From: "Robert Borski" <rborski@coredcs.com>
Subject: (urth) Pink dinosaurs
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 11:45:00 

My first "Pepper Mill" post was dashed off between lunchtime sandwiches and
was influenced somewhat by potent memories of Todd Solandz' "Welcome to the
Dollhouse," which I'd watched over the weekend . But to expand on the color
scheme of Tippy's dinosaur: a *pink* dinosaur is a dinosaur devoid of
menace. Compared to, say, a realistic velociraptor, complete with kool
simulated blood on the blood and claws--well, let's put it this way: Tippy
is not very likely to become the junior alpha male of his playground peers
once they see his stegosaur. So perhaps Wolfe is decrying the
"feminization" of our culture. (Pink, certainly, is a woman's color and I'm
reminded of the warden in one of our southwestern states who, to humiliate
and cow his inmates, made them wear women's pink panties.) Tippy also
already has a doll himself--a Power Ranger action figure--another notion
Wolfe may find scarey and from which he needs to be saved.

When Buster Hill and Tippy have their conversation at the top of the
lighthouse, it reminded me of Captain Ransom's appearances in "The Island
of Doctor Death and Other Stories," whereas Tippy's episodes in the
dollhouse are clearly oneiric. Tonally, the two stories are very similar,
and it's hard to distinguish between where fantasy ends and reality begins.

Robert Borski   

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