Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Stephen Fry, that well known Jack of all trades, is currently writing the screenplay for the Peter Jackson (him of theLord of the Rings fame ) remake of the film 'The Dambusters'. But the film has hit a snag...what do they do about the historically correct codename which was named after Guy Gibsons pet labrador ?. Well as they hope to make millions by promoting and selling the film in the US ...they've changed the name to 'Digger'.
Historians are upset that history has been rewritten in order to placate the US PC lobby and cinema goers.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Marek we are thinking along the same lines. You beat me to it.
I was just going to do the very same story using the headline...
Dambuster Dog is Now Digger !
Yes the original name of the black labrador dog as many of us know was N*gger. It is very true that this name is offensive to many people these days so you can see the film makers dilemna. However any information on the dog in the film will be inaccurate if the name is changed. A whole new generation of film goers will leave the cinema with inaccurate information. There will be heated discussion in pubs in the years to come, one group swearing the dig was called Digger with the other group, possibly the older ones, swearing it was the other one.
The original film, which is about the famous Barnes Wallace bouncing bomb raid on the dams in Germany..was the staple diet of film goers in those far off days when British cinema was a socially accurate document of the times we lived in. Richard Todd played Guy Gibson and Michael Redgrave the batty but brilliant professor.
Guest 650- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 542
How many people learn their history from Hollywood, and believe that the films are a reliable and factually accurate account? (Come to that, how many people believe that history itself is necessarily without perspective ...?)
If the films inspire some people to learn more, or at the very least, to gain an awareness of an incident in the past or a significant person which they didn't previously have, then maybe there can be found some merit in them, whether a dog be called Digger or Snigger or Bigger or any other of a number of rhyming (or nearly so
) words.
There's a large Barnes Wallace statue at Herne Bay, incidentally - he did quite a few trials of the bouncing bomb there.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
I can understand the reason but surely they could have not called the dog by any name in the script it would then be historically correct.
Why is it that I prefer all the old war films, even with all their faults, to the newer ones including the recently discussed Saving Private Ryan.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
Well put Maggie. My grandad maintained that the success of the mission was greatly exaggerated in the original film, so I don't see how the name of a dog would make any difference.
Nigger could well mean something else in Dog. Saying that, it is now popularly accepted as a very offensive term so it only makes sense that it should be changed.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
To use that logic we might as well have 1066 Battle of Kent (Hastings) or Battle of Earlscourt (Agincourt), Battle of the Swollen, (Bulge) or as the Americans like to say Battle of Europe (Britain)
God only knows what we could call our defeat at Dunkirk.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Please!!! Try to imagine the uproar in the US if the original name was used!! It is offensive enough over here, and we don't have the immense historical baggage to cope with. That name - innocently used as it was at the time - is inextricably linked to a history of lynching, segregation, violence and apartheid in the US. Time moves on, and things and words used years ago often cause a bit of stir later. We used to visit the "loonies" in the asylums to point and laugh in Victorian and pre-Victorian times. Hands up who thinks that is right now?
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
I think Jan's hit the solution there..in the new film dont call the dog anything at all. It such a simple solution to the problem that it probably hasnt been thought of by the producers. "here boy" is always good in most cases and might save the day while still maintaining historical accuracy.
Wasnt there something similar with Agatha Christie..trying to remember off the top of my head.
her play was originally called
Ten Little N*ggers..which was unpalatable when times changed
it then became
Ten Little Indians..but that went out of favour too..as what have Indians got to do with it?
It then became something else but I got bewildered at that point and gave up trying to follow.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
I think that problem lies in that the name of the dog became the code and password that was used throughout the raid and therefore played an important historical role.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 663- Registered: 20 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,136
I'm with Jan on this one as well we get bogged down with what can and can't be said, so (here boy) seems like a logical answer.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
Marek, I am sure a good script writer would get around that historical problem. They could say "the dog's name is the code word", no need to mention the name at all.
Can I claim my fee now.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i think i have cracked it, how about they refer to it as a nigerian dog?
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Guinness?
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
murphy[s].
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Following the above article it has been decided that D-Day is to be renamed US Invasion Day as the movie star and singing legend Doris Day has lodged an official complaint.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
The N word is used all the time in rap music by black Americans so why not in a historically correct film?
Audere est facere.
