I always found Bagpuss a bit… well… creepy. I still can’t look at sepia photographs without a sense of unease. Or at least that’s what I tell family members when they suggest looking at old family photographs
The two dullest activities on Earth are:
1) People telling me about their dreams.
2) People showing me their photographs.
Actually, thinking about it, the dullest thing on Earth would be for you to tell me about your dream in which you were showing me your holiday photographs.
But if you look closely, Bagpuss is – in fact – a thinly veiled allegory about Communist Russia. Professor Yaffle represented the bourgeois intelligentsia. The Mice were the proletariat. Madeleine was a metaphor for the aristocracy. Gabriel the Toad was Trotsky. It’s a little known – and inaccurate – fact that Trotsky was a keen banjo player. That’s why he got an ice pick in the head. Stalin hated all forms of bluegrass music.
And Bagpuss? Well, he was just an old, saggy cloth cat. Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams. But Emily loved him.
My kids wouldn’t stand for that. They’d be demanding Mega-Bagpuss with the Berlin Wall expansion pack.
And that reminds me. Christmas is around the corner. A time for family. And Turner’s Theory of Relativity states that “Time moves slower the closer you get to your relatives”.
Encouraged by the success of the ‘Atheists’ Guide to Christmas’ book, I’m working on an Atheist Advent Calendar. It’ll have a big picture of Richard Dawkins and every door will be empty. LIKE YOUR SOUL!!!
Who’s in?
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But your allegory works well on so many levels, because – amazing but true – V.I.Lenin wore an old, saggy cloth cap which was originally pink with white stripes but gradually became black and shiny because the workers kept on touching it for good luck. And of course Stalin’s real name was Emily Stalin. Then there’s the fact that Oliver Postgate was present at the Storming of the Winter Palace…it all fits!
Y’know, there’s a badass sitcom in this…
Aces! It’s about time I chuffed out another spec sitcom script.
Workers Unite! Meet the leaders of the Revolutionary Russia that never was. In a world very similar to our own, a band of discarded toys foment revolution in the face of an Imperialist government made up of worn-out teddy bears.
Or something.
i want this advent calendar. make now!
I shall create one tonight and have it up to download!
Great article – very inspiring.