Question #6:
Who had the greatest influence on
children?
Walt Disney OR Dr. Seuss?
This week’s argument comes from a fabulous guest blogger ~
Dennis Crosby from MyPoeticJustus.
Welcome to the blog, Dennis!
The argument:
Before attempting to figure out how
we’d finance our children’s college career, pay our cell phone bills, pay for
our first car, or where to go on our first date…we were kids. We laughed, we
asked questions, we scraped our knees and we had a social network that
consisted of the other neighborhood kids. Our status’ were shouted from the
front porch, we Tweeted from tree tops, Instagramed with a Polaroid, or pencil
and paper…and we read Dr. Seuss and watched Disney movies and were creatively
taught (without realizing it) how to become good people.
But which of these men had more
influence on child development and learning?
Dr. Seuss, the American born writer
and artist gave us Horton Hears a Who!, The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax and How
the Grinch Stole Christmas. As the story goes, during a time when children were
not learning to read because books were boring, Seuss was issued a challenge to
write a children’s book that engaged kids and kept them coming back for more.
To this day, no matter our age, we tell the story of Sam I Am as we try and
teach kids to try something before saying they hate it. No matter the
generation, Dr. Seuss has a story that relates to something kids need to learn.
More than that, we carried those stories, those lessons and those morals into
our adult life and actively practiced them when interacting with others.
And what of this Walt Disney
character? Well, he just created some of the most lovable characters ever and
took classic stories and combined them with a brand new medium…film. Our
favorite childhood characters had voices, became 3 dimensional and showed us
how to overcome obstacles. They also got a huge playground and invited us in to
play with them…for a price of course, but nobody can deny the fun and magic of
Disneyland.
Both men have had and continue to
have a powerful influence on children and their intellectual and moral growth
and development. I had the Dr. Seuss collection as a kid, along with the Cat in
the Hat carryall bag. I learned some things from him to be sure, but, I dare
say I was influenced more by Disney and I think the same can be said of
children and adults across the globe. Through film, music and theme parks
alone, Disney captured my imagination and does the same for kids worldwide.
Bippity
Boppity Boo!
Walt Disney it is. J
(But be sure to register your vote or post your own nonsensical
question/suggestions in the comments below. Who knows? I might just run with it.
J)
And now, it's time to return to my day job: writing Dark Fantasy
Fiction & Gothic Romance!
Please tune in next week for another utterly-mindless, nonsensical
question!
Until then...
Cheers!
Thank you so much for guest blogging, Dennis! I loved your argument and your conclusion. :-) Believe it or not, I'm just old-fashioned enough to go with Dr. Seuss. In fact, when I went to Disney World, I spent a fair amount of time in the Dr. Seuss theme park -- the cat in the hat ride is wild. The one fish, two fish ride is for children, but I was still there! LOL
ReplyDeleteThen you'll have to visit San Diego at some point. He lived in La Jolla for many years and apparently, somewhere in this city, there is a Dr. Seuss museum and garden. You can see the flowers he illustrated in his books. :-)
Deletevery cool....you make a great argument for both but Disney wins for me hands down......Dr Suess is just to " HAT, CAT, GREEN, EGGS AND WELL TOO MUCH OVER AND OVER READING......and being a transplated New Yorker living in the WONDERFUL state of Florida for 17 years and only an hour and a half away Disney RULES!!!!
ReplyDeleteVery nice! If I could...I'd probably spend at least one weekend each summer at Disney World...lol.
DeleteMy earliest childhood memory was going to the movie theater and seeing Sleeping Beauty! I do not remember DR. Suess as a child, I had other books to read tho.
ReplyDeleteNow days I say Disney is the first for so many children. Dr. Seuss comes later to most children.
I've got to go with Dr. Seuss. He made me fall in love with words and nonsensical sounds. I read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish multiple times a day to my 4 year old. You'd think I'd be sick of it. Nope. There's something about saying such nonsense out loud, that just brightens up my day.
ReplyDeleteWell I may sound unamerican but Disney never excited my imagination the way Dr Seuss did. I mean a very small world of little who's out there. A Grinch stealing Christmas in Whoville. Who would not want a 6ft cat in their house causing issues and bringing in his odd friends. Thing1 and Thing2. Yeah, I have to go with The Dr. Great job Dennis....
ReplyDeleteOMG - I actually have a stuffed "Thing One/Thing Two" in my bedroom. Not even kidding. :-)
DeleteI Love this post! Great job, Dennis. Fox in Sox is my favorite Dr. Suess Book. It sure does make the tongue numb! Disney Movie? Hmm... Beauty and the Beast..
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ReplyDeleteAwesome argument Dennis. My favorite childhood memories are of learning to read Dr. Seuss so even though Walt Disney had an incredible vision I have to vote for Dr. Seuss :-)
ReplyDelete