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.
Though both De Brunhoff and Disneys' stories are children's literature, they are accepted by different audiences because of their different cultural backdrops. "Babar can never be turned into adult entertainment," for the French regard childhood, Babar's world, as a state which no one desires to revisit. Culturally, childhood in France is a period of exclusion and frustration. Children long for the pleasures of adulthood. Americans, on the other hand, regard childhood as the time of carefree fun and enjoyment. The adults grow nostalgic for the simple blithe that is childhood. Therefore, Disney's stories, assuming that there's a child in every adult, show an "infantilization of the adult." They are therefore accepted by all audiences, for they are directed towards "children of all ages." written by De Brunhoff is a series of original tales that describe a society of personified elephants. Unlike Disney's s
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Approximate Word count = 616
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)
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