Line #8 YMMV/GulliversTravels


1	!! The book
2	* AdaptationDisplacement: Most people are more familiar with the watered down adaptations of the story that [[DisneyFication reinterpret it as a children's fairy tale]]. Many people aren't even aware that the famous Lilliput voyage that most adaptations focus on only makes up the first 50 pages of the story, that there are three more voyages, and that the original story was a hard edged {{Satire}} and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids most definitely]] '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids not]]''' [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids a children's book.]]
3	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Is the part of the book with the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos meant to be a swipe at humanity? [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity Or is it an indictment of those who consider themselves perfect while stigmatizing others]]?
4	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
5	** Gulliver's misfortunes are intentional and he prefers being InHarmsWay. He secretly loves his arduous trips, hence why he spends very little time at home before he leaves for sea, intending to be shipwrecked ''again''. [[HenpeckedHusband Or maybe he just hates the missus.]]
6	** The surreal events of the book combined with Gulliver's increasing misanthropy raises many questions about his mental health and how reliable he is as a narrator. There has been some speculation regarding how much of the story actually happened and how much is just in his head.
7	** Whether the Houyhnhnms are meant to satirize the Enlightenment of the 18th-century or they really are Swift's idea of the perfect society has been debated by scholars for years. Given the satirical nature of the rest of the book, it's most likely the first one.
8	** Is the final part of the book, where Gulliver prefers the company of (non-sapient) horses to humans, a final indictment of humanity, or a satirical jab at misanthropes?
9	** Given his experiences at sea--bizarre at best, terribly traumatic at worse--Gulliver may actually be suffering from a form of PTSD, which was far less understood in Swift's day. He may have rightfully feared being committed.
10	* {{Anvilicious}}: Swift isn't shy about hiding his contempt for the English society of his day through a variety of caricature cultures, or his contempt of human beings in general through the ridiculously flawed characters that appear in the book. However, what kind of society he advocates as a better alternative (or even whether he thinks a better alternative is possible) remains hotly contested.
11	%%* {{Applicability}}: Certainly relevant here.
12	%%Why? As written, this is a Administrivia/ZeroContextExample.
13	* FirstInstallmentWins: Everyone's heard of Lilliput, few people besides [[Anime/CastleInTheSky anime fans]] know of Laputa, some fans of [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship Is Magic]] might know of Houyhnhnms[[note]]and also coining the nonsense word ''yahoo'' used here to describe the Houyhnhnms' ServantRace [[/note]], fewer know of Brobdingnag, and almost nobody has heard of Luggnagg or Glubbdubdrib.
14	* FridgeBrilliance: The Lilliputs are constantly at war, while the Brobdingnagians are at peace. This causes the implication that smaller people engage in wars more often, or put another way, the bigger you are, the bigger your heart is.
15	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: Many, particularly if you're inclined to Swift's [[BlackHumor unique]] [[ToiletHumor blend]] [[{{Satire}} of comedy]].
16	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
17	** The book is published all over the world, but while [[FirstInstallmentWins everyone's heard of Lilliput]], the only country where Laputa has earned similar fame is Japan, mostly because of ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. There was even a Japanese rock band named after the flying island.
18	** The full unabridged version is rather popular in Russia. A good amount of promotion by the communists plus better appreciation for the dark humour.
19	* HilariousInHindsight:
20	** A situation where a man walking on the road is so immersed in other matters, that he constantly needs to be slapped so that he won't be ran over. Has no time for his wife, but who cares? So long as he can distract himself, he won't notice his wife cheating on him right before his eyes. The modern term is "smartphones".
21	** In part III, a man presents an invention that randomly combines words, believing that such combinations can allow him (and anyone else) to compile books full of scientific knowledge on all subjects. Three centuries later, there was a major scandal when over a hundred "articles" composed by [=SCIgen=], a more advanced form of just such an "invention", were published in scientific newspapers.
22	** In Chapter Three of "A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan", Gulliver mentions that the Laputans have discovered "two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars". In 1877, Phobos and Deimos were discovered, remarkably close in distance and size to Swift's descriptions.
23	** On his fourth voyage, Gulliver encounters the Houyhnhnms, a race of intelligent horse-creatures that value friendship and benevolence above all else, and use their pasterns as if they were hands. Many modern readers have called it "the first [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Human in Equestria]] story".
24	* SignatureScene: Gulliver being tied down by the Lilliputians is a popular choice [[https://www.tvguide.com/a/img/catalog/provider/1/1/1-308927634.jpg for]] [[https://naxosaudiobooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/0073.jpg book covers]] [[https://cdn.britannica.com/90/125990-050-F5E91F84/Lemuel-Gulliver-edition-illustration-Lilliput-Gullivers-Travels.jpg and]] [[http://www.oxfordgradedreaders.es/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BOOK-4-Gullivers-Travels.jpg posters]] for adaptations.
