Ethel & Ernest

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Lo stile di Raymond Briggs non rientra nei miei preferiti, ma devo dire che più andavo avanti con la storia, più questi disegni tondi e pieni con questi colori pacati mi sembravano adatti, anzi, perfetti, per la storia autobiografica raccontata dall’autore. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book.

It's the true story of Raymond Briggs' parents, and his journalistic, colorful account of their life before he was born. The illustrations were beautiful and reminiscent of Briggs' other masterpiece, The Snowman, and the ending was very, very poignant. Such a lovely little thing, but you really should *not* finish reading it right before your break is over, because it will make you cry and then you'll have to go back to work and be all, like, "Hey man, what's up?Briggs's portrayal of his parents as they succeed, or fail, in coming to terms with their rapidly shifting world is irresistably engaging -- full of sympathy and affection, yet clear-eyed and unsentimental. The reissue of Briggs' award winning illustrated story of his parents, issued by Jonathan Cape the year after the book was first published. Fungus the Bogeyman (1977) could also be seen as a character very much close to home, displaying as he does an extreme version of the author’s own tendency to be outspoken and impatient. Joan Didion did it well in The Year of Magical Thinking, but she didn't have to draw a picture of her father on his deathbed. Seeing the world change in oh so many ways, making the best of everything, sticking together for better and for worse.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a comic strip of a couple discussing their son, politics and what they're doing to their house. Ernest's commentary on world events is always related through the tidbits he reads out loud to Ethel from the newspaper. Nevertheless, the children of his long-term partner, Liz Benjamin, provided inspiration and source material for other projects, notably The Puddleman (2004), which grew from a remark made by one of the young children on passing a puddle while the family were out walking in the countryside. Although he bemoaned his tutors’ failure to recognise a “natural illustrator”, the formal training that he received imbued in Briggs a strong sense of structure and of the importance of good draughtsmanship. He always knew where he came from and in this respect, he was a completely grounded character who warmed my heart.When the Wind Blows (1982) confronted the trusting, optimistic Bloggs couple with the horror of nuclear war, and was praised in the British House of Commons for its timeliness and originality. They meet during the Depression -- she working as a chambermaid, he as a milkman -- and we follow them as they encounter, and cope with, World War II, the advent of radio and t. Park adds: "At the end there is that harsh reality of what happens to a snowman, and having taken you through that wonderful relationship that developed, he doesn’t shy away from death and the inevitability of life. But, as with most illustrators, Briggs’s early working years involved undertaking a range of commissions, drawing anything and everything, starting off with a schematic diagram for House and Garden magazine in 1957 – “how deep to plant your bulbs”.

Also discernible is Ethel's sensitivity to class distinctions, which was significant of a bygone era. pero que quienes la vimos recordamos muy nítidamente los primeros minutos en los que, a modo casi de cortometraje paralelo al film, se narra la vida de un matrimonio en unas pocas escenas y se condensa en algunos minutos una preciosa e inolvidable historia de amor. When they first meet in 1920s London, Ethel is in her mid 30s, and working as a lady's maid for a respectable upper class family.

They kind of represent most British people's grandparents I would imagine, or maybe even great-grandparents.