Explanation Required From Daily Mail Fans On Answerbank

[sp1814]

Can any of your explain why having a black character and a more prominent female character is going to 'ruin' Bob The Builder???

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3191619/Can-revamped-Bob-Builder-tick-PC-box-Yes-returns-prominent-black-character-glamourous-makeover-business-partner-Wendy.html

This is the strange thing...it certainly isn't unusual for building crews to have black electricians, plumbers or carpenters...so why are Daily Mail readers so upset?

Have we got to a point where the portrayal of any black person or woman on TV is now considered 'PC'???

(Hat tip to TheMediaBlog for this).

[Svejk]

Don't see many black people on site, nowadays. Used to.
Perhaps they're upset because the woman hasn't got a burqa on.

[jno]

hi-vis strips ia sign of political correctness

they're just nuts.

[sp1814]

jno

Ha ha...I didn't even see that!

Brilliant.

Svejk - there's no other way to ask this...do you spend a lot of time on building sites?

[Mamyalynne]

So Wendy's a bit more 'girly' and the new apprentice , Leo is black.


Think the children who watch it willbe bothered?? - No.


About time Bob was more Hi Vis though.

[Svejk]

It's interesting, I think, that we used to get a lot of West Indian chippies. But you don't see younger lads 'coming through', as it were.
More likely to see, non-English speaking, gangs of Indians now.

[Svejk]

just all my life, sp.

[BlueScorpion]

I think you are generalising slightly, you should have said: why are "some" Daily Mail Readers so upset.

Personally it seems to me that it is just updating the programme for a new series & nothing to get hot under the collar about.

[Svejk]

Sp is on a never ending quest for racism, real or imagined. I think his life would be empty without it.

[Baldric]

///so why are Daily Mail readers so upset?///

Given that,

\\\The show starts on September 1 on Channel 5's Milkshake children's slot.\\\

It would appear to be just Jemma Buckley who is commenting as it's not been released yet, and nowhere does she mention that she or anyone is upset by it, but I guess you already know that.

Don't let the facts get in the way of an Anti-Black story though will you?

[Svejk]

Hi-viz, steel toecap boots, helmets. All PC, elf & safety crap.

[Gromit]

// Bob the Builder is shown in more than thirty countries, and versions are available in English, French, Spanish, Slovenian, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Hindi and Croatian, among other languages. //

The series is not made by the BBC so it is stupid to blame the Beeb. It is more likely that the changes have been made by the production company with an eye to export sales of the series. They stand a better chance of selling into other countries if they characters are more diverse.

[BlueScorpion]

To be fair to sp some of the comments under the article do suggest that the writers are upset by the changes

[Mamyalynne]

To inject a note of levity I may add that once they are made into action figures, it matters not what colour they are or what they are wearing.

They all hurt when you stand on them in bare feet in the dark.

I include Postman Pat ,Fireman Sam and all of their evil lurking kind.

[joggerjayne]

Wow. Wendy looks quite hot.

I'm finding myself sexually confused.

To say nothing of the fact that she's just a cartoon character!

As to the actual question, I think the Mail are over-thinking this too much.

[Togo]

Perhaps the are the people who would not get a white boy playing Shawnee Gibbs sister.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

Shouldn't only be asking Daily Mail fans for an explanation, you should be asking Telegraph readers where 7,791 preferred the 1998 Bob against only 296 who preferred 2014's Bob.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11158285/New-Bob-the-Builder-unveiled-which-do-you-prefer.html

You should also be asking the Twitters where the Daily Mail got their reactions from.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/new-bob-the-builder-twitter-reacts-to-characters-modern-makeover-9790794.html

Nice try at having a Daily Mail dig, but you have failed miserably.

[joggerjayne]

Everyone's favourite Bob The Builder episode ...

Listen VERY carefully at 5:09 mins ... I can guarantee you will play it twice, just to be sure that you really heard what Bob says ...
...

[anotheoldgit]

sp 1814

/// Have we got to a point where the portrayal of any black person or woman on TV is now considered 'PC'??? ///

Do you actually think that the increase of ethnic minority BBC presenters and weather persons, is all down to there suddenly being a surge of them, gaining the job opportunities over the larger proportion of indigenous applicants on merit?

[Baldric]

Positive discrimination comes to mind!