Line #11 WesternAnimation/CharlottesWeb


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlottes_web_1973.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Sometimes when somebody loves you,\
4	Miracles somehow appear.\
5	And there in the warp and the woof\
6	Is the proof of it,\
7	Charlotte's Web!"''
8
9	The children's book ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'' by Creator/EBWhite was first adapted as an animated film in 1973. It was produced by Creator/HannaBarbera and Sagittarius Productions, and released by Creator/{{Paramount}}. Its screenplay was written by Earl Hamner, Jr. (''Series/TheWaltons'') and music by Music/TheShermanBrothers (''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', ''Film/MaryPoppins''), and it featured the voices of Creator/DebbieReynolds as Charlotte, Creator/PaulLynde as Templeton, and Creator/HenryGibson as Wilbur. The film was reasonably well-reviewed by critics (74% fresh on Website/RottenTomatoes), though endured some complaints regarding the quality of the animation and the music. [[CreatorBacklash Notably, E.B. White himself was disappointed by the film]], scrutinizing its "jolly songs" as detrimental to his narrative's tone and pacing. This did not stop it from becoming a popular success, enjoying strong popularity on VHS and television.
10
11	A noticeably LighterAndSofter DirectToVideo sequel titled ''Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure'' was released in 2003 by Paramount and Creator/{{Universal}}, with animation production handled by the latter. Set a year after the original film's conclusion, the film features Wilbur (now a surrogate father figure to Charlotte's daughters Joy, Nellie and Arania) befriending Cardigan, a literal BlackSheep who is [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer ostracized by his herd]].
12	----
13	!!Some tropes weaved into this Charlotte's Web
14	* AdaptationExpansion: The 1973 film adds scenes that flesh out Henry Fussy as a nerd with an [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing mother]], who eventually loosens up and starts acting and dressing his age (and even [[TheGlassesGottaGo loses his glasses]]) after a visit to his grandfather, leading Fern to [[RelationshipUpgrade "suddenly see him]] [[PuppyLove with new eyes."]] It also gives Wilbur another inseparable friend, Jeffrey the gosling, though he [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse disappears without explanation]] after Wilbur leaves for the fair.
15	* AdaptationalHeroism: Templeton is more of a likable JerkWithAHeartOfGold in this film adaptation, especially given that he's voiced by Creator/PaulLynde, whereas in the original book he is utterly self-centered and amoral.
16	* AdaptationDeviation:
17	** The scene where the baby spiders are given their names is slightly altered from the story. In the book, Joy gets her name because Wilbur was "trembling with joy"; in the movie, Wilbur sees Joy dangling and trembling on her dragline and she says she's "trembling with joy", and Wilbur gives Joy her name.
18	** An extra scene was added to Wilbur's depression in the end after the baby spiders fly away: he attempts to run away because he's had enough, but then the ram tells him three of the spiders have stayed, when in the book, he finds out three of the spiders have stayed himself.
19	** Charlotte's death scene was slightly altered as well. In the book, she dies alone after Wilbur leaves the fair; but in the movie, Wilbur witnesses her death prior to leaving.
20	* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: In the book, it's explicitly stated that Fern can hear the animals speaking English (see AdaptedOut). In the film, this is not made very obvious, which makes it hard to tell for a viewer that is unfamiliar with the book if she merely [[SpeaksFluentAnimal understands what the animal noises mean]] or if she really can hear the animals.
21	* AdaptedOut:
22	** The book has a scene where Nancy Arable (Fern's mom) visits psychiatrist Dr. Dorian, having been concerned about her daughter frequently visiting Homer's barn (and her seemingly telling how animals can think/talk in some way). The scene with Dr. Dorian is nowhere to be found in the animated film.
23	** Another scene from the book that didn't make it into the animated adaptation is when Wilbur busts out of his pen with the geese urging him to be free. Though it did eventually end up in the live-action adaptation (along with the Dorian scene).
