1. The Lorax Dr Seuss

2. About The Lorax First published in 1971 A cautionary tale presented with a rhyme Adapted to screens in 1972 (TV special) and 2012 (film) Main characters: 1.The Lorax. He speaks for the Truffula trees, and the Brown Bar-ba-loots and other animals that live in the valley. 2.Once-ler. A hermit, once a greedy businessman who cut down the Truffula trees to manufacture thneeds to sell. 3.Ted (film). The reader of the rhyme. The boy who meets the Once-ler and “buys” the last seed of the now-extinct Truffula tree. The “hero”. 4.Aloysius O’Hare (film). Unscrupulous businessman who sells clean air to the people of the valley. The “villain”.

3. Some questions How does the opening sequence prepare the audience for the environmental message that is to be taught? How does the ending reinforce the immediate need to protect our environment? Or does it undermine shared efforts in environmental conservation?

4. Profiting from The Lorax A car that is “Lorax-approved”? http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2108368,00.html http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2108368,00.html Conflict between bringing Dr Seuss’ message across, inspiring change, and the need (more like want) to profit from the sales of the film’s merchandise This conflict contributes to the discussion of the film’s ecopegagogical value Are young members of the audience aware of Dr Seuss’ green message? If they do, do they still want a Lorax toy? How do we teach children the importance of sustainable living and practices with this comic eco- cartoon? Are the adults the target recipients of Dr Seuss’s message instead?

5. “Thneedville, a city, they say, That was plastic and fake, and they liked it that way …” Do children understand the irony and sarcasm in these opening lines? The film reflects the older audience’s eco-centric consciousness when it draws our attention to the simulated “natural landscape” that prevents its occupants from seeing the actual grey and smog-filled wasteland they are living on Are we also compelled to see that we are living in an almost similar landscape? Just because we do not see the factories and pollution, it does not mean that we do not have the same environmental crisis as the people of Thneedville do Ted’s mom: “You’d rather have some dirty, messy lump of wood that just sticks out of the ground and it does what? I don’t even know what it does. What’s it’s purpose?” The people of Thneedville have lived without real greenery for so long, they forgot what a tree looks like and what it does for the environment

6. “[I]f you put something in a plastic bottle, people will buy it” Marketing Guy #1: “And what’s more, when we build a new factory to make the plastic bottles, the air quality’s just going to get worse” Marketing Guy #2: “Which will make people want our air even more and drive sales … where? Through the roof!” The vicious cycle of satisfying consumer needs and wants and aggravating pollution The target market of the Once-ler’s Thneeds is also the target market of O’Hare’s bottled air – the different “million-dollar inventions” represent the different million-dollar corporations that govern our lifestyles and economies in real life We are also the target market of the business that produces The Lorax and the other corporations the film is gesturing to Much like O’Hare’s attempts to prevent the people from seeing what is behind those tall walls, the corporations in our real world do not want us to see the truth about our environment – a reference to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”

7. “Behold the intruder and his violent ways!” Once-ler arrives at Thneedville and brings with him human tools and weapons of destruction He cuts down his first Truffula tree and incurs the wrath of the Lorax “If you’re not gone by the time the sun sets on this valley, all the forces of nature will be unleased upon you and curse you until the end of your days!” The punishment is not meted out immediately (although the Lorax tried to float him away), rather, the Once-ler is punished with the knowledge that he had caused the destruction of the once magical land “And each day since the Lorax left I’ve sat here regretting everything I’ve done. Staring at that word – “unless”—and wondering what it meant” The Once-ler’s presence, and his enterprise attracts other humans to Thneedville, and eventually causes irrevocable environmental destruction The description in the screenplay states “An army of AXE-HACKERS chop down trees left and right. It’s a nightmarish scene, like Hitler invading Poland” We are invited to draw comparisons and re-evaluate our choices

8. “Which way does a tree fall?” Lorax: “A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean” Once-ler breaks his promise to the Lorax and is overcome with greed; his greed results in the rapid deforestation in the valley Once-ler: “I’m just building the economy! How bad can I be?” The Lorax’s question is also a question posed to the audience: which way do we lean and are we prepared to save our environment? Lorax: “Happy yet? You fill the hole deep down inside you? Or do you still need more?” The catchy tunes to “How Bad Can I Be?”: does it prevent children from understanding the Once-ler’s reluctance to admit to his wrongs? The happy number is complimented with bright colours and humour We also see the polluting of the air and the rivers during the number but how much of these images do the young audience register?

