Roald Dahl was a product of his time and place. Like the Brothers Grimm, his works were “perfectly normal” when they were written. Now, they’re dated and (at times) rather inappropriate. Reactionary critics of the current move to edit some of his works to remove the seemingly disparaging lines, noting that Netflix owns the rights to Dahl’s works, seem to forget the butchering that Disney did to the old German fairy tales. Disney’s re-write of Aschenputtel renders it almost unrecognizable to readers of the classic Märchen. Rotkäppchen has been re-written both to soften up the message, and in various horror themes. But, somehow, re-working Dahl to remove the racist depiction of the Oompa Loompas as African slaves is a bit much for the traditionalists. If you’ve read the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you’ll notice the removal of Loompaland from the movies. There’s a good reason for it.
My autistic brain generally wants to avoid movies of books that I’ve read and enjoyed. It fixates on the differences and limits the enjoyment. Too few movies are faithful to the originals. So, I read books now for enjoyment and watch films for the same reason. But I rarely mix the two. What about you?
Roald Dahl: censorship or good sense?
Roald Dahl: censorship or good sense?
Roald Dahl: censorship or good sense?
Roald Dahl was a product of his time and place. Like the Brothers Grimm, his works were “perfectly normal” when they were written. Now, they’re dated and (at times) rather inappropriate. Reactionary critics of the current move to edit some of his works to remove the seemingly disparaging lines, noting that Netflix owns the rights to Dahl’s works, seem to forget the butchering that Disney did to the old German fairy tales. Disney’s re-write of Aschenputtel renders it almost unrecognizable to readers of the classic Märchen. Rotkäppchen has been re-written both to soften up the message, and in various horror themes. But, somehow, re-working Dahl to remove the racist depiction of the Oompa Loompas as African slaves is a bit much for the traditionalists. If you’ve read the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you’ll notice the removal of Loompaland from the movies. There’s a good reason for it.
My autistic brain generally wants to avoid movies of books that I’ve read and enjoyed. It fixates on the differences and limits the enjoyment. Too few movies are faithful to the originals. So, I read books now for enjoyment and watch films for the same reason. But I rarely mix the two. What about you?