Well they have now made Horton Hears A Who into an animated movie. Meanwhile, the anti-abortionist crazies are saying that the story’s main theme — everyone is equal — is a subliminal confirmation of their position that life begins at conception. This is nuts. As the L.A. Times editorialized:
Dr. Seuss has always been about politics. Seuss, ne Theodor Geisel, previously tapped his illustrative genius as a left-leaning editorial cartoonist with a razor-sharp pen. And many of his most enduring children’s books slip in very liberal political messages. The Butter Battle Book gave grim commentary on mutual deterrence during the Cold War, and The Lorax was a rallying cry for tree-huggers everywhere. Yertle the Turtle, meanwhile, provided a rather proletarian critique of monarchy, or capitalism, or something.
Horton’s Hullabaloo [L.A. Times]. Ascribing 21st century reactionary political themes to a 1950s children’s author makes about as much sense as a lot of the neo-conservative reasoning we hear today, however. Maybe they are, in reality, just a little speck of dust on the head of a flower we carry around in our trunk? Yeah, and the Emperor wore new clothes, too.