Before Dahl, other works for children clashed with political correctness

It was in 1994 when James Finn Garner published politically correct stories for children. With this satirical work, he emphasized a trend he detected in the United States at the time: in some cultural sectors, people began to walk a tightrope, obsessively avoiding any word or expression that could be even remotely discriminatory, sexist or racist. In this way, he rewrote classic stories such as Little Red Riding Hood, indicating that when the little girl brought the basket to her grandmother, she did so “not because she considered it a womanly thing, but because it was a generous act that helped strengthen the sense of community.” IN Three little pigs, for example, it is clarified at the end of the text: “No real wolves were harmed during the writing of this story.”

That book, written with humor and exaggeration, anticipated the events that would happen in the coming years, devoid of any humorous intention anyway. This week there was a bombshell: the updating of Roald Dahl novels by their executors and publishers to fit current morals. So, for example, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory references to characters’ gender, appearance and weight have been deleted or modified in an effort not to offend or discriminate. The decision caused a storm. Even UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken out, saying works of fiction should be “preserved and not tampered with”. In Spain, Santillana—the publishing house that publishes Dahl’s work in Spanish—announced that it would respect the original texts “without paying attention to any kind of censorship, regardless of the fashion and circumstances of the moment.”

It is not the first time that this kind of revisionist practice has been carried out. And it is not even the first in which intense polemics are generated around him. In 2011, the publisher was relaunched Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the story of a boy who runs away from his father across the Mississippi River along with a black slave seeking his freedom. But he did this by modifying words from the original text. The original text included the word Nigger 219 times. This came out four times The Adventures of Tom Sawyeralso revised. The term is one of the gravest insults that can be hurled at a black citizen right now.

Revisions of classic stories

There were also changes in the field of classic stories. For example, the collection Once Twice, launched through a crowdfunding In 2013, Belén Gaudes and Pablo Macías update such popular stories as Cinderellato, Sleeping Beauty or Ugly duckling. On the Verkami page where the initiative began — which now has more than a dozen titles — the authors pointed out that they did not “modernize classic stories,” but “stripped them of sexism, violence, and inequality.” In his version Snow WhiteFor example, the protagonist wants to be independent and goes to live with seven little men with whom she shares an apartment and jobs, in an even distribution.

character of Snow White was recently involved in controversy. This time in the cinema. Disney is planning an updated version of its 1937 film Peter Dinklage, actor Lord of the Rings, showed his rejection of the review for insisting on the idea of ​​”seven dwarves living together in a cave”. The controversy began in January 2022, and the company has not clarified what it will do. Some American media spoke of “magical beings” instead of gnomes. It is known that Snow White will be played by Latina actress Rachel Zegler. In the current climate, we’ll have to see how they handle the prince’s kiss or the household chores. In this sense, there is already a precedent for Cinderella (2021) Kay Canon. Likewise, he decided on the Latin protagonist, the singer Camila Cabello. But beyond that, the fairy godmother was played by Bille Porter, representing a non-binary black character. The promo said that “magic had no gender.”

Disney has been moving into the morality of the 21st century for several years now. For this reason, he made the decision to veto his vision platform streaming for children under the age of 7, classic films such as Aristocats, Peter Pan, Dumbo and The Robinsons of the South Seas. This decision was once explained by the fact that these films may contain racist messages and strong stereotypes.