As part of the Perkins Christmas routine we settled down on Boxing Day afternoon to watch a family film. Our little girl is mad keen on Charlotte’s Web and as luck would have it or, providentially, depending on whether you have a sound theology, Blockbuster had it on special.

There’s lots we could say about this film. Others have said it here, here, here and here. The Damaris review is thought provoking and you’ll find Tony Watkins’ article Transforming Humility here.

But in my view Charlotte’s web is essentially a tale about saving Wilbur’s bacon. Wilbur is a pig. He’s a runt. And he gets saved. First by a girl and then by a spider. So what we’re dealing with is essentially a film about the salvation of a pig. This film has lots, perhaps inadvertently, to say about salvation. I’m not claiming this was E.B. White’s intent. I know nothing about his Christian views. Nor am I suggesting that this was the film’s production team’s aim. But there’s something worth exploring in this salvation theme, I’m sure. Cut through the schmaltz at the end and I wonder whether there’s something really useful to talk to the kids about.

Let me run a few ideas up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes them!

Salvation comes to the undeserving. Wilbur ought to have been killed at the start of the film because he’s the one pig in the litter who won’t survive. He’s surplus to requirements. But he’s saved. He ought to have been Christmas lunch because he’ll make a lovely smoked ham. But he’s saved. And it’s not really because there’s anything inherently wonderful about him. Charlotte weaves her magic and tries to encapsulate his essence in a few well chosen words. But in all honesty with the exception of the last one, they’re a bit of a stretch. But isn’t that the point. He is humble. That’s the one description that’s accurate. And it’s the humble who’ll be lifted up.

Salvation comes in fulfilment of covenant promises. Perhaps I’m overstating it a little but it is interesting that both Fern and Charlotte make promises to Wilbur which they have every intention of keeping. In a scene in the kitchen Fern makes it clear to her father that she made a promise not to him but to the pig. He can’t release her from her promise. And in a scene in the barn Charlotte reassures Wilbur that he’ll see the spring because she’s promised it. The salvation of this pig depends therefore on the ability of the promise keepers to fulfil their vows. As the film progresses Fern’s involvement with Wilbur becomes less significant. Her role is fulfilled by Charlotte.

Salvation comes from above. Normally I’d have thought I was imagining it. But the tagline to the movie poster actually states, ‘This Christmas. Help is coming from above’. Perhaps they spoke wiser than they knew. They wouldn’t be the first. But is this a deliberate allusion to Christian notions of redemption? From above is, in the first instance, a reference to Charlotte’s habitat. But for those of is with a monergistic view of salvation this is manna from heaven! The pig depends entirely on the actions of others to save him. There is nothing that he can do to secure his future. But help was on its way.

Salvation comes from an unlikely source. That salvation should come from a spider is unusual. No one was expecting that. The real hero of the story is not the cute pig. It’s the ugly spider. She has nothing in her appearance that would attract us to her. She’s despised and rejected by her farmyard companions. Yet she selflessly gives of herself to secure the salvation of another. And increasingly they are persuaded to value her as Wilbur does.

This may all be coming out of left field. But it proved to be a very productive line of enquiry with the kids even if it wasn’t entirely consistent with authorial intent!