We know Dr. Seuss as the man who drew funny things and created funny rhymes to go with them. But what was his real name? And what did he do before he became famous?
The same article tells us that it was with The Grinch that he entered the world of animation and influenced it. Find out more about his political cartoons:
But, even with whatever was the appropriate political colour of the time, it is hard, in the context of a period, to expect a person to manifest the ideals of a future political correctness. Take, for example, a cartoon of his, part of a set which picturised figures of speech. In that setting, finding fault with his using the phrase 'a nigger in a woodpile' is letting the jaundiced eye get away with blue murder. Hue and cry often does as much or more damage than any tint of racism in the ocean of talent of an individual artist.
As one from a race that has also 'suffered' being the target of racist writings and depictions, I stand firm that it is not by burying nor by banning that we will achieve anything. As humans, we are capable of selectively enjoying things without getting 'contaminated'.
It is the habit and peculiar talent of the humourist as much as it is of any writer or other creator to reflect the time or even misrepresent it. To pull up a creative genius for lapses is a sad pastime of ours and can lead us to a time when excellence is bypassed so that the rabid populace can feed on puerile, low-quality creations.
A great many racists or otherwise prejudiced people, in any case, read frugally or not at all.
I recently grumbled about how we crucify great writers using misguided legalities - mostly, greed disguised as law.
Besides crucifixion, we humans have another strategy up our sleeves: deification. Seuss' talent makes him irresistible and, consequently, he attracted undue attention. Commerce claims him for its own ends. Seuss has been turned into a commodity god. The Grinch film sums it up for me. As do Suess style toys, if they exist.
But, it's not all hunky dory all the way to the bank. There are accusations against Seuss.
We love to read slander about famous authors, among others. And the media loves to dish it out. We lap it up. We make a habit of devouring garbage - witness the sensational visuals and videos shared virally on social media. The media feels further obliged to feed us what it is assumed we love. Once the media and we agree that the human we thought was a genius is, in 'fact', a rotten person, we bury the works of that person.
Theodor Geisel is Dr. Seuss' real name and he took his pen name from his middle name, Seuss, which is his mom's maiden name. (He added doctor because his dad always wanted him to practice medicine.)
Dr. Seuss -- whose real name was Theodor Geisel -- was a commercial illustrator for companies like General Electric. But his style was already well established. One of his ads for Standard Oil showed a "Moto-raspus"-- a mischievous feline creature -- scratching at the engine of a car. Another, for NBC, featured an elephant that looked very much like the future star of Horton Hears a Who.Seuss appears to have started out as a political cartoonist.
His skills did not go unnoticed by the government, and he was hired by the Army to create training videos for new recruits. Geisel wrote a series of shorts starring the goofy Private Snafu, who demonstrated exactly what not to do in combat.
The same article tells us that it was with The Grinch that he entered the world of animation and influenced it. Find out more about his political cartoons:
But, even with whatever was the appropriate political colour of the time, it is hard, in the context of a period, to expect a person to manifest the ideals of a future political correctness. Take, for example, a cartoon of his, part of a set which picturised figures of speech. In that setting, finding fault with his using the phrase 'a nigger in a woodpile' is letting the jaundiced eye get away with blue murder. Hue and cry often does as much or more damage than any tint of racism in the ocean of talent of an individual artist.
As one from a race that has also 'suffered' being the target of racist writings and depictions, I stand firm that it is not by burying nor by banning that we will achieve anything. As humans, we are capable of selectively enjoying things without getting 'contaminated'.
It is the habit and peculiar talent of the humourist as much as it is of any writer or other creator to reflect the time or even misrepresent it. To pull up a creative genius for lapses is a sad pastime of ours and can lead us to a time when excellence is bypassed so that the rabid populace can feed on puerile, low-quality creations.
A great many racists or otherwise prejudiced people, in any case, read frugally or not at all.
Besides crucifixion, we humans have another strategy up our sleeves: deification. Seuss' talent makes him irresistible and, consequently, he attracted undue attention. Commerce claims him for its own ends. Seuss has been turned into a commodity god. The Grinch film sums it up for me. As do Suess style toys, if they exist.
But, it's not all hunky dory all the way to the bank. There are accusations against Seuss.
We love to read slander about famous authors, among others. And the media loves to dish it out. We lap it up. We make a habit of devouring garbage - witness the sensational visuals and videos shared virally on social media. The media feels further obliged to feed us what it is assumed we love. Once the media and we agree that the human we thought was a genius is, in 'fact', a rotten person, we bury the works of that person.
All that is then accessible to the public is via, basically, Amazon. For a fee. There, for free, you can, instead, easily get mountains of stuff written by your bestie, by you or by your sibling. Average voices expressing themselves indifferently.
One major recurrent reason to hide certain voices is to label them 'racist'. Surely, having established that this or that writer is 'racist', we can, with clean conscience, not read them. It makes sense, no? That's me being sarcastic.
Tintin's Herge and many another delightful creator have, in this manner, had individual works or even total output 'put away' from public gaze.
Seuss, some say, was racist. I will not expand on the claim as you merely need to use Google and you will be rewarded by many articles milking the mischief.
Already, he suffers the degrading attentions of school staff because his works are a linguistic delight and we have seen how using good literature in the context of academic coursework damages the pleasure of the work for some readers.
Judge Seuss for yourself from the medley below:
Essential Readings:
One major recurrent reason to hide certain voices is to label them 'racist'. Surely, having established that this or that writer is 'racist', we can, with clean conscience, not read them. It makes sense, no? That's me being sarcastic.
Tintin's Herge and many another delightful creator have, in this manner, had individual works or even total output 'put away' from public gaze.
Seuss, some say, was racist. I will not expand on the claim as you merely need to use Google and you will be rewarded by many articles milking the mischief.
Already, he suffers the degrading attentions of school staff because his works are a linguistic delight and we have seen how using good literature in the context of academic coursework damages the pleasure of the work for some readers.
To Tell the Truth: Dr. Seuss
Dr Seuss' - Rhymes and Reasons Documentary, Part 1 of 9
The Art of Dr. Seuss Tour
