Posted by Andy Morley on March 22, 1999 at 19:03:16:
In Reply to: Ransome and the Millennium posted by Margaret Ratcliffe on March 21, 1999 at 20:09:53:
I am puzzled by the antipathy toward American culture of Peter Gee's reply to my original message on this subject (my interpretation of his Disney remarks). Stranger still, some of the messages below and emails I've had deriding Goosebumps come from Americans themselves.
Of course, America has not had a good press lately, but then again is this deserved..? Perhaps the explanation lies in the over-successful American publicity machine that seems to expose things beyond their true deserts. Just because some not very attractive Whitehouse assistant decides to "faire une pipe à M. le Président" and then tell the world about it, she is catapulted into book-signings and celebrity. The French have been getting on quietly for years with this sensible practice for relieving "certains besoins" without engendering unwanted progeny. The only scandal that results is when a French president does NOT avail himself of it and has an illegitimate child instead as with Mitterand, and even here, the practical French simply shrug their shoulders - "bof...". We British had Nell Gwynn but her notoriety didn't make us consign Restoration Comedy to the cultural dustbin. On the contrary, the general bawdiness of the period is now seen as avital cultural up-thrusting in reaction to the grimness of the Cromwell years. Going down in history is - just that.
I think they're all wrong. American culture is bright and vibrant. It has given us The Simpsons which as well as being hugely popular with my four kids, is a witty and telling social commentary on modern American foibles. Arthur Ransome wrote at a time when children's entertainment was very conservative, but Ransome was highly advanced for his time and had a wonderful gift for sneaking in quite radical ideas without the establishment even noticing. Girls behaving in a way that was totally against the norm and their mother aiding and abetting this in alliance against that personification of establishment values, the Great Aunt. A total avoidance of religion, (no mention of Christmas even in mid-winter) so conspicuous by its absence as to represent a huge cultural statement which only becomes apparent when you do a cross-comparison with contemporaries of a similar writing style. And plenty of other examples if you care to look for them.
Why then this enormous distrust and dislike of the modern world by Ransome's acolytes when he himself was so forward-looking..? Why the huge reaction 18 months ago against the proposals to 'commercialise' Ransome..? If a Disneyland ticket to the future is what it takes to secure him a place in the new Millennium, then why not if the alternative is oblivion..? After all, if the quintessential Ransomeness is worth anything, it will survive the treatment, and some of the people who like the film or buy the trainers might read the book. And if it hasn't got enough substance to survive that, then it's probably not worth worrying about anyway. And isn't trying to keep it for ourselves, frozen in time, just being rather selfish..?