First, it has a romance. Pongo and Perdita (the Dalmatian couple), Roger and Anita (the human couple), fall in love. They “meet cute” in the park, each walking their dog. Pongo and Perdita decide to help everyone out by getting their leashes hopelessly tangled around their “human pets” and facilitate a meeting that ends in everyone living happily ever after. Or, so they thought. But, the author has other ideas.
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| From Disney's "101 Dalmatians." |
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| From Disney's "101 Dalmatians." |
Second, the stakes are high.
Pongo and Perdita have pups. They
are kidnapped by an evil friend of Anita’s and hidden in the country to be
skinned for a coat. This is life or
death drama. If Pongo and Perdita don’t
rescue their children, they will die.
The stakes don’t get much higher than that. The odds seem stacked against the two city
dogs as they follow the barking chain (information passed from dog to dog
within hearing distance) that leads them to unfamiliar territory to their pups
who they must save from one of the creepiest villains ever created.
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| From Disney's "101 Dalmatians." |
This leads me to my third point. The story has a great villain. Cruella DeVille. Even her name is terrifying. With shocking half and half hair, jagged
cheekbones, arrowhead jaw, sunken eyes and skeletal frame draped with fancy
clothes, her looks scream “evil” before you understand her intent. She is a “friend” of Anita’s who spots the
pups while visiting and wants to buy all of them for their coats. Both couples are horrified and send our
villain packing. Cruella, who is
unaccustomed to hearing the word “no,” hires two criminals to kidnap the
pups.
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| From Disney's "101 Dalmatians." |
Fourth, the goal of the story is clear and overarching to
the story. Find and save the pups from
certain death. One clear goal drives the
story to the finish line, through many twists and turns, obstacles, near misses
and the heart stopping ending when the pups are saved and Roger and Anita are
reunited with all of them.
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| From Disney's "101 Dalmatians." |
Last, it has a satisfying ending. Cruella knew that it would take many pups to
make a coat worthy of her. She stole
other Dalmatian pups from all over England, keeping them in one place to be
slaughtered together when she had enough to make her coat. Pongo and Perdita rescue all of them rather
than leaving the orphans to a certain death.
Roger and Anita realize that their small flat can’t accommodate all of
them so they decided to move into the country.
At the end, the reader gets the payoff of a happy ending and learns the
meaning of the title. Ninety-nine pups
plus two adult dogs equals 101 Dalmatians.
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| From Disney's "101 Dalmatians." |
Great children’s stories illustrate that a plot doesn’t have
to be labyrinthine to be good. By
possessing these elements, a classic story was created. Each of these points, when fleshed out in the
story, are all that are necessary to keep the reader’s interest and drive the
story forward. As an older child, I read
the original story by Dodie Smith, “The One Hundred and One Dalmatians” that
the Disney movie was created from. I
recommend it to anyone.
I’ll paraphrase the last line from my first version: “Pongo
and Perdita, Roger and Anita, all live happily ever after on a Dalmatian
Plantation.”
Girly sigh…
What are some of your all time favorite stories from
childhood? What makes them that way?
Lisa! Great point! And now I have to go watch 101 Dalmatians again!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite stories as a kid were all fairy tales. I had several volumes of them, in slightly different versions, but my favorites were the horrid bloody Grimm versions. Of course.
Lisa, what a great post! And it's so easy to get lost in a plot when a straightforward one takes the reader as quickly to the end.
ReplyDeleteI loved Frances Hodgson Burnett (the Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy) and books like Runaway Ralph, From the MIxed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, and The Once and Future King.
I read. All the time. And as you pointed out, I think it was the simplicity of the narrative of these stories that have become the foundation of story structure in me. I just have to remember this when I start trying to get all tricksy and complicated and like that!
Lisa ~ How fun! Yes, I adored 101 Dalmations. Because I had three boys close together, we went through a phase of movies. That was one of them we loved. It does have everything needed for a good story. Cinderella was always a favorite, too. I've always been the sucker for the happy ending. And a rags-to-riches story gets me every time. ;0)
ReplyDeleteOh, Lisa, if we could only get all our story elements lined up like that!
ReplyDeleteI loved 101 Dalmatians, too. The live action Disney movie is so awesome. I recall Glenn Close saying when she was all dressed up like Cruella deVil, the puppies would cower. She felt so bad about that!
I'm with Evie. I loved Grimm's tales. And I loved adventures. Any kind of adventure. And if it had a mystery in it? Oh boy!
Hi Evie- Thank you. You just reminded me that I had a book of Grimm's Fairy Tales, too, that I forgot. It was at my grandmother's house and was consumed when her house caught fire. I'd love to see that book again. They were some dark tales, weren't they?
ReplyDeleteHi Marjanna - Tricksy and complicated are something I get mired in as well so I know what you mean. It was refreshing to think about how straightforward it was and yet kept me riveted to the story.
ReplyDeleteHi Candy - My other favorite childhood book was Cinderella! I love a good rags to riches story, as well, where the underdog ends up winning despite immense odds. They both had things I love - romance, suspense, and animals. What more could a girl want?
ReplyDeleteHi Nichole - I know, the Glenn Close movie! I didn't even go down that path. I was afraid it would get too long but wasn't that awesome?
ReplyDeleteI was also a big mystery fan - I read every Nancy Drew mystery available at that time. That girl had a way of finding trouble wherever she went.
I've already mentioned my lost Grimm's book. What memories. :)
101 Dalmations has always been a favorite of mine--but when I was in fourth grade and driving across the country as Dad got transferred, I found the ORIGINAL book it was based on, by Dodie Smith. It's still a great story, though different from the Disney version. Lots more action and adventure, and Pongo's wife (known as Missus)and Perdita are two different characters--with an additional, separate love story! Still quite fun.
ReplyDeleteLoved the fairy tales growing up--my favorites were Beauty and the Beast, the Seven Swans, and Rapunzel.