Horton Hears a Who and Defeats the Pouch-Schooling Villain
One of my children’s favorite books is Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who. They love the story, the rhymes, the illustrations. I enjoy listening to my husband read this timeless children’s classic aloud to our little ones. The story is one of trust, friendship, and faith in something that cannot be seen.
When we found out last year that there would be a movie based on this book, we were elated. We normally have to wait for movies to come out on DVD so that we can rent them, but we decided to splurge and spend the $150 to go to the movies. Actually, it wasn’t $150, but it was still way too expensive. It cost us $36 for tickets and we shared popcorn and coke for $11.55. (We saved $26 by not purchasing the $5.20 kid’s meals.)
But anyway, this isn’t about the cost of a movie ticket. This is about the movie.
If you’re familiar with the book, you already know that near the beginning of the story, Horton finds a clover with a speck on it and on that speck is where the people of Who-ville live.
Meanwhile, in order to introduce the main characters in the movie, Horton is shown exploring the jungle with a small entourage of little animals whom he teaches about various things. He is standing in a clearing with his young students when a kangaroo hops up with a little kangaroo in her pouch.
“Why can’t I play with the other kids, mom?” asks the little kangaroo.
The mother kangaroo replies that those other children “are learning to be hair-brained half wits and that’s why mine are pouch-schooled!”
Now I would almost not mind this observation or the comment since I almost agree with it. However, the real problem is that the pouch-schooling kangaroo is a villain in what could be a fabulous movie other than this not-so-subtle-at-all bias against homeschooling.
When Horton the kangaroo finds out that Horton plans to tell everyone of the speck where the residents of Who-ville live, she accuses Horton of trying to “poison the minds” of the children. She further states, “Our community has standards and if you want to remain a part of it, I suggest you not say anything about it.”
At one point, the little kangaroo looks up out of the pouch and says, “Mom, you’re so weird.” The kangaroo responds by shoving junior into the pouch and shouting, “Go to your room!” This would be bad enough except that the kangaroo then demands that Horton give her the clover and when he shouts, “No,” the little kangaroo peeks out of the pouch and trembles.
When the dictatorial, narrow-minded mother kangaroo bargains with a vulture to snatch the clover from Horton, the vulture says he wants the little kangaroo in exchange for doing the job. The horrified little kangaroo protests and looks up at his mom, but she just tells him to be quiet because she is “thinking it over.”
During another tirade about Horton and his clover, the kangaroo states, “Our way of life is under attack.” She says that if it can’t be seen, heard or felt, it can’t be real and when children are taught to question authority, this leads to defiance and anarchy.
Fortunately, although the obvious ongoing social commentary was a distraction, there were parts of the movie that were incredibly hilarious. I was able to laugh right along with my family and everyone else in the audience when Horton was bouncing along a quickly decaying swinging bridge high above a ravine while he was trying to be “lighter than air.” It was very funny. Also, I can still laugh just thinking about the mayor’s arm, instead of his mouth, being injected with anesthetic at the dentist office.
So while I did enjoy the movie and it was an incredibly entertaining, although expensive, way to spend a Saturday afternoon, it’s just too bad that the narrow-minded script writers could not realize that it’s not the pouch-schoolers they need to fear. It’s themselves. After all, it’s free-minded liberals who seem to have applied the “a person is a person, no matter how small” mantra to saving baby dolphins and Eagle’s eggs, but they show no mercy when it comes to protecting an unborn human life. It’s these same people who advocate tolerance and acceptance of all, but in a children’s movie about trust, friendship and faith, they make it abundantly clear that the mother kangaroo cannot be accepted until her son defiantly hops out of her pouch and joins the other side. Then, Horton walks over and offers her a cookie. This is a nice, sweet sentiment except for the fact that, once again, the message is unmistakable. Tolerance is only acceptable if you’re willing to relinquish your beliefs and turn your children over to society.
If you would like to use this in your homeschool newsletter or other publication, you are more than welcome to do so. Please just print the essay in its entirety and include the following information for attribution:
Sonya Haskins, author of The Homeschooler's Book of Lists
Essay #2: Does Horton Hears a Who Promote a Pro-Life Sentiment?