Customer Reviews

Empire's Old Clothes

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Personally, I think Dorfman to be above all a Marxist scholar of _American_ Mass Culture. His analysis of the Lone Ranger comic strips is a classic, above all for the link between superheroes and Welfare State reality. His analysis of Babar I find lacking somewhat in understanding of European realities (after all, to suppose that "savages" - elephants - can become civilized is, for a Frenchman of the 1930s, somewhat of a step foward)and therefore contrived. Meverthless, a must-read.

I read this book for a sociology class and it was interesting. The insights into children's stories are over the top at times, but overall it was an interesting book.

When I read this three years ago in college, I found it at first interesting, and then maddening. Even more maddening was my experience on a trip, when I met someone spouting the ideas in this book. I read Babar as a child - and I am NOT a colonialist, or anything like. He says, however, that in reading such stories I was indoctrinated as a child. He villifies our childhood comic books, and blames them for the mistakes that people in our country have made as adults. This book is written for the sort of people who think that "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" teaches racism. If you think that, sure, pick the book up. If you DON'T - then the book will only offend you.