AHHHHH! They're killing literature!
Ok, so I recently found out about this new campaign in literature to update some of the children's books so that they are more "relate-able". it's terrible! Judy Blume is behind it all (she wrote such classics as "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret", "Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing", and "Fudge") and now apparently Beverly Cleary is joining on (she wrote all of the Ramona books and "Maniac Maggie" and others).
And by updating they mean putting ipods and dvd players and stuff like that in it. They've already changed "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret". So if you go to buy it now, you'll only find the new version with tampons and stuff. But Beverly Cleary is currently changing the Romona books (or at least one of them). And "Romona the Pest" has now become "Romona the Alternative". Yes, that's right, Romona is now an eight-year-old goth chick. yeah.
I know that the Judy Blume one is legit, but I'm hoping that the Romona one is a spoof, because I read part of the first chapter and it's horrible!! They are murdering classic children's lit!! None of the ideas in these books are unrelatable. Kids aren't stupid, they can understand these things without having to "update " them.
Ergh, I'm so disappointed in humanity. It makes me so sad.
Here is the link to the first chapter of the Romona book update. It's so horrible that it's funny. That's why I hope it's fake. It's horrid. It's like a trainwreck. You can't help but stand and watch in horror. Unfortunately, I've only seen evidence in support of the changes.
http://www.edrants.com/?p=2846
Anyway, if these two authors are successful with their updates, it may start a trend. And then all the classic children's lit that we read when we were little may no longer be sacred. They might put ipods in them.
posted by Psyche1231 @ 6:45 PM
8 Comments:
If it makes them money, then definetly go for it. I assume they think it will seeing as it would probably be useless to change otherwise.
I really do not think that is so awful.
i think that it is bad because they are going back and changing original works instead of just creating new stories with more modernity thrown in... i agree.. if they keep up with this trend then what's next to change shakespeare?
Well.
Books being close personal friends of mine, I don't like to hear about my friends being messed with. Puts me on edge a bit. Not that Are You There God It's Me Margaret isn't a really shitty book that very shallowly disguises its only purpose, which is to torture preteen girls who probably get paid to read it by their mothers.
It makes me wonder what books are for really. Informational brochures can be outdated. Books cannot. It was kindof cute how Margaret picks out her sanitary belt and such.
But then again, apparently (thank you Nick Corich) when people put on plays they change dates and places and TV references and such because the old ones would be distracting.
Books aren't plays though. Why rewrite a book 30 years after it was published? The world changes and leaves books as a record. Plays, on the other hand, try to become your world for a little while.
Hm. I suppose if Judy Blume wants to discredit her writing by not giving it the same respect literature would have, it doesn't really make a difference to me cause I never respected her work anyway.
Oh, and don't worry about Ramona. She's safe. I think whoever wrote that was just making fun of the whole thing.
i sure hope its a joke, jack. i think the whole romona chapter was just so extremely off base and ludacris that it has to be a joke. i also very much agree with everything else you said. i just worry that this will start a trend.
how eloquently put, jax. and as we (reba and i) were discussing the other day, people "update" shakespeare all the time, but it's more like an offshoot and they're not replacing the original (good) work. so, i think if they wanted to change books, it ought to be like that. "ramona the pest" and "ramona the pest: the new millenium"--some such crap as that.
as soon as beezus started buying dimbags i was convinced that it was a joke....its still pretty awful...snaps to jax and her ludacris ways...
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home