Peter Rabbit Controversy

[Lincolnshirelass]

Just wondering what other members thought of the controversy over the 'blackberry allergy' scene in the new Peter Rabbit film. I'm torn. I suffer from allergies myself (though luckily only to the degree it would possibly be uncomfortable, not life-threatening) but don't think that means they should be a taboo subject for humour. However, I'm not sure I'm happy with the stance on bullying in a film aimed at children.

[TheHolyHellbound]

Death is never off limits, the reason in the movie ffor everything is that peter himselff did not directly kill the old man, his garden did. But, can you say the rooster did not have an existential crisis as far as a one off character goes?

[R-Myra]

For me, it was just a scene. I didn't take it offensively but someone else can feel offensive. Everyone has their opinion and they should be respected as far as they are not putting others down.

[Haute_Coffee]

I didn’t see the movie but I had to pop in on a thread titled “Peter Rabbit Controversey.” That’s just not an issue you expect to pop up.

So they made fun of food allergies?

[Tbunde5]

It seems that lately you can’t see any movie that doesn’t offend someone. Disney characters aren’t played by ethnic actors; Harry’s eyes aren’t green; too many women-not enough women-too pretty-not pretty enough-making fun of __________.... Being offended by animals throwing blackberries is in my opinion ridiculous. My son is cognitively impaired and I was offended by Dumb and Dumber. But that doesn’t mean you can’t love it. Movies are entertainment, not real life. If you don’t like it, don’t see it.

[elinadsy]

This forum title alone had me checking in, food allergy humor? Could go either way, I guess

[Vlinstry]

I never really thought of it until someone else brought it up. I didn't take offense, but I don't have and serious allergies. Others might and so may find it offensive. This is on a personal basis though and so I'm not sure it should be as big a deal as people are making out.

[desantismt_17]

I can see where people with food allergies get offensive--particularly with the "it's all in your head" mentality that many have toward food allergies. But...it's a kids movie. It was adorable, in my opinion. I don't think it's worth getting upset over the blackberry thing, but what do I know?

[NRoach]

We all know that kids copy dumb stuff they see, and making light of potentially life threatening allergies is a bad idea.

Not to say we should pretend allergies don't exist, but showing kids a funny scene where someone is having what is, to them, essentially poison thrown at them? That could go badly.

[DATo]

When I was a kid TV and movies were far less politically correct than they are today.

1) A stuttering cartoon character pig (Porky Pigg). I wonder how that made small children with speech impediments feel when they watched these cartoons. Actually it may have had a cathartic effect by showing them that others stutter too.

2) African-American cartoon characters depicted with accentuated physical features.

3) American Indians always being portrayed as evil and bloodthirsty savages.

Today we still have such things but they are more cleverly disguised; such as, in American movies the bad guys always seem to have Southern American (USA) accent which subliminally puts the listener in mind of southern racism, or a German accent which does the same thing by drawing on the fact that viewers are conditioned from many past movies in which Nazis (speaking in films in English for convenience) display a thick German accent. The Brits do the same thing with dialect in their movies I think by having the bad guys always speaking with a Cockney or Irish twang. (I'd love to hear a Brit's opinion on this.)

One very old American TV program has received a lot of flack for racism which I do not agree with. That show was The Little Rascals. It is true that the Negro child in the group was often displayed humorously with regard to his race from time to time, but the most important thing to keep in mind was that the Negro children were totally accepted and treated as equals by the white children. These shows were popular at a time when there was still a lot of racism in the USA. Actually, I think this program helped to educate white children to accept black kids more than it did to demean African Americans.

/

[NRoach]

When I was a kid TV and movies were far less politically correct than they are today.

1) A stuttering cartoon character pig (Porky Pigg). I wonder how that made small children with speech impediments feel when they watched these cartoons. Actually it may have had a cathartic effect by showing them that others stutter too.

2) African-American cartoon characters depicted with accentuated physical features.

3) American Indians always being portrayed as evil and bloodthirsty savages.

Today we still have such things but they are more cleverly disguised; such as, in American movies the bad guys always seem to have Southern American (USA) accent which subliminally puts the listener in mind of southern racism, or a German accent which does the same thing by drawing on the fact that viewers are conditioned from many past movies in which Nazis (speaking in films in English for convenience) display a thick German accent. The Brits do the same thing with dialect in their movies I think by having the bad guys always speaking with a Cockney or Irish twang. (I'd love to hear a Brit's opinion on this.)

One very old American TV program has received a lot of flack for racism which I do not agree with. That show was The Little Rascals. It is true that the Negro child in the group was often displayed humorously with regard to his race from time to time, but the most important thing to keep in mind was that the Negro children were totally accepted and treated as equals by the white children. These shows were popular at a time when there was still a lot of racism in the USA. Actually, I think this program helped to educate white children to accept black kids more than it did to demean African Americans.

/

Here in the UK it's far more about class than accent, although they are closely linked. Depending on the kind of the bad guy, they may see have a thick northern accent, the stereotypical "rood boy" accent common in London, or a monstrously posh RP.

It's overwhelmingly the case that the South is overrepresented here, so that tends to narrow down the range of accents they tend to choose from.

[DATo]

Here in the UK it's far more about class than accent, although they are closely linked. Depending on the kind of the bad guy, they may see have a thick northern accent, the stereotypical "rood boy" accent common in London, or a monstrously posh RP.

It's overwhelmingly the case that the South is overrepresented here, so that tends to narrow down the range of accents they tend to choose from.

Many thanks for your input. Though I am a Yank I have a great interest in all things British. It is especially fascinating to get insights from people who live in the British Isles on relatively trivial things such as this.

As far as a class system goes: America is no different, except here it isn't determined by hereditary title, but rather by how much money you have.

I fear I am digressing terribly from the topic of our dear friend, Peter Rabbit. Many pardons to all.

[JuliaKay]

I wasn't mad about it, but I still think it was kind of inappropriate. I feel like the producers and writers should have foreseen that this would cause problems and used better judgement. It probably doesn't seem funny to people with serious allergies.

[f-callisaya]

I don't think it was "offensive" so much as a potentially bad idea to give to small kids. When my mom was small, my grandmother mentioned offhandedly in her hearing that my grandfather's shellfish allergy made him 'turn all the colors of the rainbow' once and they'd had to take him to the hospital. The phrase stuck with my mom, sounding funny to a small kid like the scene in the movie, and she and her younger sister considered slipping him some shrimp to see if he really would go multicolored though they never got a chance. Obviously, it wouldn't have been malicious on their part if they had but it could have been potentially life-threatening for him as this was the early 60s and his allergy got worse each time it was accidentally triggered.

Kids pick up odd things from odd places and you can't avoid everything that might potentially give them ideas. But this, and those scenes from Showdogs, just seem like such an obviously bad idea that I can't believe they passed all the tests they must have in order to reach the final film.

[Italiansweety1982]

I took my 5 year old son to see it. He had no clue about the controversy. The film is aimed for children so I think the allergy part went over their heads, it was the adults that noticed. However I don't think it's a subject to take lightly, kids should obviously not learn to do the wrong things regarding issues their friends may have with foods. I just think most children didn't understand what was going on.