I love Pam Ferris in this, since I first saw her in "Death to Smoochy." Now I imagine Trunchbull saying, "Oh, you like fairy tales? Hey, Danny! Let's tell him the story of the man who got his head cut off with an axe!"
Do we have enough people who've seen The Musical to start a page for that yet? I'd begin it myself but I'd prefer not to leave it a stub.
Grant
Should Matilda be considered a Canon Sue? She's always correct, she has psychic powers, she can do difficult multiplication in seconds, can come up with witty poems without trouble, is perfectly respectful to Miss Honey and the characters who are mean to her are all stupid and abusive. Personally I think this might prove she has the traits of one, but I'm a bit hesitant to add that to the list for fear of starting an edit war so I wanted to ask first.
Fsteak Hide / Show Replies
Definitely. She's a kind, sweet, friendly supergenius with no selfish traits (like most kids her age) or emotional reaction to her surroundings other than mild annoyance. Everyone who doesn't like her is anti-intellectual and an all-around bad person, and she has psychic powers in an otherwise completely mundane setting. In any case, it'd be under the YMMV tab, so as long as it's someone's opinion, it's not out of place.
I suppose it makes sense to avoid examples. Looking at it more closely I'd say she's closer to a Purity Sue, but they don't allow examples on that page.
Fsteak
I've always thought that Dahl made Matilda such a sympathetic, likeable character precisely because the protagonist in Stephen King's "Carrie" was just the opposite; and he wanted us to note the contrast between characters of these telekinetic girls (Carrie was published 14 years before Matilda, and King's writing isn't totally unlike Dahl's darker, gorier stuff... so Dahl would no doubt have expected his readers to be familiar with the latter) Is there a name for this trope?!