A new generation of children is about to meet a girl with telekinetic powers. As a Christmas present, Netflix premieres this Sunday, December 25, its adaptation of matilda, heroine born in 1988 under the pen of Roald Dahl. Proof that the work of the British novelist continues to inspire, 60 years after his first writings aimed at young people, and 32 years after his death.
Many viewers already know this young character, who uses his magic to punish his contemptuous parents and the fearsome principal of his school: matilda was the subject of a first worldwide successful film adaptation in 1996, before being transposed onto the stage into an award-winning musical in 2011. It is from this show that the Netflix film, directed by Matthew Warchus, with songs by composer Tim minchin.
matilda It is one of the most iconic novels in the Roald Dahl bibliography. The literary career of this author, born in 1916 in Wales, began in the 1940s with stories for adults and took off twenty years later thanks to his first works for children.
With the complicity of illustrator Quentin Blake -whose drawings accompany his books to this day- he has written fifteen children’s novels full of mischievous heroes and fantastic creatures, which delight young readers and filmmakers without ever getting bored.
An imaginary that has become collective
james and the big peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the great good giant, Georges Bouillon’s magic potion, holy witches… Almost all of these books have had at least one film adaptation. Feature films made for some by sacred monsters like Tim Burton or Steven Spielberg.
Many of these movies have been released recently, and many more are currently in the works. Not to mention the different formats that the author still inspires, from the Broadway boards to those of comics. In the ever-expanding world of children’s literature, Roald Dahl remains timeless.
“I think it has entered the classics,” summarizes for BFMTV.com Florence Casulli, professor of English literature at the University of Paris-Nanterre.
“Certain elements of his work are already part of the collective imagination, such as the golden ticket,” adds this Roald Dahl specialist.
This precious sesame, which allows the hero Charlie and the Chocolate Factory discovering Willy Wonka’s magic factory, has gone beyond the pages of the novel. French rapper Orelsan can attest to this: but far from the writer’s magical world, the artist from Caen slipped “golden tickets” on five copies of his album. Civilizationpremiered in 2021. No candy, but concerts in sight: on Instagram, he announced that the lucky holders of these tickets would benefit from free access to all his shows, for life.
The author who never lied to children
Before being a source of inspiration for artists of all persuasions, Roald Dahl’s work has been a bestseller that has not been denied for six decades. French publisher Gallimard reports 250 million copies sold worldwide and 15 million in France alone, including 321,000 this year.
“For such old titles, it’s extremely rare,” Thierry Laroche, the house’s editorial director of children’s literature, told BFMTV.com.
Roald Dahl stubbornly squats in the top 5 best-selling children’s authors in France, in which he rubs shoulders with works much more recent than his own: the first place is occupied by JK Rowling, author of the unbeatable Harry Potterfollowed by Erin Hunter, to whom we owe the trilogy The Hunger Games published just ten years ago.
“I think children find themselves in Roald Dahl’s books because he speaks to them without condescension,” analyzes Thierry Laroche. “He is right in childhood, next to children, who in a way are always victims of adult society.”
This is one of the singularities of the author, to which he undoubtedly owes his resonance with so many generations: he has never hidden the harshness of the world from his young readers. James goes in search of a better life, away from his horrible aunts who enslave him. Charlie desperately wants to find the golden ticket that will allow his family to escape poverty.
“Roald Dahl has often said that he liked this fine line between laughter and tears,” continues Thierry Laroche. “He chooses to laugh, but he presents very difficult situations in the background.”
“The orphans are very numerous in his work”, Florencia Casulli abounds. “He grew up in private schools where he was beaten. He knew how alone and misunderstood children can feel, and he put it in writing. His novels feature authority figures who cannot be trusted and children who have more resources than they realize.” do you believe”. .”
The succession of fairy tales
Because the cruelty of adults often invites Roald Dahl’s characters to break the rules. Which, of course, delights young readers. “It’s never free”, specifies Thierry Laroche. “It is always about correcting an injustice, avenging the weakest. Like when Matilda takes revenge for the stupidity of her parents.
This dialogue between hardness and tenderness, between injustice and dreams, inscribes the work of Roald Dahl in the tradition of fairy tales, stories that marvelously survive the passage of time. His books observe the same narrative structure and feature the same stereotypical characters, while “bringing a modern twist”, according to Florence Casulli:
“A hero goes on a quest because he is missing something: affection for Matilda, food for Charlie.”
“On his way, he will meet friends and heroes to fight with,” he continues. “In the end, he is often rewarded. Not with marriage, like in fairy tales, but with another form of happiness. Fortune, sometimes: Roald Dahl was from the working class, he knew the value of money.”
Like fairy tales, Roald Dahl’s books bring children’s fears to life through figures such as witches, ogres or giants, who serve as a catharsis. “These young readers are going to confront those fears and learn to overcome them.”
Then comes the “toilet humor” that the author sometimes uses to make people laugh, without ever denying the “musicality” that he demonstrates in his use of the English language (“very well translated into French”, underlines the teacher): “His vocabulary, its rich puns made of bold and highly inventive writing help children learn the language.” Add to that a healthy dose of impertinence and bad temper and, like Georges Bouillon, Roald Dahl succeeds in brewing him.
Modernization and controversial exit
The most recent adaptations also allow you to modernize your stories. The matilda from Netflix arrives when gender equality issues are more topical than ever: “She is a gratifying female figure that exalts the virtues of intelligence, courage, love,” explains Florence Casulli. “She speaks to young women past and present, and I think she will for a long time.”
In it holy witches by Robert Zemeckis (2021), the hero was played for the first time by an African-American actor. “Roald Dahl faithfully describes the internal torments of children,” estimated Anne Hathaway, the interpreter of The Queen of Witches, with Allociné during the promotion of the film.
“It captures in a very beautiful way that feeling that we have, as children, when we don’t know very well how to describe what we feel.”
So many progressive elements that, perhaps, they will offset a stubborn shadow that darkens the tender picture of Dahl’s work: the openly anti-Semitic comments he made at the end of his life. In an interview with the New Statesman in 1983, he legitimized the “animosity” against the Jews, considering that “even a bastard like Hitler couldn’t have attacked them without reason.” Words for which his descendants apologized two years ago.
A thousand kilometers from this hate speech, its heroes and the values they represent still have a bright future on our screens. Netflix announced last year the acquisition of Roald Dahl Story Company, the company that manages the author’s rights, with the aim of adapting his works: two animated series inspired by charlie by Taika Waititi, as well as a film based on The wonderful story of Henry Sugar from filmmaker Wes Anderson have already been announced.
For its part, Warner is preparing a feature film that imagines the youth of Willy Wonka, with Timothée Chalamet in the role of the eccentric chocolatier.
Not to mention the author’s influence on his successors. Thierry Laroche sees a “dahlesque” imprint in David Walliams, Jean-Claude Mourlevat, Timothée de Fombelle… and even in Rowling: “When she describes the Dursleys, Harry Potter’s uncle and aunt, you would think that you are seeing the Two scoundrels.“
“Roald Dahl does not deny problems, but finds in childhood the energy of a possible solution, of hope and imagination”, concludes Thierry Laroche. “He suggests the need for humor, the distance from what happens to us and the ability of each one to find their way beyond the traps.” This is a moral that never goes out of style.
Source: BFM TV
