The publisher of Roald Dahl’s collection of beloved children’s books has worked with the Dahl estate and a company called Inclusive Minds to update some of the language in those books to bring them up to date with modern sensibilities.
According to Inclusive Minds, it’s not unusual to update language and make changes when publishing older titles.
This seems insane to me. Apparently we can’t describe Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as being ‘fat.†Apparently we can’t use the color black when describing the terrible tractors from Fantastic Mr. Fox. Todays children seemingly can’t process this terrible insensitive language, or, God forbid, read different books if their parents are uncomfortable with Dahl’s.
How far away are we from digitally changing music lyrics or dialogue from movies, essentially just erasing the original works from writers, artists, etc? Advances in AI and “deep fake†etc. would make this easy to do without a new audience ever knowing they weren’t listening to or watching or reading the original.
nterestingly, Dahl himself okayed the change of Oompa Loompas – which were originally African pygmies purchased for chocolate beans – into the orange whatever they are now. So the old man himself was happy to roll with one instance of changing mores.
This is not new. I used to read the Hardy Boys to my sons every night at bedtime. I had picked up many Hardy Boys books over the years and the older copies of the same title have glaringly different language and racial stereotypes.
From wikipedia:
The Hardy Boys have evolved since their debut in 1927. From 1959 to 1973, the first 38 books were extensively revised, largely to remove depictions of racial stereotypes; they were also targeted towards younger readers by being rewritten in a simpler, action-oriented style to compete with television.
This is not new. I used to read the Hardy Boys to my sons every night at bedtime. I had picked up many Hardy Boys books over the years and the older copies of the same title have glaringly different language and racial stereotypes.
From wikipedia:
The Hardy Boys have evolved since their debut in 1927. From 1959 to 1973, the first 38 books were extensively revised, largely to remove depictions of racial stereotypes; they were also targeted towards younger readers by being rewritten in a simpler, action-oriented style to compete with television.
Not quite the same thing, but there are any number of cartoons from back in the day that you can’t see on TV any longer (I think they were mostly taken off air in the late 60s or early 70s) because of racial stereotypes.
nterestingly, Dahl himself okayed the change of Oompa Loompas – which were originally African pygmies purchased for chocolate beans – into the orange whatever they are now.
… there are any number of cartoons from back in the day that you can’t see on TV any longer (I think they were mostly taken off air in the late 60s or early 70s) because of racial stereotypes.
You can see The Three Stooges on METv, if it’s on your cable system
nterestingly, Dahl himself okayed the change of Oompa Loompas – which were originally African pygmies purchased for chocolate beans – into the orange whatever they are now. So the old man himself was happy to roll with one instance of changing mores.
Yeah, I don’t think that’s the same. If the original author wants to change their work, that’s up to them. If George Lucas wants to ruin his original Star Wars movies with shitty CGI nonsense, it sucks, but that’s his prerogative. This is a company changing the author’s published works well after he has died.
This is not new. I used to read the Hardy Boys to my sons every night at bedtime. I had picked up many Hardy Boys books over the years and the older copies of the same title have glaringly different language and racial stereotypes.
From wikipedia:
The Hardy Boys have evolved since their debut in 1927. From 1959 to 1973, the first 38 books were extensively revised, largely to remove depictions of racial stereotypes; they were also targeted towards younger readers by being rewritten in a simpler, action-oriented style to compete with television.
I read a lot of Hardy Boys as a kid. My recollection is that every baddie in the Hardy Boys was “swarthy” and usually hadn’t shaved in a few days - it was like a uniform.
This is not new. I used to read the Hardy Boys to my sons every night at bedtime. I had picked up many Hardy Boys books over the years and the older copies of the same title have glaringly different language and racial stereotypes.
From wikipedia:
The Hardy Boys have evolved since their debut in 1927. From 1959 to 1973, the first 38 books were extensively revised, largely to remove depictions of racial stereotypes; they were also targeted towards younger readers by being rewritten in a simpler, action-oriented style to compete with television.
I read a lot of Hardy Boys as a kid. My recollection is that every baddie in the Hardy Boys was “swarthy” and usually hadn’t shaved in a few days - it was like a uniform.
I can distinctly remember many times checking Hardy Boys books out of our town library. I have absolutely zero memory of anything about them though.
nterestingly, Dahl himself okayed the change of Oompa Loompas – which were originally African pygmies purchased for chocolate beans – into the orange whatever they are now. So the old man himself was happy to roll with one instance of changing mores.
Yeah, I don’t think that’s the same. If the original author wants to change their work, that’s up to them. If George Lucas wants to ruin his original Star Wars movies with shitty CGI nonsense, it sucks, but that’s his prerogative. This is a company changing the author’s published works well after he has died.
So is it all about the Shillings for the publisher and the want to continue sales without being removed from shelves? One would think that for historical purposes the original works are archived. I would also think that the lawyers were involved and the publishing contract signed by Dahl allowed for edits in subsequent editions.
nterestingly, Dahl himself okayed the change of Oompa Loompas – which were originally African pygmies purchased for chocolate beans – into the orange whatever they are now. So the old man himself was happy to roll with one instance of changing mores.
Yeah, I don’t think that’s the same. If the original author wants to change their work, that’s up to them. If George Lucas wants to ruin his original Star Wars movies with shitty CGI nonsense, it sucks, but that’s his prerogative. This is a company changing the author’s published works well after he has died.
I didn’t realize until I bought the 60th Anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451 that there were changes made by the publisher from the original in the 1967 printing. These were restored in 1980, which means that the F451 I read in HS was* not *the original
nterestingly, Dahl himself okayed the change of Oompa Loompas – which were originally African pygmies purchased for chocolate beans – into the orange whatever they are now. So the old man himself was happy to roll with one instance of changing mores.
Yeah, I don’t think that’s the same. If the original author wants to change their work, that’s up to them. If George Lucas wants to ruin his original Star Wars movies with shitty CGI nonsense, it sucks, but that’s his prerogative. This is a company changing the author’s published works well after he has died.
So is it all about the Shillings for the publisher and the want to continue sales without being removed from shelves? One would think that for historical purposes the original works are archived. I would also think that the lawyers were involved and the publishing contract signed by Dahl allowed for edits in subsequent editions.
I’m sure it’s all legal. The Dahl estate is apparently involved. That’s not really the question.
Yes, it’s all about money. They want to keep selling the books. The don’t want to go through the difficulty of finding and developing and marketing new authors. They don’t want to run afoul of the small but vocal minority of people who are horrendously offended by completely innocuous language.
nterestingly, Dahl himself okayed the change of Oompa Loompas – which were originally African pygmies purchased for chocolate beans – into the orange whatever they are now. So the old man himself was happy to roll with one instance of changing mores.
Yeah, I don’t think that’s the same. If the original author wants to change their work, that’s up to them. If George Lucas wants to ruin his original Star Wars movies with shitty CGI nonsense, it sucks, but that’s his prerogative. This is a company changing the author’s published works well after he has died.
So is it all about the Shillings for the publisher and the want to continue sales without being removed from shelves? One would think that for historical purposes the original works are archived. I would also think that the lawyers were involved and the publishing contract signed by Dahl allowed for edits in subsequent editions.
Are they going to have the illustrations redone too? They’d have to get Quentin Blake’s estate & their lawyers involved