9. The last tree falls The displacement of the animals in the valley will similarly, happen to the humans if these unsustainable practices are allowed to go on “Many environmental children’s texts promote audience concern for the creatures harmed by human greed and/or brutality by anthropomorphizing those beings, inspiring sympathy by portraying suffering animals as somewhat furrier versions of the viewer and her or his friends and family” (McKee 44) – the young audience are made to empathise with Pipsqueak and his fellow Bar-ba-loots

10. “Because unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not” Once-ler: “Then make them care. Plant the seed in the middle of the town, where everyone can see. Change the way things are … I know it may seem small and insignificant, but it’s not about what it is … it’s about what it can become. That’s not just a seed. Any more than you’re just a boy” The seed is also a seed of possibility, planted into Ted’s head No effort, even if it is small, is insignificant to our environment A call to the young audience to take action, even if they have to do it alone Ted: “I am Ted Wiggins. And I speak for the trees. And the fact is things aren’t perfect here in Thneedville. And they’re only going to get worse unless we do something about it. Unless we change our ways. And we can start by planting this!”

11. This rhetorical disconnection between narrative problem and the narrative solutions can be seen in The Lorax, where the problem of deforestation, species loss, pollution, and overproduction/consumption driven by industrial capitalism’s profit motive and the ‘‘jobs-jobs-jobs’’ rhetoric is ‘‘solved’’ through a private conversation between the industrialist Once-ler and the environmentalist boy. Narrated by the Once-ler, The Lorax’s solution involves the Once-ler handing off the last Truffula tree seed to the boy, thereby defining ‘‘social and environmental change on an individual, limited level’’ which cannot possibly address the community and systems-based problems of overproduction and overconsumption. Most poignant is the observation that the Once-ler’s anguish over the consequences of his actions ‘‘leads to no personal volution other than to pass on the responsibility of righting his wrong to a young boy,’’ exemplifying a ‘‘standard adult practice.’’ One collaboration of eco-scholars contrasts this ‘‘standard adult practice’’ with indigenous cultures that ‘‘speak of an awareness of decision- making as a ‘seven generation’ concern,’’ and rewrites the ending of The Lorax with this question: ‘‘Wouldn’t it be grand if the Once-ler emerged from his Lerkim, returned the boy’s payment for the story, and joined the boy in planting the last Truffula seed to ensure the Truffula forest’s regeneration? (Gaard 328) Why can’t the Once-ler respond to the Lorax’s “unless”? Why is the fate of Thneedville left in the hands of Ted? Also, Ted’s motivation to plant a Truffula tree is wrong in the first place – he wants to do it so that he can get Audrey to like him, which begs the question: Does Ted really care about trees and about the environment?

12. “You done good, beanpole. You done good” The time lapse in the film’s ending is encouraging yet provides some unrealistic expectations about environment conservation With the planting of the last Truffula seed, the valley slowly turns green again, its sky blue, and the birds begin to return but we know that this is not a feat that happens overnight The time lapse is meant to let children know that it takes time for a tree to grow, and we see that the truffulas in the valley are small and growing BUT things take a positive turn with just one seed being planted – why does the film not show that the people of Thneedville NEED to make changes to their lifestyles to reverse the effects of industrial pollutions?

13. The Lorax’s words to the Once-ler, and the final banner with Dr Seuss’ words reinforce the idea that it takes one concerned individual to make a change Only one person? Is environmental conservation an individual task? Just as pollution is caused by ONE greedy person? [T]he Lorax film recognizes the need for a communitywide paradigm shift on the subject of environmental values; thus it represents the final confrontation as a battle between the ecological consciousness/land ethic represented by Ted, Audrey, and Grammy, and the economic consciousness/wealth ethic represented by O’Hare (McKee 47) – does McKee’s observation answer the above question? Are children able to see that the answers lies with each and everyone of us, rather than with an individual? “Yet, despite appearances, the Lorax movie does not actually challenge what it identifies as organizations and systems of power that promote environmental destruction or ideologies that encourage waste and carelessness” (McKee 48) – the solutions lies with the individual (the young audience) to do something, to plant trees, to care for the environment but not with the bigger corporations to practice sustainable production

14. Optional Readings Gaard, Greta. “Children’s Environmental Literature: From Ecocriticism to Ecopedagogy.” Neohelicon 36.2 (2009): 321-34. Web. Mckee, Arielle C. "The Kind of Tale Everybody Thneeds?: Ecocriticism, Class, and the Filmic Lorax." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 40.1 (2015): 39-57. Web. Paul, Cinco, and Ken Daurio. The Lorax Script. “The Screenplay Database.” 2 Mar. 2012. Web.