Mr. Funny Reviewer
March 10, 2011 1:01 PM   Subscribe

Mr. Hargreaves takes us on a Jungian journey to the integrated self. A series of entertaining Amazon reviews written by Hamilton Richardson for the Mr. Men classic library.
posted by Fizz (16 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
I HAVE LOOKED UPON TRUE GENIUS.

Literary criticism is now over. English majors, this is as good as it gets.
posted by GuyZero at 1:10 PM on March 10, 2011


A triumph. But when will he take on Little Miss?
posted by libraryhead at 1:22 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Mr. Men (I'd never heard of it.)
posted by stbalbach at 1:57 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Nicely done by Hamilton Richardson, but I think I speak for all parents of toddlers when I say: fuck Roger Hargreaves and all his filler-packed, charmless, written-for-the-licensing-market works.
posted by Mocata at 2:02 PM on March 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Someone needs a visit from Mr. Tickle.
posted by GuyZero at 2:34 PM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


I read it as 'a Jungian journey to the integrated elf.' That would be cool.
posted by grounded at 2:59 PM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


Nicely done by Hamilton Richardson

I was with you until you said but
posted by doobiedoo at 3:34 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


The Mr Messy review is astonishingly great, and even manages to convince me that the book concerned is actually socially retrograde.
posted by jaduncan at 5:40 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Why am I reading these in Werner Herzog's voice?
posted by Judge Dredi at 8:48 PM on March 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


Ha! I grew up with these! Should that make me feel old?
posted by mateja at 8:52 PM on March 10, 2011


I loved these books when I was a kid! Fantastic post, thanks.
posted by dialetheia at 8:52 PM on March 10, 2011


fuck Roger Hargreaves and all his filler-packed, charmless, written-for-the-licensing-market works.

I don't believe this was the case to begin with.
posted by mippy at 3:50 AM on March 11, 2011


The TV show is surprisingly good.
posted by Wolof at 3:52 AM on March 11, 2011


Why am I reading these in Werner Herzog's voice?

Works better if you read them with Zizek's voice.
posted by Fizz at 3:54 AM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


I don't believe this was the case to begin with.

From the Oxford DNB: '[The Mr Men] concept was also, to some extent, the result of Hargreaves's advertising experience... In 1974 the books were rebranded following a meeting between Hargreaves and Richard Culley of the licensing agency Copyright Promotions... Hargreaves—alert to the commercial success of characters such as Snoopy—was sufficiently ambitious and business-minded to identify his creation's potential, and sold the rights to third-party clients for use on their products... which, in turn, fuelled demand for his titles. In response Hargreaves added new characters to the range, writing and illustrating a total of forty-three Mr Men books... As the full effect of licensing the characters was realized (from an estimated 700 products), Hargreaves achieved the 1988 European licensing award ‘For outstanding contribution to the licensing industry’.'

So yeah, for the first three years - publication began in 1971 - they were merely charmless, filler-packed and cannily marketed.
posted by Mocata at 6:31 AM on March 11, 2011


Blimey. I feel as sad now as I did when I found out that rascal Garfield came out in a similar way. I was a big fan of the books as a child and don't recall owning any licensed products so it seemed a modern development.
posted by mippy at 7:38 AM on March 11, 2011


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