Recently, there was a literary uproar about the rewriting of classic books by Roald Dahl (1916-1990). New editions of the late Norwegian-Welsh author’s works had been revised to remove “controversial” content. Descriptors like “ugly” and “black” were removed, “enormously fat” became “enormous”, and even professions were changed – from cashier to scientist in one case.
Dahl has sold over 300 million books globally, including translations in 63 languages. In 2021, Forbes ranked him the world’s top-earning deceased author. The edits drew protests from many people, from Salman Rushdie to Queen Consort Camilla. After the pushback, Dahl’s publishers Penguin Random House and the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC), which manages his literary estate, issued statements that the rewriting was being shelved and the texts would be reverted to their “classic versions”.
Dahl, who mainly wrote short stories, specialised in dark fantasies, which made him beloved of adults and children. The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Fantastic Mr. Fox are some iconic examples of his children’s work. Many of his works have been adapted for screen and stage.
Dark content in itself is not the problem. Dark fairy tales and legends abound in most cultures. But Dahl’s language was carefree and politically incorrect by ‘woke’ 21st century standards. ‘Sensitive readers’ flagged some of his content, according to the RDSC, which worked on the changes.
Dahl is not the only popular writer whose work has suffered bowdlerisation, or discreet withdrawal. Much of Enid Blyton and the Billy Bunter school stories have fallen out of fashion due to racist language and fat-shaming. Modern editions of classics such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn often remove the N-word, which Mark Twain used to describe people of colour. The James Bond novels are now being rewritten to remove multiple ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ references.
As with the Bond movie franchise, the focus on making Dahl politically correct (PC) is driven by straightforward commercial considerations. Netflix is betting big on turning the ‘Dahlverse’ into a huge money-spinning franchise on the lines of Harry Potter and the Marvel and DC comics. Rumours suggest Netflix is planning several series and there could also be video games set in the universes Dahl imagined, plus merchandise and so on.
Netflix paid around $686 million in 2021 to buy RDSC. While the exact contours of the deal were undisclosed, Netflix is reported to have committed another $1 billion or more to generate audio-visual content based on Dahl’s characters and their settings, including “creation of a unique universe across animated and live action films and TV, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theatre, consumer products and more,” according to the buyout announcement.
Now, Netflix obviously has tight editorial control over what it includes in its library. So why bother cleaning up the written word? The logic behind being PC with Dahl’s literary work is as follows. Children (and their parents) will watch the screen adaptations. They might then read the Dahl stories, which may in turn bring them back for another round of watching videos, playing games, buying merchandise, or indulging in cosplay.
But if there’s non-PC content in the stories, the children themselves, or more likely, their parents and teachers, may be upset. That would affect the popularity and revenues of the Dahlverse. The benign feedback loop could turn into a vicious cycle of parents and teachers shunning audio-visual content if the books are deemed offensive.
This fear is also the reason why Disney works hard to keep the Marvel Universe PC. Disney bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009 and has made a healthy profit from the franchise with 30-odd movies and spinoffs. Given that the target audience is young and mostly underage, there’s never any explicit nudity or sex, and any violence is performative rather than realistic. Similar considerations apply to the DC-verse and the Potterverse.
But there’s no end to the contortions companies have to perform when they decide to go PC. DC has faced protests about casting Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress who plays Wonder Woman. Like most Israelis, she has served in the country’s defence forces and thus incurred the wrath of the Palestinian side. J.K Rowling has courted her fair share of controversy saying ‘offensive’ things about transgender people and alienating the LGBT community. Who knows what will be considered ‘sensitive’ next.
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