Pippi Longstoccking: Racist?

[author_by_night]

I've been hearing that a lot lately... anyone know the reasoning?

Comments

[talimeeka.livejournal.com]

...

What?

[partly-bouncy.livejournal.com]

My reaction too... as I haven't seen it mentioned when I did a search for pippi longstocking racism site:edu on google...

[locked-door998.livejournal.com]

Why would that be? She's a cute lil' storybook character!

[prettyveela.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the book, but from the few people I asked, they said it had some uncomfortable things about blacks in the book.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing they're probably referring to Pippi in the South Seas, the book where she goes on a voyage to visit her father in the Cannibal Islands? I haven't read it since I was a kid, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it came off as colonialist stereotyping by today's standards. (But then, so would a lot of books I loved as a kid. Sigh.)

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I'd heard, but i dunno, I also reccall her meeting native children, who weren't cannibals. But maybe it was still patronizing, I dunno.

[auvergne.livejournal.com]

I bet she is (or the books are--she's fictional, I guess). Racism is racism. That doesn't mean that if you like the books, there's something wrong with you. My mother, who has one of the most sophisticated racism-detectors ever given to a human being, loved this one book as a child. It's a French book about this little boy, Macoco ("My coconut"), who lives in Africa. His mother is tall. His father is dark. One day a white man flies down in a wonderful machine and takes Macoco on all sorts of adventures.

Um, yeah... thank god for European colonizers, right? But so she liked the story as a kid. Kids are dumb.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Um, yeah... thank god for European colonizers, right? But so she liked the story as a kid. Kids are dumb.

Well, kids see a story about a nice man who takes the boy on an adventure. But because we know about imperialism, we know there were likely raccial overtones in that story.

[auvergne.livejournal.com]

I know, that's my point. It's a racist story, but still appealing to kids, who don't know better; why fault them?

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

You're right - we shouldn't fault them.

[luahoana.livejournal.com]

I usually preferred other books by Astrid Lindgren (and believe me, I've read them all ;)) to Pippi, so I don't remember those books as well as the others.

As already mentioned, this probably refers mostly to Pippi in the South Seas.
Considering that the books were written in the 1940s, during the second World War (and published in 1949), and that Mrs Lindgren set most of her stories around the turn of the century or early 1910s, 1920s, there are probably quite a few bits which would be considered racist today.

She's still my favourite writer <3 :)

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I usually preferred other books by Astrid Lindgren (and believe me, I've read them all ;)) to Pippi, so I don't remember those books as well as the others.

I think I read some of those... didn't she write about a group of kids that lived in a village, and were the only children in town? I remember liking them, even if one of the kids DID say "damn it" all the time. I think one of the character's names was "Lotta."

[luahoana.livejournal.com]

*lol*

You're mixing two stories up there.
Yes, Lotta (from The Children on Troublemaker Street) is the one who used to say "damn it" (but in such an endearing way ;)) ... and "The Children of Noisy Village" are the six children living in a village.

I ♥ all off them, but my favourites are Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (I posted a photo from the film in my lj a few days ago) and The Brothers Lionheart.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I never read the last three, unless I'm forgetting something.

[jan-aq.livejournal.com]

I read all three books in the series... it's probably just the last one where they go on a boat to some native village and play with the children there. *rolls eyes*

[shalli.livejournal.com]

People are far to worried about things being racist or not politically correct these days. If you don't get offended - particularly on behalf of others; have you noticed how people often get more offended on behalf of others than themselves when it comes to these matters? - chances are that no one will care. There are things worth getting all het up about, but some old children's books aren't amongst them.

My opinion anyhow...

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know! *Shakes head* My Dad made a Irish joke to prove that point - he's Irish by a Grandparent, which makes me a quarter Irish or something - and I burst out laughing, as opposed to leaving home and suing him for anti-celticism. I also read a book where a store was closed to all Irish; I knew that that was what it was like, and while I don't like it, I understand that at least things are different now. (Actually, what bugs me is that we tsk at how the Irish and German were treated, then go and oomplain about other immigrats).