While bringing up my phone's picture library to figure out what to review for the day, I was greeted by this picture. On my phone is a Thomas colouring app that evidently allows you to save your efforts, and this hellish representation of an innocent world is what my son chose to keep.
In the center we see the titular Thomas, or rather, we don't see him. His body is swathed in darkness, only his well meaning, smiling face is visible, but now it looks like a menacing, knowing grin, an invitation to the gloom, a call to accept the inevitable. Even the comparatively brighter face of James in the background, accompanied by a balloon, is not enough to alleviate the sense of impending doom. Indeed, even James will soon be enveloped by the darkness.
But hey, it's open to interpretation. Perhaps Thomas is in blackface, making this a social commentary on the civil rights movement. Maybe Thomas got some coal dust on him in the mines. Who knows what a 4 year old mind has got going on. But I think the message we can all take from this is that it's not a great colouring job. I mean, there are plenty of other colourshe could have used. Brighten it up a bit, boy.
My rating: 1/5
