Mary Poppins Deemed Unsuitable For Children

[ER]

The UK has changed Mary Poppins' rating and now deems it may be unsuitable for viewing by children. It's not, as I first assumed, because children may be traumatized by Dick Van Dyke's accent, it's because of the use of the word "Hottentot."

Just ...wow.

If a children's classic like Mary Poppins is in the crosshairs, can a feel-good family flick like Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer potentially be next? Banning Henry would have changed one of the home movie nights I remember so fondly from when I was a kid!

[Alex]

On the other hand they did downgrade Fight Club from an 18 to a 15.

Until I read an article 5 minutes before seeing you'd made this post I assumed the Hottentot thing had been some sort of reference to Germans.

[ER]

That's how I always heard it, as a German reference. When people enjoy vicarious outrage more than free expression, you get a stifled culture.

[Trevor]

There is a mountain range here called the Hottentots Holland range: are they going to change that too? 😳

[Rev. Powell]

Stupid decision, but they just raised it from our equivalent of "G" to our equivalent of "PG." Ultimately no big deal.

Like "gypsy" or "midget," "Hottentots" was not an offensive term in its day, but has been rebranded as a slur. I think this is stupid. Some will argue that there was a time when the n-word was perfectly acceptable, but context matters.

On a related note, all the old black and white Hays code movies with smoking in them now come with a content warning on them. There are groups that want any movies with smoking in them to be rated "R." That would presumably include any old Christmas movies were Santa puffs on a pipe.

[Alex]

I recently watched a debate where a bunch of people were saying that gypsy was an offensive slur, and several people chimed in saying "I am a gypsy, I don't find this offensive. I like the term" or assorted variations around that. They were roundly ignored by the first group who just steamrollered on regardless.

[zombie no.one]

I know a romanian girl who refers to herself as a gypsy and is proud of her gypsy heritage

never heard the word Hottentot before... sounds like something mary poppins would bake for afternoon tea?

[claws]

I know a romanian girl who refers to herself as a gypsy and is proud of her gypsy heritage

We have a Romanian girl at work, and she would cut you if you ever called her a gypsy 

The word gypsy is verboten in Germany. There's a popular dish in Germany called Gypsy-Schnitzel, but they can't call it like that anymore. It's now Paprika-Schnitzel or Hungarian-Schnitzel.

[ER]

People should govern their own speech and leave others alone. 

[zombie no.one]

I know a romanian girl who refers to herself as a gypsy and is proud of her gypsy heritage

We have a Romanian girl at work, and she would cut you if you ever called her a gypsy 

The word gypsy is verboten in Germany. There's a popular dish in Germany called Gypsy-Schnitzel, but they can't call it like that anymore. It's now Paprika-Schnitzel or Hungarian-Schnitzel.

here we do have the term 'Gypo', which just ain't nice...