Jump to content

What grinds your gears then?


Henry David

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 7.9k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

My high school English teacher taught us Huck fin because it was banned at our school. Same thing with The Catcher in the Rye and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. And I feel like I've grown as a person BECAUSE of reading those books. My English teacher told us, "If nobody wants to ban your book, you didn't do it right."

Just the fact that people are so up in arms about one word means that the book did exactly what Twain wanted it to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I heard about this yesterday. They're saying it's because the use of the "N" word is so liberal, and back then it wasn't considered a bad word, I guess.

I agree with you, I'm mortified that ANYONE feels they have the right to "clean up" someone else's creative work. If that were to happen to all books (just for sake of argument) there wouldn't be a single book left on any shelf anywhere that hadn't been chopped up by someone who was offended by something in it.

Brings to mind Tipper Gore and her RIAA warnings for CDs. Although I actually feel that those warnings are beneficial, I don't feel any sort of creative work should be banned or changed/edited, period. People can decide for themselves whether or not they wish to partake of that particular item.

Maybe the Tipper Gore-type warnings could be put on books, as well... they could be "rated" just like movies are... that would alleviate the "need" to chop up someone's creation.

CLEAN UP THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FIN???? THEY DARE TO TOUCH A BOOK WRITTEN BY MARK TWAIN????:o:o:o

"Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people." ~ Roger Clyne :cool:

:bow: :bow: :bow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been following the news stories about NewSouth books cramming their moral agenda down America's throat. For those who don't know, they've taken it upon themselves to release a "cleaned up" version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It has me so mad I can't see straight. What's next? Taking the penis jokes out of Shakespeare's Macbeth? Or making Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest a "woman in charge" instead of a ballcutter? I guess Holden in Catcher In The Rye will get his mouth washed out with soap as well.

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

~George Orwell~

It's not just that publisher, but every industry practices censorship of some sort ranging from feature films (to meet MPAA rating standards), to music, to video games, and even comic books. This is one more book in the grand scheme of censorship by self-righteous, brown shirts :beatnik:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's annoying and it sucks, but it's not like the original, bad language and all, will suddenly vanish from the face of the earth.

This is no different than WalMart selling "clean" versions of hip-hop or R&B/rap albums because they don't sell albums with the parental advisory stickers on them. You can still go buy the original with all the foul language somewhere else. This version of Huck Finn won't have the n-word. You want your kid to read the original? Go buy it and don't buy this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...you're comparing rap to Mark Twain?

No, not quite.

I was comparing the PROCESS, not the physical work being edited. The process of editing works, whether it be books, movies, or albums, has been going on for a long time but that doesn't mean that the originals are gone, never to see the light of day again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is no different than WalMart selling "clean" versions of hip-hop or R&B/rap albums because they don't sell albums with the parental advisory stickers on them. You can still go buy the original with all the foul language somewhere else.

True, that. The difference with the books is that the author himself is not around to censor it, nor did he agree to do it for sake of making more money. With music - rap or otherwise - the artists themselves make the "cleaned up" recordings for the sake of reaching a wider audience via radio, and thereby lining their pockets a bit more plushly.

As a writer, I have a very tough time when I hear that the work of someone else (or even mine) is being censored, chopped up, changed, whatever you want to call it, for whatever the reason is. If a parent doesn't want their child to read Huck Finn because of the language, they should just tell them to not read it.

Or better yet, allow them to read it, explain to them that at one time the world existed in a space like the one described in the book, and that language is always evolving and they must learn was was acceptable then is not necessarily acceptable now.

I look at it as a great opportunity to teach your children something they won't learn in the classroom if they're banned from reading certain things. I have raised my son to be tolerant and aware, and to recognize things like language and what is and what is not acceptable. So he at least has the understanding and the experience of having read a work as it existed originally, but knows better than to treat others with anything less than the respect they deserve.

