My grandson will be so disappointed.
This must be theatre of the absurd. This has to be satire.
Steve;
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I have the original stories, then known as “The Small Railway Series.” I was buying them at the W, K&S gift shop in the early 1970s before they were repackaged as the Thomas the Tank Engine books. I look at them as mini morality plays wrapped up for children. If you have ever read Little Golden Books like Tootle or Scruffy the Tugboat, you will observe similar themes. I think the aim is more “mind your parents and elders - they had to learn from the school of hard knocks” than a much broader “society as a whole” scope. Somebody just decided to give herself a wedgie over it and blow things way out of proportion.
They’re locomotives. They’re supposed to do as they’re told. Otherwise we would have a LOT of sequils to Unstoppable.
Best,
David Meashey
It is now “innate conservatism” to talk about doing hard work??? Oh … yeah?~!?! Okay I get it now.
All of you are clearly missing the real horror of Thomas…The language!!!
I quote: “Bust my Buffers”!..or…“Cinders and Ashes”!
We are subjecting our youth to this kind of switch yard talk??? Bubbles my Boiler!
Mark;
And don’t forget “Have your boiler flushed-out. You’ll feel like a new engine!”
Wink,
David Meashey
Dave Meashey said:
Mark;And don’t forget “Have your boiler flushed-out. You’ll feel like a new engine!”
Wink,
David Meashey
Please Sir, this is a fambly site!, So says our Imperial Leader! :lol:
Tongue firmly in cheek for those who might need that disclaimer.
Has anyone else noted a lack of female engines???
There are a few. I will ask my grandson for a list
Bob C.
Now there would be a most useful engine!
“Has anyone else noted a lack of female engines???”
Well. I do recall Emily, Mavis, and Daisey, there may be others. Several coaches seem to be female. Annie and Clarabelle are, and (dare I type it) Thomas couples up to them on a daily basis! (OMG! I just realized that I read those stories to my little girls! Oh well, they are in their thirties now and don’t seem to be emotionally scarred from it.)
Like I said above. Somebody just decided to give herself a wedgie over it and blow things way out of proportion.
Lets go play with our trains,
David Meashey
Having actually READ the books, and not simply watched the latest tripe from HiT, I think the point missed is that the engines all have the personalities of CHILDREN - from the playground bully to the brown nosing goody-two-shoes. - and everywhere in between - The ‘adults’ and ‘older children’ are ‘the fat controller’ aka Sir Topham Hatt, Edward, Montague (Duck) and Toby. Of COURSE the ‘younger children’ are encouraged to emulate and listen to the ‘adults’… and when they don’t, stuff goes wrong.
Morality plays? The stories were written by a MINISTER. Nostalgic? probably. Modern hack political ideology? Horsefeathers.
This reminds me of the “Literary Criticism” assignments I had to complete in college, wherein one took a piece of literature and wrote a critique from a randomly selected political point of view (feminist, marxist, etc…) The result was, as this is, nearly satirical, and while it met the parameters of the assignment (and obliquely demonstrated that you can find any theme you like in most literature) it was, as this is, difficult to take seriously.
There again, the author of this is probably serious — and while I don’t agree with their position, they do have the right to say so (and accept the kind of blowback it generates…) which is part of what makes it good to be here … imperialst or not.
Matthew (OV)
** Edited to insert missing “it” in the last sentence of the first paragraph… now it makes sense!
Mik said:
Having actually READ the books, and not simply watched the latest tripe from HiT, I think the point missed is that the engines all have the personalities of CHILDREN - from the playground bully to the brown nosing goody-two-shoes. - and everywhere in between - The 'adults' and 'older children' are 'the fat controller' aka Sir Topham Hatt, Edward, Montague (Duck) and Toby. Of COURSE the 'younger children' are encouraged to emulate and listen to the 'adults'.... and when they don't, stuff goes wrong.Morality plays? The stories were written by a MINISTER. Nostalgic? probably. Modern hack political ideology? Horsefeathers.
Yeah, what he said.
Horsefeathers? Interesting.
This is so funny, its perfect proof that people only see what they want to see. I remember not very long ago someone else pointing their finger at Thomas claiming he was a closet Socialist subverting children to the liberal cause, (for espousong such dangerous socialist notions as being nice to others, sharing with others, working with others) now I’m no rocket scientist but it cant be both, as I dont recall very many Tory Socialist in the British Isles, so I’m really chuckling at this idiotic story.
Judging by Matthew’s avatar he is nothing but an imperialist stooge from Sodor and should be ignored.
I think Steve F is probably correct it is satire. If not the writer sure has a problem. Of course many critics often do not do a little research into backgrounds. I am not a great Thomas fan and find the two day visit he makes to my Heritage railway quite sufficient. lol
Rev. Wilbert Awdry was a minister and a ministers son. He inherited the ethos of his country as it was at that time. He always lived in middle class areas of England, except during the period in WW2 when he lived in an industrial city which, some of that time, was visited frequently by German bombing raids.
I lived not too far away from his home during WW2 and wish my father had been at home to write and read me railway stories. He was busy elsewhere as a soldier.
Probably should add this to the thread. I recorded the stories on cassette tapes so the girls could listen to them and turn the pages during our long trips to their maternal grandparents in Dublin, Indiana. Our younger daughter, Laura, took the tapes with her during her freshman year at college so she could hear my voice without the expense of a long distance phone call. Her roommate, Bernadette, who had never read the books or seen the show, got hooked on Thomas.
Bad literature; I don’t think so.
The original books are about the footprint of a large postcard, a quarter inch thick or less, and usually have three to four stories in them. They are now among my most treasured books. I don’t leaf through them as much because I now have a more recently published anthology that is easier to hold and has a stronger binding. But I still keep the originals for the memories they hold of times when our family was much younger.
Yours,
David Meashey
Mark V said:Yeah, sure ... pick on the fat kid! :)
Judging by Matthew's avatar he is nothing but an imperialist stooge from Sodor and should be ignored.
Both Mathew and Mark, don’t see fit to use their full names, so I imagine they both have something drastic to hide…probably some shady past, or ashamed of themselves and their families…