25	* ValuesDissonance:
26	** In the second part, Gulliver describes how he saw an execution by beheading. His eight year old "nanny" was brought along. Back then, having children watch justice being served even in much gorier ways than simple beheading was no more controversial than an anti-drug video shown in school today.
27	** In the fourth part, after Gulliver barely escapes a Yahoo female who tried to rape him, he casually mentions she was eleven. Today, few books would dare write about a girl of eleven (even a savage one) having a libido and attempting to initiate sex with a man of fifty.
28	** The extensive and insulting portrayal Gulliver gives of medicine in the fourth book seems very strange coming from a surgeon. But in Swift's time, surgery was not considered a branch of medicine. Surgeons were second-tier craftsmen at best, and Gulliver is a ship's surgeon, who tended to be the worst of their profession.
29	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: This book might be considered the oldest example of this trope ever. Largely regarded as a children's tale with many, many {{Bowdlerise}}d versions of it out there, it was successful among children even when it was first published in the 18th century...despite the fact that the unaltered text is, in fact, a heavily satirical and most definitely an adult book, being among the most preeminent satirical works of the English language.
30
31	!! The Max Fleischer animated movie
32	* AudienceAlienatingEra: This film is considered the beginning of the end for the Fleischer Studios.
33	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The whole [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr11nLTG4qc Soundtrack]] is beautiful and quite catchy.
34	** "Faithful Forever", enough to where the song even got an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination!
35	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEqawMf7fKo "I Hear A Dream"]] is also a very well done, solemn piece.
36	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZCPXWQt61U "It’s a Hap-Hap-Happy Day"]] is a very upbeat and catchy tune as well. So much so it’s been reused in many Fleischer and Famous Studios shorts!
37	* CultClassic: For all of its faults, the film was popular in its heyday and still an enjoyable cartoon romp today, and it's remembered fondly enough to be considered a legitimate classic. It helps that the film is one of the very few animated features to be in the PublicDomain, thus making it an easily accessible staple of classic animation.
38	* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: David storming across the plain and jumps the spies before they can shoot Gulliver in the back.
39	* NightmareFuel: The shot where Gabby stumbles across Gulliver's enormous hand, and where he runs away and sees the giant form in the distance.
40	** The scene where Gulliver awakens in Lilliput and just shrugs off the Lilliputians attempts at trapping him. Their terror is understandable, considering that Gulliver is at least a thousand times their size and could crush them without even trying. Gabby gets the worst of it, as he's stuck outside and can't hide with the others, reduced to pleading for his life when Gulliver picks him up by the scruff of his shirt. Luckily for them, Gulliver isn't hostile.
41	* RomanticPlotTumor: A damn good portion of the movie is spent emphasizing David and Glory's love for one another and their wedding, and they barely even get any real screentime or non-singing dialogue! Their wedding is only in the beginning to start up the conflict, but the thing is Glory and David have no personality beyond loving each other and don't get to really talk till the very end of the movie, so the whole wedding plot comes off as super contrived just to shoehorn in a reason for war.
42	* TheScrappy: You won't find many fans of Gabby. He's an attempt to mix the comic relief of [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs the Seven Dwarfs]] (his design looks like a bargain basement knockoff of them, and he's even voiced by one of their actors, Pinto Colvig) with the temper of WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck into one character, but he has none of the likable qualities of either. He's a self-important and whiny nuisance who contributes almost nothing to the story (beyond leading the Lilliputians to Gulliver and warning them of Bombo's surprise attack) and he just comes off as an annoying and unpleasant person in general (although in fairness, he's not all that well liked in-universe either). And to say nothing of his shrill "nails on chalkboard" voice. His follow up short cartoons, which put him in the center of focus, only made it even more obvious how unappealing of a character he is.
43	* SoOkayItsAverage: As film critic and historian Creator/LeonardMaltin says in his animation history book '' Of Mice and Magic'', "Gulliver's Travels isn't a terrible film by any means, but it isn't terribly good either."
44	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "It's A Hap-Hap-Happy Day" is ''extremely'' similar in melody to the Snow White song "Whistle While You Work." Compare them both [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZCPXWQt61U here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIwa9sPFT5I here.]]
45	* TearJerker:
46	** The exhausted look of Gulliver as he is cast up on the beach. He's so tired from his ordeal he can't even stand.
47	** Gulliver's obvious home-sickness. The Lilliputians are nice, but Gulliver just doesn't belong there.
48	** David's DisneyDeath.

Context YMMV / GulliversTravels