The Anti-Homeschooling Bias of Horton Hears a Who

Hidden Message in This Children's Movie Mocks Homeschoolers

The merits (or more accurately, the lack thereof) of Horton Hears a Who have been discussed to death elsewhere, so I'm limiting my comments to the subtle but palpable anti-homeschooling bias I was dismayed to discover in this movie. I am not a homeschooler. In fact, I'm a strong advocate of public schools and knew nothing about homeschooling before joining Associated Content, where it's a popular topic. I took my kids to see Horton Hears A Who on their day off and was expecting nothing more than a chance to grab a nap in the dark theater. To my own surprise, I came out seething about the way the movie portrayed homeschoolers.

It's only one line in the beginning of the movie, so if there was a crowd at the popcorn stand you'd miss it. The villain of the movie, a kangaroo (voice courtesy of Carol Burnett), berates Horton for using creative methods to teach the local kids, and then states proudly, "That's why my little Rudy is pouch-schooled." I'm sure it was intended as a quick laugh in a script that was sorely in need of some, but it really bothered me. See, the movie goes on to portray the kangaroo as rigid, judgmental, prejudiced, closed-minded, intolerant and evil. There's even a scene in which she debates giving away her son in exchange for having a local hit man (a vulture named Vlad) getting rid of Horton.

While there's also a throwaway scene at the end where she's "redeemed," mostly she's portrayed as the stuck-up busybody that everyone loves to hate. As far as I could tell, one of the two primary messages in this movie is supposed to be that there are things that are worth believing in even if you can't see, feel, or hear them, which sounds like a pro-God message to me. (The other primary message is explained by the refrain, "A person's a person no matter how small," which is straight out of the original Dr. Seuss book.)