Recalcitrant Amos Yee and Wild Things

I pointed out in a previous post that recalcitrant Singapore teen Amos Yee appears to enjoy Maurice Sendak’s 1963 classic, Where the Wild Things Are:

The plot is very simple. Via wikipedia:

This story of only 338 words focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper. Max’s bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by malicious beasts known as the “Wild Things.” After successfully intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wild Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects; however, he decides to return home, to the Wild Things’ dismay. After arriving in his bedroom, Max discovers a hot supper waiting for him.

Why was it such a hit?

According to Sendak, at first the book was banned in libraries and received negative reviews. It took about two years for librarians and teachers to realize that children were flocking to the book, checking it out over and over again, and for critics to relax their views.

Since then, it has received high critical acclaim. Francis Spufford suggests that the book is “one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate and beautiful use of the psychoanalytic story of anger”.

Amos just updated his blog with a post on alleged physical and mental abuse from his father. Can you join the dots between the Wild Things, Amos’ behaviour and the alleged abuses he claimed to have suffered?

He ended the post egging his parents to get a divorce. If that’s not crying for help, I don’t know what is.

When I read that Vincent Law, 51, a family and youth counsellor had posted bail for Amos Yee when his own parents refused to do so; I felt relief that someone was foolhardy enough to have blind faith in a complete stranger, just for the altruistic reason that he wanted to help. I know I can’t be that bigger person like Law, but I am glad he stepped forward.

It looks like Law may be losing his bail money though. By posting on his blog, Amos may have broken his bail terms whereby he is “not to post, upload, or otherwise distribute any comment or content, whether directly or indirectly, to any social media or online service or website, while the current case is ongoing”. He just posted two new posts on his blog.

Someone needs to curb that crazy Wild Things in Amos.