History YMMV / Matilda

** The establishing scene for Matilda's father has him grumbling over the $5,000 hospital bill for her delivery and care, with particular annoyance that $9.25 was charged for a bar of soap. Whilst it's used to establish him as a petty-minded, uncaring man with skewed priorities, a British viewer (or by extension, a viewer from any other country with a single-payer health system) would sympathize little with his disgust.

* ValuesDissonance: Dahl's [[NewMediaAreEvil anti-television bias]] is pretty blatant here, even more so than his portrayal of Mike Teavee in ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory''. Matilda's family, who love television, are unpleasant, unintelligent people, especially the father, who is a [[ConMan con artist]] selling cheap, barely-functional cars. Meanwhile, Matilda, who loves books, is a kind-hearted genius. Since it has become accepted that there is nothing wrong with watching television as long as it's in moderation, and that both books and television have their advantages/disadvantages, Dahl's beliefs have started raising some eyebrows.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: With a tad of ValuesDissonance. The establishing scene for Matilda's father has him grumbling over the $5,000 hospital bill for her delivery and care, with particular annoyance that $9.25 was charged for a bar of soap. Whilst the intention is to establish him as a petty-minded, uncaring man with skewed priorities, a British viewer (or by extension, a viewer from any other country with a single-payer health system) can't help but sympathise a little with his disgust.
* ValuesDissonance: Matilda walking by herself to the library, crossing a busy road, when she's ''four''. None of the adults blink an eye as they walk with her in groups. Miss Phelps expresses some concern but has a reasonable compromise: give Matilda a library card so she doesn't have to walk every day and can get as many books as she likes. These days, in such an affluent area, there would at least be a crossing guard or some adult who noticed this situation wasn't normal.

* VanillaProtagonist: The Matilda's [[ChildProdigy personality]] and [[Bookworm love for reading]] sets a contrast when she's surrounded by her [[BigScrewedUpFamily screwed up]] but colorful family. She's their Foil. There's also the [[LargeHam hammy]] Trunchbull.

** It is quite possible that the Trunchbull sees herself as a ''survivor'' of a [[CrapsackWorld harsh world]], and wishes to ''toughen up the children to do the same''. Her overall message seems to be "the world is harsh for no reason; get used to it." It is even possible that she wants to ''save them'' from an ''even harsher'' BreakTheCutie, but severely overestimates the harshness of the outside world, and has become HeWhoFightsMonsters, delivering a far more harsh BreakTheCutie than anything else is likely to.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheDreaded Agatha Trunchbull]] is the [[EvilPrincipal headmistress]] of Crunchem Hall Primary School who rules the school with an iron fist. Shying away from illegal caning, the Trunchbull opts for more torturous methods easily dismissed by parents as wild stories. A ChildHater extraordinaire, the Trunchbull subjects the children to near-fatal punishments, her favorite being "the Chokey" -- a refurnished cupboard laced with broken glass and nails. [[spoiler:Out of greed, the Trunchbull murdered her brother-in-law for his inheritance, and [[EvilAunt violently abused her niece]], Jennifer Honey, breaking her arm in a spur of rage. Unrepentant, the Trunchbull threatens to break Miss Honey's arm again when she stands up to her.]] A psychotic disciplinarian who prides herself with never having a childhood, the Trunchbull set the standard for {{sadist teacher}}s everywhere.

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/EmmaThompson's casting as Trunchbull for the movie adaptation drew criticism from multiple fronts: while she's tall, she's not as bulky as some previous Trunchbull portrayers, and not as strong a performer. The usage of fatsuits for Thompson and Charlie Hobson Prior (Bruce Bogtrotter) was also seen as [[https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/tv-and-film/matilda-the-musical-fat-suit-emma-thompson/ fatphobic,]] when plus-size actors could have portrayed the role instead of Thompson and Prior putting the weight on and off as a costume.

* ShockingMoments: The revelation that the story which Matilda appeared to be writing was actually true and about Miss Honey's parents.
* WTHCastingAgency: Traditionally, Trunchbull is a CrossCastRole. While the film initially cast Creator/RalphFiennes in the role, it ultimately broke tradition by replacing him with Creator/EmmaThompson, apparently due to fears that a man in the role would anger the transgender community, something that never occurred in London or New York. While casting a woman in the role isn’t necessarily bad, the fact that Thompson has none of the character's hulking physique (tall for a woman, but positively tiny and slender compared to other Trunchbulls) and isn't a strong singer doesn't help. And even then, there's the matter of many fans saying that Bertie Carvel should've been allowed to reprise the role due to perfectly shaping it and still being regarded as the the greatest Trunchbull after many others followed.

