Could the Adventurous Four work as a tv adaption?

Discuss the television and film adaptations of Enid Blyton's stories.
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Courtenay
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Re: Could the Adventurous Four work as a tv adaption?

Post by Courtenay »

I wouldn't be so surprised if young children (under 7 or so) hadn't heard of Hitler and the Second World War. It was all rather a long time ago! I think I only had a very vague idea of it myself at that age (in the 1980s). But I would be surprised if many of them, once they'd been introduced to that part of history, didn't soon become interested and want to find out more - especially, as Anita suggests, learning about what it was like for children of their age.

Any amount of reading Enid Blyton, after all - in spite of flashy "modern" cover designs and updated currency and changed names - requires that children learn to imagine and empathise with a past era and what life was like for children then. (Unless they finally have "updated" the books as far as putting iPhones in them. :P ) And children can do that. I could do that as a child, growing up with Enid Blyton books right alongside TV and computers and all the other things that came along later. Quite obviously our younger forum members can do that too. Why should anyone assume on young people's behalf that they won't be interested in history and historical settings for books and films - especially if they're introduced to them in engaging ways? A proper adaptation of The Adventurous Four - like Cathy's suggestion - could be a great way of doing that.
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Re: Could the Adventurous Four work as a tv adaption?

Post by Carlotta King »

You're so right with what you say about children being able to grow up with period-set fiction alongside the modern world too. I was exactly the same as you (and, as you say, our younger members here too) in that I was perfectly capable of appreciating and immersing myself in the period world of Enid's books and also at the same time living in the modern world!
Of course we didn't have the internet or mobile phones or anything back then but we had what were modern gadgets of that time, ie personal CD players, a tv of course, and my first computer at about age 11ish, and all that kind of thing!

As you say, some younger children perhaps won't have heard of Hitler, we didn't study the war until I got to secondary school if I remember right, and I'm not sure what the curriculum is these days and whether children are being taught about the war in primary/junior school now, but to be honest, even if a child hasn't heard of Hitler or doesn't know much of anything about the war, I wouldn't have thought that that would detract from watching the Adventurous Four - it would still be a fantastic adaptation for children to watch even if they're not war experts, they would understand the basic concept of there being 'baddies' there and I'm sure they would learn something as well!

I don't believe that just because someone hasn't heard of somebody or something, or perhaps doesn't know much about it, that that would detract from their viewing experience. I'm not very knowledgable about certain topics but I would still be interested in watching things about said certain topics, and I have watched plenty of films/tv programmes in the past about people and places that I knew very little about and maybe even hadn't heard of at all, and still found them very interesting.
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Re: Could the Adventurous Four work as a tv adaption?

Post by Courtenay »

I can't say I grew up knowing a lot about WWII, apart from some vague impressions - in Australia, it's a pretty distant memory. But both my grandfathers fought in it, and I always knew it was the aftermath of it that led to my mum (as a baby) and her family coming to Australia, as refugees from Eastern Europe. I wouldn't say I really learned much about it until the year I started high school, which happened to be the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. So we did a fair bit about it at school (oddly enough, much more about the European side of it than the Pacific, which involved Australia a lot more directly!), and our school choir performed a concert of wartime songs for the local RSL (Returned & Services League, like the Royal British Legion). It was that, especially, that really moved me and got me thinking about what it must have been like to live through that conflict, and why it's important that it shouldn't be forgotten. (One of the songs we sang - The White Cliffs of Dover - still makes me cry.)

I find here in Britain, there is much, much more ongoing consciousness of and interest in the war than where I come from (even just the fact that to this day, you can still simply say "the war" and everyone knows which war you're talking about). And it's not at all confined to older people. I've visited the Churchill War Rooms in London and the Dunkirk exhibition in the wartime tunnels at Dover Castle; heaps of visitors there were my age or younger. Young people do care about these things, once they start learning about them.

To take a different tangent, I watched a fascinating news clip a few months ago about primary schools introducing children to Shakespeare's plays and characters (in ways appropriate to their level, obviously). It's been a huge hit in so many instances - the kids they interviewed just loved it, and were bubbling over with enthusiasm and an amazing grasp of what makes Shakespeare special and important. If pre-teenage kids can "get" Shakespeare, they can definitely "get" WWII! :lol:
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Re: Could the Adventurous Four work as a tv adaption?

Post by lizarfau »

I have a 12-year-old son and he and his friends have certainly heard of Hitler and are interested in World War II and knowing more about it. Some of them have learned about World War II by playing Call of Duty, a very popular computer game with young teenagers (more recent versions of the game aren't about World War II, but the original one was).
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Re: Could the Adventurous Four work as a tv adaption?

Post by MJE »

Poppy wrote:I wasn't expressing that children are not interested in WWII - I know a lot of children who are, but I wondered if it would involve a film (to watch out of choice).
     Well, I suppose it could involve a film. After all, an exciting story is an exciting story, and if films and television are popular with children (as I believe they are), I can't see why children wouldn't be interested in watching an exciting Blyton story on television or at the cinema. Of course it would help if it were promoted appropriately - but we can take that as a given, since the producers of such things always want to maximize their audience.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Could the Adventurous Four work as a tv adaption?

Post by Fiona1986 »

Well I dutifully asked and the answers were much as I expected. I got three nos from Robbie and two nos then "beside Switzerland" from Jamie.

He then wanted to know who Hitler was, and who "was best" in WW2. (Apparently that's why wars are fought - to see who's best)
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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