cap 12: calling the children

If I was her, I would have expected to be shown up the nursery and introduced there. Certainly not in the foyer with them solemnly marching down the stairs while their 'nothing like a sea captain' father blew on a shrill whistle.

Of course there is no hurry and I would bet money that we'll still be doing this a year from now but we have to keep things moving. And there is no reason we can't keep discussing old caps when new caps are added. We've done it already. I'm really glad that you're enjoying it indigoblue because your insight is always so delicious.

LOL look, INeverExplainAnything !! It's Lumiere right behind Maria!!

I know Georg is incredibly stubborn and at this point in the film was desperately in pain that he couldn't even conciously acknowledge but don't you think some small part of him must have realised how utterly absurd this was? That people didn't run households like that?

Or was that the point? To throw the governesses off?

from time to time I've contemplated writing a fic that tried to make sense of the whistles and uniforms. The uniforms easier to explain away - they could have been for family portraits or something like that. Maybe the whistle had started as IRL, as a gentle way to keep track of everyone on a large estate "without shouting" and it only took on the darker appearance later. Maybe he is kind of pulling the governess' leg, testing them (the governesses not the legs!)

Here's another question: why does he say the children will help her? Surely he knows the children won't be helpful at all.

I suppose it's a form of denial. Maybe one of the reasons he is 'stuck' in the Naval way is because he has denied that his country has lost the small piece of coastline it once had, and with it, the Austrian Navy. People who are in denial often lead odd lives, out of kilter with normality, so this may explain his persistent Naval habits, the whistles and military uniforms.

He may also have denied that his wife had died, which would account for why he had got stagnated on that front (until he met Elsa) - no music, no laughter, etc.

What's up with him spanking Brigitta with the book in this scene? He doesn't spank her hard (do you think this would have been frowned upon even at this time? It certainly would now), but then why include it at all? Why not just have another whistle command to make her get in line or something? It always seemed odd to me.

I also wonder what the practice sessions for these whistle commands would have looked like. Gretl and Marta would have been too little to participate at first (assuming Georg started with this right after Agathe died), but the others had to just be bewildered. "Now children, when I make this sound you will drop what you are doing and run to this spot, lining up in age order. Then when I make this sound you will turn forward and march in place,..." They had to be like, what in the world are you talking about?!

Has anyone read John Dale (the book Brigitta is reading in this scene)? I can't seem to find any info on what the story is about. 

So good questions in this comment. As far as I'm concerned, the captain can spank with books whenever he wants (sorry). I've always looooved this particular gesture. I think it shows, incredible as it may seem from another point of view, the excellent friendliness between Brigitta and her father. The two have a bond that goes beyond discipline, actually.

As for the turning point of starting with the silly whistle, I can imagine Georg delegating the hard and boring part of instructing his children to some military colleague and then, when they have acquired some learning, he takes charge and applies it behind closed doors.

do you think this is possible? Perhaps Georg ran away from home after Agathe's death, commissioning this disciplinary task and then applying it to be able to relate to his children, since he would not have been able to do so in a closer way?

Why is the governess's whistle signal so harsh? The children's all have fairly normal sounding signals. Some of them are so similar that I can't tell them apart. But then the governess has the high pitched awful signal that makes me want to scream "Stop!", which was pretty much Maria's reaction too. 

Georg is very provocative here- why?

Ah - I meant that he seemed to be deliberately testing Maria in the hall and at dinner, and not making things at all easy for her.

"There's nothing wrong with the children - just their FATHER!"

I'm not at all surprised that Fraulein Josephine lasted only two hours...

I would say that it would be more in keeping with his military career for him to do it to feel superior to a member of staff of his, such as a governess.

So he keeps saying things at the beginning to try to catch her out, or to wrongfoot her. Fortunately Maria is unafraid of him, and quick-witted enough to riposte well enough either to do the same back to him, or alternatively to show that she is unruffled by his jibes. In fact, it may be her calmness in the face of his provocative comments which fascinates him most!