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A review by xterminal
Goodnight Bush by Gan Golan, Erich Origen
2.0
Erich Origen and Gan Golan, Goodnight Bush (Little, Brown, 2008)
Why, exactly, do I find myself surprised that Goodnight Bush is not a gentle parody of Goodnight Moon, but a whiny book by political activists? Which, in all honesty, I probably would have been amused by were it not for Origen and Golan's afterword, which talks about how nightmarish Goodnight Moon actually is. They're right, of course; when it comes right down to it, kid-friendly media is chock full of stuff that's geared to give kids nightmares. (Watch some of those old Disney movies again through adult eyes.) Goodnight Moon is a little more subtle about it, to be sure, but there's all sorts of odd little quirks in that book that, taken at face value, would make any kid question the validity of reality. What bugs me is not only that Origen and Golan do not see this as a good thing, they feel the need to stretch to “the unquestioning acceptance of the structure of Goodnight Moon has led us straight to the evil fascist dictatorship under which we now live”. (No, that is not a direct quote.) Which would be all well and good if the idea behind the dissociative state that pervades Goodnight Moon were not “you know, you should be questioning this stuff”. The fact that Goodnight Moon was W's favorite kid's book is irrelevant (unless you're Origen and Golan); after all, it was also the favorite kid's book of millions of other kids, most of whom will never get to be president. Pretty small data sample you got there, guys. Perhaps you should have asked yourself, before putting that out there for all the world to laugh at, how many kids whose favorite book was Goodnight Moon grew up to be liberals.
I do have to give it some props for actually being a pretty faithful take on the original, graphics-wise, though they could have done so much more with the Osama who took the place of the mouse. * ½
Why, exactly, do I find myself surprised that Goodnight Bush is not a gentle parody of Goodnight Moon, but a whiny book by political activists? Which, in all honesty, I probably would have been amused by were it not for Origen and Golan's afterword, which talks about how nightmarish Goodnight Moon actually is. They're right, of course; when it comes right down to it, kid-friendly media is chock full of stuff that's geared to give kids nightmares. (Watch some of those old Disney movies again through adult eyes.) Goodnight Moon is a little more subtle about it, to be sure, but there's all sorts of odd little quirks in that book that, taken at face value, would make any kid question the validity of reality. What bugs me is not only that Origen and Golan do not see this as a good thing, they feel the need to stretch to “the unquestioning acceptance of the structure of Goodnight Moon has led us straight to the evil fascist dictatorship under which we now live”. (No, that is not a direct quote.) Which would be all well and good if the idea behind the dissociative state that pervades Goodnight Moon were not “you know, you should be questioning this stuff”. The fact that Goodnight Moon was W's favorite kid's book is irrelevant (unless you're Origen and Golan); after all, it was also the favorite kid's book of millions of other kids, most of whom will never get to be president. Pretty small data sample you got there, guys. Perhaps you should have asked yourself, before putting that out there for all the world to laugh at, how many kids whose favorite book was Goodnight Moon grew up to be liberals.
I do have to give it some props for actually being a pretty faithful take on the original, graphics-wise, though they could have done so much more with the Osama who took the place of the mouse. * ½