In 2025, diet is such a fraught subject. Then think about body image and think about children. It's hard to imagine that any contemporary artist/writer would tackle food and diet in a picture book. (Just try to script the various tense "sensitivity reads"--script these in your head.)
James Marshall represents a simpler time. Though he writes about food, he does not mock his heroine (Emily Pig) for her weight. Instead, he (affectionately) mocks her for her self-delusion.
In "Yummers," Emily Pig decides to commit herself to good health, so she begins jumping rope. But this is fatiguing. So, instead, she resolves to go "on a long walk" with her buddy, Eugene the Turtle. On the walk, the two creatures eat frozen pizza, sample a whoopie pie, inhale clotted cream, munch on jelly sandwiches, and slurp from banana-peanut milkshakes. Emily becomes ill and concludes that her problem is a natural result of "all this walking." Eugene recommends rest and a robust selection of soothing treats. "Yummers," says Emily. And the story ends.
The spirit of Emily later infuses Marshall's famous work, "George and Martha." In that series, Martha disciplines George for eating too many cookies. But--having quickly become bored--Martha herself raids the cookie jar. Both hippos collapse in hysterics on the kitchen floor.
Are these characters anti-heroes? Villains? I think they're just human. It's easy for me to see myself in Marshall's work.
Comments
Post a Comment