the list of now

For many of us who remember it from childhood, the dreamy bedtime ritual of Goodnight Moon invokes memories of childhood worlds that included our most precious belongings, our personal spaces, silly dreams, nearby family and sense of security when turning out the light.

Goodnight Bush painstakingly recreates the environment of the “great green room” to play with the surreal sensations of vulnerability and insecurity, dreams and nightmares, whimsy and immaturity that have come to be inextricably associated with the last eight years in Bush’s America.  Going beyond the simple imitation of the style, this parody cleverly appropriates the look and feel of the book and adds nuanced symbolism to the positioning of the objects and characters in the illustrations.   Read it a few times and you inevitably catch smaller and more specific details in the tiny toy set-ups, puppets, figures and images that transform into biting visual critiques of the Bush Administration’s most shameful blunders and the legacy of waste, war and greed that he is bestowing upon the country.

Goodnight Bush is a perfectly executed anti-tribute.  It delights very simply with it’s brilliant hilarity, charm and snark, as the absurdity and intensity of it’s mocking grows towards the end.  Of course, the afterbite hits with the nasty pang of realization that we are laughing only because it is so true.  And we will have to find clever ways to keep laughing until this absurd nightmare is over.  A fitting farewell for such a horrible failure, indeed.

More information about the book and authors here on the official website.