War Abolition: Explain It To Me Like I'm A 6-Year-Old

cel detail: "The Hat"

I'm just back from a retrospective of the animations produced by John and Faith Hubley at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago.

I'm breathless over the short animation from 1964 called "The Hat."

cel detail - "The Hat"

It's a pitch-perfect antiwar tale -- timeless.  You can read about it in detail on the Michael Sporn Animation blog. (Check on the WorldCat website to find a copy of "The Hat" in a library near you.)

I don't know what part of "The Hat" I like best: the totally convincing dialogue (spoken by Dizzy Gillespie and Dudley Moore)? the original soundtrack they created?  the mythic arc of the story? the exquisite drawings?

"I ... must ... have ... my ... HAT!"

War abolition in words and images a 6-year-old -- or a 60-year-old -- can understand.

Where are we going to get more of this kind of work to power the movement to abolish war?


Related posts


It is the combination of the fire and the fact that it is a couple of children that are up against it that makes the reality of Grave of the Fireflies so undeniable.

(See Can We Confront the Fire and Blast of Nuclear War and Still Remain Human? (Watching "Grave of the Fireflies") )

There are many books proffered to children that provide justifications for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The discourse on the use of atomic weapons is certainly a worthy topic of study for young people of a certain age. However, there is a distinction between critical reading of atom bombing history and passive receiving of atom bombing dogma. I am wondering about how this can be effectively broken down.

(See Approaching Hiroshima: A Challenge for Children's Literature and Peace Education )

Have you ever wondered . . . instead of just tsk-tsking about "The Great War," why doesn't anyone actually seize the occasion to try to put a stop to future wars?

(See Everyone Talks About World War I, But No One Does Anything About It )








I'm grateful to my friend, Jim Barton, for framing the problem in a way that is adequately broad, and yet contains a measure of hope.  It's about the future, and whether we have one -- or can construct one -- he said.  Young people today are asking: Do I have an economic future? Does the planet have a future? Will (nuclear) war extinguish everybody's future?

(See A FUTURE: Can we construct one? )

 

We have had a window of opportunity -- nearly 70 years in which the constitution of Japan has explicitly renounced war, pointing the way for the rest of us. What have we imagined we were supposed to do?

(See Renouncing War: An Opportunity Not To Be Missed )