6 Life Lessons From ‘The BFG’

You better believe your gogglers, human beans — the The BFGmovie trailer looks absolutely whoopsey-splunkers. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you may need to brush up with the Roald Dahl dictionary due out next year, otherwise you’re gonna feel pretty squiff-squiddled by the end of the movie, just like the poor BFG. In human language: the trailer’s out — and it looks ace.

The BFG movie isn’t coming out until next summer though, so we’ve still got a long time to wait. Until then, we’ll just have to make do with reminiscing about the book, hoping that someone invents frobscottle in time for us to sip on in the movie theater, and looking back on all the wonderful life lessons that The BFG taught us in the first place.

Like all Roald Dahl books, The BFG is ridiculous, hilarious, and dark, but it also has a sentimental message or six at its core. The story follows young orphan Sophie and her friendship with the Big Friendly Giant, who blew happy dreams into the rooms of children as they slept. Not to get all warm and gooey, but Roald Dahl is basically the BFG himself; I mean, the man was a whopping 6’6” tall, and his cosy bedtime stories definitely gave me happy dreams at night…

Yep, Dahl was our Big Friendly Giant whenever we needed him. Here are six life lessons taught to us by the BFG himself.

1. Don’t Judge People By Appearances

The BFG is absolutely ginormous, with ears the size of truck wheels. Even he can admit they look “propsposterous.” But even though he looks pretty scary, he turns out to be just the gentlest and kindest character in the whole book.

2. Give People A Chance

Not only does the BFG look frightening, he’s also, you know, a giant. On paper, he’s not exactly the type of person you want to make friends with in the middle of the night. (This was before we’d even heard of Hagrid, remember.) But the friendship between Sophie and the BFG is actually super-rewarding, reminding us all to give people a chance.

3. Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right

Or, as the BFG would say, “two rights don’t equal a left.” The BFG objects to the violent way that his fellow giants treat humans, but that doesn’t mean he’s about to go and treat them violently in exchange. Instead, he pays a visit to the Queen, and together they devise a peaceful plan. I think today’s politicians might want to give this book a quick re-read.

4. You Can Be Strong On Your Own

Characters in Roald Dahl books don’t often have warm, supportive families; usually, in fact, their parents or guardians are pretty rotten to them. For those of us with loving families of our own, this is a reminder to appreciate how lucky we are. But it also teaches those of us without a good support system that we can make it on our own. We can be strong enough.

5. Whizzpopping Is A Sign Of Happiness

Possibly the most important item on this list: the BFG taught us that it’s OK to fart. The BFG calls it “whizzpopping”, and he says that in their world, it’s a sign of happiness. “You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping is forbidden among human beans?” he asks. “If everyone is making whizzpoppers, then why not talk about it?” It’s a fair question, BFG.

6. Dreams Can Come True… Literally

In order to enact their master plan to stop the evil giants, Sophie and the BFG concoct a dream to give to the Queen of England in her sleep. When she wakes up, she realizes that the dream was true after all. And if a dream about man-eating giants can come true, then any dream is possible.