Childhood favourites like Matilda and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory have been scrubbed of some of author Roald Dahl's colourful language for a modern audience. CNA's Charlene Tan wonders what the fuss is all about.
contained hundreds of changes, particularly in references to weight, mental health, gender and race.
Since I'm not able to rush out to a British bookstore, I looked for changes flagged in various news stories and found myself almost immediately puzzled by how the new language was considered more acceptable or less insensitive. One could argue that nothing was lost in this edit. So what does scrubbing out the term “fat” really achieve here, when he is still called a “pig” and “great big greedy nincompoop”? Does it dull insults or reduce the risk of body image issues? Or have those descriptors been scrubbed out too?
George’s Marvellous Medicine follows a boy feeding his nasty grandmother a fantastical concoction of items around his home such as deodorant, animal medicines and engine oil “to shake the old woman up a bit”. Esio Trot is a heartwarming story of a lonely old man who steals a tortoise to gaslight his way into his neighbour’s heart.
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