ARTHUR (8) -- by naudy

I've always disliked the name Susan. Not because it's old-fashioned and as a child I couldn't find pre-printed merchandise with my name on it. Not because folks can't seem to spell it. (Suzan, Soozan, Suzin.) Not even because the nicknames one gets as a Susan sound, in Texan, like the sounds one makes to call pigs (SOOOO-ZEE!) Nope, I mainly disliked my name as a child because all the characters in books which had my name were nothing at all like me. In the Ramona Quimby books the Susan is blond, dressed in perfect frilly dresses, and mean. What's worse, in the Narnia series, Susan DOESN'T GET TO GO TO HEAVEN!!

Perfectly awful.

As an adult I have noticed that the Susans in movies and stories are equally crappy. They usually are the "perfect" girl that the hero has to quickly dump so he can hook up with the real perfect girl who has a name like Sam or Jessica or something. Elvis sang a song about a Susan but even the King had to throw a caveat in. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imek5dXuLoM ) In fact, the only time a Susan in stories ends up with anyone is the Susan in the musical Finnian's Ranbow and that Susan is a mute who does a lot of interpretive dance and hooks up with a flighty overgrown leprechaun. Not ideal.

ARTHUR is a charming movie that takes the Susan-hate to a whole new level. The Susan in this film is so horrible that I don't want to even talk about it. What I will talk about is how funny this movie is and how much I enjoyed it. The original film was painful. This one is delightful. The whole cast does a lovely job, it has a Frog And Toad moment, the costumes are BEAUTIFUL, and Greta Gerwig (the only unknown-to-me actor) is pretty much a blond Zooey Deschanel. (That's a good thing.) Anyway, what I am saying is, in spite of the Susan-hate, I really loved this film and if anyone wants to go see it I will totally pay the $11 to go with you and see it again.. as long as you don't call me "the Susan-woman" after.

ADDENDUM:

So, I was in the Preschool classroom (as opposed to my normal Toddler room) and a 4-year-old asked what my name was. I told her and she immediately said "Oh! Like that really REALLY tall lady with the monsters!" She then raised her arms above her head, held her hands like claws, and in a ghosty Scooby-Doo voice said "Sooooooosaaan. SOOOOOOOOOOsan!"

I rest my case.