The Great Underpants Debate

The Great ТUnderpantsУ Debate

The fact that some of the most popular literature of our time also happens to be generally perceived as offensive in content is not coincidental. Off-color or offensive texts often inspire controversy, which in turn tends to inspire public interest. Timeless classics such as Of Mice And Men, Fahrenheit 451, and A Separate Peace almost always are among the top books challenged each year by readers who have become disenchanted with the themes and happenings of a particular story (Challenged and Banned Books). Now, normally there are reasons declared by these readers for why they have deemed a book unnecessary or outrageous, and so also is the case for author Dav PilkeyХs first epic novel entitled The Adventures of Captain Underpants. Written with aspirations of connecting with elementary school children who donХt like to read, this book uses things such as potty humor and bad grammar to reach out to them, much to the dismay of their elders (pilkey.com). Most adored by children in addition to being much debated by their parents and teachers alike, PilkeyХs ТThe Adventures of Captain UnderpantsУ has become one of the most talked-about (and controversial) books in contemporary literature.

The first of eight Тepic novelsУ in the series, The Adventures of Captain Underpants begins by introducing the main characters, George Beard and Harold Hutchins. These two friends are the class clowns of their elementary school and cause all kinds of mischief in the classroom as well as around the school, such as rearranging the sign outside of the building from ТSee Our Big Football Game TodayУ to ТBoy Our Feet Smell BadУ(Pilkey 14). Their principal, the evil Mr. Krupp, is fed up with the boys and the chaos they create, so he catches them in their latest prank and forces a set of ridiculously strict rules onto them such as Тno laughing or smilingУ and has them cater to his every whim each and every hour of the day (pilkey.com). Finally, George and Harold decide to buy a Т3-D Hypno-RingУ from a magazine catalogue and hypnotize Mr. Krupp into giving them the videotape containing the evidence of them pulling the pranks. Then they start goofing around and hypnotize him to act like Captain Underpants, upon which command the once ornery principal flees the room, strips down to his briefs, and runs away to fight crime (Pilkey 57). As one might imagine, this presents a problem for George and Harold, who run off after their deranged principal to keep him out of harmХs way. After rescuing their superhero principal, all three are whisked away to an old abandoned warehouse where they meet the evil Dr. Diaper, who wants to blow up the moon so all the cities on earth can be destroyed and he can rule the world (pilkey.com). With Captain Underpants held captive, the two boys defeat a band of robots and free Captain Underpants, foiling Dr. DiaperХs plans. Shortly thereafter, George and Harold return Mr. Krupp to normal, albeit while ignoring instructions to not pour water on a hypnotized person or else they will drift back and forth between hypnotized and conscious states (Pilkey 115). From then on, the boys must always Тkeep an eye on their principalУ, for whenever he hears someone snap their fingers, he turns back into ТeveryoneХs favorite superheroУ (Pilkey 121).

The Adventures of Captain Underpants is only one of thousands of books that are challenged every year by the general public. The American Library Association says that books are usually challenged with good intentions- to protect others, normally children, from ideas and information that may be hard or difficult to comprehend (Challenged and Banned Books). Statistics show that, more often than not, parents are the ones doing the challenging for the sake of their children and what they are being exposed to. Others who challenge books are merely trying to suppress anything that conflicts with or anyone who disagrees with their own beliefs. When a book is challenged, one of four motivational factors must be cited (Challenged). These factors are: family values, religion, political views, and minority rights. Oftentimes, more specific reasons are given by the protesters on why the book should be banned, with the most common being Тsexually explicitУ, Тoffensive languageУ, and Тunsuitable for age groupУ (Challenged). The two latter reasons are some of the reasons given by parents for why the Captain Underpants books should be banned.

Obviously, no one is benefiting more from all the controversy surrounding the book than its author, David ТDavУ Pilkey. Himself a mischievous and art-loving child growing up in Ohio, Pilkey uses a great deal of personal references in his Captain Underpants stories (pilkey.com). The main characters, George and Harold, are direct representations of himself when he was young, while Mr. Krupp was taken from two of the principals Pilkey had while attending elementary school (Pilkey interview). Pilkey struggled with a bad case of attention deficit disorder and was constantly in trouble with his teachers. He began writing stories when he was in second grade and continued to write all throughout his high school career, all the while being discouraged by his teachers to get serious and grow up. His first book, World War Won, was published, and eventually Dav was able to find a taker for the amazing superhero he created in second grade in Scholastic, the same company that owns the rights to Harry Potter and Pokemon (pilkey.com). Pilkey says that he wrote The Adventures of Captain Underpants to encourage younger children who donХt enjoy reading to pick up a book and enjoy it (Pilkey interview). By using more pictures, smaller chapters, and an overabundance of potty humor, Pilkey has succeeded

in reaching those whom he initially set out to pursue (Pilkey interview). He has also been the benefactor of a