24	** Among the characters, the Gander, the Goose's mate and father of her goslings, is omitted.
25	* AmbiguousSituation: Are Wilbur and his friends {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s that [[SpeaksFluentAnimal only Fern can hear talking]], or {{Talking Animal}}s that {{Masquerade}} as normal animals around everyone except Fern?
26	* AnimationBump: While still not quite Disney animation, the film's more expressive and fluid animation is otherwise a testament to what Hanna-Barbera's artists could do with the budget and schedule of a feature film, and easily distinguished from the kind of LimitedAnimation often found in the TV shows they were producing at the same time.
27	* ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare: Overlaps with ValuesDissonance. In both the 1973 version and the book (both set during the 1940s or early 1950s), Wilbur's refusal to eat earns him a spoonful of sulfur and molasses shoved down his throat. An old mountain cure, this "spring tonic" was believed to wake up the blood after the long winter while also serving as a laxative. Needless to say, we now know that sulfur isn't something humans ''or'' animals should really be ingesting.
28	* ArtisticLicenseArachnids: Charlotte has antennae, two eyes and a mouth like that of a vertebrate.
29	* AwardBaitSong: "Mother Earth and Father Time".
30	* BabiesEverAfter: Although Charlotte dies and most of her offspring leave the farm, three of her daughters remain. Also, the ending of the 1973 film brings a host of new babies to the farm animals -- even [[spoiler:Templeton's]].
31	* BabysFirstWords: Though not a baby, Wilbur is encouraged to talk for the first time by the goose (his first word was his own name), and he eventually sings about it. Note that this was not in the book itself, where Wilbur could already talk upon arrival.
32	* BalloonBelly / BigEater: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A0l-eBK9KE Templeton after eating at the fair.]]
33	* BigBrotherBully: Fern's brother Avery, though not exactly a bully, is just rather obnoxious and mischievous. He tries to catch Charlotte for his collection, only to be stopped by the rotten egg breaking. Though Avery still has a good heart.
34	* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Just like in the book, Charlotte passes away, but Templeton saves her egg sac with 514 baby spiders which hatches the following spring; only three of them (Joy, Arania, and Nellie) stick with Wilbur in the final scene.
35	* BittersweetEnding: While Wilbur lives, Charlotte dies soon after the fair. Also, Fern doesn't visit Wilbur as often as she used to as she grows up, and starts dating Henry Fussy. Yet Charlotte's children live on, and Wilbur is happy to while away the years in the barn with generations of Charlotte's descendants.
36	* BribedWithFood: Usually the only way to get Templeton to agree to anything.
37	* BrutalHonesty: A major theme of both the book and its adaptations, with Charlotte, who says she sees no point in withholding unpleasant information from a friend, representing an especially noble variety of it, and Templeton, who is rather overt about his selfish motives for what he does, representing a rather less-than-noble variety. In the book and animated adaptation, the sheep represents a sort of middle ground, telling Wilbur about what farms do to pigs.
38	* BulletSeed: After Templeton crashed into a watermelon, see [[ImpactSilhouette Impact Silhouette below]], he spits out the seeds before he eats it from the inside.
39	* ButtMonkey: Lurvy, the Zuckermans' farm assistant, is ''very'' clumsy.
40	* CanonForeigner: Jeffery the gosling was created for this version of the film and did not appear in the book itself.
41	* ChekhovsGun: The rotten egg which Templeton has been hoarding saves Charlotte's life when Avery accidentally breaks it while trying to catch her.
42	* ChildrenAreTenderHearted: Mr. Arable is about to kill the newborn Wilbur because he's the runt of the litter. The sobbing Fern implores him not to pull through with it, claiming that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman even though Wilbur's a piglet, he shouldn't be slaughtered just for being smaller than the others]]. Mr. Arable relents and lets her keep Wilbur.
