The Selfish Giant

This is amazing.... This animation and story has stayed with me for almost 30 years!!!!!

Can't get hold of it in the UK, would love to. This is by the best animation of this great story. I love the images, of the frost, snow and the hail, dancing on the roof of the castle. I watched a new animation this week 26/12/03, and it was awful, changed completely, even the words to the story. Some things should never change, they are perfect and should remain that way...Like The Selfish Giant

As a child every year in school we were shown The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince at Christmas time. I loved both of them and looked forward to the annual viewing. Well as time goes by you stop watching such wonderful films in school but these two movies stuck with me in my memory. Unfortunately I could never remember the titles of the films in order to look for them. I asked a lot of people if they knew the films but no one recognized them from my descriptions. What a shame that more people haven't seen these two hidden gems. Other people have already described the stories on their respective pages so let me just say to parents everywhere, if you can find these movies, buy them and watch them with your children these films have the ability to create a special bond between everyone. The films do have religious undertones but I am not a religious person and enjoy them immensely, even more so for their messages. Do yourself a favour and hunt them down.

If you're a Cornish ogre, then next time someone comes to visit you, make sure it's not a giant who wants to stay for seven years! Finally taking the hint that it might be time to go home, the giant returns to find his castle garden a playground for the local urchins. He's not impressed, and makes it clear that it's his own exclusive pasture. The kids can play elsewhere! To make sure, he dismantles some of his castle and builds a great wall around it (this bit is accompanied by a rather jolly Peter, Paul and Mary style of ditty warning of the dangers of walling himself in). Task complete, the children now had nowhere to play but neither did the giant. His enclosed garden was abandoned by nature and left barren save for visits from frost, snow, hail (in a suit of armour) and the north wind who's characterisations adored and adorned the place! Hemmed in and literally cold as ice, he began to see the error of his ways as incessant inclement weather remained. Cold, hungry and with the elements pretty much reducing his lodgings to rubble with no sign of spring he began to despair! Will he ever feel the warmth of the sun again? Is there still time for him to repent? I loved this animation as a child and it's still a potent and engaging warning to those who would be selfish and uncaring. I'm not so sure Oscar Wilde would have loved loads of weans messing about in his garden, but this is a fine story of redemption that like his "Little Prince" has a story within it's story.

If this adaptation of the Selfish Giant is the Readers Digest Version from the seventies, and has narration by Paul Hect, I cannot endorse this video enough.

I've had the good fortune to loan it out to a Christian English Teacher at a Christian School who used it for a junior high class. I'm so glad that I was able to spread this great fairy tale around.

Hopefully, the owners of this adaptation will rerelease it on DVD, and perhaps it gain a bit more exposure in the Christian community.

A powerful story, with an ending I really didn't expect when I first saw it as a child. And somehow it stays with me. That, and the Reader's Digest version of The Little Mermaid has far more dramatic punch than say current Disney films. And I'm a Disney fan.

I wish I could get a few more copies to donate to a few friends of mine. This truly is a classic, but sadly probably won't gain the audience that a Disney film would get.

Sincerely,

JThree

Oscar Wilde wrote several fairy tales and they all tended to be bittersweet, and filled with a longing for a genuine, and all-encompassing love. To know something about Wilde's history is to know a little about where that love longing came from. The Selfish Giant is one of the finest stories he ever wrote and the creators of this short film gave it loving treatment. It's like a beautiful storybook magically come to life, and enhanced with truly haunting, memorable music and thoughtful lyrics. The animation/art direction is simple, subdued and effective, and clearly a lot of care was put into making this project beautiful in a simple way that doesn't overshadow the story. Too bad more projects aren't created with this kind of sincerity.

The Selfish Giant owns a garden where the local children like to play in his absence. When he returns home and sees the children in his garden he builds a wall to keep them out. The garden, lacking the love of the children, goes to sleep. The elements of winter, personified in beautiful, mischievous (but never evil) characters, decide this garden would be a perfect place for them to live year round. The giant is forced to confront the reality that he has built a wall that keeps love not only out of his garden, but out of his heart. However, he proves that redemption of one's character, though it may take hard work, is not impossible and never too late. The ending is overtly Christian in tone, offering salvation as a reward for those who are willing or able to serve others for a greater good, but even without the religious overtones the simple message works, is deeply effective and emotional.

What never ceases to intrigue me is that few people ever acknowledge the fact that such a sensitive, beautiful and morally rich story for children and adults was created by an unrepentant homosexual. It makes me wonder if the people who believe the Selfish Giant went to heaven believe Oscar Wilde went to hell.