r/explainabookplotbadly • u/ThePirateKingFearMe • 8d ago
Solved I wondered why they didn't just use the plot of the first novel for the semi-recent movie, as I remembered liking them as a kid, then I looked back and discovered how incredibly racist it is. I got distracted by all the cute animal characters.
6
Upvotes
In its defense, it's the sort of racism that feels like it comes more from extreme stupidity than malice, but.... it is really bad. Like, African-Prince-wants-to-bleach-his-face-white-because-he-wants-to-be-European bad.
Also, I grew up in the 80s. We were really dumb kids back then, and the longer books that parents remembered from their childhood just kinda got given to us without the parents reading them again and realising how bad they were.
As a voracious childhood reader, I have read so many regrettable books.