LITERATURE AND LITERACY

The Censoring of Roald Dahl

Cancel Culture Isn’t Real and it Can’t Hurt You

Recently, Jason Provencio did a hilarious send-up of cancel culture that explained some of his views on the concept. He nerfed most of his writing for humorous effect. We’ve all seen the ‘heckin’ routine on the internet, so it was a funny way to make an effective point. Familiar and funny is a tried and true combination and exemplar of excellent writing ability. He got my 50 claps.

Jason’s writing keeps things well-paced and moving along. However, the investigator in me likes to jump into the tall grass and weeds to snoop around. I like to slow down, look about, and whip out my tiny notebook in an effort to look busy.

Fred Durst gives so little of a fuck he turned his hat around. By Achim Raschka (talk) — Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Another creator who doesn’t give a fuck is musician Fred Durst. That’s right, the Nu metal frontman who wears a backward red trucker hat. In 2000, Fred’s Band released an album called “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water”. Below are lyrics from the song “Hot Dog”.

Ain’t it a shame that you can’t say “Fuck” Fuck’s just a word and it’s all fucked up Like a fucked up punk with a fucked up mouth A nine inch nail, I’ll get knocked the fuck out Fucked up AIDS from fucked up sex Fake-ass titties on a fucked up chest We’re all fucked up, so what you wanna do? With fucked up me and fucked up you? You wanna fuck me like an animal? You’d like to burn me on the inside? You like to think that I’m a perfect drug? Just know that nothin’ you do will bring you closer to me Ain’t life a bitch? A fucked up bitch A fucked up sore with a fucked up stitch A fucked up head, it’s a fucked up shame Swingin’ on my nuts is a fucked up game Jealousy fillin’ up a fucked up mind It’s real fucked up like a fucked up crime If I say Fuck two more times That’s 46 Fucks in this fucked up rhyme

It’s incredible how people couldn’t write or say “fuck” in 2000, and you still can’t in 2023. It’s now been 23 years since anyone has written the word “fuck” or anything similarly salacious. Fred is now serving a life sentence for the above lyrics.

Jason’s writing gave me pause. I paused because I don’t give too much of a fuck about this supposed cancellation of classic literature, but I also didn’t know enough to be or not be outraged. I truly didn’t know what the fuck was going on, a recurring theme in my life.

Is Literature Iterative?

I’ve read “James and the Giant Peach”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, and “Matilda” to my children so far. I have skin in the game. Literacy is a subject I’m not short on passion for as a fucking educator.

I can confidently state that much of literature is iterative. Look at all the versions of the Bible. There are lots of versions. Look at how Marvel made Iceman gay. Batman used to use guns. Examples of iterations.

What about the differences between L. Frank Baum’s “classic literature” and the eponymous film. Do you remember the Tin Man cutting the heads off of forty wolves? Do you remember the Scarecrow breaking the necks of forty crows in the film version of “The Wizard of Oz? Well, it happened in the fucking classic literature.

What Were The Changes?

Are these changes about the word “fuck” or curse words at all? No, they fucking aren't.

Jason brought up that Roald Dahl is dead, but I don’t give a fuck because when Alan Moore wrote “Watchmen”, a take on Golden Age superheroes, all those creators were dead as fuck as well.

While alive, Roald Dahl himself agreed to “de-negro”¹ his book and movie, which is where we got Oompa-Loompa dwarves with orange hair and green skin. Look who’s the fucking censor now — Roald.

Oompa-Loompas started off as dwarf pygmies from Africa that ate bugs and who took the jobs of sacked white workers. Then they became an ableist depiction of little people who are white.

Now to the recent changes.

Netflix bought the Estate of Dahl for £500 million or nearly $600,000,000 in 2021. Maybe they just want to be able to recoup their fucking costs by making sure they can continue to sell stuff to children. At this point, they have agreed to sell two published versions of the book, a classic version and a differentiated version for children, Puffin and Penguin.

Some of the stuff that was removed was about being fat, whether a woman should wear a wig, violence, and mental health focusing on “small and carefully considered” changes. In other words, you’re going to need an electron fucking microscope to really understand the edits — they don’t matter, stop whining.

I’m sure this is just a way to cleanse the content before Netflix pumps out nonstop drivel. I keep meaning to check out Matilda the Musical but have yet to get around to it. I am not immune to drivel.

Fuck Niches and Conclusions

Jason is committed to being anti-censorship (within the Medium rules and his own sense of decency) and a self-professed renegade, so I’ve chosen to post on his publication, Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs. It’s a refreshingly eclectic publication and deserving of all the fucking success in the world.

I’ve demonstrated that the concept of cancel culture is about more than saying or writing “fuck”. I’m not going to stop reading these tales to my kids, but I also won’t withhold from them that the Oompa-Loompas are depicted as small black pygmies from the African jungle who are literally enslaved in “Charlie in the Chocolate Factory” and that is racist as fuck. They worked for cacao beans, for fucks’ sake.

Where the fuck is your moral compass if you can’t see why someone might want to make iterative changes? Maybe you’re just a fucking reactionary who doesn’t read the fucking literature.

That Dahl himself said of the extermination of 6 million men, women, and children during the Holocaust is more than just a fucking eyebrow raiser.

There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity. I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.

-Roald Dahl

What a fucking disgusting piece of fucking shit. Is this the hill you want to fucking die on? Is this your fucking hero? If you want a shit hero, I’m right here.

His family apologized for the anti-Semitic comments in 2000. Maybe it’s a neat coinkydink, but that is just one year from the sale of the estate to Netflix.

I now ask you, the reader, to consider yourself within the scope of this supposed censorship. Perhaps you give less of a fuck about supposed cancel culture than you think. Perhaps you’re fucking media illiterate and don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

Perhaps you’ve gotten your knickers into a twist over something you don’t fully comprehend. It’s as important to read as it is to speak or write. Perhaps you’re unwittingly trying to fucking cancel people for exercising their creative rights.

Are you a fucking wilting violet, or can you handle your favorite shit getting wrecked because it’s a shitty representation of the best humanity has to offer?

Do you really need to go to bat for Roman Polanski, J. K. Rowling, or Michael Richards? As far as I can tell, they are famous, rich, and insulated from the consequences of their shitty fucking actions via their wealth. Similarly, as adults, you won’t be reading Dahl’s books for yourself. So who actually gives a fuck anyway?

Love you. Be well.

¹ Page four hundred and fucking ninety-four of “Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl”.