Revolting Children

The children stand up and revolt against the cruel principal Miss Trunchbull. Financial Times said "in [Matilda's] ultimate uprising with chums at school, [the children] re-define what it means to be called “revolting children” by Trunchbull".[1]

The New York Times explains:[2]

"Revolting children" is what their sadistic headmistress had been calling them. And now, led by a polysyllabic little girl with the gift of telekinesis, they’ve turned an insult into a battle cry. These newly armed, formerly downtrodden creatures have learned one of the first lessons of revolution: who owns the language has the power.

"Revolting Children" is a disco-inspired composition that relies on a lyrical double entendre regarding the word "revolting", which can mean either disgusting or revolutionary. The song also mentions within the lyrics Revolting Rhymes, which is a nod to the Roald Dahl collection of poems with the same name.

The School Library Journal wrote "You can’t help but love songs with double meanings like the oh-so appropriately named 'Revolting Children'".[3] The New York Times deemed it a "rousing final number"[2] and "an anthem of liberation", suggesting "which Mr. Darling has choreographed with a wink at Bill T. Jones’s work on “Spring Awakening”".[4] Time Out wrote, "The final number, 'Revolting Children,' plays on the notion that minors can be both repugnant and a source of social upheaval: 'Revolting children / Living in revolting times / We sing revolting songs / Using revolting rhymes.' There’s a lesson for you tweens: You’ve inherited a lousy culture, so why not make a song and dance about it?".[5] The British Theatre Guide deemed the song "memorable",[6] while Chortle called it "triumphant".[7] The Hollywood Reporter wrote the students "reclaim Trunchbull's scorn as an anthem of rebellion".[8] Entertainment Weekly argued there was slowing down in momentum in the second act "between that growing-up song and the anarchic, Spring Awakening-like final number, Revolting Children". Echoing what many reviewers said about Minchin's witty lyrics being lost due to lack of diction, it said of Revolting Children: "that song is one of several whose tongue-twisting lyrics seem like a mouthful for very young performers less trained in enunciation."[9] Matt Patches of Polygon named the film adaptation's rendition of the song and its musical sequence as one of the best movie scenes of 2022.[10]

In the 2014 version of the theatre spoof Forbidden Broadway, a cast member playing director Matthew Warchus and dressed as Miss Trunchbull sings 'I love exploiting children/I love exploiting shows/I whip their little asses and line them up in rows' to the tune of "Revolting Children".

• Dance workshop for Revolting Children