[News] Enid Blyton, classed as xenophobic.

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

So what have we established.

A famous writer has a blue plaque. It's staying up.

Information on the writer's works has been updated in a page that reflects the attitudes of some in her time as well as this.

Some folk are getting annoyed about it.

It all seems a bit noddy.

 

[darkwolf666]

This thread has unleashed all sorts of misconceptions. I think the OP owes us all an apology

I should have said whitewashed, that would have really upset people...

 

[McTavish]

Try getting a job in a TV advert nowadays and you wouldn't think it was such an advantage.

That really is incredibly niche. I suspect that the people running the advertising companies are predominantly white, middle class and English (as are the people running most things in this country).

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I should have said whitewashed, that would have really upset people...

That would have triggered a blacklash.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

Erm...not really, I prefer people who share my interests and outlook on life.

I prefer people who leave me alone and don't talk to me.

Foreigners are ideal. The more foreign and further away they are the better.

 

[dsr-burnley]

Rowling's books are extremely well written, so to cite them for literary inadequacies would be stupid. Even as a ten year old boy, I could sort of see what the teachers meant about Blyton's writing in the Famous Five and other books, not being very good.

I would disagree that Rowling's later books were well written. They went on too long and didn't have the taut plotting of the earlier ones.

But why compare Blyton to Rowling? They were writing for different audiences. Blyton wrote for children from birth to perhaps 12 years old, and her ambition was to write books that children enjoyed reading and would make them want to read more. She is on record as saying that she didn't care what adults thought; children were the critics she was interested in. And as she has the record for most children's books sold, I would suggest that her target audience was pleased. A lot of literary snobs criticise her books as being limited in plot and vocabulary (Lord knows what they would have thought of Dr. Seuss!), but on the other hand, there is a school of thought that says persuading children to enjoy reading and to want to read more, is a good thing.

By 10 years old you would be getting to a stage where Famous Five would probably be a bit so-so anyway. You were leaving the target audience.

 

[dsr-burnley]

People keep saying this. I genuinely want to understand what she did that made her so.

Aside from being a lesbian and getting divorced (which we obviously agree is nothing terrible..). What did she do? This peaked my interest so had a look on wiki and nothing appears to be crazy evil?

One of her daughters thought she was the perfect mother; the other daughter thought she was a rotten mother. If even they can't agree, there isn't likely to be a global consensus.

 

[Zebedee]

That really is incredibly niche. I suspect that the people running the advertising companies are predominantly white, middle class and English (as are the people running most things in this country).

As long this broadly reflects the make up of our society; and always reflects the best person for a job, that's fine by me. I don't think niche comes into it.

 

[dsr-burnley]

Yes.
Enid Blytons books do contain rascist and xenophobic attitudes.

Thogh funnily enough, one of her best-drawn and most frightening villains was originally a black man. He was intelligent, educated, leader of a otherwise-white skinned forgery gang, murderer, and tried to drown the children. But he has been turned into a white man in later additions, not (presumably) because he was black, but because he pretended to be an "Uncle Tom" servant who spoke English like someone from Huckleberry Finn.

 

[Live by the sea]

Enid Blyton is one of the greatest children’s authors of all time .

The woke brigade are once again bringing shame to what woke was meant to be about .

Ignore these self righteous fools and carrying on buying Enid’s books if you have kids . Far far better written than the modern drivial from the likes of David Walliams !

 

[Zebedee]

How niche.

I am not sure if you quite understand how advertising works. Well, the seller decides how best to appeal to the potential market in order to maximise sales. The fact that there may be too many blacks for your liking on TV won't be taken into account, I can assure you.

There has been no charge for that tutorial.

How how do you explain using a male actor from an ethnic group that traditionally doesn't shave, to advertise shaving products? Hardly a policy that would boost sales I would have thought. Thanks for the free lecture by the way

 

[Live by the sea]

That really is incredibly niche. I suspect that the people running the advertising companies are predominantly white, middle class and English (as are the people running most things in this country).

What’s wrong with that - the majority of people living in England are white and English . To accurately represent the public , 4 out of every 5 people on tv would be white . Personally I don’t care but this obsession with having representation on every level I think is a bit silly . It should be up to the director and producer who they want not forced to employ people simply based on their colour .

 

[BN9 BHA]

175 posts

 

[Weststander]

I would disagree that Rowling's later books were well written. They went on too long and didn't have the taut plotting of the earlier ones.

But why compare Blyton to Rowling? They were writing for different audiences. Blyton wrote for children from birth to perhaps 12 years old, and her ambition was to write books that children enjoyed reading and would make them want to read more. She is on record as saying that she didn't care what adults thought; children were the critics she was interested in. And as she has the record for most children's books sold, I would suggest that her target audience was pleased. A lot of literary snobs criticise her books as being limited in plot and vocabulary (Lord knows what they would have thought of Dr. Seuss!), but on the other hand, there is a school of thought that says persuading children to enjoy reading and to want to read more, is a good thing.

By 10 years old you would be getting to a stage where Famous Five would probably be a bit so-so anyway. You were leaving the target audience.

This.

Written for entirely different age groups.

 

[Zebedee]

What’s wrong with that - the majority of people living in England are white and English . To accurately represent the public , 4 out of every 5 people on tv would be white . Personally I don’t care but this obsession with having representation on every level I think is a bit silly . It should be up to the director and producer who they want not forced to employ people simply based on their colour .

But you'll probably find that well over 50% of people employed in adverts nowadays are not white which is hardly representative of the general population; and it's certainly way, way more than 20%. But if it's really what companies want, and they're not being obligated by targets/other pressures, that's fine.

 

[Bakero]

But you'll probably find that well over 50% of people employed in adverts nowadays are not white which is hardly representative of the general population; and it's certainly way, way more than 20%. But if it's really what companies want, and they're not being obligated by targets/other pressures, that's fine.

Coming over here, appearing in our adverts.

 

[Zebedee]

Coming over here, appearing in our adverts.

 

[Weststander]

What’s an advert? I never see or listen to them.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

What’s an advert? I never see or listen to them.

It's a place Daily Mail readers go to relax and unwind.

 

[Pevenseagull]

I have a 1930s Rupert the Bear annual in which Rupert visits N***** Island, and brings home a c*** who preferred to sleep in the barn than in a bed in the house.

That's the travelogue that probably got him his job with The Daily Express