ninme

The Times – Steamed Up<br/> The enduring popularity of a little blue tank engine

Children can be frighteningly modern. Immune from nostalgia, excited by futuristic robots, and better than their parents at computing, one would scarcely believe that the sentimental anthropomorphism of a clerical trainspotter would appeal. And yet, as outmoded as the technology is, as unfashionably obese as their top-hatted Controller remains, Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends are still steaming their way into the hearts of five-year-olds everywhere. DVDs, merchandise and even the occasional book still sell like hot teacakes in a railway café.

Well of course. It’s the enduring appeal of trains!

For who could ask for more hubris and nemesis than the story of Thomas and Gordon? Our hero, the plucky but insolent Thomas, is punished for cheeking proud Gordon, by being dragged round the branch line. And for a heartbreaking lesson in vanity, consider Henry, the engine who stayed in a tunnel for fear his paint be ruined by rain. The Fat Controller walls him in. Brutal, but beautiful. Not enough effort has gone into Thomas exegesis. Is Diesel a Nietzchean nightmare of nihilism. And why hasn’t Frederic Jameson seen the postmodern side of Sodor?

I think whoever wrote this has an English degree and kids.