Three Fingers

Michael Straight · 17 Apr 2000, 10:50 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Subject: (urth) Three Fingers
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 10:50:15
Message-ID: <urth-v0028-0908 at digest.urth.net>
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I initially thought Wolfe had a cool idea here, pointing out the irony of
Disney vigorously protecting the rights to characters that they've swiped
from better sources and humanity's common story-telling tradition.

But then I'm led to ask that if Captain Hook is just a watered-down
version of Blackbeard and Captain Kidd and Barbarosa, then shouldn't the
hero of this story be someone who is a dealer in Blackbeard stories and
Captain Kidd paraphernalia?  Or conversely, if Mickey Mouse and Snow White
are sufficiently distinguished from their literary ancestors to be worth
stealing, it's a little less ironic when Disney objects to the theft.

I enjoy the ending more if I read it as Wolfe wanting us to imagine that
the "it's all just an insane hallucination" bit was tacked on by the
editor to avoid trouble from Disney's lawyers.

-Rostrum

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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