However, at some point, the authors of the book take George out of the zoo and place him lovingly in Ted's home where their relationship and George's curiosity blooms. A post shared by Curious George curiousgeorgeandfriends. We know Ted is an explorer, as we learn from the first Curious George book.
He's always busy with meetings and goes off to work, but what does he actually do? Ted's job has become somewhat of an enigma. In the Curious George movies and the PBS animated series , he is shown to work at Bloomsbury Museum first as a worker and then as a director. In the episodes, he helps Professor Wiseman, but we never see him earning money from it. Ted is also seen riding the subway to work.
Scrutiny about what Ted actually does for a living is as varied as the versions of the story. One Reddit user claims that Ted's museum work is a side job, since he completes random tasks, has an odd schedule, and unusual behavior —the use seems to be insinuating that The Man With The Yellow Hat is some type of clandestine government official, especially since George goes to space and rides rockets!
The story of how Ted ended up with this signature wide-brimmed yellow hat has different versions. Based on the movie, he got it from an explorer's shop.
But in the television series, he makes references to the fact that he's had the hat since childhood, and that it is extremely valuable to him. George is warned not to touch it we all know what that means , and Ted's yellow hat suffers some misfortunes that cause him to pace back and forth anxiously while he waits for his hat to be mended or laundered in several episodes.
Ted cannot be without his yellow hat. He only takes it off to sleep. The Man With The Yellow Hat seems to have a fondness for the color yellow: his necktie, long-sleeved shirt, pants, and pajamas are yellow.
The convertible Volkswagen car he drives around 'the city' is also yellow. He appears to be single and ready to mingle —at least in the television series. In the movies, he's committed to his girlfriend Maggie Dunlop. The more we learn about him, the more we need to know. She is a writer, podcaster, and the mother of beautiful twin boys.
In fact, the film he produces begins with the capture of a smiling George, whose abduction is a form of amusement and pleasure for the audience. In not only employing these tactics, but promoting them as normal, the books reinforce the ideals of inferiority that accompany racism and white supremacy and standardize them as acceptable parts of society.
The parent-child relationship between Curious George and The Man with the Yellow Hat additionally homogenizes homogenizing these ideals of racial superiority, embodying the paternalistic aspects of white supremacy and racism and the way in which childhood innocence is racialized. In this conception of the innocent child, the role of the parental figure involves protecting the ideological pure child from contamination by their surrounding environment.
He is sheltered to the point that his innocence finds further expression in his inability to communicate through speech—he is not even permitted to voice his opinions. The relationship presented in Curious George is inherently harmful because it relies on a racialized history of the concept of childhood innocence and readings of this book perpetuates these hierarchies and affirms these power dynamics. While issues regarding racial power dynamics shift into the subtitles of childhood innocence in the second and third series of the books, the established father-son relationship and associated levels of authority between The Man with the Yellow Hat and George persist in enforcing the subordination of children.
This important distinction in transforming George from a victim to an instigator acknowledges the controversial nature of the original storyline. However, this drastic alteration receives little attention or commentary by the media, the director, or the producer.
Furthermore, all Curious George movie and television program merchandise are marketed alongside the original series, particularly the first installment, only adding insult to injury. Interestingly, the other items sold consist majorly of stuffed toys, which themselves are rooted in a history of violence and objectification of blacks. However, while the series has evolved to transcend beyond the racist archetypes and playful banter about the slave trade, it is still anchored in this framework and it still refuses to condemn the implications made by these themes.
It is therefore impossible for the series to promote its themes of responsibility, discovery, and friendship wholly if it refuses to fulfill its obligation to educate, it ignores the history that has defined who can receive a math and science education, and it promotes diversity in friend groups, racially and characteristically, along with the oppression of non-white individuals.
These books provide an essential understanding of the institutional and social racial hierarchies that persist in American culture and in ignoring their problems, society continues to indoctrinate children with the perception that these power dynamics are acceptable and normal. While curiosity killed the cat, it led George to an oppression that society celebrates and that children internalize. Bernstein, Robin. Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard. Cummins, June.
Doonan, Jane. Looking at Pictures in Picture Books. Stroud: Thimble Press, Finely, Laura L. Encyclopedia of Juvenile Violence. Westport: Greenwood Press Group, Fletcher, Tony. New York: W. The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in the Congo. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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