A Black Dog Named "Digger"?

So it seems Stephen Fry has bowed to pressure and renamed the (in)famous dog in Dambusters to “Digger”:

Sensitive change to avoid unnecessary offence, or pointless rose-tinting of history?

Kettle’s just boiled.

“The film is not about the dog. My big concern would be if they watered down what the Dam Busters had achieved.”

If they want to have the film released in the states than they had to do it. pragmatic decision IMO.

Dunno why they are doing a remake tho the original film is great.

Have they ever heard a snoop dogg album?

Yawn

Not actually worth getting worked about, is my considered opinion, the dog’s name just doesn’t matter. I think only oversensitive people could be offended by it but only fools could get offended by changing it. The original film had a load of inacccuracy in it and I’m sure the new one will too so why is the dog’s name such a make-or-brake point for people?

Seems sensible.

Retroactively changing the original film would’ve been wrong; the word was innocent back then, no offence was ever intended. Remaking it these days, it’d be inflammatory not to change it. It’s not a documentary, so artistic licence applies; if we can have Robin Hood with an American accent, we can change a pet’s name to something phonetically similar without the world ending.

Dunno why they are doing a remake tho…

Apparently it had a racist dog in it.

Dunno why they are doing a remake tho the original film is great.

+1

Apparently it had a racist dog in it.

I think we all know the dog was the victim of racism. Plus, it’s acceptable for Black dogs to call each other ‘****’.

Sensitive change to avoid unnecessary offence, or pointless rose-tinting of history?

sensitive change I reckon

Times change, things move on

its a simple change that means that the story can be enjoyed without causing a furore.

why cause an argument for the sake of it

I think we all know the dog was the victim of racism. Plus, it’s acceptable for Black dogs to call each other ‘****’.

For realz dawg!

It doesn’t make any difference, it would only get dubbed if they hadn’t changed it

Besides, it’s a stupid name for a dog.

It’s like calling your dog ‘Noir’ anywhere other than France.

Was the dog from Nigg?

Dunno why they are doing a remake tho the original film is great.

Maybe they’re going to make so it’s closer to the truth,

Times change, things move on

Agreed, but I’m not sure that means we should pretend that unsavoury things didn’t happen.

Some nice quotes from Mervyn Hallam (curator of RAF Scampton museum) and Jim Shortland (Dambusters historian) in the coverage at El Reg[/url].

Have they ever heard a snoop dogg album?

You don’t get this, do you?

You don’t get this, do you?

You mean Snoop isn’t a real dog?

There’s a joke about something rhyming with Snoop that I will not relate here.

😉

Hang on. Does this mean Dr Dre isn’t a proper doctor?

There’s a joke about something rhyming with Snoop that I will not relate here.

By all means go for it.

Or.

Are.

You.

Chicken?

There used to be a fantastic red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) from Chile called Gato Negro … 🙄

Nahhh … use the original name as that was the name used. P.C. shite.

TBF it is a sensible compromise and Digger is a pretty suitable and apt name for a dog anyway.

I did see the original on the Beeb a couple of years ago and they just edited out the dog’s name repeatedly. Bloody stupid.

Does this mean Dr Dre isn’t a proper doctor?

and Eminem isn’t an M&M

There’s a joke about something rhyming with Snoop that I will not relate here.

Doesn’t that go along the lines of ‘What’s black and rhymes with Snoop’?

😀

some cultural history is bad, does that mean it has to be buried or does it serve a better purpose out in the open ?

pc bollox.

gaurdianista win.

they could call the dog barnaby, that does not detract from the historical accuracy of the events.

So what will the call a breach in the Mohne Dam?

they could call the dog barnaby, that does not detract from the historical accuracy of the events

yes it would. the fact that the word **** was used so openly helps to set the historical cultural context imho.

My daughter bought me a DVD of the original for fathers day a while back…. thought she was going to pass out when the name first came up…Very funny in retrospect

but bit of a strange one really, is it rewriting history and surpressing the truth to change it, perhaps a bit like denying the holocaust? Or is it simply sensitive to changes in society?

Personally I’m a bit uncertain about it.

My black Lab is called Digger* it’s a fine name for a dog.

They needed to change it really not everybody is enlightened enough to view history as history and some poeple need the facts altering to protect them from the horror of the past.

*(well at least that’s his official the name on his pedigree dooberry, well sort of it’s actually Digger’s Luck as his dad was called Digger)

Churchill didn’t drink.
Brunel never smoked.
etc.

So would it be okay to reprise The Black and White Minstrel Show?

You don’t get this, do you?

Of course I do you cretin.

“The film is not about the dog. My big concern would be if they watered down what the Dam Busters had achieved.”

So would it be okay to reprise The Black and White Minstrel Show?

i doubt that anyone would want to watch it. should all traces of it be removed from the national archives or should it have all the offending minstrels airbrushed out ? no.i think it seves a better purpose to know that people openly behaved like that.

I used to have a dog called trigger, does that make me anti gun?

On a more serious note Haitians are commonly referred to as stupid **** by their Dominican Republic neighbours, does that make everyone from dom rep racist?

some cultural history is bad, does that mean it has to be buried or does it serve a better purpose out in the open ?

That’s pretty much my thought too.

I’m not convinced that pretending these things didn’t happen is a good thing. They did and to our modern ears they are wrong.

Should they also remove any derogatory remarks made about the Germans?
“Huzzah, that’s one in the eye for the supporters of the German Nationalist Socialist party.”
“Take that people who enjoy fermented white cabbage“.

It could be a child’s face next time.

Some dogs are not racists.