[ SECRET POST #2841 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2841 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 039 secrets from Secret Submission Post #406.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

09. http://i.imgur.com/OvCNy4T.png

[(Anonymous)]

Huh. I'm American, and I don't get it either.

[(Anonymous)]

Part of it, probably, is that American culture tends to elide the details of a lot of traditional stories. Not to censor it, necessarily, or bowdlerize it, but just to de-emphasize it and not go into much detail. Whereas Dahl really does have quite a bit of gruesome detail. And then part of it, probably, is that Dahl is kind of dark and pessimistic and bitter a lot of the time.

I don't know. It's honestly really hard for me to see him as anything other than a dark macabre weirdo. And I really liked his books growing up. Maybe it's a cultural temperament thing where Americans are more sunny and optimistic so the bitterness stands out more? I usually hate that kind of explanation but there you go.

[kaijinscendre]

I have never heard this about Dahl's books. Huh.

[pengychan]

Man, I grew up reading Dahl's books. I loved Matilda, The Witches and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to death. I agree that any creepy or dark element in them doesn't really get past the kind of darkness and creepiness you find in fairy tales. I didn't even know there were people complaining about those, but then again I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[(Anonymous)]

They were an important part of my childhood, too. I think it's a case of adults looking back with an adult's POV, but for some reason you forget that as a kid, you don't read the books and think oh, it's okay to poison grandma, etc.

[(Anonymous)]

America has an idealized, romanticized, view of what childhood should be. It's seen as a state of wholesome innocence, all evidence presented to the contrary.

[helenadax]

I didn't know Americans thought Dahl is macabre. I read his books when I was a kid and I loved them; I still do.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm American and I didn't know this. His books were a popular part of my childhood too. My teachers read them to us for storytime. Maybe it's a regional thing.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not just an American thing, it's a recent American thing. A lot of older kids' media on this side of the pond tended to be a lot darker than recent things, too.

It's like everyone just decided to up and forget that kids are vicious little monsters, and are well and truly able to take (and enjoy) a few scares with their entertainment.

[dinogrrl]

They're considered creepy? I devoured those books as a kid, and I don't think I've ever come across that sentiment (I live in the American South, which I would think would be the first place to call out kids' books on creepy factors?). They were always just considered really good kids' books as far as I know, and were always on my summer reading lists for school.

Edit: for one misplaced letter that made me sound waaaay too Southern XD.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm American and read these books growing up - I never heard that sort of criticism. I do think his books have a lot of dark elements though, if people have been saying that, they aren't wrong. There's some disturbing stuff for a kids' book.

I'm not saying it's bad to have stuff like that at all. But it is what it is. I think elements of those books stick out to me more as an adult than they ever did when I was a kid.

Okay, I'm confused by this thread

[cushlamochree]

I read a lot of Dahl's books when I was a kid, both in class and out of it. My younger brother, I'm fairly certain, read every single book Roald Dahl ever published. I also thought they were kind of creepy and dark. Like plenty of other creepy, dark childrens' books I read (special love for John Bellairs here).

The thing that I don't get is that people seem to be citing the popularity of the books as evidence that they weren't regarded as dark or macabre. I honestly don't understand where that comes from. The fact that they were widely read, including in schools, seems like it should be completely compatible with them being macabre. I just don't get it I guess.

[(Anonymous)]

Also an American, and they were a normal part of my childhood. It could be an age thing, though. I'm 40, firmly Gen X. If you're younger, maybe they fell out of fashion and that's what you're noticing.

[(Anonymous)]

The titles sound like porn titles. Going Solo, Fantastic Mr F., Huge Peach

[(Anonymous)]

I can't vouch for the books, but the movie "The Witches" scared my second cousin to such a degree that her parents had to take her to therapy (she was convinced all old ladies were witches).

[(Anonymous)]

I never heard anyone calling his stories nightmare fuel lol what.
I read pretty much all of his work as a kid, and they really inspired me too.
The illustator for all them also inspired me to go into art.
:)
But the only story of his that actually freaked me out as a kid, was Charlie and the Glass Elevator where they meet those freakyass aliens in space.

[(Anonymous)]

He is a bit macabre, but I don't see anything wrong with that. I loved his books as a kid. Of course, I was also a big John Bellairs fan, so the slight "twistedness" of Dahl's work didn't read as particularly "dark" to me.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not American, so I can't speak to their perception of his books, but yeah, I read his books as a kid and they weren't much creepier or more macabre than a lot of other books I was reading at the time. Though I did have a tendency towards books with a mythological/folklore/fantasy bent, which sort of does lend itself to the macabre a lot of the time, so there was that. Also, my reading age was a bit all over the map, because I got parental permission to read from all sections of the library fairly young, so some of the stuff I remember reading early on may not have been entirely intended to be read that young. Still though. They didn't seem that dark to me.

What I do remember about Dahl's books in particular was that I found them a lot more overtly and gleefully disgusting than many other things I was reading. They weren't really any creepier or more horrifying (and less, in some cases), but by golly there were more bugs, slimes, dandruff and bodily functions in his books than I was used to coming across.

[kallanda_lee]

Western European?

It was a big part of my childhood, too, but there was this incident where our school went to a play based on Mathilda and the headmistress was so pissed off it was too violent it actually damaged relation between our school and that theatre company.

Than being said, I went to a very strict catholic school.

Well, they are sort of macabre and have some nightmare fuel.

[(Anonymous)]

But so are most fairy tales (which is actually sort of the point to them). And gruesome is part of the reason that some kids really like the books (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark used to be my siblings' favorite). Some adults get perturbed by it, but most are pretty happy their kids are reading.

[(Anonymous)]

American standards for children's books, especially in more recent times, are very different from a lot of other places. We're steadily taking out creepy/scary/macabre things so that children have safe, clean books, shows, and movies. I'm not judging it one way or another, I'm just telling my experience-- I'm a teacher of small children and I clearly see it happening. When I was a child I didn't like creepy or gross things at all so it wouldn't really bother me personally.

[feotakahari]

Apart from the occasional horror anthology, I haven't read a lot of children's books in which child characters die. Grownups die, and young folks may die in books for teens, but Dahl's one of the few writers I can think of for the younger set who even alludes to dead kids.

[icecheetah]

I never was scared by his books, or anything. I loved the BFG as a kid in particular.

this thread is interesting

[dethtoll]

I'm American and I got a lot of heat for reading these books. I never really understood why.