Curiouser and Curiouser

I'm as relieved as I can be that the freshly released film version of "Curious George" does not include the scene in which George succumbs to the inhalation of ether.
"There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge." - Hunter S. Thompson
I suppose that goes double for a cute little monkey in the depths of an ether binge, but since George lacks a tail, that would make him an ape, right?
"The books are really irresponsible to me. It's sickening, really," said Robin Roth, managing editor of http://www.arkonline.com/, an animal welfare web site.
Start with the Caucasian, gun-carrying Man with the Yellow Hat venturing to Africa (imperialism alert!) to harvest wildlife for a zoo (animal repression alert!). Continue with George being unsupervised and allowed to smoke a pipe and huff ether (bad parenting alert!). There's that darn ether again.
This set me to thinking: What about Pinnochio? Wasn't he horribly mistreated too? All he wanted was to be a real boy, and he went through near biblical torment before it. Where's the web site devoted to the treatment of marionettes?
Here's some reality for you: The Curious George books were primarily the work of the husband-and-wife team of H.A. and Margaret Rey, German Jews who escaped France with the first book's manuscript as the Nazis invaded. Please form groups and discuss the subtext potential amongst yourselves. Compound this with the release of the remake of "King Kong" the same year and now ask why these competing tales of the attempt to domesticate a wild ape have appeared at the same time in our current political landscape. No fair making the easy reference to our president's chimp-like appearance or mannerisms.
On top of all this speculation, add the "man in the Yellow Hat" and "Curious George" to a bit of Swedish film-making, and don't you end up with "I Am Curious Yellow?" The story concerns Lena, aged twenty, who wants to know all she can about life and reality. Nudity, explicit sex, and controversial politics kept this film from being shown in the US while its seizure by Customs was appealed.
Certainly, this can all be dismissed as coincidence - but aren't you just the least bit curious?