The Real Monster in Sleepy Hollow

Today I was watching Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.  It's a fun movie, including the lovely narration of famous old-time actors Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby.  I can remember enjoying it when I was a kid, though the part with the Headless Horseman creeped me out a little.  But watching it now, as a legal adult of 21, I notice that I've started watching it with a more critical eye.

My main example is the latter part of the show, which is based on Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Watching it now, I've realized that I really don't like Katrina.  Ichabod's not that great of a person either, since he's incessantly greedy and just seems to be trying to win her heart so he can have her money, but Katrina is so...mean.  She emotionally manipulates every guy around her, and plays on both Brom and Ichabod's affection for her so she can make Brom jealous, all for her own entertainment.  To me, that's just insensitive, and even a little cruel.  Of course, since Katrina is the only child of the richest man in the Hollow, and probably extremely spoiled, it well may be that she doesn't know any better.  Or she's just selfish and doesn't care about other people's feelings, honest or otherwise.

Some of you may be saying, "Dude, it's just a movie!  Relax!"  Or shaking your heads and thinking that I just don't understand the concept of flirting, or whatever.  But I think that the most horrible monster in Sleepy Hollow is not the Headless Horseman.  After all, he can only make you lose your head.  But, in the words of Bing Crosby himself, "When you have met that little coquette Katrina, you lose your heart."