Grinch
The Grinch is a fictional character created by children's author and cartoonist Dr. Seuss.[1] He is best known as the main character of the 1957 children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! He has been portrayed and voiced by many actors, including Boris Karloff, Hans Conried, Bob Holt, Walter Matthau, Anthony Asbury, Jim Carrey, Rik Mayall, Benedict Cumberbatch, Matthew Morrison, David Howard Thornton, and James Austin Johnson.
This article is about the Dr. Seuss character. For the 2000 video game, see The Grinch (video game). For the 2018 animated film, see The Grinch (film). For other uses, see Grinch (disambiguation).The Grinch
Dr. Seuss
- Boris Karloff (How the Grinch Stole Christmas!)
- Hans Conried (Halloween is Grinch Night)
- Bob Holt (The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat)
- Dan Castellaneta (Tiny Toon Adventures)
- Walter Matthau (Random House Home Video)
- Anthony Asbury (The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss)
- Wally Wingert (Family Guy)
- Corey Burton (Sneech Beach Area, Seuss Landing Street Show)
- Josh Gerhardt (The Grinch)
- Rik Mayall (The Dr. Seuss Collection)
- Stephen Stanton (Mad)
- Seth Green (Robot Chicken)
- Benedict Cumberbatch (The Grinch)
- David Kaye (Capital One commercials)
- Darin De Paul (Walmart commercials)
Max (pet dog/best friend)
Martha May Whovier (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
Character description[edit]
The Grinch is depicted as a green, furry, pot-bellied, pear-shaped, snub-nosed humanoid creature with a cat-like face and cynical personality. In full-color adaptations, he is typically colored green. He has spent the past 53 years living in seclusion on a cliff overlooking the town of Whoville.
In contrast to the cheerful Whos, the Grinch is misanthropic, ill-natured, and mean-tempered. The reason for this is a source of speculation; the consensus among the Whos is that he was born with a heart that they say was "two sizes too small". Though always hateful, he especially hates the Christmas season, making particular note of how disturbing the various elements of Christmas time are to him, including the earsplitting noises of strangely-designed musical instruments, eating Christmas dinner, and singing Christmas carols. Unable to stand the holiday any longer, he decides to destroy it once and for all.
Aided by his pet dog, Max, he meticulously designs a red suit to disguise himself as Santa Claus and breaks into the Whos' homes on Christmas Eve while they sleep to steal everything they own, and dump it off from a nearby mountain. Although he pulls off the theft successfully, on Christmas morning he is shocked to hear the Whos still singing cheerfully, happy simply to have each other. He then realizes that the holiday has a deeper meaning that he never considered. Inspired, he stops the Whos' belongings from falling off the edge of the mountain, and in the process his heart grows "three sizes". He returns all the gifts he stole and gladly takes part in the Whos' Christmas celebration.
The Grinch is still portrayed as a bitter and ill-tempered character in artwork and other media. In both the animated TV special and the 2000 live-action film, he is shown to have superhuman strength when he stops an entire sleigh loaded with presents from going over a cliff and lifts it over his head, and he is also described as "[finding] the strength of ten Grinches plus two" during that moment of crisis. In the 2018 film, the Grinch has assistance saving all the Whos' stolen goods.
With the character's anti-Christmas spirit followed by the transformation on Christmas morning, scholars have noted similarity to Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol.[2][3] Cardiologist David Kass suggested that the rapid growth of the Grinch's heart at the end of the story indicates that the Grinch has the physiology of a Burmese python.[4]
In Seuss's book, "no one quite knows the reason" for the Grinch's grudge. In contrast, the 2000 film adaptation provides a backstory in his upbringing: abandoned in infancy in Whoville and left in the cold, unnoticed by the revelers at a Christmas party, the Grinch is taken in by two Who women. He proves an unruly schoolboy and is bullied by a schoolmate, Augustus May Who (later Whoville's mayor), but falls for a Who girl named Martha May Whovier. Determined to impress her, he uses various family heirlooms to make an angel Christmas tree-topper for a Christmas gift exchange and vainly attempts to shave. He is mocked for his efforts by everyone at school except Martha and so conceives an abiding resentment. The TV special The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat lays much of the blame on the absence of the Grinch's mother, who had been a positive, nurturing influence on the Grinch in her lifetime but died some time prior; when the Grinch is finally provoked to grieve at the end of that special, he returns to being good.
