MovieChat Forums > Thumbelina (1994) Discussion > Super-short seasons!

Super-short seasons!

posted 13 years ago by Bookwurm
5 replies | jump to latest

I watched this the other day for the first time as an adult. Besides the other issue (why didn't the swallow fly her home in the beginning?), I noticed that the seasons change very quickly in this movie. It starts out in summertime. I suppose the farm animals singing could show a passing of time so I'm not too concerned about that. On the night Cornelius meets Thumbelina, it is the Golding of the leaves, which I take to be autumn/fall. The very next day, once Cornelius realises Thumbelina is missing, he goes to his parents and asks them to hold back the frost. They say they can only hold it back by one day. So two or three days after the start of autumn, it's winter. Then Thumbelina spends a few days with the mouse and the mole, she sings in the Vale of the Fairies and suddenly it's Spring. Why do the seasons change so fast?

[–] Miss_Kitty89 12 years ago

I'm doing a film analysis on the movie and i think the seasons represent the biological growth of a woman, in this case Thumbelina.

She is born in Spring, presumably, when the rose bud opens. And then at the start of fall she is prime for marriage. For some reason, and it is never explained, Cornelius needs to find and marry her by Winter, the season of death and infertility. At the end of the movie it is Spring, he kisses her, and she is reborn as a Fairy. They then marry living happily ever after.

The only one who is around her during Winter is the Mole, who is much older himself. Again I feel that the changing of the season and the need for her to marry Cornelius by Winter is in relationship to her being the proper age for marriage and children.

As for the seasons changing quickly, that is just movie magic.

There’s no one on IMDB I care enough for to use spell check- suck it grammar Nazis

[–] CosmosX9 12 years ago

Well, I thought the "super-short seasons" were a stupid plot point that didn't really go anywhere with the story. Autumn only lasted for a day, and winter only lasted for three days? Give me a break!

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

[–] StarskyandChinaHutch 11 years ago

One man's "movie magic" is another man's plothole, it seems.

Who busts the Crimebusters?

[–] Mightygill 8 years ago

One man's "movie magic" is another man's plothole, it seems.

yup, people getting waaaaaaaaaaay too worked up about the seasons shouldn't be watching animated films

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[–] Furienna (3322) 9 months ago

Some movies are like that.
Including "Beauty & The Beast", which managed to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar anyway.