Hate: Curious George
Sorry George
While I love books, I don’t love all books. In general, I do not like books that have any form of branding involved, like books with characters from T.V. shows or popular movies. Curious George was a key part of children’s literature before it was ever a popular movie, so I can forgive the trendy commercialization of the curious little monkey, but I still do not understand how this book has become so popular. My husband hates when I say this, but, “I don’t get it.”
First of all, this monkey is abducted from his homeland in the jungle by a white man in a yellow hat and taken to the city, or civilization, where he is then imprisoned in a zoo. Right away, I don’t like it. To me, there is an obvious historical parallel here with slavery, missionaries and colonialism. Of course, George appears, based on the pictures, to be quite happy with the circumstances he was forced into, because he is naïve, or curious. Again, this seems like an imperialistic view of “the natives.” Okay, you think I’m reading too much into it. Fine.
So, the moral of Curious George is that being curious is bad because it will get you into trouble. Doesn’t this seem a bit simplistic for our modern day lifestyle? Curiosity is a wonderful thing when you are encouraging your child to think about the world around them and ask questions. What does mud feel like between my toes? What happens if I push this? On the other hand, we need to be vigilant supervisors in our child’s world and make sure they poke lizards and not outlets. It’s not black and white. Why not just stick our kid in a cage like the man with the yellow hat does with George?
The one thing I do like about this book is that the man with the yellow hat never gets mad at George no matter how ridiculous the antics and always sets things right with a good attitude. Maybe this book is better for parents then for the message it sends to kids.
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