Five Reasons Why the Grinch is Such a Delightfully Sympathetic Villain
5. He's green. Christmas Green. Green with envy.
4. Let's face it, the Whos down in Who-ville are annoying. They're always singing. Might as well have called the town Karaoke-ville. Those bug-eyed stage hounds could use a good shaking up.
3. He's not really that evil. He didn't kill anyone, didn't maim them, didn't even write cruel epithets about their singing on the walls. He just took their Christmas away. He let them get a glimpse of his Christmas-free life for a minute. One might call that a kind and constructive lesson to help them develop empathy. And beyond that, without him, the Whos may never have realized that they didn't need stuff as long as they had each other. Really, he might've been doing them a favor.
2. He's alone at the holidays, but is forced to hear the aforementioned non-stop singing. Nobody likes that feeling. There are even songs written about how annoying it is to watch everyone else happy while you're by yourself like this one
1. He changes! How can we not love a good dynamic character, especially one whose heart grows three sizes in one day. Makes us believe that even the most hardened of society can be good, too. At least those who villains-out-of-envy/discouragement, and not sociopaths. Makes us believe that we can change too and all it takes is a chance encounter with a small child.
I'm kinda on his side too.
ReplyDeleteMy 2nd grader is having Grinch day in school next week. They are going to dress up in green, read the book, watch the book, and then discuss it. I thought your blog would give him some ideas to add to the discussion so I read him your blog. He enjoyed it very much and can't wait to contribute his ideas next week.
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