Revising history to make film, television, literature, or any other form of media more palatable through a modern lens is a dangerous game that opens the floor to both widespread debate and accusations of needless censorship, but that hasn’t dissuaded Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine from becoming the latest high-profile author to see their work given a sensitivity edit.
In the bestselling writer’s defense, he’s the one spearheading the movement to remove verbiage and descriptions that could be deemed as insensitive from the back catalogue, whereas the two most prominent examples featured late world-renowned scribes who now have the executors of their estates overseeing such matters.
That being said, there was still such a massive backlash to Roald Dahl’s books being overhauled that the publishers swiftly confirmed the unfiltered originals would still be made available via the “Classic Collection” banner, while James Bond fans were left fuming when it was announced Ian Fleming’s original stories that inspired the iconic spy franchise were being reevaluated by “sensitivity readers.”
Stine’s Goosebumps series has sold well over $400 million copies and spawned a pair of blockbuster feature films – with an episodic Disney Plus reboot of the original 1990s show also in development – but the next generation of avid readers won’t be getting the source material in its original form.
Among the changes to have been made are removals of references to having “at least six chins,” a magic spell replacing a “love tap,” as well as the deletion of overt references to race and gender-specific terminology. Goosebumps might be aimed at younger crowds, but you can guarantee there’s going to be an uproar regardless.