbolism is regularly used as a conceit within the unreal, fantasy world of a fictional tale told on celluloid film.

[–] billhaldenby 8 years ago

personally I don't think much of the movie until the dream kicks into gear.The reality portion took forever to play out and was to be honest a bit boring. It was not until the Vulgaria part that it kicked into gear. Not only making the film interested but adding an adult kick to the movie. Playing on Nazi Germany and the hell a country can go through while under a crazy dictator. There were some flaws in this dream sequence. Truly gushing for Pot's, the baron trying to kill his wife, all part of a story he is telling his kids? But all in all it made a much better film them if it was just a shiny car and a man who falls for a women out of his class.

[–] virgiltx 8 years ago

What you say may be so about the Vulgaria part. However, the OP was disagreeing with making Vulgaria a dream sequence, instead of being real events in the larger story.

____________________
The story is king.

[–] billhaldenby 8 years ago

I think, making it a dream allowed them to make comment on the nazi's they would not have been able to if it was real

[–] Blueghost 8 years ago

Wel, the whole aspect of Chitty soaring into the sky was to lend credence to the notion that the story within the story wasn't simply imaginary, but actually did happen in some strange way.

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

I have always disliked those type of stories. never cared for alice in Wonderland or the film of the Wizard of oz for that reason(the book of the Wzard of oz is not a dream).

[–] mountaindewslave 8 years ago

I personally think it works fantastically

life can be like that sometimes, where you have dreams or see things that can't possibly be real but seem so to you. it leads to a sort of gray area where you wonder "was that real? at all at least?"

I like it because although the film implies it was just a dream there does seem to be something somewhat magical about the car and in the realm of a musical I believe anything is possible

If i go crazy will you still call me Superman?