“I wish I were big.”
12 year-old Josh, in the 1988 film, “Big”
Like most people, I suspect, I spent a lot of time as a child
wishing that I were older and bigger.
I remember sitting with my friends when I was a primary
school student and rolling up a piece of paper into the shape of a cigarette,
then setting fire to the end of it. I
breathed in the smoke, thinking that I would be like an adult. Instead, I just burned my throat and coughed
a lot. Apparently they don’t make
cigarettes out of school notebooks. And
they put a filter on the end!
I was thinking about an old fantasy-comedy film from the
1980s starring Tom Hanks recently. In
the film, “Big”, a 12 year old boy wishes to be big, and is magically
transformed into a 30 year-old. The boy
in adult form, played by Tom Hanks, has to get a job until he can reverse
the magic.
There are a lot of funny scenes. A female co-worker of Tom Hanks becomes
attracted to him and they have a fun day out together, then sit talking in
Hanks’ apartment late in the evening.
She hints that she might like to stay the night. Hanks innocently says, “Do you mean sleep
over? Okay, but I get to be on top!”
He is of course thinking of the bunk-bed he has in
his apartment, one bunk on top and the other underneath.
The scene which brought the film to mind recently,
though, was this: Hanks goes to a swanky toy store and there is a giant
keyboard on the ground. He plays a tune
on the keyboard by jumping from one key to another.
My wife and I received some hand-me-down toys for my
son at the weekend. He got lots of
things, including a little tent and a fold-away jungle-gym. He used to have few toys. Now going into his play area reminds me of
stepping into the swanky toy store in the film.
But it is a bit of a challenge to get him to play with his
new toys. He has gotten used to a life
without them, and loves getting his mum or dad to flick through a
picture book with him instead.
So I have been playing with his toys. I put some music on and sit inside the tent,
cross-legged. There is just enough room. Life feels more peaceful inside a little
tent. I feel like meditating. My son comes to visit with a picture
book. It’s nice to be small.
Vocabulary:
to reverse something – to put something back to the way it
was; to undo a change
to sleep over – to spend the night at another person’s
house, especially for a child to spend the night at a friend’s house
a bunk-bed – A bed with more than one sleeping area, usually
one on top of another
to bring something to mind – to make one remember something
or think of something
swanky – (informal) stylishly luxurious and expensive
hand-me-down – second hand; donated by a previous owner
to flick through something – of a book, photo album etc., to
look through at speed, looking only briefly at each page, picture etc.
to meditate – to focus one’s mind in silence, usually for
religious or spiritual purposes
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