Entertainment

James Bond Books Are Being Rewritten To Remove "Offensive" Content


It has been reported that the James Bond books are undergoing a rewrite to eliminate content that has been deemed 'offensive'.

Penguin's sensitivity experts requested the removal of specific words from Roald Dahl's books, resulting in the recent decision.

This involved eliminating the terms "fat" and "ugly."

Nonetheless, in response to the controversy, which even drew Queen Consort Camilla Parker-Bowles into the discussion, Penguin has decided to publish "classic" versions of Roald Dahl's novels featuring his unaltered, original language.

Reports suggest that the well-known spy novels of Ian Fleming are currently undergoing revisions to eliminate any language that might be considered "offensive."

Below, you can watch a news program host discussing the modifications being made to Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.

It has been reported that Ian Fleming's novels, written during the 1950s and 1960s, contain racist language.

According to The Telegraph, depictions of Black characters have been either "reworked" or "removed."

Nevertheless, it is believed that references to other ethnic groups, such as Bond's racial insults directed towards Asians and his opinions of Goldfinger's Korean henchman, Oddjob, will remain unaltered.

Expressions such as "sweet tang of rape," "blithering women" incapable of doing "a man's work," and homosexuality being a "stubborn disability" are also expected to remain unchanged in the novels.

The modified novels, which are set to be re-released in April to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Fleming's debut Bond novel, "Casino Royale," will include a disclaimer at the beginning.

The disclaimer will read: "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace."

"A number of updates have been made in this edition while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it was set."

As was the case with Penguin's suggested revisions to Dahl's works, numerous individuals have criticized the alterations to Fleming's novels on social media.

One person said on Twitter: "What's next? The Bible? Any book tampered with should not in any way be sold under the original title!

"Wokeness needs to be stamped out, and replaced with common sense."

Another said: "You realise that this is what Orwell warned us of in 1984?"

Before reversing their decision, Penguin had aimed to erase the word "fat" from all of Dahl's writings, choosing instead to describe "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's" Augustus Gloop as "enormous."

Earlier versions of Dahl's books labeled many groups of people simply as "men," but in later versions, changes would have been made to the terms used to describe these groups.

Penguin is advocating for the use of more gender-neutral and inclusive language. As a result, the Oompa Loompas would be described as "small people" instead of "small men," and the "Cloud-Men" in "James and the Giant Peach" would be referred to as "Cloud-People."

The publisher reconsidered the edits due to the intense backlash they received.

Before his death in 1990, Dahl stated that if publishers decided to alter his language, he would never write again.

According to The Guardian, it is reported that he said: "I've warned my publishers that if they later on so much as change a single comma in one of my books, they will never see another word from me. Never! Ever!"

It is claimed that the comments were made by Dahl over 40 years ago, and he even went so far as to threaten to send the "enormous crocodile" from his book of the same name to "gobble them up" if the publishers changed his language.