The Empire's Old Clothes: What the Lone Ranger, Babar, and Other Innocent Heroes Do to Our Minds [Paperback]

Ariel Dorfman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140256377
• ISBN-13: 978-0140256376
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,765,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reading Lone Ranger., May 17, 2003

By 

C. E. R. Mendonça "Carlos Eduardo Rebello de ... (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Empire's Old Clothes: What the Lone Ranger, Babar, and Other Innocent Heroes Do to Our Minds (Paperback)

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.

3 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Empire's Old Clothes, November 23, 2001

By 

Olivia (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Empire's Old Clothes: What the Lone Ranger, Babar, and Other Innocent Heroes Do to Our Minds (Paperback)

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.

8 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Over-the-top and obsessive, nearly paranoid..., October 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Empire's Old Clothes: What the Lone Ranger, Babar, and Other Innocent Heroes Do to Our Minds (Paperback)

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.