1988: Matilda

September 23, 2019

By AHNZ

Part of New Zealand culture: Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ (1988) is about the an English girl being failed and attacked by the English School System. I recently re-read the book and watched the mediocre Danny DeVito film (1996). (Seriously considered going to see the musical too.)

This is exactly the sort of story to inspire New Zealanders during our Krypton Factor Dignity Culture (c.1987-1990) and has become a standard on our primary school reading list ever since. What’s amazing is how life imitated art last year…

“Edward Hardy and his wife Eileen Tracy have been ordered by their local council to send their 12-year-old daughter Lilian to school by March 7 – or else face prosecution.”- Parents of Matilda star: We’re prepared to go to jail in home schooling row; Telegraph

Lilian Hardy is an English girl.

Lilian Hardy is an English girl being attacked by the English School System.

Lilian Hardy is an English girl being attacked by the English School System while playing ‘Matilda.’

Lilian Hardy is an English girl being attacked by the English School System while playing ‘Matilda’, a musical about an English girl being attacked by the English School System.

Lilian Hardy is an English girl being attacked by the English School System while playing ‘Matilda’, a musical about an English girl being attacked by the English School System based on ‘Matilda’, a book about an English girl being attacked by the English School System.

“…she has never been to school, and my husband and I decline to drill her in any particular curriculum. Instead, we simply concentrate on keeping her safe, joyful and free – and trust her natural curiosity to do the rest.”- Lilian’s mum

That is exactly the ethic I would parent my daughter with in the same situation. Far better than sending your child to the State Gulags!

No updates on what happened but Lilian was still smiling in publicity shots after her theatre run ended and they were not the smiles of an orphan. The Westminster Council’s PR machine has met its match this time, don’t you think?

Matilda hit the nail on the head at just the right time for a Moral Cultural turning out of Honour Culture into Dignity Culture. It’s the Ugly Duckling tale of a persecuted girl surrounded by butch brutes (ie the headmistress) and cheating rip-off artists (Matilda’s parents) who finds a way to be her authentic self. Dignity Culture is the natural predator of Honour Culture so the HC status quo tried to put a brick on the head of Matilda and her confederate teacher (Miss Honey) but were undone.

Unfortunately, Dahl put a bit too much of the Slave Culture into the story for it to be the perfect DC tale. The author has a penchant for passive aggressive vengeance in his books, impersonal humiliating attacks more proper to SC. There will be need for a new telling of Matilda in the 2020s and an opportunity to tell this story better or another one like it.

Update June 2022: This Theory of Moral Cultures history cycles stuff is serving me well! There will indeed by a new iteration of Matilda very soon. Ref. Town and Country Mag (2022)

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