In fact, he read "Fahrenheit 451" in class last year and his amazement at the similarities of today's world to that in the book was mind numbing. He talked to me about it every afternoon after school about whatever chapter they'd read, and he understood where society is headed. It would have been a shame if that book had been banned or chopped into pieces that didn't give across the same meaning as the original does, just for the sake of "providing a clean version."

:soapbox: *stepping off*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right, no one is "cramming their moral agenda down anybody's throat", as RT stated.

They're not doing an edit to stifle free speech, but to reach a broader audience who may not purchase the book because of the content, which may be objectional to some readers.

They're not changing the storyline, just removing words that are now considered offensive to many people.

In the business world, money talks. $$

That's why they sometimes clean up movie language to give it a PG rating instead of an R rating to target an audience that wouldn't get to see the movie because you'd need an accompaning adult or guardian to attend.

As long as both versions of the book are available, there's no foul here, just corporate America doing business.

Now, if they try banning the book altogether, then that's a different story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But in a lot of instances, the govt. and pressure groups do cram their moral agendas down everyone's throat. The problem arises when censorship becomes the norm and there isn't an original version of the work available. When a movie goes up for a MPAA rating, the edits are not placed back into the movie (at least, they weren't before) and are lost forever. No MPAA rating = no cinema distribution, so it's basically the govt.'s way of extorting artists into changing their works to fit a certain mode of thought. Cross your fingers that the director and other archivists kept the cuts to add in a home release either back into the movie or in the special features, but, for the most part, every movie you see has already been censored and edited without the artists' intent (this also now applies to video games). Another example is when Japanese comic books are translated. Some publishers - viz and dark horse are infamous for doing this - will redraw panels, take out panels, take out entire chapters, and/or mistranslate works in order to sell to a wider audience and prevent complaints from christain puritans. In that instance, there aren't uncensored versions available other than to import them from Japan untranslated :beatnik:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or better yet, allow them to read it, explain to them that at one time the world existed in a space like the one described in the book, and that language is always evolving and they must learn was was acceptable then is not necessarily acceptable now.

I look at it as a great opportunity to teach your children something they won't learn in the classroom if they're banned from reading certain things. I have raised my son to be tolerant and aware, and to recognize things like language and what is and what is not acceptable. So he at least has the understanding and the experience of having read a work as it existed originally, but knows better than to treat others with anything less than the respect they deserve.

That is exactly the way that it should be. But the facts are that it isn't being done. Twain is not being taught (especially at grade levels below high school). That's a huge problem. I would rather that all children be exposed to Twain in any form possible .... then those parents that are truly concerned with their children's educations can expose them at home to the proper uncensored versions.

I've always been totally against the banning of books from school libraries, and reading lists. If this will put Twain back in, while it doesn't make me happy, it is acceptable I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, that. The difference with the books is that the author himself is not around to censor it, nor did he agree to do it for sake of making more money. With music - rap or otherwise - the artists themselves make the "cleaned up" recordings for the sake of reaching a wider audience via radio, and thereby lining their pockets a bit more plushly.

...but rap without offensive terms isn't really rap... :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...but rap without offensive terms isn't really rap.

A lot of great rap in the 1980s and even some stuff being produced today don't have profanity and racial slurs in every line, and it's still rap. Just like it's still country music, even if you're not singing about the old west, your dog running away, or your woman leaving you for your drinking buddy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have partaken of nearly all the episodes of Huckleberry and I cannot recall a single occasion when he uttered the "N-word."

Perhaps it was Boo Boo or Quickdraw McGraw during a crossover Hanna-Barbera guest appearance. Huck is just too laid back for that jive! :cool:

I thought your avatar was Roberto Carlos, but he's Ricardo Montalban :beatnik:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was my daughter's age when "Roots" came on TV. It was on past my bedtime, but my mother made sure that my sister, brother and I stayed up to watch it. Even though it was shocking to me, it enriched me and taught me a lot about respect for everyone on this earth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...