MovieChat Forums > Babe (1995) Discussion > What do you think Fly was planning to do...

What do you think Fly was planning to do?

posted 9 years ago by nikki-folwell
7 replies | jump to latest

I don't know if this question's ever been asked; forgive me if it has, and feel free to point out the post to me. Can't see it anywhere though.

I've always loved this movie, it's beautiful. I was rewatching it last night for probably the 7 billionth time, and love it as much know as I did when I first saw it.

Watching it this time though, I was reminded of the one scene in the film that's always puzzled me. A very minor spoiler ahead.

After Maa is killed, Fly confronts the grieving sheep, wanting to know what happened. She has a hard time getting any sense out of them at first, but they're eventually able to tell her that it was the wild dogs who did it, not Babe. So she says, "Thank you very much!" and takes off back towards the house, elated at discovering the truth.

But the thing is, what exactly was she planning to do? It's not like she can just tell Farmer Hogget that it wasn't Babe, the animals can't communicate with the human characters. We see many scenes throughout the film which show that any time the animals are talking to each other, it just comes out as animal sounds to the humans' ears (such as that part where Hogget is watching Babe talk to the sheep in the paddock, looking eternally bemused at what exactly they're doing). It just seems like an odd scene because she takes off so enthusiastically, as if she immediately had a plan in mind. When in fact, once she got back to the house, she wouldn't have been able to do much. What do you think she would've done if Hogget hadn't found out the way he did?

[–] SaberRider85 9 years ago

The scene never troubled me. Because she was trying to save Babe. In the scene the farmer aims at Babe and hears the barking of the dog. He hesitates. Then he aims at Babe for the second time and then the wife tells him that wild dogs are around and he realizes that the dogs killed Maa and not Babe. Without the barking he would have shot Babe before the wife would have been able to tell him. So she didnt really had a plan in mind. Just get to Babe before its too late.

[–] Flibbetygiblet 9 years ago

She may have not been able to talk to Hoggett, but she could have gotten between Hoggett and Babe. I doubt that Hoggett would have been quick to pull the trigger then.

Of course, Hoggett also seemed to have a more intuitive understanding of his animals, too. He was the only one who noticed when Babe separated the chickens, and he also sensed that Rex was jealous of Babe. I think if Fly had gotten between Babe and Hoggett, then he may have hesitated and reconsidered what he was doing and Babe may have been spared.

Who knows?

[–] Balboasaurus 7 years ago

Bingo! Took the words right out of my mind. Farmer Hogget trusts his animals, especially Rex and Fly.

Excellent post.

[–] snakewrangler22-642-758793 7 years ago

"She may have not been able to talk to Hoggett, but she could have gotten between Hoggett and Babe."

Yeah like Copper did with Todd in The Fox and the Hound.

[–] greenaquamarine 9 years ago

Why did he think Babe killed Maa anyway? That's what puzzles me. Pigs and sheep aren't enemies and Babe had never shown any sign the of being dangerous or aggressive.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] klarson123 8 years ago

Another thing is that if he had done an autopsy--er, make that a baa-topsy, hahaha!--on Maa's body, wouldn't he have been able to tell the difference between dog bite marks and pig bite marks?