The Emperors Old Cloths essays

The Emperor's Old Cloths essays Ariel Dorfmans The Empires Old Clothes is a one of a kind book that examines the hidden cultural backdrops of popular childrens 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 Empires 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. Darfmans book illustrates that though Disney stories lacks the imagination and historical accuracy blatant in De Brunhoffs Babar, they each reflect some cultural truths of their respective cultures. The French story of Babar written by De Brunhoff is a series of original tales that describe a society of personified elephants. Unlike Disneys stories, this French story conveys a mission civilisatrice, or a civilizing mission, in which De Brunhoff underlines the stories with lessons on how to grow and mature. On the surface, this mission is similar to the stories about Madeline, the little French girl who always gets herself into mischief, then after having been rescued, teaches her young audience a fun lesson. Babars civilizing mission, however, involves more than lessons for children. In his books, the jungle is the continent of Africa, and the town is Paris. 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. With these geographical disguises, De Brunhoff civilizes two cultures at once. Elephant and children, both small savages, will finally reach a point at which they must as ...