It seems like a lost opportunity to teach some history and add some context for young readers. Why not add a forward or afterward to discuss how Dahl and his views and their reflections in the text are (and are not) products of their time? How our thinking and expectations have evolved? Rather than papering over the words or rewriting them all together, why not educate people to understand why certain passages and phrases are objectionable while also acknowledging where and why they can be wonderful? I dread that we are reigniting the Dr. Seuss debates.
I also grew up loving Dahl's work, but it didn't make me a child abuser, bigot, or fat-phobe. (I myself am fat, and I never liked the removal of the Fat Ladies from Nilsson's The Point, either!). I read the Bobbsey Twins books and Mark Twain and Dickens, and I didn't grow up thinking child labour was great or that nannies in the current day would likely speak with the heavy accent of a Black nanny in the early 1900s. I am very concerned that rewriting history does a great disservice to children, but perhaps with the gutting of sophisticated intelligence and critical thinking in schools, those who have no faith in kids' ability to process such things have an actual argument. It's so depressing, really.
Children can tell what’s politically correct for the time and what isn’t. Or at least I could. I remember when I first watched the Peter Pan scene with the Indians when I was eight years old and even at that age it felt cringe since my introduction to Native Americans in Disney films was Pocahontas at age six which is a much more politically correct portrayal (but probably comes across as politically incorrect by the standards of today)
Feb 20, 2023·edited Feb 20, 2023Liked by Ben Cohen
I seem to recall a part in one of his books where’s he said that a good person could be fat and physically ugly and still their inner beauty would shine through.
Also I don’t recall where his anti-Semitism ever showed in his children’s books.
Oh and I remember reading a version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the original Oompa-Loompas before they changed them in the illustrations to be a made-up race of orange people with green hair, Tim Burton’s movie was more accurate to the original in this sense.
It seems like a lost opportunity to teach some history and add some context for young readers. Why not add a forward or afterward to discuss how Dahl and his views and their reflections in the text are (and are not) products of their time? How our thinking and expectations have evolved? Rather than papering over the words or rewriting them all together, why not educate people to understand why certain passages and phrases are objectionable while also acknowledging where and why they can be wonderful? I dread that we are reigniting the Dr. Seuss debates.
I also grew up loving Dahl's work, but it didn't make me a child abuser, bigot, or fat-phobe. (I myself am fat, and I never liked the removal of the Fat Ladies from Nilsson's The Point, either!). I read the Bobbsey Twins books and Mark Twain and Dickens, and I didn't grow up thinking child labour was great or that nannies in the current day would likely speak with the heavy accent of a Black nanny in the early 1900s. I am very concerned that rewriting history does a great disservice to children, but perhaps with the gutting of sophisticated intelligence and critical thinking in schools, those who have no faith in kids' ability to process such things have an actual argument. It's so depressing, really.
Children can tell what’s politically correct for the time and what isn’t. Or at least I could. I remember when I first watched the Peter Pan scene with the Indians when I was eight years old and even at that age it felt cringe since my introduction to Native Americans in Disney films was Pocahontas at age six which is a much more politically correct portrayal (but probably comes across as politically incorrect by the standards of today)
I seem to recall a part in one of his books where’s he said that a good person could be fat and physically ugly and still their inner beauty would shine through.
Also I don’t recall where his anti-Semitism ever showed in his children’s books.
Oh and I remember reading a version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the original Oompa-Loompas before they changed them in the illustrations to be a made-up race of orange people with green hair, Tim Burton’s movie was more accurate to the original in this sense.