Posted on 11/03/2006 6:54:37 PM PST by Stoat
Here is a great point. Most TV stories are all about "surface". There are no underlying subtexts, themes, or storylines. The few, rare complex characters either create huge hits, or are swiftly canceled in favor of couch potato fare. The typical 1.5 hour cinema fare is the same.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, first published in America in January 1885, has always been in trouble. According to Ernest Hemingway, it was the "one book" from which "all modern American literature" came, and contemporary critics and scholars have treated it as one of the greatest American works of art. Of all MT's novels, it was also the one that sold best at its initial appearance. On the other hand, it was condemned by many reviewers in MT's time as coarse and by many commentators in our time as racist. In 1885 it was banished from the shelves of the Concord Public Library, an act that attracted a lot of publicity and discussion in the press. It is still frequently in the news, as various schools and school systems across the country either ban it from or restore it to their classrooms. The texts and illustrations below attempt to capture both the novel's achievement and some aspects of its controversiality.
Only the most pedestrian and philistine taste is repelled by Huckleberry Finn.
You're not the only one....I was just trying to give some perspective in the timeline of relative sophistication of high school protocols, then and now. Even Hillary at that time would probably not have objected to our use in a school play of the word from John Brown's Body. Political Correctness was in its infancy 42 years ago---and I think the real issue in this story has more to do with reading out loud , even in the not-terribly-tender circumstances of adolescence, in the company of all-white peers. It would make just about ANYONE uncomfortable. This teacher seems to have an agenda that is a bit reckless, or else she just didn't think things through. When the teacher is that stupid, it tends to force equally stupid school boards or superintendents to buckle and cave in to a SINGLE complainer, rather than dissect the social nexus of the situation and figure out why it didn't work. Everyone loses when this happens.
"We want to be sensitive to how the children feel," said Lynette Sutton,
Simple, re-write and re-issue a version for schools.
This could be done with most of the great novels and we'd put an end to this nonsensical bickering and at the same time spare our children's sensitivities. /sarc off
Here is a great point. Most TV stories are all about "surface". There are no underlying subtexts, themes, or storylines. The few, rare complex characters either create huge hits, or are swiftly canceled in favor of couch potato fare. The typical 1.5 hour cinema fare is the same.
Agreed. Since Television is (mainly) funded by advertising and the rates that advertising brings, a great deal of research has gone into targeting the people most likely to be influenced by advertising as well as in understanding how to structure the scripts and timing of television programs in order to provide the maximal profit return to advertisers.
Long ago, it was discovered that the the typical attention span of their targeted audience was just under 15 minutes and so not only are commercials scheduled at those intervals but scripts are written not only to break at those times but to provide an action or dialog 'hook' that keeps the targeted viewer from changing the channel as well as insuring that the subject matter and depth dealt with in that 12-15 minute interval is something that can be easily digested by someone with a 3rd grade education and remembered, to some degree, for another ten minutes until the commercials are over and the program resumes.
Just as airline films are not intended to enthrall or foster philosophical thought but to keep the passengers quiet, docile and noncomplaining during the flight, so also television programs are designed not to educate or to better the lives of a coherent, thoughtful person but merely to keep them in front of the advertising spots for as long as possible.
This makes a love of reading and a love of literature a seditious act in the eye of the advertiser.
I'm delighted to know that a multibillion dollar industry is thoroughly pissed off at me whenever I sit down and pick up a book :-).
HeHe! I have no doubt that this will eventually happen, particularly considering the fact that there is already ample precedent:
I'm sure that many more examples of such manipulations abound.
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I'm guessing that the vast majority of the books that she refers to do not have anywhere near the overall literary quality, cultural relevance or classic timelessness that Huckleberry Finn does.
I'm wondering how many books are in her school's library that refer to white people as "honkies" or 'Crackers" , or refer to Jews or Christians in unkind, mean and shocking ways yet those books are celebrated by the Left as being "important protest works authored by brave and oppressed minorities"?
Almost, but not quite, the first thought that occurred to me. Since I don't listen to rap, I wouldn't know about that part. I was thinking I hear "the racial epithet" used in casual conversation by African American kids on the subway or the street all the time.
Please see posts #39 and #98 for some cute cartoons pertaining to this silly double standard.
