The actor and theater operator Dieter Hallervorden made fun of the criticism of dealing with historical representations of other cultures using the example of Winnetou. “I think we live in a kind of sensitivity cult, where other people want to dictate to us which slalom we have to circumnavigate alleged faux pas in the future,” said the 86-year-old in Berlin. “I take it as patronizing.”
A debate is currently raging about cultural appropriation and racism. It came about after the Ravensburger publishing house announced in mid-August that it would stop the delivery of two children’s books for the film of the same name “The Young Chief Winnetou” and remove them from the program.
In an Instagram post, Ravensburger wrote that user feedback showed “that we hurt the feelings of others with the Winnetou titles”. A number of users of the social media platform then expressed their incomprehension and accused the company of censorship or giving in to criticism. But there was also support for the decision.
If one followed that, Goethe’s “Faust” would actually have to be banned, comments Hallervorden. “Because the way Faust approaches Gretchen is not only not contemporary, but downright misogynistic.” And at Walt Disney: “Talking ducks – isn’t that a bitter injustice to a certain species of animal?” he teased. He can only recommend everyone not to take the topic seriously and rather “have a great time about it”.
