Dr. Seuss Story - The Story of Dr. Seuss
This documentary, THE POLITICAL DR. SEUSS, traces the evolution of Theodore Geisel’s art and political philosophy and shows how he deftly combined his delightful, otherworldly creations with moral parables and progressive ideas. Both an idealist and a curmudgeon, Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904–91) spent much of his life trying to improve a society he knew was inherently flawed. He had a keen eye for hypocrites, bullies and demagogues, and ridiculed them whenever he got the chance. Above all, Dr. Seuss and his work were intrinsically political. A self-proclaimed master of “logical insanity,” the author of such fanciful tales as Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat devoted much of his considerable talent and influence to advocating political and social change. From condemning isolationism and attacking anti-Semitism to his later works for literacy, the environment, and against the arms race, Dr. Seuss’s most popular works reflect his passion for fairness, democracy and tolerance. But this is a side of Dr. Seuss’s work that is rarely discussed. Most Americans don’t know, for example, that during World War II he drew editorial cartoons for the left-wing New York newspaper PM, or that he made army propaganda films with Frank Capra. Many readers didn’t know that The Sneetches was inspired by Seuss’s opposition to anti-Semitism, that Horton Hears a Who! was a political statement about democracy and isolationism, or that The Lorax and The Butter Battle Book were parables about the environment and the arms race. Dr. Seuss’s true genius may lie in the fact that all of this was done with such humor and finesse, that few realized he was being political at all.