''The Selfish Giant'' is an animated short film adaptation of the short story by Oscar Wilde. The story has symbolic religious themes and may be considered a work of allegory in

Christian literature Christian literature is the literary aspect of Christian media, and it constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing. Scripture While falling within the strict definition of literature, the Bible is not generally considered literature. Ho ...

. The film was produced in 1971 by the Canadian-based Potterton Productions and by Pyramid Films. It earned a 44th Academy Award nomination in the Animated Short Subject category. One of the film's animators was

Micheline Lanctôt Micheline Lanctôt (born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian actress, film director, screenwriter, and musician. Biography Lanctôt was born in Frelighsburg, Quebec. Her post-secondary education was in music, fine arts, and theatre at ''Collège Jésu ...

The King's Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 19 ...

provided the vocals after having formed only a few years before. The film first aired on Canadian television in November 1972 on CTV. It aired in the United States on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

on March 28, 1973.

Plot

A giant erects a wall to keep children out of his garden, reaping the consequences of a continuous winter. After months of winter with no other seasons in sight, spring suddenly returns when the children slip into a hole in the wall and play in the trees, except for one corner of winter where a little boy is too small to climb into the tree. The giant's heart melts at the sight and, realizing how selfish he's been, he helps the child into the tree. He then tears down the wall and tells the children it was their garden to play in. Years pass and the giant enjoys playing with the children, but never sees the one special boy he first helped. One day when he had grown old, he again sees the little boy, who appears with wounds in His hands and feet. He has come to escort the giant to His garden, which is paradise.

References

External links

BFI (UK): ''The Selfish Giant''
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The Oscar-nominated classic short in its entirety on YouTube
1972 in Canadian television Canadian animated television films CTV Television Network original programming Canadian animated short films Films based on short fiction Films based on works by Oscar Wilde Films about giants 1970s animated short films Films scored by Ron Goodwin 1970s Canadian films {{1970s-short-animation-film-stub

Plot

See also

References

External links