Status: 03/12/2023 08:06 a.m
Winnetou, Jim Button and most recently a zombie character in Uncle Dagobert: children’s books repeatedly give rise to debate when they contain racist, sexist or outdated content. How do I handle this?
It was just a short excerpt from an e-mail that Don Rosa, who lives in Louisville (Kentucky), published on a social platform a few weeks ago. But it immediately sparked lively discussions and speculation on the Internet. “As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, The Walt Disney Company is currently reviewing its catalog of stories,” it read.
Result: Disney considers two of the stories published by Don Rosa in 1994 and 1995 to be outdated. Both feature the character “Bombie the Zombie,” a character originally conceived by Carl Barks in 1949, who fulfills a racist stereotype – the zombie is portrayed as a dark-skinned male with thick lips, frizzy hair and earrings.
Censorship or re-evaluation?
On the Internet, books with the criticized stories immediately made rapid price jumps. Some fans feared censorship and tried to get complete anthologies before the licensor prohibited further reprinting.
A short circuit on both sides, says comic expert Alexander Braun. The art historian says: “Bombie the Zombie was meant by Carl Barks to be anti-capitalist, not racist,” because the character was supposed to take revenge on Uncle Scrooge, who had African natives expelled in order to exploit their raw materials.
In the opinion of the art historian, it would be better than no longer printing the stories to publish an expanded new edition. “You have to comment and contextualize things like that,” says Braun. “Each story could have an accompanying text in the appendix that historically integrates and explains the story of its origin.”
An old debate
The debate that has now flared up is not new. “Bombie the Zombie” was criticized years ago and was redrawn. In addition, around ten years ago, the so-called children’s book debate raged in Germany. The trigger was the then Minister for Family Affairs, Kristina Schröder, who explained in an interview that she preferred to replace the term used in the book with the South Sea King when reading “Pippi Longstocking” to her children. Later it was the controversy over “The Little Witch” where the Stuttgart publisher Thienemann decided to delete a word.
A similar debate erupted around Jim Button because the little boy was being stereotyped. Most recently, Ravensburger Verlag decided to withdraw two children’s books based on a new Winnetou film because the accusation had been raised that the books contained racist stereotypes.
There is no patent solution
“Awareness in the industry has increased,” says Thomas Koch, spokesman for the German Book Trade Association. The Börsenverein does not give any recommendations to the publishers; that would be an intervention in their programming. “But every publisher takes a very close look at how to deal with potentially problematic passages,” says Koch.
Felix Giesa does not have a panacea either. However, the research associate at the Institute for Children’s and Young Adult Book Research in Frankfurt also advocates historical-critical accompanying texts. “In the epilogue to the new translation of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, published in 2010, it is noted, for example, that the novel is certainly not contemporary reading material for African-American young people. However, it is also a central text in American literary history and in this tension you have to see the text and read,” explains Giesa.
Revisions are the rule
In addition, the revision of literature for children is historically nothing new, but rather the rule, says the scientist. “Today’s children, or even my generation, who grew up with different series and films, would not recognize a character like Heidi in the original version by Johanna Spyri. At the same time, children’s books from the National Socialist era were published in a socially appropriate form in the Federal Republic for a long time “, so Giesa. “The literary subject proves to be flexible enough to deal with in this way. The question is whether it is also culturally appropriate.”
Art historian and comics expert Braun adds: “If we’re honest, many stories, also or especially in comics, deserve to be forgotten. It’s difficult with children of their time, who also contain many good aspects.” That’s why he advises against no longer publishing controversial stories. “Hide is synonymous with silence. But we have to talk about these things.”