Ongoing: Art of Rhetoric of Art: From Dr. Seuss to Spiegelman's Maus

"The Lorax is one of the most powerful environmental fables of the 20th Century. Published in 1971, the year after the celebration of the first Earth Day, it has been described in Nature magazine as “a kind of Silent Spring for the playground set”, teaching generations of children about ecological ruin brought on by greed – and offering lessons for environmental policy today." -Fiona Macdonald BBC Today

This is a subscription-based, ongoing class. Learners can join and withdraw at any time and do not need prior knowledge for any of these classes.  In this class, we will exploring how the art we grew up with shaped and changed us in ways we never knew were possible with argument that bubbled just under the surface. From the Sneetches teaching us about the dangers of overconsumption to the Freudian theory behind The Cat in the Hat to modern graphic novels like Art Spiegelman's Maus and Lewis Aydin Powell's March. 

Please be aware that some of these stories will involve strong language, violence, and adult situations (I encourage all parents to visit Common Sense Media's description for all listed texts, but especially Art Spiegelman's Maus, found here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/the-complete-maus ).

Each class consists of a brief lecture, potentially a video (shown through the teacher's computer, no student will need to access any third party app), pictures, and student discussions. Student discussion will be monitored by the instructor who has 15 years experience guiding students through this learning process . 

If you would like clarification on the text we are reading, please contact me via Outschool, and I will give you more information.   

WEEK OF JUNE 26: Meme Philosophy: Billionaires & What Went Wrong
WEEK OF JULY 3: Meme Philosophy: Comedy News: Deep or Dumb? 
WEEK OF JULY 10: Marx and The Office TV Show
WEEK OF JULY 17: Censorship & Podcasts & Art of the Story Telling
WEEK OF JULY 24: Blade Runner and Dystopian Philosophy of Accelerationism 
WEEK OF JULY 31: AI Generated Art and "Ownership" 


Here's a breakdown of our PREVIOUS schedule which will be updated as the class continues: 
Week 1
The Cat in the Hat : How the Id, the Ego, and the Superego manifest in Sally and Me. This course will specifically examine the book through a critical lens of the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. No gender/ sexuality will be discussed. 

Week 2
Horton Hears a Who: The Dangers of Political Isolationism + Dr. Seuss's political cartoons found here: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/about-us/notes-museum/dr-seuss-and-wwii-analyzing-political-cartoons. The book will be examined through the lens of Geisel's own experience and onus for writing the book: After visiting postwar Japan -- where the author felt himself towering over Japanese children -- Geisel wrote the Horton story as a criticism of discrimination. The hero's mantra -- "a person's a person, no matter how small" -- is about the importance of tolerance and the value of the individual. When a bird drops the dust speck into a field of poppies, the tiny citizens of Whoville must cope with major destruction as the Japanese did following the war. The story can also be considered a criticism of American isolationism. 

Week 3
Star Bellied Sneetches: Dangers of Overconsumption and Materialism (brief visit to The Lorax and environmentalism) : The class explores Geisel's response to consumer culture of the 1950s.  ‘Because they had stars,’ the Star-Belly Sneetches  refused social contact with Plain-Belly Sneetches During his time writing this book, Geisel noted that the French sportswear company, Lacoste, was among the first to affix a logo – the distinctive green crocodile – to its garments, which quickly became status symbols. In 1952, Lacoste began exporting their apparel to the United States (Lacoste), where the wealthy would wear them during their leisure pursuits. Ads began to appear toting their signature Izod polo with crocodile on the breast as “the shirt of champions.” That the green color of the Lacoste crocodile is of a nearly identical shade of green as the stars on the Sneetches’ bellies further supports a reading that detects a deep strain of consumer culture criticism in “The Sneetches.”

Week 4
The Lorax: Environmentalism, Consumer Culture, and Corporate Greed: Seuss personifies industry as a whole with the Once-ler, to draw interest and attention to unchecked corporate greed as a threat to nature. The Lorax sounds the warning siren, but is ignored, as environmental groups often are, until it's too late. But industry isn't the sole culprit in this cautionary tale. Industry will only produce what it thinks consumers will buy. So on a certain level, we're all responsible for the fate of the environment.  

Week 5
The Butter Battle Book & Yertle the Turtle: Cold War and the Weapons-based fear therein: The Butter Battle Book is a direct allegory to the nuclear arms race because it teaches children the mutually assured destruction that occurred during the time of the Cold War.  Although the weapons being built are the main aspects of the story by Dr. Seuss, many people overlook the ever-growing wall between the Yooks and the Zooks. The Yook-Zook wall began as a waste high barrier that could easily be seen over by Grandpa as he patrolled the barrier. By the end of the novel, the wall was a huge sight to be seen; neither side could communicate with each other unless if they stood on top of it as Grandpa and Van Itch did at the end of the story. This wall stands as a symbol for the Berlin Wall which was built as an effect of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall stood from 1961 until 1989 when it was torn down to symbolize the end of the Cold War. 

Week 6
Art Spiegelman (author of Maus) and his views on Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss biographical/ historical information: A three-page strip also called "Maus" that he made in 1972 gave Spiegelman an opportunity to interview his father about his life during World War II. The recorded interviews became the basis for the book, which Spiegelman began in 1978. He serialized Maus from 1980 until 1991 as an insert in Raw, an avant-garde comics and graphics magazine published by Spiegelman and his wife. 

Topics will updated as class continues and may circle back to previous topics, but no topic will build on previous classes. These topics will all focus on VISUAL books with an emphasis on reading a graphic book with an eye toward critical viewing.