Meet Vlad . . .
He's Merciless,
He's Rentless,
And He's Clueless!
watch clip: Clulesshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ylfIm6k1AU&feature=related
I was so excited to go see this Dr. Suess movie. Call me a nerd. I unashamedly counted the days til I could buy my ticket, sit right in the middle of the theater, and watch the story about an elephant saving a WhoVillage. Honestly, the last thing I could've thought about was that there was going to be racism in this movie. It struck me as kinda funny--but really not. The "bad guy", the only character in the movie who is never redeemed, has a thick Russian accent, is named Vlad, is cruel, aggressive, not that intelligent, and has no friends.
What is the message that the producers of this G-rated children's film are putting forth? What ideas are they putting in little kids minds? Why is Vlad the only character who doesn't reconcile with the other characters (like Kangaroo and the Wickashim brothers do in the end)?
This was such a funny movie. I LOVE Horton and I LOVE Jo-Jo the Who, but it was so frustrating that in the end my appreciation of this movie had to be tainted with the knowledge that this one character would make every kid who left this movie a little more unconsciously racist. That was really frustrating. Even my 15 year of brother didn't pick up on it. I had to spell it out for him and then eventually, he saw what I was talking about. So if a 15 year old high schooler isn't even aware, whats that say about the teaching that 6 and 7 year olds are getting? The unnecessary racism smack in the middle of a great movie was really disturbing, especially in light of "how far we've come."
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