The other day I read the essay "Should we burn Babar" by Herbert Kohl. If you have read this essay, skip this paragraph and the next, if not, I will give you a short summary of the book. The essay focused on the story book Babar an elephant who's mother is killed by a hunter and then runs off into the civilized world and is taken in by a "very rich lady" who dresses Babar like a human and gives him everything. Babar never goes against the lady, instead blindly accepting all of the clothes and stuff that she gives him. Eventually Babar misses his home and he goes home to the other elephants. Donned with fancy clothes, the other naked elephants make Babar their King and Babar decided that he will take his cousin as his fiancee and the book ends with them leaving in a yellow balloon.
Kids who read this book enjoy it thoroughly and feel so much connection with the story. Kohl admits to also "crying when Babar's mother was killed, being delighted that the Rich Lady was willing to take Babar in and civilize him, feeling happy for Babar when he returned home and was made King, and wishing him the most wonderful time when he and Celeste got married and flew off in an air balloon to have adventures" (3). This is most kids reaction to the book however when looking back upon it, as Kohl points out, the book seems to subtly support ideas of colonialism, sexism and racism. When he is taken in and is "civilized" by the Rich Lady he is considered to have gained power and ability to rule over the uncivilized, naked elephants. This part of it is not up for discussion in the book, he is just given the throne because he has lived with the humans. Also, there is no proposal to Celeste, Babar simply announces that he will only take the throne under the condition that his fiancee Celeste can be the queen. This supports the patriarchal idea that the best thing for a women is to be chosen by a good man.
Whether or not Babar and other stories that make assumptions about race, sex, and class is an important question. On one side, kids love the story and it is always good for kids to hear more stories, on another side, it is possible that kids will be influenced by the assumptions made in the book and they will start to make those assumptions themselves, they might for example, assume that rich ladies should never be questioned in real life because Babar never did and he got all the clothes he wanted because of it. This is one assumption that I never would want my future kids to have; I want my kids to question authority, so I wouldn't have them read a story about an elephant that gets what he wants from being super obedient.
Kids are impressionable, this itself is a statement that is argued often but to some extent, I think everyone must admit it is true. Young children (I am referring to the age where they are first able to comprehend TV shows and story books), learn about life through stories. They only have the chance to see one male-female relationship (their parents's marriage, or non-marriage), and all other ideas of relationships derives from the stories they read. If every story they read portrays the male as dominant, that's all they'll know. It is important then that kids get a good mix of stories. Babar could not be very harmful if it was surrounded by stories that were opposed to the ideas that it supports. And I would prefer to share these stories for my kids than others. Where do these stories come from? They come from modern publishers.
People always have funny stories about their Grandparents nonchalantly passing racist comments. This is because in their time, these racist ideas were just considered assumptions. Every generation is more enlightened. Babar, however, was written in 1931, so all the assumptions made in the book are that of thethe original author Jean de Brunhoff. It is odd to me that we still use such old books. these books are considered "classics" and are prized for that reasons, however I don't want stories that teach kids the assumptions of 1931 as if they were the same assumptions of today. Old books are often better than new ones because they have stood the test of time. I however would prefer to read my kids new books that are made to help kids understand how an enlightened thinker of the 21st century would see things. I might still show kids Babar, but I would point out the flaws i.e. why isn't Babar mad at the hunter, why is he considered a better option for King than the other Elephants?
There will always be talk about the negative influence of Music, TV and Story Books on kids, however there are ways around these negative influences. One way is to point out the negative influences to the kids. Another way is to share a variety of stories with the kids so they can decide for themselves what makes sense. I know that's what I will do with my kids.
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