43	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mr. Zuckerman describes how a message praising his pig has mysteriously appeared in the middle of a spider web, and concludes that they have "no ordinary pig." His wife disagrees:
44	-->'''Edith Zuckerman''': It seems to me you're a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider. \
45	'''Homer Zuckerman''': Oh, no, it's the pig that's unusual. It says so, right there in the middle of the web.
46	* DarkReprise: In the 1973 film, "Mother Earth and Father Time" returns in a more somber manner as Charlotte faces her imminent death.
47	* DeadpanSnarker: Templeton. It helps that he's voiced by Creator/PaulLynde in the 1973 film.
48	* DeathGlare: During the meeting, Charlotte shoots a disinterested Templeton several of these. He unwisely ignores them.
49	* DeathSong: The second version of "Mother Earth and Father Time", from the 1973 animated film.
50	* DisappearedDad: Charlotte has 514 children and their father is neither mentioned nor seen. Given the courtship habits of ''Araneus cavaticus,'' this is probably for the best.
51	* DisneyAcidSequence: The scene where Templeton sneaks around the fairgrounds at night in the '73 film. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84qCK2yzyi8 This]] isn't actually too far off the mark from what actually happens.
52	* {{Disneyfication}}: This is what the original author felt the 1973 movie had subjected his story to.
53	* DownOnTheFarm: A lot of action is set on two different farms, the Arable's and Zuckerman's.
54	* DreadfulMusician: Henry Fussy is shown practicing the violin in his introductory scene. His violin music is shrill and off-key. It's somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that Henry is a beginner and does not enjoy playing the violin. Henry feels much better later on after his grandfather accidentally breaks his violin.
55	* DyingAlone: Averted with this version of Charlotte's death, unlike in the book or the 2006 film. Here, Wilbur is with her as she dies just before the humans take him home.
56	* FaintInShock: Wilbur is even more prone to this than in the book.
57	** He faints when Lurvey force-feeds him a sulphur-and-molasses tonic.
58	** When he first learns that the humans are planning to kill him for meat, and then again when he overhears them talking about it.
59	** He almost faints again at the mention of "crunchy bacon," but Charlotte stops it by saying, "Wilbur, I forbid you to faint!"
60	* FinalSpeech: Charlotte's last words at the very end of the DarkReprise of "Mother Earth and Father Time", just before passing away.
61	-->''How very special are we... For just a moment to be... Part of life's... eternal... rhyme.''
62	* FoodPorn: {{Double Subverted\|Trope}} with the discarded food from the county fair. Not appetizing at first glance, but it is if you're a rat. Templeton takes [[StealthPun full]] advantage of it.
63	* AFriendInNeed: Charlotte's only real motivation for helping Wilbur: he's her friend and he's in danger, so she'll do everything she can to save him.
64	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Fern, at least until she starts to "grow up" and care more about Henry Fussy than animals. Charlotte is also an example... except to the insects she eats.
65	* GenderFlip: The Old Sheep is a ewe in the book, but a ram in this film.
66	* HappyCircusMusic:
67	** PlayedForLaughs with "A Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord." The music itself has an elegant carnival waltz tune, but the lyrics are very ''in''elegant. In the song, the Goose convinces Templeton the rat to go to the fair so he can chow down on all the food left behind when the fair closes. "That's where a rat can glut, glut, glut, glut" is not how most people would happily describe a carnival.
68	** Later in the movie, the song plays again, this time in a fast-paced madcap style as Templeton raids the fair for leftover food during closing hours, then turns slow and intoxicated towards the end as Templeton gets fat from eating and enters a state of bliss.
69	* HappyFlashback: Before Charlotte passes away, we get a montage of flashbacks of Wilbur's whole life throughout the movie, from being saved by Fern to his time on the farm and winning a medal, as she thinks of the wonderful times they've had now that nothing can harm him.
70	* HiccupHijinks: Templeton, after his overeating at the fair, gets these mid-musical number and they last him up to the next morning.
