Mum's Monday: Babe

This film is based on the book The Sheep Pig by Dick King-Smith and follows the story closely even including acknowledging the chapters of the book throughout.

This shows life from the animals prospective, a pig is born and doesn’t know its fate, sheepdogs are there to do a job and sheep don’t always like the sheepdog’s tactics.

Farmer Arthur H. Hoggett (James Cromwell) sees something in Babe (Voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) to keep him off the Christmas table. However: his wife Esme (Magda Szubanski) is focused on farm life. This may stem from wanting to be the best farmer’s wife she can, as she sees this as her duty to her husband.

Babe having seen what the sheep dog, Fly (Voiced by Miriam Margolyes) does, wants to be involved and do the same, even rounding up the farm’s resident geese. This is so cute to watch and Arthur has an idea. this can be an argument for the phrase nature versus nurture. It is not in a pig’s nature to round up sheep but having been around other sheepdogs and seen what they do and gradually been influenced by it, Babe wants to do the same.

Nature versus nurture is a phrase used in Childcare. How much of a child’s life is in their nature and how much of it is influenced by what they experience around them. This film is a light hearted way of showing this. Whether or not this was intended it is a good job done.    

The sheepdog trials are coming up and with the help of a loop hole in the rules and a password type verse from the sheep, Babe pulls off a perfect score, also proving politeness gets the job done efficiently. Needless to say the judges are not happy to begin with and then after having to reluctantly eat their words, are amazed and willing to accept the outcome.

There have been many occasions where people have formed a less than favourable opinion and then had their minds completely changed; it has happened, notably on the reality TV show “Britain’s Got Talent.”

This film has a one moral running throughout and it sticks to it strongly: Give animals, people and anything a chance – they may surprise you.