** Both the book and film lampshade this about Miss Honey. She's a CoolTeacher and NiceGirl who checks on the kids after the Trunchbull "educates" them, and a MamaBear to boot; the only thing that will make her stand up to the Trunchbull is if the latter physically abuses her students. [[spoiler:We find out that Agatha Trunchbull is her ''aunt'' and was her abusive guardian since Miss Honey was five. Miss Honey refuses to partake more than a few details, including that she got beatings, her aunt would half-drown her if she didn't pass muster in the tub, and she had to surrender her wages for ten years on the threat of more physical abuse while receiving one pound a week allowance]]. Yet, as the narrator in the film wisely puts it, Jennifer Honey never let her trauma affect her students or teaching.
* CompleteMonster: [[TheDreaded Agatha Trunchbull]] is the [[EvilPrincipal headmistress]] of Crunchem Hall Primary School who rules the school with an iron fist. Shying away from illegal caning, the Trunchbull opts for more torturous methods easily dismissed by parents as wild stories. A ChildHater extraordinaire, the Trunchbull subjects the children to near-fatal punishments, her favorite being "the Chokey"--a refurnished cupboard laced with broken glass and nails. [[spoiler:Out of greed, the Trunchbull murdered her brother-in-law for his inheritance, and [[EvilAunt violently abused her niece]], Jennifer Honey, breaking her arm in a spur of rage. Unrepentant, the Trunchbull threatens to break Miss Honey's arm again when she stands up to her.]] A psychotic disciplinarian who prides herself with never having a childhood, the Trunchbull set the standard for {{sadist teacher}}s everywhere.

* MoralEventHorizon: Miss Trunchbull does some horrific things to the kids, but really, her behavior and punishments are all ''so'' utterly ridiculous that it's hard to truly hate her for it. What does make her hateable, however, [[spoiler:is when it's heavily implied she murdered Miss Honey's father (her brother-in-law) and framed it as suicide so she could possess the property that was rightfully Honey's, along with making her her lifelong slave. The crime is much less absurd and is not PlayedForLaughs]].

* SpiritualAdaptation: The plot is ''very'' like a family-friendly version of ''Literature/{{Carrie}}''

* TheWoobie: Miss Honey, Matilda (at least before she's able to control her powers), the entire student body, and in the book, the school cook as well, who is just a frail, old woman who disapproves of the abuse about to happen, but clearly has no choice but to play her role. Unfortunately, the film [[AdaptationalVillainy makes her appear to be an accomplice of Trunchbull's.]]

** There's a small group of people who believe Zinnia, while a neglectful parent, actually ''does'' care for Matilda, especially in the end when she lets her be adopted by Miss Honey. There's a possibility that, like Michael, she is just forced into the negative lifestyle of Mr. Wormwood and considering how she signs the papers to let her daughter live a happy life, this could help her image.

** One that Mara outlined in her autobiography. She discovered that she had OCD in her teen years after reading a book called ''Kissing Doorknobs'' - about a girl with OCD and she saw the similarities. She later found out that the author of the book was actually the mother of her co-star in this - Kira Spencer Hesser, who played Hortensia.

* {{Squick}}: The entire scene where Trunchbull forces Bruce to consume a ''massive'' chocolate cake, made with the "sweat and blood" of the school's elderly and unhygienic cook. Throughout the entire scene we get numerous closeups of the poor kid trying to force down the gigantic pastry, and while he manages to finish it he comes dangerously close to losing his lunch.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Compared to the FlatCharacter in the book or the {{Jerkass}} chip off the old block in the film, Michael in the musical is an AdaptationalDumbass who spends most of his time staring slackjawed at the telly and barely comprehending anything around him, and he doesn't take part in any of his parents verbal abuse towards his sister. While it's clear that his parents favor him over Matilda, he's obviously being neglected in a different way by not receiving any proper parenting. And unlike Matilda, Michael isn't smart enough to realize it and doesn't have any supportive adults in his life. It's easy to feel sorry for him when, through no fault of his own, he ends the show with the same horrible parents Matilda escapes from.