71	* ImpactSilhouette: During the [[GluttonyMontage Gluttony Montage]], Templeton crashed into a watermelon. It leaves a Templeton-shaped hole in it. [[BulletSeed He spits out the seeds]] and eats the watermelon from the inside, leaving no trace of the Templeton-shaped hole.
72	* InkSuitActor: Charlotte's facial features in the animated film seem to vaguely resemble those of Debbie Reynolds, who provided her voice. The same can be said for Templeton and his voice actor Creator/PaulLynde.
73	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: It's buried ''quite deeply'' in [[YouDirtyRat Templeton]]'s gluttonous body in this adaptation.
74	* LanguageBarrier: Downplayed. The animals either can't or choose not to talk to anyone except Fern.
75	* MagnumOpus: Charlotte describes her egg sac as her magnum opus, the finest thing she has ever made. Or, as it turns out, ''will'' ever make, as [[spoiler: she dies, as spiders do, shortly after producing it.]]
76	* MayflyDecemberFriendship: Wilbur ends up experiencing this with Charlotte, as she ends up passing away just as he's become a full-grown pig.
77	* MeaningfulName:
78	** Fern's surname is Arable, and she lives on a farm. The land on a farm (especially that used in growing crops) is called arable land.
79	** Charlotte's full name is Charlotte A. Cavatica. She is also a barn spider, and the scientific name for a barn spider is Araneus cavaticus. When her daughter learns that her mother's middle initial was "A", she decides to name herself Aranea.
80	** Templeton. When the goose tells him that a fair is a rat's paradise, he says, "What you're saying ''tempts'' me."
81	* MessyPig: Type 2--Sanitary Swine. Or as sanitary as he can be, considering [[NauseaFuel he sleeps on an enormous pile of manure]]. Played with when Wilbur has to go to the fair. The sheep advises Wilbur to struggle with being put in a crate. Wilbur's objection that it'll make him messy (after he'd just had a buttermilk bath by Edith Zuckerman) is overruled by the sheep warning him that if he ''doesn't'' struggle, they'll assume something is wrong with him and leave him behind.
82	* {{Narrator}}: Rex Allen narrates the film.
83	* NoBodyLeftBehind: Charlotte edges herself off the top of the roof rafter in her final moments, so that Wilbur (and the audience) doesn't see her pass away.
84	* OnlySaneMan: In the animated version, Edith Zuckerman is the only human to point out that a spiderweb with "SOME PIG" woven into it is more indicative that the ''spider'' is special, not the pig. [[CassandraTruth Her husband immediately dismisses the idea.]]
85	* ParentalBonus:
86	** In the animated film, the "I got lucky" facial expression Templeton has on his face when he and his mate and his offspring walk by. The satisfied chuckle he gives just ''screams'' "Behold, the evidence of my conquest!" For those who know who [[CampGay Paul Lynde]] was, it's more "Who knew?"
87	** After Templeton returns from his night of overeating at the fairgrounds, Wilbur informs him that Charlotte has laid 514 eggs. Templeton's response? "This ''has'' been a night!"
88	* ThePowerOfFriendship: Charlotte works hard to save Wilbur's life.
89	* PleaseWakeUp: Wilbur calls out to Charlotte when she stops singing. He repeats her name three times, goes OhCrap when it sinks in, and starts crying.
90	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: The end of Charlotte's DeathSong, as her words are slowly being reduced to a whisper before she succumbs.
91	-->'''Charlotte:''' ''How very special are we... For just a moment... To be... Part of life's... Eternal... Rhyme.'' ''(Passes away)''
92	* PuppyLove: Fern starts viewing Henry as a date instead of a playmate, and her interests start to shift away from Wilbur to him. Charlotte tells Wilbur that's how it should be, despite his jealousy.
