Controversial rewriting of Roald Dahl's stories to Remove offensive language

[arista]

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[Oliver_W]

Some of the changes were pretty pathetic. It's not even like his stories contain slurs.

I read an article that they're changing words like "fat" to "enormous", and in The Witches a disclaimer has been added that "women might wear wigs for any reason, and that's okay!"

The latter is somewhat understandable, as women undergoing chemo or who just happen to have alopecia don't want to be called WITCH ...

[GoldHeart]

Yeah I heard about this , it's ridiculous :bored: ..... Why tamper with his work? .... why don't they just write their own stories . They're basically trying to change Roald Dahl's way of thinking by erasing his thoughts...these books are 30 / 40 years old.

These are what he wrote and should be left alone. If there was full on racism & strong swearing ,then I could understand altering a little word here and there . But this is basically rewriting entire classic stories .... just to be 'pc'. There's nothing offensive about his FICTIONAL stories.

And how is "enormous" better than saying fat ? , And why change female with "woman"??, Utterly pointless. And how far do we go in this current climate??. Are other books from dead authors going to be entirely rewritten aswell?? .

[Oliver_W]

A fair change from the past was that the Oompa Loompas were originally described as being like "African Pygmies", but in later editions were changed to be hippy-like white people.

But I doubt the original vision came from a place of racism, as Dahl wanted Charlie to be black, and was forced to change it by the publishers https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/13/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-hero-originally-black-roald-dahl#:~:text=Roald%20Dahl%20originally%20wanted%20 the,was%20a%20little%20black%20boy.%E2%80%9D

[GoldHeart]

Like I said by all means alter racist words etc, but alot of the changes are just to be overly PC ....and who else is going to be targeted next? Dickens? ,these books were of their time. You can't change the mind of a dead Author from the past .

Interestingly I remember coming across Huckleberry Finn and the N word still being in it . I was shocked...but I think it was a old edition. I think today it would have been removed understandably.

Also it's about education ...why don't parents just talk to their kids , why is there an overly sensitive attitude towards the bald witches?. These are caricatures descriptions to easily be formed in your imagination..... especially as a child . it's not about mocking people with cancer or alopecia :facepalm: .

[Crimson Dynamo]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/PortalPictures/february-2023/2102-MATT-PORTAL-WEB-P1.png?imwidth=320

[Oliver_W]

Like I said by all means alter racist words etc, but alot of the changes are just to be overly PC ....and who else is going to be targeted next? Dickens? ,these books were of their time. You can't change the mind of a dead Author from the past .
They'd better leave my bae Dickens alone :fist:

Overall he's fine tbh. The only thing that might need to be changed (and in some editions, it is) is that Fagin is often not referred to by name, but as The Jew.



Also it's about education ...why don't parents just talk to their kids , why is there an overly sensitive attitude towards the bald witches?. These are caricatures descriptions to easily be formed in your imagination..... especially as a child . it's not about mocking people with cancer or alopecia :facepalm: .
Sometimes things get internalised.

As an adult reading the book it might not occur to some to make it clear that not all bald women are witches or whatever, and no it's obviously not about mocking them, but I can see why some might think a line like that is needed.

[bots]

but a witch isn't real .....

[Niamh.]

but a witch isn't real .....

Oh yes we are :smug:

[user104658]

Oh yes we are :smug:

Ohhh nooo youuu're nooottt.


...Incidentally, we went to an oldschool pantomime this year and it was proper 80's/90's style racist, homophobic and misogynistic. Fascinating and hilarious - I was flabbergasted that it existed in 2022 :joker::joker:. Sat through the whole thing like :omgno:. A real glimpse of the past!

[Niamh.]

Ohhh nooo youuu're nooottt.


...Incidentally, we went to an oldschool pantomime this year and it was proper 80's/90's style racist, homophobic and misogynistic. Fascinating and hilarious - I was flabbergasted that it existed in 2022 :joker::joker:. Sat through the whole thing like :omgno:. A real glimpse of the past!

I never even went to a pantomime as a kid, first one I went to was one my daughter was in when she was younger, that would have been early/mid 00's

[Livia]

Enid Blighton branded a racist. JK Rowling branded a transphobe.... Absolutely no mention that Roald Dahl was a massive anti-Semite.

