Row Errupts Over Offensive Name of Famous Dog
Published on May 7, 2009 by Jennifer White · 4 CommentsPolitical Correctness Row Over Dambuster’s Dog: The Telegraph has reported that a debate about political correctness is surrounding the remake of the multi-million pound remake of The Dambusters.
The book by Paul Brickhill and the original 1954 epic film starring Richard Todd featured a dog called Nigger, a black Labrador. The dog was Wing Commander Guy Gibson’s trusty companion and the mascot the the RAF’s 617 Squadron, which carried out 1943 bomb raid on Germany’s Ruhr dams.
Peter Jackson is producing the remake and is passionate about remaining faithful to the original film. The film is backed by Hollywood and has a £62 million budget, but others working on the film fear the name is too racially offensive, especially in the USA.
Jackson’s executive assistant, Matthew Dravitzki, has reportedly said this week, ”A lot of people have said that the dog’s name was Nigger and, to stay true to the story, you just can’t change it.”
Stephen Fry, who is working on the new script, has been asked to come up with alternative names for the dog. Although Sir David Frost, the executive producer, has been reported to have rejected all new names and has settle for Nigsy, a name that the dog had been referred to.
When speaking to Wellington’s Dominion-Post Newspaper Dravitzki said, ”We have not made a decision yet…the script is still being written and that decision on whether we have Nigger or not will be made closer to the time.”
When Jackson, who has a keen interest in the Second World war, originally announced the film’s plans in 2006 said, ”It’s not our intention to offend people…If you change it, everyone’s going to whinge and whine about political correctness, And if you don’t change it, obviously you are offending a lot of people inadvertently.”
In television remakes of the film the dogs name has been changed or missed out. In one instance the dog’s name was changed to Trigger.
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If this is like other Hollywood takes on films, it’ll be nothing like true events anyway. It’ll be the Americans that win the day again. That being so, why not use the ‘rapper’ spelling of the word: Nigga?
Wonder if this forthcoming American financed version will even have a Labrador in it?
If it is feared to be too racially offensive in the USA, what about all these films produced in USA that show the intolerant attitutes in the USA between citizens of different race from just about any period right up to recent times?
If those films such as Mississippi Burning are a true historical reflection of a different time, why would a film about the 1940′s be so different?
Rather than political correctness gone mad, its a case of double standards from the USA.
Mel Gibson’s film ‘the Patriot’ depicted a vile slave hunter as the hero of that film fighting the evil British who seemed to be based on US military Search and Destroy missions from the Vietnam War? What does it matter what the dog is called if the truth is secondary to the actual script?
Why not just call the dog ‘Nigel’, lots of Americans will not know the true story anyway and will think that it isaa ‘crazy Limey’ name for a dog?
call the dog tigger problem solved
does anbody care what the dog is called
is a war film
when does the film come out ? that is what i like to no
robert
good articlethanks