* CompleteMonster: [[SadistTeacher Agatha Trunchbull]] commits all the acts from the book, along with additional crimes. Trunchbull is a former Olympic hammer thrower, who is depicted in onscreen flashbacks as making money from a circus where she forced her trapeze artist sister--who was pregnant--to work at the circus or face jail, with Trunchbull eventually killing her sister by cutting the rope. The baby--Jennifer "Jenny" Honey--survived. Trunchbull was then invited by her oblivious brother-in-law to help care for Jenny, regularly [[EvilAunt abusing]] the latter when her father wasn't home and scaring her into submission. When Jenny's father came home early one day to find his daughter starved and tied up in the cellar, he went to confront Agatha, only for Trunchbull to murder him and [[NeverSuicide frame it as suicide]]. In the present day, Trunchbull became [[EvilPrincipal headmistress of a school]]. She commits all the acts of [[WouldHurtAChild child abuse]] seen in the book and locks Matilda in a [[PunishmentBox torture box]] known as a [[IronMaiden Chokey]], which she regularly used on children. The Trunchbull's cruelty expands in scope when the climax of the musical has her attempting to replace all classrooms with Chokeys to create a school system where children will be tortured and "neither seen nor heard". Already known as one of the most preeminent {{child hater}}s in adolescent fiction, this version of the Trunchbull still stands out as truly monstrous.

* FandomRivalry: As noted above, this show controversially lost several Tonys to ''Film/KinkyBoots'', causing a bit of bad blood. The fact that ''Kinky Boots'' would go on to last longer on Broadway than ''Matilda'', certainly helped by those wins only exacerbates this.

** It is quite possible that the Trunchbull sees herself as a ''survivor'' of a [[CrapsackWorld harsh world]], and wishes to ''toughen up the children to do the same''. Her overall message seems to be "the world is harsh for no reason; get used to it." It is even possible that she wants to ''save them'' an ''even harsher'' BreakTheCutie, but severely overestimates the harshness of the outside world, and has become HeWhoFightsMonsters, delivering a far more harsh BreakTheCutie than anything else is likely to.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: While Trunchbull's [[DisproportionateRetribution over-the-top reactions]] to minor things like sneaking M&Ms into class or ''having pig-tails'' are excessive and cruel, half the time they are ''so'' over-the-top that one can't help but laugh at them. The book has Matilda remark that this is exactly the point: [[RefugeInAudacity since she is so over the top, even if one of the children were to talk to their parents about what she does at school, it would sound so fanciful and unlikely nobody would believe it.]]

* WTHCastingAgency: Traditionally, Trunchbull is a CrossCastRole. While the film initially cast Creator/RalphFiennes in the role, it ultimately broke tradition by replacing him Creator/EmmaThompson, apparently due to fears that a man in the role would anger the transgender community, something that never occurred in London or New York. While casting a woman in the role isn’t necessarily bad, the fact that Thompson has none of the character's hulking physique (tall for a woman, but positively tiny and slender compared to other Trunchbulls) and isn't a strong singer doesn't help. And even then, there's the matter of many fans saying that Bertie Carvel should've been allowed to recreate his role due to perfectly shaping it and still being regarded as the the greatest Trunchbull after many others followed.

* WTHCastingAgency: After the announcement that Creator/RalphFiennes would play Trunchbull, the film then broke the OriginalCastPrecedent by dropping Fiennes and casting Creator/EmmaThompson apparently due to fears that a man in the role would anger the transgender community, something that never occurred in London or New York. While casting a woman in the role isn’t necessarily bad, the fact that Thompson has none of the character's hulking physique (tall for a woman, but positively tiny and slender compared to other Trunchbulls) and isn't a strong singer doesn't help. And even then, there's the matter of many fans saying that Bertie Carvel should've been allowed to recreate his role due to perfectly shaping it and still being regarded as the the greatest Trunchbull after many others followed.

** Mrs. Trunchbull could very well be throwing children for their amusement, but without wanting to break her tough image with them. The girl she throws doesn't seem any worse for it, and even the black cat landed on its feet and was okay.

* MemeticMutation:
** "Much too good for children!"
** "They're all mistakes, children. Filthy, nasty things. Glad I never was one!"
** "The apple never rots far from the tree!"
** "Your mommy, ''IS A TWIT!''"
** "In this classroom, in this school... ''I AM GOD!!''"
** "INTO THE CHOKEY!"

* HilariousInHindsight:
** This film was released two years [[Film/TheProfessional after another movie]] that also starred a young brunette girl named Mathilda who lives with an abusive family and develops a close, family-like relationship with a caring adult that has [[TragicHero a tragic backstory of losing a loved one]]. That same little girl and adult would work together to take down a LargeHam villain who just so happens to hold an otherwise relatively normal occupation and a creepy obsession with a harmless hobby not to mention that a branch of American law enforcement is involved in the story. That movie too had a FormerChildStar as one of the main leads and the antagonist was portrayed by a British actor.
** A character played by Pam Ferris bullies the main character and eventually angers them enough that they use their powers to give them their comeuppance? [[Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Sounds familiar...]]

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The establishing scene for Matilda's father has him grumbling over the $5,000 hospital bill for her delivery and care, with particular annoyance that $9.25 was charged for a bar of soap. Whilst the intention is to establish him as a petty-minded, uncaring man with skewed priorities, a British viewer (or by extension, a viewer from any other country with a single-payer health system) can't help but sympathise a little with his disgust.

