The cultural move to try and reevaluate old language and attitudes has hit an interesting roadblock, following the edited version of Roald Dahl’s works making their way out into the public sphere. Before you think it, no, political correctness has not gone mad. Probably.
Re-edits of Dahl are all the internet can froth at the mouth about today, with new editions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda all being released into the world by Puffin. Some of the changes made are interesting, some are maddening, and some feel pretty much pointless.
Augustus Gloop is now described as “enormous” rather than “fat” (not sure it’s much better, really), Oompa-Loompas are now “small people” instead of “small men”, and Miss Trunchbull as “most formidable woman” instead of “formidable female”. Puffin must really hate alliteration. These changes feel inconsequential, pointless, and ultimately done to stir up more of the dull, dreary debate within the culture wars.
The reaction has been exactly as reactionary as you’d expect, with people right off the bat pointing to George Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Because an authoritarian dictatorship begins with children’s books being edited very slightly decades after original release. Definitely what the world needs to panic about.
If you’re mad about this so-called censorship, you may be slightly miffed to hear it’s not about “woke nonsense” or cry-baby millennials. It’s just corporations playing lip-service to progressive ideals by caricaturing the discussion and trying to stay profitable. Puffin didn’t do this for sensitivity, it’s almost certainly to keep their IP profitable.
There’s actual, better solutions to this problem which Warner Bros. and other companies worked out a while back. The disclaimer at the beginning, which also serves to educate those consuming the media of what the past was like. This feels like the best way to do it without mucking around his authorial intent.
Dahl’s books were never meant to be virtuous beyond some nice, child-friendly themes of “treat people as you’d like to be treated” and “don’t a dick”. Dahl himself was never a paragon of virtue in his personal life either, as is much publicized, but who is? Rewriting history to make him look like one with these re-edits doesn’t appease anyone.
Adaptations of Dahl’s works will continue, especially now Netflix owns the rights to the back catalogue. With the adaptations will come even more reprints, because in the end this is about money — not actual progressive beliefs.