[Cherie]

When will people get their head around the fact that language and values and views continue to evolve, we are not rewriting Shakespeare (yet), some things that are acceptable now I can guarantee you will not be acceptable in 30 years time, that is just how the world changes, we can't rewrite history and nor should we

[Cherie]

Enid Blighton branded a racist. JK Rowling branded a transphobe.... Absolutely no mention that Roald Dahl was a massive anti-Semite.

tbf I did hear this mentioned a few times in connection to this story, but he is not labelled near enough as much as women are, that is true.

[Alf]

Some of Britain’s most popular sitcoms and greatest works of literature were flagged as potential signs of far-Right extremism by PREVENT, including Yes Minister, The Thick of It, and yes, Shakespeare

[hijaxers]

Enid Blighton branded a racist. JK Rowling branded a transphobe.... Absolutely no mention that Roald Dahl was a massive anti-Semite.

He was good friends with Gary Glitter as well.

[Mystic Mock]

Some of the changes were pretty pathetic. It's not even like his stories contain slurs.

I read an article that they're changing words like "fat" to "enormous", and in The Witches a disclaimer has been added that "women might wear wigs for any reason, and that's okay!"

The latter is somewhat understandable, as women undergoing chemo or who just happen to have alopecia don't want to be called WITCH ...

Am I the only person that finds the term "enormous" to be more offensive? And personally old fiction shouldn't be being edited, it should just be common sense to people that things were different back in Roald Dahl's day, and if you can't handle that then don't read his stuff.

[James]

Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton were my favourites authors to read when I was young.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach were my favourite Roald Dahl books.

[arista]

https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-5f3f459e-9d78-4d73-9373-be6e51d783e1.jpeg

[arista]

https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-523aa3c0-be5c-4231-87a2-64379dc4b025.jpeg

[Mystic Mock]

I agree with Camilla on this issue.

Censoring dialogue is one of the worst things to have happened to modern entertainment in the west, it's too sanitised which needs to change if the entertainment industry wants to be of a good quality.

[arista]

Yes,
Reports many are Buying up the Original books
before the Strange 2023 Edits.

[GoldHeart]

Yes,
Reports many are Buying up the Original books
before the Strange 2023 Edits.

The sad thing is the younger generation will probably end up with the weird edited version and not know any difference. Only people who grew up reading Roald Dahl , will either still have the originals or they'll be going to eBay or charity shops to try and get them.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown thinks it's perfectly fine to mess with dead authors work ,and screw and tamper with their dialogue. I wonder how she'd feel if someone did that with anything she wrote :whistle:.

[Jordan.]

https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-5f3f459e-9d78-4d73-9373-be6e51d783e1.jpeg

'The Queen'

DIUJ4iMLNFQ

[bots]

we will have a bonfire of the vanities shortly to remove all existing books from circulation

[James]

They've announced today that they are keeping the old versions in print.


Roald Dahl's books are to be printed in their original form, following criticism of the decision to amend novels including The BFG, making them more suitable for modern audiences.

The plan to remove references to things like characters' appearance and weight had sparked a fierce debate.

Words including "fat" and "ugly" were removed after being reviewed by sensitivity readers, who check for potentially offensive content.

Puffin will now sell the originals.

Francesca Dow, managing editor of Penguin, which owns Puffin, said: "We've listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl's books, and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation.".....


From https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64759118

[Oliver_W]

The character who turned "still as a statue" instead of "white as a sheet" better be careful, they'll be torn down by the woke brigade :hehe:

[arista]

2 Versions to be Sold

Original

or

the 2023 Updated Version

[Beso]

The friendly giant, just ain't the same.

[arista]

https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-05ecb90b-4bff-4bfe-9621-c74dc598c87a.png

[bots]

she will never be the queen to me

[Alf]

2 Versions to be Sold

Original

or

the 2023 Updated VersionThe 2023 updated version is for Jimmy Saville and Jeffery Epstein fans.

If you buy this version, then you're an "Epstein Saville"

[Mystic Mock]

2 Versions to be Sold

Original

or

the 2023 Updated Version

They're so close to getting correct.

The original version and only the original version, only edits that are acceptable imo is if there's an over usage of slurs.

[hijaxers]

They're so close to getting correct.

The original version and only the original version, only edits that are acceptable imo is if there's an over usage of slurs.

You are so right Mock, i hope these new versions have to go out of print , due to lack of sales.