Friday, October 4, 2013

Martinez- Jimmy, the Hideous Penguin Boy



The poem- Jimmy, the Hideous Penguin Boy, illustrates Tim Burton’s childhood abandonment and depicts the Jungian archetype of the shadow. “My name is Jimmy, but my friends just call me ‘the hideous penguin boy;” is short and concise yet it gives a very powerful meaning. By him saying, “My name is Jimmy” he is stating how he identifies himself and then immediately we read the rest of the poem, which says that his “friends” call him “the hideous penguin boy.” Although he sees himself one way he knows that the way he sees himself is not how he is viewed by everyone else. He acknowledges that he is known as something else in the eyes of other people, which is reflective of Burton’s childhood as his parents saw him as strange even though for him his interests would not have been considered strange to himself. He also uses the term “friends” which is ironic because “the hideous penguin boy” is not an endearing nickname that a friend would give to someone they liked. It could be suggested that this boy doesn’t actually have any friends but people around his age call him that. The way that Jimmy is misunderstood illustrates the way that Burton felt he was understood growing up. Jimmy represents the Jungian archetype of ‘The Shadow’ because he is an outsider to the rest of the world. Without even reading the poem, the illustration depicts that Jimmy is a shadow by the way he is colored. He has a white face with some grey on it and he is wearing black clothing and he leaves a grey shadow where he is standing. We can tell he is an outsider by this illustration because the background is red stripes, which contrasts his dark being. We can infer that by Jimmy being in the shadow he feels unseen or neglected. The red stripes could represent all the ‘noise’ of society. The illustration is important because it shows the emotion of Jimmy on his face so we know that he feels very lonely and misunderstood by the rest of the world. The illustration further conveys feelings of sympathy to the audience towards Jimmy and all outsiders. Jimmy, the Hideous Penguin Boy reflects how Burton felt alone and like an outsider during his childhood; it also successfully portrays the Jungian archetype of ‘The Shadow.’

3 comments:

  1. Linsey Shubert
    Your comments on Jimmy's life relating to Tim Burton's childhood was very clear and easy to understand. I especially liked the reference you gave about Tim Burton's parents thinking he was strange even though he did not think of himself as strange related to how Jimmy's friends thought of him and called him "the hideous penguin boy" when he thought of himself and called himself Jimmy. It is a nice comparison of the individual's views against society's views. I also really liked your analysis of the poem itself and helped me gain an insight into the poem that I did not have before. Your analysis of the picture accompanying the poem and your inferences were very clear and well thought out as well. I agree that Jimmy represents Jung's "Shadow" archetype and I enjoyed your description of that and how Jimmy relates to it. It helped me gain a better understanding of "The Shadow" archetype.

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  3. I really liked your point about the irony of the word "friends" in this poem. The picture and the poem are contradictory of each other. In the story, Jimmy mentions his so-called friends, but in the picture he is all alone in a corner with no one around him. How great of friends can they be if they are never around him and if they call him horrible things like ‘the hideous penguin boy’? I also like how you made the connection between Jimmy and Tim Burton. When working at Disney, Burton never seemed to draw the happy, cheerful characters and animals that Disney creations are known for. Tim Burton saw his drawings the way Jimmy sees himself, as normal, but Disney saw Burton’s drawings as everyone else sees Jimmy, as the hideous penguin boy, as something strange or unusual that Jimmy’s friends, or Disney in Burton’s case, should not be associated with.
    - Melissa Johnston

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