Dr. Seuss was canceled? Not at all
It was high time for books with racist imagery to go
“They’re canceling Dr. Seuss.”
If you heard something similar and reacted with disbelief or anger or consternation, let me reassure you the story is more complicated, more interesting, and nothing to be exercised over.
Given the white-hot nature of our culture wars, these stories tend to flare into conflagrations where the outrage is outsized and the nuances are lost. Let’s break down what it means when someone declares, “They’re canceling Dr. Seuss.”
The first step is to dig into what is meant by “canceling” as well as the reason for this alleged cancellation. In this case, it means that six lesser known Dr. Seuss titles − the most notable of which is “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” — will no longer be published or licensed because they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”
Those ways include illustrations of Asian and Black characters that are, by any reasonable definition, racist. The illustrations are maybe not as racist as those in “The Story of Little Black Sambo,” another once widely beloved children’s book, but the Dr. Seuss illustrations are clearly intended and received as reductive caricatures.
Existing copies of these books are not going to be rounded up and disposed, but new editions will not be printed.
The second important step is to understand who the “they” is in a given case. Often, these panics are started when a random online person is elevated into an authority with the power to alter policy, rather than being seen as the random online person they are. Criticism from random people online is not de facto cancellation.
In the case of Dr. Seuss, the people making this decision are at Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Because Theodor Geisel passed away in 1991, we cannot declare that this is the author himself making this decision, but it is the next closest thing, the entity in charge of protecting and preserving the legacy of Dr. Seuss. Because they have a desire to perpetuate the work of Dr. Seuss, they are no longer producing books that they believe harm that goal.
This only makes sense. It is tough to remain a beloved children’s author if some of your books are alienating to whole populations of children and parents. The recognition by Dr. Seuss Enterprises that these books do not promote the spirit of Geisel’s work they would like to perpetuate is not “cancellation.”
I have tremendous fondness for the work of Dr. Seuss. “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,” is the first book I could ever read on my own. (Or maybe I memorized it. Either way, impressive.) To call the man’s work iconic is an understatement.
But the nostalgia of older people should not be a priority. Progress is a good thing, and surely we’ve progressed to the point where we do not need to perpetuate overtly racist illustrations just because they were drawn by Theodor Geisel.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises is making the right call, a call you have to believe Geisel himself would agree with. His last published book from 1990, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” has become a graduation staple for its encouraging message around changing yourself and exploring new things as a way to enjoy life’s challenges.
Growth is good. The people whose job it is to make the decision are doing the deciding.
Unless you enjoy outrage for the sake of being outraged, we can spare the angst on this one.
“Earwig and the Witch” is about a young orphaned girl who is not afraid to do what she has to do to get what she wants.
Her personality alone sets her apart from a majority of the heroes depicted in the films from Studio Ghibli. But she’s also the central character of the acclaimed Japanese animation studio’s first-ever 3D computer graphics feature.
“Earwig is this protagonist who talks about controlling people and is someone that always tries to get payback,” said director Goro Miyazaki. “She is not a proper good kid, really, and I thought that made her very charming.
“I wanted to portray her as someone who is energetic and honest about her wants who just doesn’t fit the ‘good kid’ mold.”
After working on the computer-animated TV series “Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter,” Miyazaki returned to Ghibli with an eye toward working on a CG feature. When the project he had been preparing for fell through, Ghibli co-founders Hayao Miyazaki — his father
— and Toshio Suzuki approached him about directing “Earwig and the Witch.”
“Earwig,” which is available to stream on HBO Max, is Goro Miyazaki’s third feature, and he said he particularly enjoyed tackling the comedic elements on the film. Each of his Ghibli films, which also include 2006’s “Tales From Earthsea” and 2011’s “From Up on Poppy Hill,” have been distinct in topics and themes. And “Earwig” is the first of the three that feels particularly suitable for a younger audience.
This interview with Miyazaki has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What was it that made you think “Earwig’s” story was something that would work in 3DCG?
A: After working on “Ronja” and making a computer-animated TV show, I came to see that there are allures and possibilities unique to CG as much as there are with hand-drawn animation.
Then I was handed the plans for “Earwig,” and I thought it felt just right. As a story that focuses on a handful of characters in limited situations, it felt like the perfect scope for Ghibli’s first full-CG endeavor.
Q: What are these allures you found that are specific to CG animation?
A: I think that there are certain advantages in CG
with regard to character animation and acting.
For example, a minutelong one-shot scene is extremely hard to do in hand-drawn animation, particularly if it involves detailed acting. With handdrawn animation, you first have to get the drawing right, and these proper drawings have to seamlessly convey the detailed acting. So creating good acting requires finding an artist with the right technique, experience and sensibilities, which is very difficult.
But with CG it’s possible to have different people contribute to one scene, so there is this possibility of raising the bar on the quality of the acting. That was very appealing to me.
Q: How did you decide on what visual approach to use for “Earwig”?
A: Ghibli has done handdrawn cel animation for so
long, going out of the way to use CG just to re-create that look feels unnecessary. So what we ended up looking to was stop-motion animation like the work at Laika and Aardman. We ultimately decided crafting CG that looks like stopmotion would be a good style to pursue.
Having it be 3DCG that was reminiscent of the drawings that Ghibli has done for so long was also something always on our minds.
Q: So you wanted to make a movie that was both “Ghibli-like” and in 3DCG?
A: I agree it’s sacrilegious when you really think about it.
It’s hard to put into words, really, but my thought throughout the whole production process was that the movie would be a success if it was something that people could watch and say “it’s CG, but it’s still Ghibli-like.”
Q: What inspired you to incorporate Earwig the rock band and that back story?
A: Rock music made sense because the story takes place in an Englandlike place, but some time in the not-too-distant past.
The back story about Earwig’s mother being in a rock band came about because we knew she was being chased by those 12 witches. To me that implied she was a person who did something to make the 12 witches dislike her or that she broke some rules. So I imagined her to be someone with a bit of a rebellious streak.
Since we were already doing something new by making a 3DCG movie, I thought we might as well do something new with the music too. And I personally like rock music.
Q: Were you worried at all about being compared with Ghibli’s other movie with a young girl witch and a talking black cat?
A: I wasn’t really worried about it. But the character designer for “Earwig” is Katsuya Kondo, who also designed Kiki and Jiji for “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” So when we approached him about designing another black cat, he did worry that the cats looked the same no matter how many attempts he made.
Q: Did you find anything particularly difficult to animate or encounter any challenges that were specific to “Earwig”?
A: Everything was a first for me so everything was difficult in its own way.
But along the lines of that idea of trying to maintain our “Ghibli-ness,” Ghibli films are known for their scenes involving food and cooking and eating. I don’t think there are a lot of CG works that are as serious in their depiction of food, so that was one of the areas I really focused on getting right.
It might seem like a small thing, but it definitely was a challenge.
Q: There is an impression that Japanese animation fans in the U.S. are a bit hesitant toward 3DCG anime, but how is it in Japan?
A: I would say it’s similar here. People will watch and enjoy the 3DCG movies from studios like Disney and Pixar and even Illumination.
But they hate 3DCG works that are made here. I think there is this belief that if you’re Japanese, you should be making handdrawn cel animation.
But I also think that’s just among the adults. Children aren’t concerned about whether something is 3DCG or cel animation, or whether something was made in Japan or abroad.