Friday, February 25, 2011

Goal for the Day: Don’t Overthink Things

Sometimes a story about an Elephant King is just a story about an Elephant King and meant to be enjoyed as such. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a political commentary about neocolonialism and an endorsement for dictatorship. Overall, I think we all need to stop dissecting and analyzing everything and just sit back and appreciate things for what they are. When I was researching the first publication date for the Babar stories I happened across all of this ponderous criticism about the political nature of the stories. Honestly, they’re just children’s stories trying to espouse positive behavior. We don’t need to tear everything to pieces.


Now, I’m all for finding the deeper meaning in a work of art. I’m a fan of studying the artist’s motivations and I understand that every author and artist is trying to communicate something. However, I also recognize that some works are created quite innocently for the purpose of entertainment and beauty.

So, let’s stop trying to find reasons to be offended and just enjoy life a little bit more. There’s enough injustice and horror in the world, let’s not go looking for it.

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