Though many parents and children fondly remember author and illustrator Dr. Seuss as the beloved creator of many colorful, rhyming children’s books, an annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology celebration honors his more serious side.

Henry Jenkins, director of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program, honored Theodor Seuss Geisel for the 17th straight year last night by broadcasting a lesser-known musical film Seuss wrote during World War II called “5000 Fingers of Dr. T” The film deals with much more mature themes than do his popular children’s books.

Following the life of a fictional boy named Bartholomew Collins, the film quietly addresses the horrors endured by prisoners in Nazi concentration camps at the time Seuss made the film.

Collins and 5,000 other boys are enslaved by their demanding piano teacher, Dr. Terwilliker, who has built a giant piano and forces them to play it as he conducts from high above them. The boys form an opposition force to overthrow the “totalitarian” leader Terwilliker and win their freedom.

The film’s composer, Frederick Hollander — who fled Nazi persecution — weaves underlying Nazi symbolism into the music, said Nancy Newman, a State University of New York Albany musicology assistant professor.

“No subject seems too taboo,” she said.

On a lighter note, Newman said the film could also be seen as Seuss’s own way of getting even with the piano teacher of his teenage years.

Jenkins said “5000 Fingers of Dr. T” is just an example of many political stances Seuss took throughout his life.

Before he wrote children’s books, Seuss worked for many years as a political cartoonist, persuading Americans to purchase war bonds during World War II. He also made animated training videos for the U.S. military, Jenkins said, and collaborated with Frank Capra on his “Why We Fight” films to convince the public to support the war.

Even in his popular work, Seuss tried to “take aim at anyone who [pushed] anyone around,” Jenkins said.

Seuss’s famous children’s tales subtly attack authoritarian parenting methods, he said. The much-loved story of The Cat in the Hat, for example, advocates rebellion because it raises the question of whether or not a son should lie to his mother.