The Grinch

The Grinch is a popular cartoon character created by Dr. Seuss. He first appeared in the 1957 children's book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. This was followed in 1966 by a popular television special, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's MGM Animation/Visual Arts studio, and directed by Chuck Jones.

In 1977, Seuss responded to the fan request for more Grinch tales by writing Halloween Is Grinch Night, a Halloween special that aired on CBS. Like its predecessor, the sequel was recognized at the Emmy awards. In 1982, Marvel green-lit The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, which was also produced by Dr. Seuss, under his real name, Ted Geisel. This third special garnered two Emmy awards.

The Grinch is considered a Christmas standard, and parodied/featured outside the Dr. Seuss brand frequently around the holiday season. The character is referenced by the media often in instances where a holiday display is ruined by vandals, or holiday burglaries are committed. Outside Christmas, the term "Grinch" is synonymous with "grouch".

Personality
The Grinch is an unpleasant, "Who-hating" grouch (the only exception to this is the end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!", where he becomes whole-hearted and loving), and is always out to ruin something. He comes down to Whoville only on holidays, which we see in two of the three TV specials, which are holiday-based. However, in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" he is opposed to the holiday (Christmas), and comes down to sabotage. In "Grinch Night" he comes down to waltz around for Halloween night, which in Whoville is called "Grinch Night". This signals all the Whos to annually lock down their homes. He is best described by the song You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, sung by Thurl Ravenscroft.Though in the movie we get to see a more sensitive side of him we could easily blame his childhood trauma for his upgrowing. The Grinch was charged with a class A felony for his role in stealing Christmas

Appearance
In the TV specials, he features a bulbous stomach, lengthy fingers, and is covered in green hair. His fingers and feet look longer due to the long portions of hair coming off of them. He has large, sinister black eyebrows, and deep lines on his forehead. His mouth lines are subtle when he is in a neutral mood, yet very stretched when he is happy. He has a pair of brooding, deep-set, ovoid eyes with red irises - although they are noted to become more round and feature blue irises after the Grinch's "conversion". Another physical characteristic noted to change after the Grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas is his face, which in addition to the line softening mentioned above, becomes somewhat heart-shaped as he smiles broadly. A long neck is prominent, with layers of green fur coming down it. He seems to have pockets in the fur of his large stomach, as he rests his hands inside this area. With regard to posture, he is loose and can bend easily. He often walks in stealth-mode when around Whos. His only friend is his pet dog, Max, a big eyed pooch who loves his master despite the Grinch treating Max like a nuisance. Max also is an unwitting accomplice in the Grinch's plots. The grich forces him to be "reindeer" by attaching a crooked pair of horns on him and making Max pull the sleigh with all the Whos' Christmas trappings inside.

Stars who have portrayed the Grinch

 * Boris Karloff - How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated) (1966)
 * Hans Conried - Halloween is Grinch Night (1977)
 * Bob Holt - The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982)
 * Walter Matthau - How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1992)
 * Anthony Asbury - The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (1996-1997)
 * Jim Carrey - How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
 * William Ryall - Seussical the Musical (2001-2002)
 * Patrick Page - Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2006-2007)

The movie
After Seuss's death, a 1999 live-action feature film adaptation was produced. Directed by Ron Howard, it featured Jim Carrey in the titular role and was a major financial success. Although a box-office hit, the film received mostly negative reviews, comparing it unfavorably to the book and the television special. Despite the poor reviews, the movie fleshes out the entire story while showing the Grinch as a youngster. Also, the Grinch tried to tolerate the Whos who made him the star of their community celebration, which leads to a major breakdown and to the Grinch attempting to steal Christmas.

List of Grinch works in the media

 * "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" - Book, TV special, theatrical film and Broadway show Grinch on Broadway
 * "Grinch Night" - TV Special
 * "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat" - TV Special
 * Series of short books by Random House
 * The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss - TV Series
 * Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (musical) on Broadway (2006 & 2007)
 * The Grinch (video game) - video game based on live-action film
 * Dr. Seuss: How The Grinch Stole Christmas! - 2007 video game

The Grinch in popular culture
The Grinch is also used in the popular online game Guild Wars, and made a cameo appearance on an episode of Family Guy (He was the person responsible for Joe Swanson's paralysis).

"Grinch" as slang term
Seuss's work has become sufficiently well-known that the Grinch's very name (like that of another fictional character, Ebenezer Scrooge) has entered general usage as a slang term designating a cruel, antisocial, or Christmas-hating individual. In 1994, during the Republican Party's "Contract With America", political cartoonists frequently applied the term to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, calling him the "Gin-Grinch Who Stole Christmas". In the movie Jingle All the Way, the con artist Santas refer to the police as the "Grinch". In the live-action movie, the Mayor reads a passage from 'The Book of Who', which states 'The term 'grinchy' shall apply when Christmas spirit is in short supply'. The word "Grinch" has also been used by conservative activists to criticize the American Civil Liberties Union and other liberal and secular groups for their "war on Christmas."

The December 11, 2006 episode of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother parodied this, substituting "grinch" for every instance where the word "cunt" would normally be used (the main character was narrating to his children and thus would not want to use profanity).