After criticism
Ravensburger Verlag takes controversial “Winnetou” books out of the program
Scene from the movie “The Young Chief Winnetou”
© Leonine/dpa
After sometimes severe criticism, Ravensburger Verlag is removing controversial “Winnetou” titles from the program. The move has sparked controversy.
Ravensburger Verlag has withdrawn two children’s and youth books from the program after severe criticism: “We have followed the many negative responses to our book ‘The Young Chief Winnetou’ and we decided today to stop the delivery of the title,” it said in a message published on Instagram. In addition, the publisher apologized for hurting the “feelings of others”. Both titles were released as an accompaniment to the film of the same name, which started on August 11th. A puzzle and a sticker book were also affected by the measure.
The film of the same name, for which the merchandise was released, is also controversial. Based on the works of Karl May, the story is about the growing up chief’s son Winnetou, who has to embark on an adventure with his sister and a white city boy in order to save his tribe. The German Film and Media Rating (FBW) awarded the film the rating “particularly valuable”. However, the FBW writes on its website that the jury was “absolutely split – between vehement rejection on the one hand and great approval on the other”. Some jury members thought the film was a “cheesy, backward-looking play”. According to the jury members, Karl May’s literary idyll in the homeland of the indigenous peoples of North America is a lie that would completely ignore the genocide of the Native Americans and the injustice inflicted on them by the land grab by the white settlers and the destruction of their natural habitat “, it was said.
According to the FBW, the favorable majority of the jury was of the opinion: “It is well known that Karl May wrote his stories in what he called ‘Indian country’ and also in the ‘Orient’ from his imagination and never wrote his stories on site It was an imagined adventure, so you can call him a “fairytale uncle” with a clear conscience.The film also sends out messages for equality and peace.
Ravensburger’s announcement has a divided echo
Critics on the Internet accused the creators, among other things, of transporting stereotypes and fueling critical prejudices in books and films. It is also a case of cultural appropriation. There is talk of cultural appropriation when members of the white majority society, in the opinion of the critics, use a culture whose members have oppressed them. The – often heated – debate flares up again and again when white people, for example, wear hairstyles or clothes or play music that are taboo for them from this point of view. Two case studies can be found here and here.
The Karl May expert Andreas Brenne only said to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “I don’t think it’s right to take a book like this out of circulation just because of a shitstorm”. Brenne, who works as a professor for art education and art didactics at the University of Potsdam and works on program issues in the Karl May Society, considers the book harmless. Finally, in the preliminary remarks, it is made clear that this is a fictitious story and does not represent the life of indigenous peoples appropriately. According to the report, Brenne also warned against generalizing the accusation of false cultural appropriation without thinking.
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The publisher’s announcement caused a split echo under the Instagram post. In many comments, people mainly expressed their incomprehension about the decision, which they considered “excessive”, but there was also approval. The publisher then wrote that they take any criticism to heart, want to work on dealing with sensitive content and meet their own high standards in this regard. The publication of the title was a mistake.
Sources:FBW, BRRavensburger (Instagram), “NOZ“
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