Parents at Kirkland school object to revamped 'Snow White'

aziza said on February 7, 2010 at 9:08 AM

Its just a play folks.

kingsleyhall said on February 7, 2010 at 4:15 AM

Finally I learned how to spell my own user name. See I told you I was senile (Sp?)

kingslayhall said on February 7, 2010 at 4:09 AM

For over 18 years I have been owner/artistic director of the elmatheater.org and if you check my web site you will see I have directed "Alice In Wonderland" as exactly as I can to the original Lewis Carrol's classic literature. I must admit there have been times I thought Walt Disney and I (and others) would or should have been censored for these productions (caterpliler smoking a hooka, Alice growing small thence tall while wandering thru purple mushrooms, etc.) But, if you really read all the nursury rhymes we were brought up on I decided good liturature for children & adults have objectionable material in them to aquaint ourselves with the forces of good and evil like the Bible does. Nursery rhymes even full violence too. King of Hearts is supposed to be a bit senile and since I am 75 years old I wouldn't hesitate to type cast myself in the role. There are many characters in all theater that are objectionable. If produce the Diary of Ann Frank actors playing Nazis just a role

phaedrus said on February 6, 2010 at 11:51 PM

We are rapidly becomming a dumbed-down society that can't tell the difference between a scientific theory and a myth One that gives equal weight to irrational dogma, and well-reasoned rational thought. One where intellect is despised and our collective inability to think is second only to collective ignorance of our world and ourselves. Is it really any wonder that we should see stories like this?

dsgffwe said on February 6, 2010 at 7:17 PM

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gspurl said on February 6, 2010 at 3:48 PM

crcgust- this is not the school bowing to reactionary parents but in this case is was the SCHOOL who had issues with the play and demanded the changes. Pretty unbelievable, isnt it?

bazwest said on February 6, 2010 at 3:44 PM

Our kids are in danger of getting a sanitized version of history, art, politics, religion (oops can't go there at school), and even fiction. What effect will this have? I think it will actually be detrimental to them. Seeing someone on stage saying or doing something that is a little uncomfortable, or reading about an aspect of our history that is a little uncomfortable to them is one way they how they can learn that they want to behave differently or "better". We need to give our children "age appropriate" material for sure, but lets not get carried away here.

crcgust said on February 6, 2010 at 11:29 AM

I feel like heading to the school's library with a black Sharpie and redacting all books with things I, personally, find offensive. This is NO different from what these over-reacting parents are doing. There is no reason the school should be bowing to these reactionaries - is this minority of people somehow more important than other parents? Do they monetarily contribute more than others? Is there going to be a new "wing" added to the school with their names on it? It's time for the schools to stop pandering to ridiculous requests and start getting on with the business of teaching. The solution, of course, is to just remove the entire drama department. Get rid of all the music groups too because they MIGHT sing something that offends someone's ears or perform a concert that was written by someone controversial - 200 years ago! Welcome back Dark Ages.

zosfrosty said on February 6, 2010 at 11:22 AM

Parents who object to trivial things like this should not be empowered to force their beliefs and oversensitivity on the general public. If you want to shelter your kids so much, send them to a Christian school. Life is full of important experiences, not all of them are positive. Everyone faces negative things in life, and history has proven those who were sheltered from every little thing that might hurt their fragile little minds at a younger age are ill-equipped to handle it later in life. Long story short, if you don't like it, go live under a rock and don't complain to me when you have a pregnant, drug addicted 16 year old.

noskills said on February 6, 2010 at 10:01 AM

Are peoples feelings really this fragile? I consider myself very liberal but people shouldn't have to walk on egg shells out of fear they will offend someone.

oldreliable said on February 6, 2010 at 8:57 AM

you have to be kidding ...... if my kids had went to this school ... i would have pulled them out ( which i did and sent them to catholic school where it cost me bundle but my kids didnt have suffer at the hands of the teachers union .. commies ) .... the fools we have running these schools ...

scott_bellevue said on February 6, 2010 at 7:41 AM

And they say schools don't have enough money. I'd say removing a couple of these administrators would save money and improve education. And yes, there was a Southpark episode about this. Life imitates art.

tooldtocare said on February 6, 2010 at 6:26 AM

It sounds like parents need to stand up and tell the schools they can't run everything. Now they want to change history. They are changing things to fit a certain mold, and its wrong. When will they stop? I miss the Christmas songs from the sweet voices. Can't do that any more because we will offend someone. How did they do Snow White with the word Dwarf in it? Is that exceptable? If stupid is a bad word, then I have been cussing a long time, and my tearcher taught me what it meant and how to spell it. I think this is bull, and we need to run the schools and not the government. Stand up people, they are teaching our kids!!!

anyone2 said on February 6, 2010 at 6:16 AM

I think this is going over the top... If the story is found offensive, find another. This is censorship runamuk...

