AberdeenBill Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Hi all, This is quite funny in an ironic, post-modern way: www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/07/thomas_the_imperialist_tank_engine.html If you don't agree with this humourous piece, please don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger. No need to point out the obvious error of Sodor being located in the North Sea... Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 29, 2014 The problem with these articles is that finding apparent racism/sexism/imperialism within Thomas the Tank engine is as outdated as many of the practices described in the books themselves! Perhaps the author thought she had something new to say, without realising that the whole piece is just one cliche after another, and has been done to death many times... Then again, research may not be her strong point...a few of the points in the stories used to criticise Awdry were not from his original Railway Series. Perhaps we might occasionally see something original on this theme, but again and again it seems to be the same old stereotypes. I'm afraid this article again misses the target, simply for covering a well worn path without saying anything new or insightful... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 29, 2014 Absolutely no complaint about this being posted on RMweb - it is relevant for us to see ourselves as others do. However, my attention span only held fast for most of the first paragraph............ This is true "get a life!" stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 29, 2014 Looking at some of her other stuff she probably favours feminist re-enactments of the Boston Tea Party. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 At one point she says she's "overeducated and understimulated," I could tell the former from the use of long words where short ones would have done. I'd recommend she takes up knitting for the latter. I suspect "getting a life and going out may exacerbate make the problem worse ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 29, 2014 for a real good laugh find yourself a copy of Thomas the privatised tank engine by private eye http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1857800222/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodyfox Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Yes, I think we're all aware that Britain in the 50's was a more racist , sexist, homophobic place with high rates of unreported high instances of domestic violence. That this way of living should be reflected in literature of the time isn't extraordinary. Perhaps a re-writing of the stories to reflect modern attitudes is overdue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I got board after the first few lines, why do people have to look for things that are not there . I think we should send the PC brigade to North Korea for a few months to learn a few home truths. Then we might be a to learn to laugh at and with each other And live in harmony together Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 29, 2014 To be honest, I just can't get excited about that poor woman's drivel... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 29, 2014 I bet being a kid growing up in her household is a real barrel of laughs, as with some others who have already commented this sort of stuff is very formulaic and hardly original. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torn-on-the-platform Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Its utter drivel and I couldn't quite make it to the end, but thanks for posting it! Entertaining. She obviously was running low on ideas for her blog. I was thinking the other day about how many of my morals come from Railway series books, compared to my many Sunday mornings in a church... I think the Rev Awdry won the battle there. That said, I remember arguing with my mum that Henry didn't deserve to be bricked up in the tunnel - it seems I missed the point on that one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 29, 2014 Oh dear - she clearly doesn't know the difference between a 'train' and and 'engine' (or 'loco') so obviously her education has been sadly lacking at some stage and she has probably become a 'commentator' due to her lack of wider cultural awareness and practical knowledge. In view of this I am more inclined to sympathy for her state of mind, and even to pity her, because she clearly has not read any TTTE books because if she had she would undoubtedly know the difference between an engine and a train. Of course I could be wrong in expressing pity as she might in fact be venting long pent up frustration that she wasn't allowed to read the 'Thomas' series when she was a child. Shame that it should have contributed to gaps in her knowledge of our wonderful language (or is she a tabloid journalist I wonder?). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
45059 Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I wish people like this woman wouldn't feel the need to try to ruin the innocence of childhood by micro analysing to suggest that Thomas has a hidden political agenda. At the age when I was reading these books I don't think that I was even aware that politics existed. There was just good and bad. Right and wrong. Is it so wrong to tell a 'lazy bones' to do some work? As an adult I would call this a work ethic, which surly is a good thing? I wonder what her next piece of drivel will be- Paddington Bear linked to childhood obesity for eating too many marmalade sandwiches! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 The Railway books were some of the first I ever read. When a bit older I avidly read Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories and when I was older still Ian Fleming. Depite that I somehow escaped being turned into a Tory, Monday Club or otherwise. The important thing is to get kids wanting to read as many and as many different books as possible. Awdry certainly helped with that but a lot of what this writer is referencing are new versions of "Thomas and Friends" (I don't remember Thomas actually being that central a character in the books) that seem to have little to do with the Rev's books. I quite enjoyed the first series that Brit Allcroft produced (even though Awdry didn't) but I'll make a point of avoiding whatever mid-Atlantic mush it's now become. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welchester Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 29, 2014 Some of the links in the article are even crazier. I just couldn't get my head around Thomas's 'antisemitism'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mow Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Am shocked that there was no mention of Thomas's promiscuous coupling...continued on p 94. