Why Did the Ukrainian President Record With This Country Star?, James Bond Censored, Chicago Mayor Defeated-Which Has National Implications, New "Peter Pan" Controversy (The Five for 03.03.23)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Before we get started, two notes.
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It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Books are getting edited left and right these days…quickly following Roald Dahl’s classic children’s books being censored, the James Bond novels are now on the chopping blocks.
Following the news that edited versions of many of Roald Dahl’s novels are being released to shield modern readers from language that was deemed offensive, the estate of another iconic British novelist is following suit.
According to a new report in The Sunday Telegraph, new editions of Ian Fleming’s original James Bond novels that omit offensive passages are set to be released this spring by Ian Fleming Publications. The report claims that Fleming’s estate worked with “sensitivity readers” to flag and remove what they see as language that reflects outdated attitudes about race.
Ian Fleming Publications claims that Fleming himself was on board with the inclusion of less offensive racial language, and approved the changes to “Live and Let Die” before he died in 1964. Many of the changes reportedly involve replacing various pejorative terms for Black people with “Black person” or “Black man.”
The re-published Bond novels will include a disclaimer: “This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set.”
In the case of Bond…I’m not sure this is a big deal.
But as a wider trend…there may be several unintended consequences.
First of all, censorship is fairly inconsequential here. At least that’s my best guess—I have no plans to ever read the Bond novels (I’m somewhere between a casual fan and completely apathetic abou the Bond movies, so there’s no reason to go read these).
Censoring the works of dead authors raises some serious ethiccal concerns. For example, what if Harriet Beacher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is “edited” to remove the harshness and brutality? The harshness and brutality in that book were a major cause of the Civil War…shouldn’t readers understand that?
Perhaps the best solution here is to take the approach to music. Many record labels offer both censored (profanity muted out) and original cuts of albums on streaming services. If we’re doing this (and apparently we’re doing this), readers need to be plainly informed of what has been removed and replaced from the “updated” version of the books—and the originals must be readily available as well.
[two]
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (who once dressed up as the ‘Rona Destroyer’) was ousted in a primary this week—the first Mayor in 40 years to lose a re-election bid in The Windy City, which she blamed on racism, specifically because…she wasn’t featured in Time Magazine?!
From Politico:
“I remember Rahm Emanuel appearing on the cover of Time magazine, the headline was basically like: ‘Tough guy for Chicago,’” she recalled. “No woman or woman of color is ever going to get that headline.”
However, when I caught up with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the longtime North Side liberal, at an early voting site on Sunday and asked her about Lightfoot’s double-standard defense the congresswoman shook her head and then leaned in to recall perhaps Lightfoot’s most notorious, and vivid, outburst.
“She’s on tape saying, ‘I got the biggest dick,’” Schakowsky, who’s backing Garcia, shot back at me. “Come on, come on.” (Lightfoot has denied making the comment and reiterated her denial earlier this month on a Barstool Sports podcast).
In addition to the incredibly awkward outburst listed above, Lightfoot regularly screamed at Alderman and demeaning members of her own party (examples in 2023, 2022, 2021). She also regularly shredded the press and refused to meet with reporters.
She also danced in the street as vehicle thefts increased 165%, robberies increased 26%, burglaries increased 11% and total crime climbed a whopping 61% since 2022.
Lightfoot apparently thought she had inherited a monarchy, and needed no friends or allies…or public support.
That arrogance helped Chicago lose major employers, crime to skyrocket and a significant portion of the population to flee the city (and state).
Lightfoot is out…but the question remains if (and how long) it will take the city to recover from her arrogant reign in the mayor’s office. And there’s a larger, unwritten narrative here as well…whether or not San Francisco, LA, St. Louis and a host of other major cities will boot the leaders who have ushered in crime, pushed out businesses and increased the misery index (and homicide rate).
[three]
Uhh…wut?
Brad Paisley did a song with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has also done the Grammys, addressed a joint session of Congress and appeared on the cover of Vogue.
