More than 60 years ago, the world was introduced to the green, hairy, grumpy, Christmas-hating Grinch. He started out as a character in one of Dr. Seuss's books and quickly become one of the most well-known characters in history. When Dr. Seuss created him, he probably would've never guessed that his character would still be really popular today. The Grinch can be found all over the place whenever the holidays come around.
Most people know him from Dr. Seuss's book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and the animated TV special with the same name. But now he also has two feature films about him, including one that just came out in 2018. From the 1950's until now, here is how much the Grinch has changed over the years.
7 Dr. Seuss Brought The Grinch Into The World In The 1950's
Dr. Seuss first wrote about his character in a poem that was published as a feature in Redbook magazine in 1955. But he didn’t publish How the Grinch Stole Christmas! until two years later. He got the inspiration for his famous character from his own life. During a 1957 interview with Redbook, Dr. Seuss said, "Something had gone wrong with Christmas, I realized, or more likely with me. So I wrote the story about my sour friend, the Grinch, to see if I could rediscover something about Christmas that obviously I'd lost.”
6 He Became An Animated Character Nine Years Later
Dr. Seuss didn’t like the idea of his book becoming an animated TV special at first. He didn’t want anyone to mess with his story of the Grinch. However, the director, Chuck Jones, finally convinced him to do it nine years after the book was published. Although Dr. Seuss didn’t agree with Chuck changing the Grinch’s look, choosing to allow the TV special to go forward was one of the best decisions he ever made. Everyone knew who the Grinch was after that and he has become one of the most famous Christmas characters of all time. He also had two other TV specials, Halloween Is Grinch Night and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, after that.
5 Jim Carrey Brought The Grinch To Life
More than 30 years after the Grinch first appeared on TV, one of the biggest actors in Hollywood brought one of the most famous characters of all time to life. Fans only got to see the Grinch as a 2D animated character, but in 2000, we got to see what he would look like as a live-action character. Jim Carrey went through hours of makeup everyday just to look like him (and developed a difficult relationship with his makeup artist in the process), but his goofy and sarcastic personality is what truly brought him to life. We got to see much more than just a villain who steals Christmas.
4 ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ (2000) Showed Why The Grinch Hates Christmas So Much
Neither the book nor the animated TV special tell us why the Grinch hates Christmas so much. But decades later, we finally got to see why his heart is two sizes too small. How the Grinch Stole Christmas tells the story more from Cindy Lou’s perspective and shows her discovering who the Grinch is. She meets him by accident when he visits Whoville one day and realizes he’s not as bad as everyone says he is. That leads her to find out who he really is. She discovers he hates Christmas because he was bullied by the Whos around Christmastime when he was a kid. He’s hated the Whos and Christmas ever since then. His backstory in this movie makes us feel more sympathetic towards him and shows the reason why he’s so mean is because he’s been through a lot.
3 Illumination Put A Modern Day Twist On The Grinch
About 18 years after How the Grinch Stole Christmas came out, we got to see another version of the Grinch. Illumination, the animation studio known for creating the popular Despicable Me franchise, took on the timeless story of the Grinch and put their own twist on it. Just like their other films, they created The Grinch with 3D animation. The studio did an amazing job creating the Grinch and Whoville in 3D. The Grinch looks similar to the original character design except his face is a little different and he looks more furry. And Whoville looks even better in 3D. The studio kept Dr. Seuss’s style, but put a modern day twist on it. Whoville has more objects that you would see today than in the 1950s when Dr. Seuss first created it. The Grinch also has songs from artists that are popular today.
2 ‘The Grinch’ (2018) Changed His Backstory
Since Illumination created The Grinch differently than the other versions of the story, they decided to change the Grinch’s backstory too. The only other backstory we’ve seen so far is the Grinch being bullied as a kid in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. But the filmmakers at Illumination thought he needed a different backstory to explain why he hates Christmas. During the beginning of the movie, the Grinch has a flashback of him being alone in an orphanage and seeing everyone else happy spending Christmas with their families. Instead of resenting Christmas and the Whos from being bullied, he resents them because they left him alone his whole life.
1 Each Grinch Is Different But The Core Of The Story Always Stays The Same
Besides his heart growing three times bigger, the Grinch has gone through a lot of transformations over the years. He started out as just a book character, but then grew into one of the most famous characters ever created. Each version of the Grinch is different, but he’s still the same character Dr. Seuss created no matter how much his looks or his story change. In every version of him, he’s a lonely inventor who uses his skills to get revenge on the Whos and to ruin the holiday that he hates. And the story always ends with him transforming into a better person and realizing that Christmas is much more than just presents. No matter how many versions of the Grinch there are, he always teaches us the true meaning of Christmas.
