I could argue with this woman all day, but really, this essay was a lot of fun. 5 "Boring" Classics That Are Actually Unhinged. She starts with Moby Dick.
Why It’s Unhinged:
Ahab isn’t a tragic hero. He’s a cult leader. He manipulates his crew into joining his death wish. He knows the whale will kill him. That’s the point. He wants to die destroying the thing that maimed him.
And the whale? The whale is just... a whale. It’s not evil. It’s not symbolic. It’s an animal that defended itself once, and Ahab has projected his entire existential crisis onto it.
She also has a series on "Wholesome" children's books that traumatised entire generations, includes Charlotte's Web, Watership Down, Black Beauty, and others that you gave to your own children.
This bears some relation to my post years ago on Folk Music Vs Rockers. Which is more traumatising, really?
The description of Ahab sounds legit.
ReplyDeleteIIRC most of Grimm's fairy tales are pretty ... well, grim.
Great Steeleye Span example.
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