The Emperor's Old Cloths
Ariel Dorfman's The Empire's Old Clothes is a one of a kind book that examines the hidden cultural backdrops of popular children's literature. Though it is widely known that books such as the Little Prince have profound meanings underneath the basic storyline, it would be a shock for many to discover that even stories of Babar and the Lone Ranger convey hidden biases and cultural significance to its readers. The Empire's Old Clothes is very descriptive in its arguments and analyzes in detail the significances of each cartoonish episode. Indeed everything from European imperialism to differences in family structure as shown by Babar and Disney are discussed. Darfman's book illustrates that though Disney stories lacks the imagination and historical accuracy blatant in De Brunhoff's Babar, they each reflect some cultural truths of their respective cultures.
The adults grow nostalgic for the simple blithe that is childhood. "Elephant and children, both small savages, will finally reach a point at which they must assume greater responsibilities. Disney, as compared with De Brunhoff, can only be considered mass-market entertainment. It is sweetened up, reduced and inverted. Babar's civilizing mission, however, involves more than lessons for children. written by De Brunhoff is a series of original tales that describe a society of personified elephants. "Disney plunders all folklore, fairy tales, and nineteenth and twentieth-century children's literature, reshaping it in his average North American image. " De Brunhoff's Babar is original and rich in history. " In Babar books, "history is neither eliminated nor ignored. The society of brutish elephants is undoubtedly the African society previous to the arrival of The Old Lady, who is the epitome of Western civilization. " In Disney, history is a "magical" process. With these "geographical disguises", De Brunhoff civilizes two cultures at once. Though both De Brunhoff and Disneys' stories are children's literature, they are accepted by different audiences because of their different cultural backdrops.
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Acceptance Essays
