General Chat

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11447801/Cultural-insensitivity-Wishy-Washy-reason-charity-Aladdin-panto-got-Chop-Chop.html

For 41 years, it has been a mainstay of the Christmas season in the idyllic village of Ansty.
But this winter there will be no pantomime after concerns over ‘cultural insensitivity’ led to the last-minute cancellation of Aladdin.
The row has rocked the previously quiet corner of Dorset and left the outside world puzzling over what could have caused such offence.
A charity production of Aladdin has been pulled following a complaint over the names of the Chinese laundrette workers
Now, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a complaint over the names of Chinese launderette workers Chop Chop and Wishy-Washy in the script led to the production’s axing, according to villagers.
The complainant, thought to be the mother of a cast member, had written to the production team to express her concerns over the names of the characters.
She feared the names might upset audience members, particularly those from ethnic minorities.
After committee deliberations, the production team decided it would not be possible to change the script and their only option was to cancel the show.

Political correctness gone mad ?

Kath. x

But haven't they always been the names of the laundry characters :-0. It's a panto fgs, the committee should have stood their ground :-|

I wonder whether Ansty has a huge Chinese population and/or there is a fear of an uprising in such a quiet spot.

The pantomime must have been performed somewhere every Christmas and this is the first time I’ve heard of anyone suggesting cultural insensitivity. If I have my pantomimes right, there’ll be no more Widow Twanky either cos some woke guy (oops, sorry, person) will likely complain. (I would have thought that there were more men in Ansty than Chinese people, by the way.)

Snow White and the Seven ….. definitely a no-no.

Sleeping Beauty …. nooo, kissing too near the knuckle and what about those poor people with sleeping sickness. Is it trivialising their illness?

Goldilocks and the three bears. Breaking and entering - in front of youngsters too!

Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves: such criminal behaviour - ditto.

I am going to stop there because I am in danger of becoming as absurd as the complainant and, sadly, the Committee who ought to have simply written a nice letter to ask what she would like the laundry workers to be called in order to cause no offence to anyone at all. Now that would be a dilemma for her because so many wusses are offended by everything.

The trouble with perceived upset is that often there is no problem with the actual people of ethnic minorities.

Not quite the same thing, but I remember chatting to a good neighbour years ago about their daughter being in the school's Nativity play. They were Muslims originally from Bangladesh, but the 2 children were born in England. Mum was quite happy for daughter to be an angel in the play alongside her classmates and said it was right that she learned about the customs and beliefs of their adopted country.
They and many like them have no problem, so why do some people take it upon themselves to be 'upset' on their behalf?

I wonder what the ethnicity of the complainant was?

"Ethnic minorities - residents of Dorset who are not 'White British' 4.4% of Dorset residents are from an ethnic minority, much lower than the country as a whole (19.5%)2. The highest proportion (41%) of Dorset's ethnic minority population are classified as 'White Other'"

At the last census, there were 318 villagers. Surely, if they were worried about the situation, they could have found the .00.02 person of an ethnic minority that may live in the village, and ask them what they thought?

I doubt if the complainant (who, it seems isn't brave enough to admit to their interference, by letting us know who they are) is of an ethnic minority, they're just some busy-body, so full of themselves, they think they have the 'right' to speak on behalf of others, even though they have absolutely no idea how these 'other's feel.
Patronising to the highest degree..

What this miserable being should do now, if they're true to their word, is to sue Disney, and go around boycotting all the pantomimes.
But I don't suppose that will happen.

If you read the whole piece (which is quite long), it says that all the Asian children in the area had gone for parts in the panto. Which insinuates there is a large Asian community. It also says the complainant was thought to be a parent of a member of the cast.

Note I have re-read it and can't find this quote so I have to admit to being mistaken sorry

I think the committee were wrong. They could have prefaced the panto with somebody standing on the stage and explaining for those who were unaware, that any names that seemed offensive in present time are part of tradition and are not derogatory

Such a shame that such narrow mindedness has caused the charity to lose money

And think of the disappointment of all the children who have worked hard to do the panto. I hope nobody finds out who complained as their child could suffer.

I sometimes wonder how we survived.

I wonder if The Mikado is ever performed these days

Or the Pirates of Penzance.

Going back to panto - what about all this wall paper hangers that had their reputations crushed ;-)

I've read the whole article, and can't see any reference to Asian children in it.. There are a couple of Ukraninans.
The complainant - a mother of a cast member said 'She feared the names might upset audience members, particularly those from ethnic minorities.'
Nothing about the cast.

Further delving shows of the population of 318 - it seems 2 are Chinese.

https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/dt27pn

From the village's Facebook page:
CANCELLED
It is with regret that MADCAP has found it necessary to cancel this year’s production of Aladdin following expressions of unease about cultural insensitivity that were made to the cast.
Consideration was given to “sanitising” the script but the cast considered this was not in keeping with the tradition of pantomime and in order to prevent causing offence to anyone the decision was made to cancel.

I expect, even if they'd changed 'Wishy Washy and Chop Chop's names to Kev and Karen, someone would have complained.

Lord save us from the "Take offense on behalf of " brigade.....

Well, a few years ago, schools here were not doing the nativity play as many "religious" folk including some staff said it did not fit in with their beliefs and not everyone celebrated christmas!
So, they did away with the nativity play and replaced it with "Christmas songs" instead.

How blooming sad that the children will no longer dress up as the 3 wise men or a sheep or an angel etc....

What they have done recently instead is to perform a play ie Santa goes on strike, festivals of the world etc. The real reason is because those staunch believers say that as no one can actually say what day Jesus was born then we shouldn't use say 25 Dec! The fact this is the date chosen and used in the Christian calendar to celebrate the birth does not matter here.

But it's just PC gone mad and it's only the minority that moaned so they got their way.
Re Alladin, Oh my goodness, what next???

I know, let's forget all our traditions including Christmas & New year so we don't offend anyone then and how awful would that be :-P :-P

Florence in the Hebrides

Maggie you are right, I have just re-read it and I can't find that anywhere. I am convinced I read that maybe my eyes deceived me and I read Asian for Anstey. apologis for that.

No need to apologise, one would assume it was because children of a certain ethnicity may be 'offended'.

I wonder what wold happen if we ladies objected to all the 'Dames', and the men objected to Prince Charming? :-S :-S :-S