Goosebumps Author R.L. Stine Rewriting Series for Sensitivity Ahead of Reprinting

[BUtterfield 8 40,709]

According to the report, the novels have undergone more than 100 edits. Those edits include references to a character being "cheerful" rather than "plump", changing "crazy" to "silly", and completely removing references to villains making victims "slaves.

The report also lists some examples from specific titles. Notably, the reissue of 1998's Bride of the Living Dummychanges the ventriloquist dummy from knocking a girl unconscious using a "love tap" to a magic spell instead while the 1996 book Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns changes the description of one character, Lee, from being like "the rappers on MTV videos" to "tall and good-looking, with brown skin, dark brown eyes and a great, warm smile. He sort of struts when he walks and acts real cool."

Source

[POP2 4,205]

I hate this so much. 

[nATAH 42,189]

i guess i can appreciate the effort to adapt with the times but some of these are almost 30 years old, why bother now 

[River 104,709]

[COOOK 76,406]

Ian Fleming is doing the same with the James Bond novels to remove racist references. But in all honesty who's picking up these books nowadays... Ugh I remember I couldn't get past its covers, my school library had them in the high school/forbidden section and those covers were terrifying  and that show they did? Couldn't get past the intro either... Guess they did the job right 

[The Fame 4,076]

20 minutes ago, BUtterfield 8 said:

the novels have undergone more than 100 edits. Those edits include references to a character being "cheerful" rather than "plump"

 

So basically it implies being plump/fat is such a bad thing we shouldn't even describe a character that way?

[high culture 1,948]

One thing if it's getting censored by the government, but if the original author is the one that thinks it ought to change then more power to him. It's his artistic vision. The old books aren't getting burned lol

[LaLa 19,041]

I dunno, I guess because I was a huge fan of Nancy Drew growing up this doesn't shock me? Those novels were written in the 1930s and revised in the 50s/60s to remove some racism and other things. I think they might have even been updated again since then. Some of the books I had as a kid were the old, original ones and there was some jarring stuff... 

It's an interesting debate, because I definitely don't think all books or art or whatever should be sanitized of there historical context, but I guess because theses are books for kids I don't actually have a big problem with it. I think inclusion matters more here

[likeitrough 5,709]

has anyone actually asked for all these famous rewrites? I only ever hear about the outrage after it gets reprinted

[Guest]

No... let's instead focus on educating people to be critical readers and consumers in general. Books are a product of their time, for better or for worse, and they should be treated as such.

[LateToCult 39,633]

In response, JK Rowling has decided to add a new Hispanic character into her new series. She will call her “Elle B. Nurr.”

(Don’t come for me. I’m Mexican. )

[RAMROD 104,054]

And that's why I stan. Slappy really slaps

[djBuffoon 11,991]

3 hours ago, high culture said:

One thing if it's getting censored by the government, but if the original author is the one that thinks it ought to change then more power to him. It's his artistic vision. The old books aren't getting burned lol

This. Relax, people.

[sarahb 16,205]

10 hours ago, high culture said:

One thing if it's getting censored by the government, but if the original author is the one that thinks it ought to change then more power to him. It's his artistic vision. The old books aren't getting burned lol

His changes are still stupid and unnecessary imo 

Edit: never mind he says he has nothing to do with the edits

[Ronnie 5,405]

4 hours ago, high culture said:

One thing if it's getting censored by the government, but if the original author is the one that thinks it ought to change then more power to him. It's his artistic vision. The old books aren't getting burned lol

His artistic vision? Ha! More like, fear of being cancelled. Leave the work as it was. It was over 30 years ago. Why are we constantly trying to erase history? It’s not like it’s a racist statue or flag. It’s apart of our evolution.