In many different movies, specials, and television series, the Grinch has been voiced and played by many different characters throughout many films. In Chuck Jones' 1966 television special, the Grinch was voiced by Boris Karloff before he died three years later in 1969.[18] Hans Conried voiced the character in Halloween Is Grinch Night while Bob Holt voiced the character in The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, a crossover with one of Dr. Seuss' characters The Cat in the Hat.
In an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, a parody of the Grinch was voiced by Homer Simpson's voice actor Dan Castellaneta. Castellaneta would later work on another Dr. Seuss project in 2003's The Cat in the Hat as the voice of Thing One and Two. Walter Matthau voiced the character in Random House Home Video. The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss also features the Grinch, where he was played by puppeteer Anthony Asbury. In Family Guy, the Grinch appeared as a cameo, being voiced by Wally Wingert.
The Grinch was voiced by Corey Burton in Seuss Landing and Sneech Beach Area. In Ron Howard's 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas film, the Grinch's first live-action feature, he was played by Jim Carrey. Despite the film having mixed reviews, Carrey's performance as the Grinch was praised by critics. In The Grinch video game, he was voiced by Josh Gerhardt. Stefán Karl Stefánsson played the character in Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical from 2008 until 2015. The Grinch also appeared as a cameo in Mad, voiced by Stephen Stanton.
The Grinch also appeared as a cameo in Robot Chicken, voiced by the series creator Seth Green. In Universal Pictures and Illumination's feature film The Grinch directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney, he was voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. In the Grinch's third live-action feature, Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live!, he was played by Matthew Morrison. In the horror movie parody of the Grinch, The Mean One, the Grinch was played by David Howard Thornton.[19] In some Capital One commercials, the Grinch was voiced by David Kaye, In some of the Walmart commercials The Grinch is Voiced By Darin De Paul.
In popular culture[edit]
The Grinch has become an anti-icon of Christmas and the winter holidays, as a symbol of those who despise the holiday, much in the same nature as the earlier character of Ebenezer Scrooge. Over the years, the Grinch has appeared on various forms of memorabilia such as Christmas ornaments, plush dolls, and various clothing items.[12] The grumpy, anti-holiday spirit of the character has led to the everyday term "Grinch"[26][27] coming to refer to a person opposed to Christmas time celebrations[28][29] or to someone with a coarse, greedy attitude.[27] In 2002, TV Guide ranked The Grinch number 5 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.[26]
He also made a brief appearance on the television in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
The Grumple, from The Simpsons, is a green monster who is an obvious parody of the Grinch.
In The Fairly OddParents episode, "Merry Wishmas", Timmy Turner, Santa Claus, and the elves watch in the television "How the Grump Stole Wishmas", a parody of the Grinch.
In the season 19 Christmas special of American Dad!, Roger turns into a Grinch-esque monster due to observing 1 year straight of celibacy and proceeds to steal the coital paraphernalia at a sex party. During his thieving rampage, a parody of You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch plays acknowledging that this plotline is in fact, a parody.
In the early hours of Christmas Eve 2018, a group of climbers put a giant Santa hat on Antony Gormley's colossal Angel of the North statue (20 metres; 66' high, wingspan 54 metres; 177') near Gateshead, north England. They had attempted to do this, unsuccessfully, for several Christmases.[30] In the early hours of December 29, the pranksters returned, one of them dressed as the Grinch and the others as Santa Claus, and the Grinch "stole" Santa's hat.[31]
In politics[edit]
Multiple politicians in the United Kingdom and United States have been compared to the Grinch, often due to accusations that they will 'steal' Christmas.
Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham described President of the United States Joe Biden as "the Grinch Who Stole Christmas" on Fox News in 2021, criticising him for delays in the supply chain for US imports.[32]
Mick Lynch, head of the UK's National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, was compared to the Grinch from November to December 2022 in media coverage of the ongoing railway strikes by the union. Tabloid newspaper Metro as well as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak likened him to the Grinch and accused him of wanting to "steal Christmas". Lynch retorted that "I'm not the Grinch, I'm a trade union official and I'm determined to get a deal."[33][34][35][36][37]
In December 2023, lawyers for Donald Trump called Special counsel Jack Smith a Grinch in a court filing in response to Smith's request for an expedited appeal on whether Trump could claim presidential immunity. The filing directly quoted How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, arguing that if the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit did not rule against Smith's request, it "would make President Trump’s opening brief due the day after Christmas. This proposed schedule would require attorneys and support staff to work round-the-clock through the holidays, inevitably disrupting family and travel plans. It is as if the Special Counsel ‘growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming, “I must find some way to keep Christmas from coming. … But how?"'"[38][39]
