Charlie is not made of chocolate

MISE À DAY

In 2023, we talk to adults as if they were children. “Gna gna gna, gna gna gna”.

And we talk to children as if they were fragile little things. “Gna gna gna, gna gna gna”.

It's come to pass that even children's books have to be purged, rewritten, so as not to hurt their little eyes, hurt their little ears, offend their little minds .

We learned this week that the books of British author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, etc.) had been rewritten without ugly words like “fat”, “man”, “black”. Help!

THE WORLD HAS MADE “WEIRD”

The AFP dispatch had me screaming: “Terms found to be offensive will be redacted and replaced in reissues of several Roald Dahl books. References to weight, mental health, violence, or racial or gender issues will be removed from reissues of the author's various works.”

Dead in 1990, Roald Dahl sold his books sold 300 million copies, and generations of children have developed their imagination by reading his books. 

Do you remember the character of Augustus Gloop? The gluttonous child spends his time eating sweets and falls into a river of chocolate in the fabulous movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—whether you like the 1971 one with Gene Wilder or the 2005 Tim Burton one with Johnny Depp—based on Roald Dahl's book. 

That kid was clearly fat. In his book, Roald Dahl described him as fat (fat, in English). But the little priests of well-meaning are afraid that it will hurt the little children of 2023. The word “fat” has been removed from ALL of Dahl's books. 

But that's not the only absurd change. The Oompa-Loompas are no longer “little men”, but “little people”. Misery, are these imaginary beings now gender neutral? 

The most ridiculous change, in my opinion, was made in the book Sacred Witches. A sentence was added about the wigs worn by witches: “There are many other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that”. 

The fragile little children of 2023 shouldn't associate wearing a wig with being a witch! It would be a way to stigmatize witches!

And in all the books, the word “crazy” has been replaced by “strange”.

All this because Dahl's heirs called on sensitivity readers, “sensitivity readers” who search through the books to flush out the slightest word that could shock, hurt, offend. 

Removing the word “fat” from a book will not prevent overweight children from being laughed at in the schoolyard. It is not by removing the word “fat” that we will make the obesity pandemic disappear among young people. 

The only thing we are doing is overprotecting children and underestimating their intelligence. 

WE HAD A NICE ESCAPE

The only good news in all this case is that Gallimard , the French publisher of Roald Dahl's books, has confirmed that he will leave his books intact, without rewriting them.

It made me breathe a BIG sigh of relief.

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