Is The Lorax a Bore Or Wh*re Act?

Okay so hey, Cat’s n’ kittens it’s me the ol’ Dysu and ya’ know I mean I don’t if I’ve ever mentioned it or not but I am huge fan on Dr. Seuss, Or Theodore Geisel. now a few of you may know that I am a poet, and have a number of  poems (including the ever popular “Poem to the car on my Butt”) that I have written in a “Seussian” rhythm.

I was raised on Dr. Seuss. “Mulberry Street” was my favorite as a boy and as I grew older “500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” and “Oobleck”  both ranked high on my reading list. But, don’t get me wrong, I loved all his books, the standards, early childhood, “Hop on Pop”, early readers “Cat in the Hat” “Green Eggs & Ham”, older childhood..”500 Hats…” the “Horton” books…”Yertle the Turtle…Even the PD Eastman books bring back fond memories who can forget  “Go Dog Go” (have a tat based on that book)”Are You My Mother”, “Sammy The Seal”, “Sam & The Firefly” okay well anyway yea, you get the picture…

An here I better stop and admit that I know Mr. Geisel’s politics…well, I know what’s been said I’ve done some reading, (and recent review due to this article)…this isn’t about his politics, because I never had the chance to ask him myself, instead it’s about my interpretation, what, I feel has become of his legacy, and finally ’bout the ol loveable liberal fuzz ball himself the Lorax…

Listen, I’ve read Dr. Seuss and PD Eastman books to all my children, including my little four year old (so that’s happening now [course I mean not right now]see)….okay I mean…

I love Dr. Seuss, but not necessarily his works that have been turned into films…take the Grinch for instance…the common train of thought is that Dr. Seuss meant the Grinch to be a condemnation of materialism and commercialism at Christmas time…but is that what the book is about??

I mean when I was a kid of course, I wasn’t that smart but, I read the book, saw the little cartoon during Holidays (oh the glorious days), and I always knew the Grinch, was evil ( he just was of course[some Grinch’s are like that]) . The Grinch  lacked goodwill toward others, he envied what others had,  not just what they had in material goods,but their good times as well.  To the Grinch the material goods were all just noisy annoying appliances( to the Who’s good naturedness). The Grinch believed it was the “things” that gave the Who’s happiness so he stole what he believed was important to the them…the Who’s didn’t care about material goods, so the Grinch learned his lesson.

The lesson he learned was that good will and the triumph of the Spirit (Christmas Morning) could not only overcome selfishness and evil…but transform it. That is the lesson that both the book and the original cartoon impart. i reviewed both before writing this just in case I have been mistaken in my interpretation…but I am not.

I do not know If Dr. Seuss wanted to send a different message, I never got the chance to talk to him. I have read his bio, and read critiques people have written…they seem to have read a different story than I did. The message of the story as they tell it is much more akin to the movie with Jim Carrey. In the movie, the Grinch is not evil, he has just been misunderstood and bullied by the Who’s who are (now) very greedy in their nature and seem overly preoccupied with shopping and being annoyingly judgmental of each other. In the movie,  it is the  Grinch who teaches the Who’s the true meaning of Christmas…wha..wha…What?? That is not the same story at all. Maybe that’s the story he somehow meant to tell, maybe the people of Hollywood were not trying to rewrite history and Dr. Seuss did mean to pen a tale about how bad materialism and consumerist culture are (while simultaneously merchandising millions of dollars of Christmas time Grinchey product profit lolsidc).

Though democrats and liberals hail Dr. Seuss as one of their own, the democrats of the first half of this century are nothing like modern democrats. If you read all of the early Dr. Seuss books you will see most, if not all, contain positive pro American value based messages. “Horton Hatches an Egg” the “Horton” they ignored features a mother bird abandoning her egg to let Horton care for it while she lazies about on a beach. It is clearly about personal responsibility and accountability and the rewards of sticking with a difficult task.

In “Oobleck” the King, decides he doesn’t like the weather (He wants something new to come down from the sky)so he goes about trying to control it through magic and science….he tries to control the weather through magic and science…hmmm? Anyway of course the King learns that it is folly to think he can control the sky.

Now I don’t know, like I’ve always said I am dysfunctional but those seem to be pretty old fashioned conservative (even dare I say it Christian) values…I mean, nothing wrong with that, that is why they have become American Classics…unlike his later books (or are the internet rumors true and these are not the works of the actual Dr. Seuss). The book we are talking about today, which no matter how it’s being portrayed right now, has never been, comparatively, as popular as say the “Horton” Books, or even say “Yertle…” or even “I Can Lick Thirty Tigers Today”.

Oh it had it’s time, mostly the 80’s and 90’s, and it’s place, mostly in public schools, but a strong dedicated base has kept this book as a core of it’s new religion. Yes, many parents have read this book over and over again to their little sprouts growing up. even now, as young adults, those kids are living among and fighting for the tress, occupying many city parks all across America.

So here he comes, “The Lorax” (in theaters March 2nd) is tailor made for Hollywood with his love “the forest hate the human pro-environmental anti corporation” message I mean the fuzzy guy’s a tree huggers wet dream…Here’s the thing I mean I don’t really care…”the Lorax”(in theaters March 2nd) is by far his worst book, it’s choppy and about as subtle as a boot up the ass. In fact it’s a lot like getting a boot up the ass, over and over again…all right well my bias is showing…it’s not that I’m not in favor of trees…it’s just a bad book…I’ve tried to like it…hell I used to own a copy of “The 5000 fingers of Dr. T” so I’ve given everything the guy has done a fair shake, but I’m sorry “the Lorax”(in theaters March 2nd) it’s just boring…

But that’s not what I wanna talk about though…I wanna talk about hypocrisy, wanna talk about idiocracy. What is the theme, of this film, is it green?

Okay well I don’t even wanna get started the point is…How much energy is wasted making  films, not just this film, but all films in a given year? How much in the way of resources? Films aren’t needed yet Hollywood keeps churning them out. And it’s not just in the making of the films, but the promoting of those shows, the stars hitting the talk show circuit, the marketing, the…bla, bla, bla, Hollywood is the last industry to preach to me about using energy wisely. But people buy it and they buy it in the f-ing millions, maybe billions.

And speaking of buying, what about all the f-ing “Lorax” stuffed dolls that will be sold, how many “Lorax” kids meals with “Scolding Lorax” toy will be consumed all packed in cute little cardboard (made from trees) happy meal boxes…What happened to the anti corporate, anti capitalist message, oh that’s right, the companies you like are just companies, not evil corporations. Hollywood is not corporate, Hollywood is anti-corporate, you know this because it is in their corporate motto…What a load of f-ing…

I mean this is the thing the exact kind of thing that makes me dysfunctional (and I won’t even mention how 80% or more of those f-ing “Lorax” toys are going to end up as landfill). The super consuming, anti-corporate, throw away, Eco-friendly society. My little dog spins round and round.