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torn-on-the-platform Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Oh dear - she clearly doesn't know the difference between a 'train' and and 'engine' (or 'loco') so obviously her education has been sadly lacking at some stage and she has probably become a 'commentator' due to her lack of wider cultural awareness and practical knowledge. In view of this I am more inclined to sympathy for her state of mind, and even to pity her, because she clearly has not read any TTTE books because if she had she would undoubtedly know the difference between an engine and a train. Of course I could be wrong in expressing pity as she might in fact be venting long pent up frustration that she wasn't allowed to read the 'Thomas' series when she was a child. Shame that it should have contributed to gaps in her knowledge of our wonderful language (or is she a tabloid journalist I wonder?). To be fair to her on that one, I've had to explain to several people over the years the difference between a train and an engine/locomotive. Its a simple concept, but the fact is, people who aren't interested in railways don't really care about the difference. The Flying Scotsman only adds to the confusion! I'm surprised how few people know what tenders are. The Rev Awdry made a big distinction between tender and tank locomotives, and a lot of my generation were at least brought up on the TV series, if not a few of the books, so I assumed that it was one of the basic bits of railway knowledge. I have seen countless ebay advertisements for a 'Steam train and coal wagon'! I do however agree with your sentiment of pity for her having not read the books. They are accessible to young readers but at the same time use good, advanced English. Many of the stories are modern fables. They taught me my numbers and colours, apparently at an early age. Most of all, they are fun and engaging! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted June 29, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 29, 2014 Some of the links in the article are even crazier. I just couldn't get my head around Thomas's 'antisemitism'. Yes, I saw some of those links. This article was just a combination of the silly and slapdash, but the blog around the anti-Semitism was bordering on the offensive and a prime example of somebody leaping to unsubstantiated and potentially libellous conclusions based on an interpretation of somewhat flimsy evidence. Fortunately it received short-shrift from some in the comments section... A common theme for all of these articles is misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the stories; which is a pity as The Railway Series had a basis in operational practice and reality. It seems that so many of these 'commentators' are quick to criticise and use this to further their own agendas unaware of the irony of their positions... No need to point out the obvious error of Sodor being located in the North Sea... Sorry Bill, this is no criticism aimed in your direction, but errors of this nature undermine a discourse. If Rev Awdry took the trouble to base his creations in fact, why should those who attack his work be able to get away with such carelessness. If simple research like this is neglected, then how on earth can anything these people write be taken seriously? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torn-on-the-platform Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I've had a further look through some of the linked articles. One thing they all seem to have in common is that they forget that its about a railway. Yes, Awdry has humanised the engines to a certain degree, but they are NOT human. After all, they still require their driver and fireman to look after them. They are 'conformist' as that's what you need to run a railway properly. Thomas can't pull the express - its not what he's designed to do! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointstaken Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Yes, I think we're all aware that Britain in the 50's was a more racist , sexist, homophobic place with high rates of unreported high instances of domestic violence. That this way of living should be reflected in literature of the time isn't extraordinary. Perhaps a re-writing of the stories to reflect modern attitudes is overdue. Another one who probably wasn't even born then, parroting second (or third) hand hearsay. Dennis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mow Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 But Thomas could pull... Annie and Clarabel. There is an ugly rumour that Thomas The Tank Engine ended up in Viz. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
45059 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Perhaps Ms Roake wishes to write the next series of TTTE books? Perhaps, (god forbid) it would go something like this; To bring things up to date Annie could 'consciously uncouple' from Thomas. (Having loathed his childish carbon emissions) she could now marry Clarabelle. They could now live in Dai Woodham's yert, where they are now carbon neutral. Having had solar panels fitted to their roofs, and only ever being shunted be a wind turbine powered shunter called 'Greenie', they could now spend their time adopting 'less fortunate trucks with ADHD' from the mainland... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I wonder what she'd make of Thomas becoming Thomasina for the French market..? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete 75C Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 This is quite funny in an ironic, post-modern way: www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/07/thomas_the_imperialist_tank_engine.html What absolute drivel. Like many, I was brought up on the original Awdry books and reading crap like this* somehow ruins what would otherwise be a happy childhood memory. As for updating the stories to reflect "modern values"... why? Leave things alone. As someone with kids, I know there's already plenty of sanitised PC rubbish available on childrens TV and in bookshops. * I couldn't actually read all of it, it was so dire. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJGraphics Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 This is quite funny in an ironic, post-modern way: www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/07/thomas_the_imperialist_tank_engine.html If you don't agree with this humourous piece, please don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger. No need to point out the obvious error of Sodor being located in the North Sea... I think we should (only very) briefly feel sorry for the sad individual who has nothing better to do in life than write this sort of drivel and then get back to enjoying our modelling! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.