Next I thought that the non-African American kids in the class would be more traumatized having to hear or say a word that's been drilled into us is a bad word. I remember how embarrassed I was when I first heard it used in a pejorative fashion by someone in public.
Agreed, and the fact that the SINGLE COMPLAINT came from one black parent is interesting. If the teacher of the class had somehow failed to provide context for the work and explain to the class prior to teaching the book about what was forthcoming and how the language was intended to be perceived at the time it was written, I would expect that complaints would have come rolling in from numerous hypersensitive white liberal parents.
Also from the Detroit News article, "In earlier years, it was targeted because of its sympathetic portrayal of African-Americans". How ironic. I wonder if Mama Offended is aware of that little fact.
Since she obviously had zero understanding of the work to begin with, as evidenced by her complaint, then my answer would be 'probably not, and I doubt it would have made any difference to her even if someone had explained this to her". Which, by the way, I'm sure that they did after she made the complaint. But, the Race Card trumps all.
I teach the book in 11th grade and have explained to the kids that it has been banned many times before. Huck Finn is an anti racism novel. Moron parent.
Yep, Fahrenheit 451 should be required reading for EVERYONE. Uncle Ray Bradbury was right on target . One of the scariest books ever written.
Ok , do we have an email addy for Lynette Sutton ? I meed to write her ASAP
Okay. Now I want all books which refer to "white trash" and "trailer trash" banned, hillbilly, etc., too, for slurs against caucasians!
Jim, in the story, bore a title reflecting his station in life, in similar proportion to the way "white trash" refers to being "white".
But then, it requires far less effort to complain than to learn.
And I also want to sue the BET network (Black Entertainment Television) for constantly and unapologetically hosting black comics who slam and caricature white people in the most unflattering ways that they can possibly think of.
To them, this is 'comedy'.
Jim, in the story, bore a title reflecting his station in life, in similar proportion to the way "white trash" refers to being "white".
But then, it requires far less effort to complain than to learn.
Particularly when learning involves 'reading a book', which is an activity that is completely alien to far too many in our society, as well as grasping the concept of "historical context" which also is beyond the abilities of many.
"We want to be sensitive to how the children feel," said Lynette Sutton...
That's right--never let the kids read or learn ANYTHING, literature, science or history, that makes them feel "uncomfortable." They won't ever be educated, and they'll be completely unfit for adult life, but that's a small price to pay.
Great way to create sheep.
Too be fair, the woman involved had an undergraduate degree in Education. She was getting her MA in Eng Lit in order to get a state teaching certificate(!).
The experience was one of several that encouraged me to choose another career path (as well as place my children in private school). Post-Modernism has some interesting critical insights, but, like most leftist endeavors, takes things to the point of absurdity and irrelevance.
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As well as a new generation of passionate, jackbooted Leftist voters.
Too be fair, the woman involved had an undergraduate degree in Education. She was getting her MA in Eng Lit in order to get a state teaching certificate(!).
It's my understanding that Schools of Education are primarily indoctrination camps for Leftist dogma and hypersensitive political correctness.
The experience was one of several that encouraged me to choose another career path (as well as place my children in private school).
The oppressive and shameless Socialist /Leftist mindset as well as the thuggish manner of their Unions kept me from having anything at all to do with Government education as a career.
Congratulations to you for placing your children in private school. They will be far better educated, happier and much more successful people as a result. It's a crime, however, that you HAVE to do this in order to insure that their education is done correctly, and it's also a terrible crime that you are not automatically reimbursed for your confiscated Government education tax dollars when you do this.
Post-Modernism has some interesting critical insights, but, like most leftist endeavors, takes things to the point of absurdity and irrelevance.
There is a tendency to assume that wild, utopian theories that look good on paper will work in the real world.
I think ibrahim mohamed and his clan need some sensitivity training.
A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
Uh Huh ———————Mark Twain
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt -——————————— Mark Twain
Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. -———————— Mark Twain, Speech in N.Y. Nov. 20, 1900
The greatest American writer ever is now under attack.
I could easily teach Huck and Tom to kids...even ghetto kids...hell, Jim is sorta the hero at times and explain the times in which it was written.
These folks are lazy do gooders....don’t want to have to take the time....just point their Ichabodian fingers.
Now they have Dog...lol
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