#lilliputtians

I just learned that their name is based on a real word, lilliputian, which means very small

I had never heard or seen this word before today, and I never saw the name of the little mini golf people written before, so to me this blows my mind a little bit. I always thought it was just a dumb name they came up with, but it turns out it was a joke for people with wider vocabularies

Gravity Falls challenge  → Day 3: Favorite Monster/Creature

The references to Gulliver’s Travels in the episode Golf War should be plainly obvious enough, but in case you missed them, here’s my short compare and contrast between Gulliver’s Travels and Golf War. Also, if you’re reading/learning about Gulliver’s Travels in English class like I am, this is a neat little analysis and will include themes and motifs from the book.

The Lilliputtians vs. The Lilliputians

The most obvious of references to Gulliver’s Travels was the LilliPUTTians with their name being nearly exactly the same as Swift’s “Lilliputians” except Hirsch cleverly emphasizes the “putt” in the name to reference the fact that they are little golf balls. However, there is more to it than just the name. Similar to Swift’s Lilliputians, Hirsch’s Lilliputtians have tiny ridiculous feuds. In Gulliver’s Travel’s, the feud between the Lilliputians is simply how to crack an egg. All of them succeed in cracking the egg; they only disagree on their methods for achieving this. In Gravity Falls, the Lilliputtians simply want to know who has the best mini golf hole despite the fact that they all do the same job of “control[ing] the balls.”

Instigating a War vs. Preventing a War

One thing that I thought was funny was that Mabel and Dipper do the complete opposite of what Gulliver tries to do. When the Lilliputians ask Gulliver to aid them in capturing all of the enemy’s ships, he refuses and “endeavored to divert [the Lilliputians] from this” because he “would never be an instrument of bringing a free and brave people into slavery” (66). Gulliver tries his best to keep out of the war that the Lilliputians have. While Mabel at firsts insists that she doesn’t want to “get involved in their mini-blood feud,” Dipper manages to convince her that the Lilliputtians would be a good way to beat Pacifica since “Pacifica’s rich [and] she’s cheating at life” anyway. Mabel, thus, tells the Lilliputtians that they will have a competition and “whoever does the best job helping me win gets the sticker” which will decide who is the best.  However, the Lilliputians and the Lilliputtians share one thing in common: their excessive pride.

“Well maybe…Maybe rivalries are dumb.”

Now, moving on to a theme in the novel. One of the important lessons Gulliver learns through the Lilliputians is that wars are not as big as we think. Through his observations of the Lilliputians’ fighting of the right way to crack an egg, he realizes how ridiculous these fights are and how small the problem really is, literally and metaphorically. Thus, as readers, we ask ourselves: Are our own wars as small and ridiculous as theirs?

Sound familiar? Of course it does.

Mabel: No one gets the sticker because you’re all being jerks! I mean why can’t you just get along? Lilliputtian: Because we hate each other. Lilliputtian: That’s kind of how rivalries work, lass. Mabel: Well then maybe…Maybe rivalries are dumb. Maybe you don’t settle them with petty competitions.

A great lesson for kids, right? But keep in mind how Mabel came to this conclusion: through the Lilliputtians’ rivalries. Both Gulliver’s Travels and Gravity Falls show how SMALL rivalries really are. However, do the Lilliputtians and the Lilliputians understand Mabel and Gulliver’s choice? No, in both Gulliver’s Travels and in Gravity Falls. The Lilliputians could “never forgive [Gulliver]” for betraying them and were, from then on “maliciously bent against [him]” (66). The Lilliputtians threatened to pretty much kill Mabel for that sticker.

BONUS: Getting tied down by tiny Lilliputtians/Lilliputians.

The most obvious reference, of course. I just found it funny that while Gulliver could have easily broken free, Pacifica was fighting at the ropes and was too weak to even budge the ropes.