93	* RecycledAnimation: Owing to the very low animation budget (by feature film standards, anyway), this Creator/HannaBarbera trope happens here and there. One point of notice is that the footage used for the crowds pulling in is the same for the first two occasions where Charlotte spins a message into her web.
94	* TheRunaway: Wilbur almost does this when Charlotte's daughters take off, before the ram reveals that three of them decided to stay.
95	* TheRuntAtTheEnd: Wilbur. This is why Fern takes a shine to him.
96	* SayMyName: In the 1973 film version, after Charlotte passes away:
97	-->'''Wilbur:''' Charlotte? ''Charlotte??'' '''CHARLOTTE!!!''' ''(breaks down in tears)''
98	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Charlotte (at least from Wilbur's perspective). Likely as not, her vocabulary introduced a lot of young readers to words like "languishing", "radiant", "versatile", "salutations", and "magnum opus".
99	* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Charlotte has antennae like an insect.
100	* SpeechImpediment: The g-g-goose has a rather pronounced stutter-utter-utter.
101	* SpidersAreScary: Averted. Charlotte is the nicest spider ever.
102	* SultryBellyDancer: While an admittedly small detail, the fair that Zuckerman and his family attend to show off Wilbur features a belly dancing exhibit.
103	* TookALevelInJerkass: Templeton, for most of the story, is just an antisocial loner, who really doesn't want to be involved in Charlotte's plan to save Wilbur unless there's something in it for him. However, he delivers an out-of-nowhere KickTheDog moment towards the end when Wilbur explains to him that Charlotte is dying and asks him to carry her egg sac into the crate. Templeton's response?
104	--> [[ItsAllAboutMe "So it's ol' Templeton to the rescue again, is it? And, what thanks do I get for these services? I would like to know!"]]
105	** It's less out-of-nowhere in the book, where the omniscient narrator tells us early on that "the rat had no morals, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything." But in the adaptations, without that passage and with Templeton characterized as more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, it's slightly jarring.
106	* TranslationConvention: In the animals' POV, they speak English, but in the humans' POV, they make realistic animal sounds.
107	* TriumphantReprise: "Zuckerman's Famous Pig" returns in a more celebratory manner when Wilbur is offered a medal and Mr. Zuckerman decides to let him live the rest of his life.
108	* TypewriterEating: Templeton does this to eat the tiny kernels in the corn on the cob during the second "A Fair Is a Veritable Smorgasbord" musical number.
109	* VerbalTic: The geese tend to repeat their own words as they talk.
110	--> '''Gander:''' It's my idio-idio-idiosyncrasy.
111	* WeAreAsMayflies: The unspoken reason Charlotte helps Wilbur. She lives only a year, and values the friendship for what little life she will enjoy.
112	* WhamLine: As the fair is winding down and Wilbur talks about returning to the farm with his medal, Charlotte tells Wilbur this...
113	--> '''Charlotte:''' I will not be going back to the barn. [...] I'm done for, Wilbur. In a while, I'll be dead.
114	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After Wilbur returns home from the fair, what happened to Jeffrey, the gosling that wanted to be a pig? Jeffrey's siblings aren't seen either and the Goose is shown hatching a new set of eggs.
115	* WhatsInItForMe: It's a continued theme that Templeton repeatedly asks this question, and is repeatedly answered with ''very'' strong incentives. One has to wonder why Templeton hasn't learned to expect it. Only twice is Templeton ''not'' threatened-- and those are the two final times, first with promises of miles of food at the fair, and last of all when Wilbur promises to let him eat first from his trough for the rest of his life in return for bringing him Charlotte's egg sac.
116	* WritersSuck: Averted. The last lines of the book and adaptations are "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
117	* YouDirtyRat: Templeton is a dirty, [[BigEater gluttonous]], selfish {{Jerkass}}.
118	* YourDaysAreNumbered: Wilbur is going to be killed and turned into a meal at Christmastime, and it's up to Charlotte to save him.

Context WesternAnimation / CharlottesWeb