Serious Question
I was talking to my husband the other day about books that we read as children, and about the fact that most of the books I read at that time were old even when I was a child. I loved them, far more than any of the newer stuff that folks tried to give me, but they *were* incredibly dated. All of A Kind Family novels, Louisa May Alcott, Bobbsey Twins, you name it. Anything from before 1950, give or take.
I loved the outdated, old-fashioned feel of the stories, even then. The clothes, the family dynamics, the dialogue... but I also know that, to put it politely, there were some very... old-fashioned, outdated beliefs and social practices. Things that not only don't match modern thinking, but are actively, in retrospect, negative and hurtful.
I know this, and I know that those ideas are bad. I did even when I was a kid. And yet I still enjoyed reading the books. And this makes me wonder - and I don't have an answer here, just questions....
Does having those ideas (mostly racial stereotypes; some gender stereotypes) make the books bad?
On the one hand, the beliefs themselves are wrong and hurtful, and shouldn't be perpetuated. On the other hand, the books are an accurate portrayal of the time period in which they were written. You can't ask them to have other ideas; those ideas weren't prevalent when they were written. But that doesn't make having the ideas right. Are they bad because of the ideas, or good because they're an honest and authentic snapshot of the time in question?
Is it wrong to depict the past accurately? Prettying it up with modern sensibilities might be nicer, and would certainly help perpetuate more positive beliefs, but isn't it also wrong to deny the problems of history, and the challenges that different groups needed to overcome?
And lastly, if we do agree that the stories are bad or wrong because of some of their contents, is it just as wrong to censor them? We could limit children's books and stories to those written recently, with more open-minded worldviews, but... my instinct tells me that censorship is bad. But is that applicable when the ideas you're trying to censor out are ones that really don't need to be shared?
I honestly don't know how to feel here. I want to still like those books, and acknowledge their shallow, narrow-minded worldview as proof of how far we've come as a culture (knowing that we still have so very far to go), and enjoy the memories of the time I spent reading them, but I don't know if I can do it, or if I can pass them on to my friends' children, knowing that I'll be passing on negative ideas as well as adorable stories.
Thoughts? Opinions? I don't even know if this entire ramble makes sense to anyone outside my brain....
I loved the outdated, old-fashioned feel of the stories, even then. The clothes, the family dynamics, the dialogue... but I also know that, to put it politely, there were some very... old-fashioned, outdated beliefs and social practices. Things that not only don't match modern thinking, but are actively, in retrospect, negative and hurtful.
I know this, and I know that those ideas are bad. I did even when I was a kid. And yet I still enjoyed reading the books. And this makes me wonder - and I don't have an answer here, just questions....
Does having those ideas (mostly racial stereotypes; some gender stereotypes) make the books bad?
On the one hand, the beliefs themselves are wrong and hurtful, and shouldn't be perpetuated. On the other hand, the books are an accurate portrayal of the time period in which they were written. You can't ask them to have other ideas; those ideas weren't prevalent when they were written. But that doesn't make having the ideas right. Are they bad because of the ideas, or good because they're an honest and authentic snapshot of the time in question?
Is it wrong to depict the past accurately? Prettying it up with modern sensibilities might be nicer, and would certainly help perpetuate more positive beliefs, but isn't it also wrong to deny the problems of history, and the challenges that different groups needed to overcome?
And lastly, if we do agree that the stories are bad or wrong because of some of their contents, is it just as wrong to censor them? We could limit children's books and stories to those written recently, with more open-minded worldviews, but... my instinct tells me that censorship is bad. But is that applicable when the ideas you're trying to censor out are ones that really don't need to be shared?
I honestly don't know how to feel here. I want to still like those books, and acknowledge their shallow, narrow-minded worldview as proof of how far we've come as a culture (knowing that we still have so very far to go), and enjoy the memories of the time I spent reading them, but I don't know if I can do it, or if I can pass them on to my friends' children, knowing that I'll be passing on negative ideas as well as adorable stories.
Thoughts? Opinions? I don't even know if this entire ramble makes sense to anyone outside my brain....