The song is not very good without the Ukranian President dropping in for a guest spot, and absolutely cringe when it gets to Zelenskyy’s part.
How does this guy have time to defend his homeland and become a full blown celebrity, exactly? If he’s going to get truckloads of American dollars, maybe he could focus on his main job?
And Mr. Paisley—in what vein of country music tradition do we support foreign wars but ignore working class people at home who are probably going to die from cancer after that horrific Ohio train wreck?
[four]
As we expand music covering on The Five, I wanted to take a look at some of the greatest side projects…musical endeavors pursued outside of an artists main career.
Angels & Airwaves/Transplants (Side Project of Blink 182): The members of Blink-182 have been in a LOT of side projects throughout the years, some of which have been forgettable (+44), and others stopped just shy of greatness (Boxcar Racer). Frontman Tom Delong made a lot of fans nervous when he discovered hollow-body guitars and delay pedals. As one of my friends put it when A&A dropped their first single “I don’t need my punk heroes to try to be U2.” However, 17 years after their debut, A&A have proven their staying power.
Transplants didn’t last nearly as long, but Blink drummer Travis Barker’s collaboration with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong for a “punk/gangster rap” hybrid…was brilliantly original, and both their 2003 debut and 2005’s Haunted Cities have aged well.
The New Amsterdams (Side Project of The Get Up Kids): When frontman Matt Pryor wanted to back off the loud and frantic pace of emo pioneers The Get Up Kids, he formed The New Amsterdams on the side….which also became Pryor’s vehicle for documenting his heartache over TGUK deciding to call it quits while on tour in Japan. The highlight of the band’s seven album run (output increased whe TNA became Pryor’s only band) is At the Foot of My Rival. “Fountain of Youth,” linked above, holds up as one of the best indie-pop singles of the 2000’s.
Brave St. Saturn (Side Project of Five Iron Frenzy): The sillyness of 90’s ska is dropped for the 2004 debut of frontman Reese Roper’s space pop opera—BSS was brillaint, and perhaps too early in the internet era of music to find the audience they deserved. But they sound just as good now as during the early aughts.
The Postal Service (side project of Death Cab for Cutie): Frontman Ben Gibbard stepped away from DCFC for a more joyful, personal project…with backing vocals by Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis. The band took their name from the recording process—mailing demos back and forth via USPS. This synth-pop band was short lived, but legendary.
Clear Eyes Fanzine (side project of The Wonder Years and The Early November): For a select few fans of 2010’s “sad boy punk” and the TV show Friday Night Lights, this was a match made in heaven. Wonder Year’s Dan “Soupy” Campbell paired up with The Early November’s Ace Enders for a downbeat acoustic take on season one of FNL. The results are stunning, with songwriting the reveals new angles on the characters and plot in a nearly perfect season of TV.
The first song on the EP begins with Tim Riggins, fullback from a poor family, wondering how he’s going to eat before practice that day, and wondering where the money will come from to turn the power back on. FNL, and this EP, are about something much deeper than football. These songs slice deep.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup…
From the first look, it appears that Arnold Schwarzenegger is apparently hopes to blend the action of his biggest hits (Terminator 2, Predator) with the comedy of…his under-appreciated work (Kindergarten Cop holds up…seriously, go watch it).
I have no idea what the plot of FUBAR is, but maybe cops or the mafia or something?
On Netflix this May.
Oh good, somebody finally made the Peter Pan story into a movie. We’ve waited so long for this beloved children’s story to grace the screen. It’s not like there haven’t been FIFTEEN of these movies made since 1953.
In all seriousness, Peter Pan & Wendy actually looks great, and a major departure from the many previous versions (which was a must, if this was going to succeed).
Oddly enough, both the woke crowd and the anti-woke crowd are made that Tinkerbell is black this time around.
Why are the “pronouns in bio" folks always do grumpy?
Until the next one,
-sth