* ValuesDissonance:
** Matilda walking by herself to the library, crossing a busy road, when she's ''four''. None of the adults blink an eye as they walk with her in groups. Miss Phelps expresses some concern but has a reasonable compromise: give Matilda a library card so she doesn't have to walk every day and can get as many books as she likes. These days, in such an affluent area, there would at least be a crossing guard or some adult who noticed this situation wasn't normal.

** With a dash of JerkassHasAPoint. The establishing scene for Matilda's father has him grumbling over the $5,000 hospital bill for her delivery and care, with particular annoyance that $9.25 was charged for a bar of soap. Whilst the intention is to establish him as a petty-minded, uncaring man with skewed priorities, a British viewer (or by extension, a viewer from any other country with a single-payer health system) can't help but sympathise a little with his disgust.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** While expressing indignation at Matilda asking him for a book, Mr. Wormwood talks about how the family already has "a lovely telly with a 12-inch screen". Nowadays, you can buy televisions with ''much'' bigger screen sizes than twelve inches for a reasonable price, and would actually have more trouble finding a 12-inch one for sale.
** Pam Ferris would go on to play a much nicer headmistress in ''Film/{{Nativity}}''.

* ValuesDissonance:
** Agatha Trunchbull's abuse of children, even by 1988 [[note]]book's release[[/note]] and 1996 [[note]] film's release[[/note]] standards, wouldn't be acceptable at all. Social services would've been on her if she was reported... But none of the children ever reported her since their parents wouldn't believe them... Nowadays, however, parents would get suspicious and many children would have [[TechnologyMarchesOn a smart-phone to record]] their proof. In fact, with anti-bullying laws and social media, Trunchbull would've been caught on the spot. It's worth noting, though, that the book is based on Roald Dahl's memories of [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors his own boarding school]], where corporal punishment (or more creative ones like eating soap flakes) could be administered for any offense as small as snoring or breaking a pen nib. The Trunchbull is also based on his daughter Liccy's headmistress, who had a fondness for elaborate punishments.
** The Wormwood family might also have to deal with Social Services, or at least it's possible they'd be under more scrutiny than in either of the originals.
** Dahl's [[NewMediaAreEvil anti-television bias]] is pretty blatant here, even more so than his portrayal of Mike Teavee in ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory''. Matilda's family, who love television, are unpleasant, unintelligent people, especially the father, who is a [[ConMan con artist]] selling cheap, barely-functional cars. Meanwhile, Matilda, who loves books, is a kind-hearted genius. Since it has become accepted that there is nothing wrong with watching television as long as it's in moderation, and that both books and television have their advantages/disadvantages, Dahl's beliefs have started raising some eyebrows.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: Miss Trunchbull is clearly a caricature of then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

** Lavender catches a newt at a local pond and stashes it in her pencil box with some water and pond grass. [[ArtisticLicenseAnimalCare She may not know any better, but that seems already stressful for the newt before the Trunchbull smacks it off her]].

* CompleteMonster: [[SadistTeacher Agatha Trunchbull]] commits all the acts from the book, along with additional crimes. Trunchbull is a former Olympic hammer thrower, who is depicted in onscreen flashbacks as making money from a circus where she forced her trapeze artist sister--who was pregnant--to work at the circus or face jail, with Trunchbull eventually killing her sister by cutting the rope. The baby--Jennifer "Jenny" Honey--survived. Trunchbull was then invited by her oblivious brother-in-law to help care for Jenny, regularly [[EvilAunt abusing]] the latter when her father wasn't home and scaring her into submission. When Jenny's father came home early one day to find his daughter starved and tied up in the cellar, he went to confront Agatha, only for Trunchbull to murder him and [[NeverSuicide frame it as suicide]]. In the present day, Trunchbull became [[EvilPrincipal headmistress of a school]]. She commits all the acts of [[WouldHurtAChild child abuse]] seen in the book and locks Matilda in a [[IronMaiden torture box]] known as a Chokey, which she regularly used on children. The Trunchbull's cruelty expands in scope when the climax of the musical has her attempting to replace all classrooms with Chokeys to create a school system where children will be tortured and "neither seen nor heard". Already known as one of the most preeminent {{child hater}}s in adolescent fiction, this version of the Trunchbull still stands out as truly monstrous.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The Wormwoods ''are'' supposed to be portrayed as incompetent and neglectful parents for laughs, but leaving baby Matilda in the car when they get home can leave a sour taste in the mouths of those who remember the rash of deaths caused by parents leaving their children locked in cars starting in TheNewTens.