15 Comments

Controversy. his name should be removed from changed books as it isnt his writing

Is Shakespeare next?

Expand full comment
Feb 23, 2023·edited Feb 23, 2023

The entire role of children's literature, think Grimm's Fairy Tales!!, is to help children build resilience to the really awful stuff in the real world they will all face. Dahl's books help them work through their fears with some degree of control. We create fragile adults when we encourage fragility in our children. In real life it is certain your mom will die, and so will your dad and all the people you love will die and so will you. You will suffer. That is a certainty. You will experience joy as well of course, likely even great joy. Nevertheless life is brutal; even a blessed life has unavoidable pain and terror. We are all born pregnant with pain and suffering we will have to bear. The baby will be born. Fiction helps us manage that pain, it helps us work through our fears. The same is so for good children's literature. What we do when when cover our children's eyes to this degree is only make them suffer more deeply the inevitable pains of their lives. And, what is worse, we do not at all make their joys any more joyous either.

Expand full comment
Feb 22, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

I could not agree more with your takes on the Dahl edits. The fact that all three of you know and appreciate Dahl’s books give your views extra weight and credibility.

Expand full comment

You can not judge everything in the past to 2023 standards.

Expand full comment
founding

I appreciate and agree with Alyssa's points. I enjoyed having the books read to me and reading them and so did my kids. The centipede song is still one of my favorites. His books are different and this is probably why I enjoy them. It is a great loss when content is sanitized for the "benefit" of some. Many of the best discussions I have had with my parents and kids were over difficult or uncomfortable topics. We no longer communicate in the same manner or exchange ideas as we once did to our own detriment and taking another way in which you can have an actual discussion makes us poorer.

Expand full comment

We recently read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to our 8 year old son. We skipped over certain parts of the story. My wife is a librarian, writer and poet. She said that she respects the stories and Dahl's vision, but parts of his books are not aging well. I asked if that means it should be rewritten. She said, "If they are still intended to be read by children, yeah. They aren't being entirely rewritten--just edited and updated. My understanding is that certain words swapped out to modernize the language, but the story itself is not changed."

Expand full comment
Feb 21, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

Also, she said she "understands where people are coming from. Dahl's books tend to be dark and his characters tend to be exaggerated, so I'm not sure if editing them will really work. sometimes I think it's better to let a book go out of print than try to bend it to suit a new audience. And I'm saying that as someone who loved these books as a kid, but recognizes as an adult that they are problematic." So she kind of agrees with you Sonny, let them go out of print... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Expand full comment
author

I would rather see them go out of print than be "improved upon," but I also really don't think it's necessary. Just put out both versions. Or, you know, don't put out the silly version with the modern updates.

Expand full comment
author

Yes, we must protect the children from references to Kipling and Conrad.

Expand full comment

So, I enjoyed this movie overall myself, but I think its pacing was a bit too fast and didn't bring enough of "The Wasp" into it. But I also think it did what it needed: introduce Kang and let Johnathan Majors work (along with further setting up our eventual Young Avengers). Could it have been better? Yeah. But it's a fun popcorn flick if nothing else

Expand full comment

I actually really enjoyed Kang the Conqueror Quantumania. A rare MCU tragedy where the hero Kang was defeated by the insect worshipers.

Expand full comment

TL:DH

Stop the freakout. Please.

It was a good move. You may always find older editions if you so desire. It's free market at work.

I cringe at many old, and some not so old movies, stereotyping nonwhites; like Indiana Jones in goofy, made up ethnic practices.

What's so funny about Dahl? It's cruel and borderline abusive.

Expand full comment
author

It’s a terrible move and I’d be just as outraged if Spielberg retconned the fabulous work he did in RAIDERS or TEMPLE to please modern (or even contemporary!) discomforts with the work.

Expand full comment
founding

For me it was seeing Celine Dion singing AC/DC.

Expand full comment

Audience and critical reactions are part of the free market at work.

Expand full comment