| re: Martin McDonagh Says Theatres Have Refused His Plays, Calls It “A Dangerous Place For Writers” | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:28 am EDT 04/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Martin McDonagh Says Theatres Have Refused His Plays, Calls It “A Dangerous Place For Writers” - singleticket 07:36 pm EDT 04/08/23 | |
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| It's tough, because I think you can preserve Dahl's misanthropy and also make, for example, the description of the Oompa Loompas less racist, which Dahl himself addressed in a subsequent revision. Looking at examples of their revisions (available on Wikipedia), there are definitely some original passages that seem ripe for re-evaluation or that could be more inclusive, while others seems overreactive (I for one mourn the loss of "queer" meaning strange, and don't think it affects the modern reclamation of queer as an identity, which is how I identify) or even head scratching (changing a reference to "Mrs. Weasel and six kids" to just "family"). Some of the revisions, for example, appropriately erase Dahl's misogyny, while others are so afraid that something might be misogynistic that they erase marvelous character details (Mrs. Wormwood is too tired to cook dinner because of Bingo, not because she's a woman, but the revisions are afraid of even that implication, so they just cut the whole passage). But even in the revised version, you still get plenty of Dahl's jaundiced view of humanity, and sometimes revisions that at first strike me as odd (changing a reference to hunters shooting elephants to hunters shooting prey), do seem justifiable after further reflection, even if I don't necessarily agree. As so often happens, I think that there is a lot of space for nuanced conversation about what drives these revisions and whose point of view on inclusivity is being privileged, but that all gets lost in the hysterics of outrage. |
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