How does an author make a subject as brutal as war appeal to a child?*sigh*
Only a modern BBC employee could possibly consider that a dilemma. War stories have been enthralling children for years. Even the article can’t get away from the fact that ‘Carrie’s War’ and ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ have been popular children’s classics for decades.
But there has to be a modern angle, so the Beeb can push this new Imperial War Museum exhibition:
A new exhibition suggests young readers today get a less sanitised version of the horrors of warfare, says Sanchia Berg of BBC Radio 4's Today programme.Really?
The Imperial War Museum in London has a new exhibition, Once Upon a Wartime, which illustrates a shift in the way war has been depicted to young readers, and brings five novels to life.Interesting! Go on, then…
Geoff Fox, a consultant to the exhibition, remembers reading books and comics about war during the 1950s. "The children's books I used to read, we always won - often with a 'straight to the jaw'. Death, if it was there, was no different from a cowboy shooting an Indian, as we used to say."Ah. I see where this is going…
Now, he says, death is described in detail. Subjects once considered taboo for children are now the topics of many books, even the Holocaust. The Final Journey by Gudrun Pausewang takes place almost entirely in a cattle truck with families going to Auschwitz, and spares the readers nothing, says Fox.Those are all good novels. They do all deal with it responsibly. So what’s the problem?
He says children are far more "acculturated" now to violence, through the films and television they watch, and the computer games they play. "What's important is to deal with it in a very good novel, responsibly."
However, not all books have age guidance, the equivalent of film certification for children's literature.Ah. Right. Parents need to worry, damn it! And the progressives are going to make sure they do.
Some parents may worry whether their own children really are able to deal with the detail of wartime violence, or whether it will give them nightmares.
Mumsnet are going to love this one, aren’t they?
One can just picture the exciting adventures of "Tootles" the Tank ..
ReplyDeleteOr "Huey" the Attack-Helicopter ..
Why can't these meddlesome, over-paid & under-worked toss-pots simply leave well alone ??
"Acculturated"? Jesus, do you think he talks like this at home?
ReplyDeleteBooks are supposed to fire your imagination and get you interested in stuff when you're a kid, not make you wonder what it was like being on the inside of a fucking cattle truck on its way to Auschwitz. It's OK for kid's books not to revel all the harsh realities of life and history, because they'll have enough of that shit when they grow up. And frankly, if everyone spent a bit more time teaching big, simple concepts like good and evil to kids, and a bit less time scaring the shit out of them and guilt-tripping them with AGW polar-bear drownings, horrifically accurate war stories or whatever the latest left-wing wheeze is, the world would probably be a better place.
Geoff Fox can kick himself repeatedly in the nuts, and if it helps he can write a detailed account about it to make sure kids know what it was like to kick yourself over and over again in the balls. What a prick.
And while I'm at it, could "Little Soldier" be any more right-on?
ReplyDelete"He becomes a child soldier..."
Boooo, evil.
", but is rescued by United Nations forces"
Hurray for the UN, world saviours.
"and arrives in London, only to find himself caught up in gang conflict."
Caught up eh? Another blameless gang member with a dysfunctional background.
Go read the Amazon review of this book by Gerry Larson, take a sick bag though.
The aim is not to 'educate', but to ensure that the next generation would refuse to fight a war under ANY circumstances. The Left is indoctrinating children into pacifism.
ReplyDelete"Some parents may worry"
ReplyDeleteYep, they may. Or may not. But may not is not much good as it isn't an issue, and we have to have issues!
Make issues, not war, I say!
"Why can't these meddlesome, over-paid & under-worked toss-pots simply leave well alone ??"
ReplyDeleteBecause, unaccountably, people pay them to do it...
""Acculturated"? Jesus, do you think he talks like this at home?"
I looked it up - I was convinced he'd just mangled the English language there!
"And while I'm at it, could "Little Soldier" be any more right-on? "
It sounds like a book written by a team of sociologists. Not novelists.
"The aim is not to 'educate', but to ensure that the next generation would refuse to fight a war under ANY circumstances."
They're not doing much of a job, then, if the next war is likely to be fought using drones and remotely-controlled vehicles.
They'd be better off looking at gaming, rather than children's novels! :)
"But may not is not much good as it isn't an issue, and we have to have issues!"
Gotta keep those presses rollin'!
"Geoff Fox, remembers reading books and comics about war during the 1950s. "The children's books I used to read, we always won - often with a 'straight to the jaw'."
ReplyDeleteDunno what poofy tripe Geoff was subjected to but The Victor comic I read was full of blood & guts & gore and yes, We always won, but sometimes quite brutally; it always left me eager for more.