We guess we're canceling "Thomas the Tank Engine" now. The New Yorker has looked into the problematic politics of Thomas' creator, Wilbert Awdry.
Wilbert Awdry, who created Thomas the Tank Engine, disliked change, venerated order, and craved the administration of punishment. https://t.co/c5SotErqQK
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) March 18, 2024
Now that's news we can use. Awdry, exposed as a fascist at last.
Reading about the sinister, reactionary politics of the creator of "Thomas the Tank Engine" has brightened up my weekend. Whether ironical or deeply earnest, this article is full of gems: https://t.co/7GWCvXYalW pic.twitter.com/UPZ7pPYnJ7
— Niall Ferguson (@nfergus) March 18, 2024
"More information on the class and gender hierarchy of Thomas the Tank Engine can be found in 'A Very Useful Engine: The Politics of Thomas and Friends,' a 2009 article by Shauna Wilton, a professor at the University of Alberta." Yeah, we're not going to click on that.
It turns out the New Yorker published this piece back in 2017, but somehow thought to give it another airing on X in 2024.
Jia Tolentino wrote:
On Sodor, the steam trains engage in constant competition for big jobs, more work, and the Fat Controller’s approval. Anthropomorphized trains in literature tend to be hard workers, but one Tumblr thread holds that Thomas and friends have other motivations. The show “canonically takes place in a train post-apocalypse where the Island of Sodor is the only safe zone in a totalitarian dystopia in which steam trains are routinely killed and their body parts are sold or cannibalized for repair,” a Tumblr user named frog-and-toad-are-friends argues, citing one of Awdry’s books, “Stepney the ‘Bluebell’ Engine.” In that book, a green train named Percy expresses his fear of the “Other Railway,” which is what British Railways, the United Kingdom’s nationalized rail company, is called on Sodor: “ ‘Engines on the Other Railway aren’t safe now. Their controllers are cruel. They don’t like engines anymore. They put them on cold damp sidings, and then,’ Percy nearly sobbed, ‘they . . . they c-c-cut them up.’ ” (The accompanying illustration features two terrified trains facing dismemberment, and, behind them, a train with a chilling black void where its face used to be.) Another Tumblr user replies, “Maybe that’s just what Railway Management wants the engines to think.” And, in fact, it does seem that the Fat Controller maintains authoritarian rule through disinformation. In the foreword to the book, Awdry clarifies that British Railways actually supports the preservation of steam engines. It’s just a little joke that Percy fears for his life! (If you need some cheering up after this investigation, I recommend “Goths Rave to Thomas the Tank Engine,” a mashup that makes use of the show’s iconic transition music and has accumulated more than three million views.)
So we have a Canadian professor and a Tumblr thread. "The trains seem overdue for a similar revolution.," Tolentino concludes.
Oh no! Somebody who may disagree with you who creates great children's stories... How terrible... Yawn...
— Mike_Stewart (@Mike_Stewart) March 18, 2024
Painfully irrelevant content.
— Mateo (@psycho_naut83) March 18, 2024
Ah the New Yorker is here to inform us (& our children) we are not allowed to enjoy a work because of the politics of the creator
— Disaffected Scientist (@DisaffectedSci) March 18, 2024
Granted I’m sure it’s confusing to the writers of this bc unlike them right wing people don’t insist their politics be in everything they consume.
God these woke activists pretending to do journalism are such losers. The New Yorker used to be a serious publication.
— Nelson De La Cruz (@NelsonLovesFF) March 18, 2024
He wrote a book for kids about a fucking train that refused to give up with a wholesome story children can look up to. Are you seriously trying to deep dive into the author's politics? About a God damned train that could talk?
— Vanessa 🇵🇷🇺🇸 (@NessaJasmin1028) March 18, 2024
People will read this essay and believe they have progressively enhanced their wisdom about life. That's what's so effed up.
— ThoreauBklyn (@ThoreauBklyn) March 18, 2024
My God you people are like termites in that you just want to eat away the foundation of anything that's good, anything that's successful.
— TommyBoy (@Zoneinnow) March 18, 2024
Especially if it's from an older white male.
This is nothing but a pathological disorder of the mind.
This line of thinking is very sick.
You people are insane
— Dog in the High Castle (@beauregardruns1) March 18, 2024
Get help
The left is seriously broken
— Bellend Bob (@Bellend_Bob) March 18, 2024
Uber-lib Alec Baldwin even narrated the show for two seasons … what was he thinking?
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