exidore said on February 6, 2010 at 2:49 AM

This is lame. Some people can make drama watching rain fall. Why do schools try to homogenize our children? Kids are so much smarter than administrators know.

dkjamerican said on February 5, 2010 at 11:36 PM

When does the book burning start? You better start with the Bible, it has allot more violence and bullying in it than any fairy tale. Why does the school system in this in state want to raise our children? Bullying is a evirormentally learned and reinforced by adult influences just like hatered and racism, it does'nt come from works of art or fairy tales. Fairy tales can actually be good learning tools if dicussed properly with children how to deal with situations.

levchick said on February 5, 2010 at 9:51 PM

OMG PEOPLE, Get a life!!! Do your kids watch tv or go to movies?? Sports events?? They will never make it in high school if they (you) can't figure out the difference now.....It's only make-believe, a play, a performance, acting, if it is too much for the adults to handle maybe it should be rated "G" ONLY !!!!!!

emansnas said on February 5, 2010 at 8:53 PM

Removing supposedly objectionable parts of the play is tantamount to censorship. They do so under the guise that those parts are 'bad' for people and that they are just protecting the community when if fact their primary goal is to further their own political agenda. It's the same rationale used by corrupt regimes the world over. No thank you. I'd like to decide for myself what I'd like to see, hear and think.

skippypotpiebaby said on February 5, 2010 at 8:40 PM

Next week all books are to be ban!

aziza said on February 5, 2010 at 8:10 PM

There are so many plays out there for schools to perform, why pick one that is objectionable? In other words, if you pick and buy the play you should perform it. If it is "objectionable", then don't buy it and perform it. If people have a problem with the content, don't perform it and/ or don't go see it. Simple.

seattle1111 said on February 5, 2010 at 7:45 PM

these are the same morons who complain about Christmas decorations and Hallowean costumes.Get a life!!!!

batti4 said on February 5, 2010 at 6:49 PM

This world needs to grow a thicker skin!!!!! Being PC is getting out of control. Kids cannot enjoy anything anymore!!!! I was in the Sound of Music when I was a child!!! HELLO!!!! NAZI'S!!!!! No one took offense to that! That is STILL one of the most favorite movies around! People just need to figure out what is wrong in their lives and fix it instead of trying to ruin everyone else's!!!!

gspurl said on February 5, 2010 at 6:36 PM

First of all, the play in question is not the classic Disney Snow White, it is an adaptation that also includes many other storybook characters such as Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Goldilocks, Hansel and Gretel, and many more. The song that was removed is a take off on Randy Newman's old hit "Short People" and when the "vertically challenged" seven sing it about "Tall People" it is very funny. It's a stretch to find anything offensive in it. The character named Dim Witty is actually quite astute and is the one who sees through the evil plot every fairy tale must have and saves the day. The line in the song that the queen sings about being proud of her curvy silhouette is just part of showing her true personality- that she is shallow and superficial. I have been a volunteer parent producer for Studio East's outreach program for several years and have worked with both scripts in question plus several others. Kids know what is real and what is pretend.

factoid said on February 5, 2010 at 6:26 PM

What is happening in this country? Are these people insane? Your offended by Snow White? How about the White? Could offend non-whites. How about the Dwarfs? I don't even know what the P.C. word is. You people should be ashamed of yourselves to even bring up nonsense like this.

commentist said on February 5, 2010 at 6:21 PM

Hopefully they put some filthy beaners in the play!

lksproodle said on February 5, 2010 at 6:11 PM

If people spent as much time doing good things in life as they do scrutinizing every breath maybe this world wouldn't be in such a mess.

musketboy said on February 5, 2010 at 6:02 PM

Ya we went through this with the Christmas plays too. Just a few who don,t agree with Christmas ruined it for all of us who used to have Christmas plays that our kids played in including myself.

registeredmail said on February 5, 2010 at 5:59 PM

Come on people, do you really think that Walt Disney intended to insult anyone with Snow White, or make kids feel uncomfortable? We already managed to ban Disney’s 1946 kids classic, “Song of the South” in the United States. How many more Disney classics are we going to try and get rid of? Kids are exposed to more trash on TV every day than Disney would ever have dreamed of putting in anything with his name on it. Get a Life!

skok_cush said on February 5, 2010 at 5:49 PM

LMAO. this premise was an Episode of SouthPark about 10 years ago. The Politically COrrect Parents changed everything in a play that could possibly offend someone. . . . . .then the same people complained the play sucked. Again Seattle Immitates Art.

sjfamily84 said on February 5, 2010 at 5:36 PM

Can we see what the revisions are? Deleting a single sentence "You are stupid", out of context, seems ok to me. Put it in context and perhaps I'll change my mind.

yogibear said on February 5, 2010 at 5:31 PM

Do the play the way it was written people. You don't like Snow White don't go.