#americanisation

It's an Impressive Tirade in which the writer (Sheila H. Kieran) says what she thinks about letting Walt Disney have a free hand with a foreign Children's Classic.

There's mention of the previous Adaptation Endeavour, "Mary Poppins" (1964) but it's very brief, perhaps with an eye to limited column space - or maybe because All Was Said Already in a previous review.

There is, however, rather a lot about the English characters being given American accents, and about the inclusion of a new character, an American gopher (which, the article suggests, looked vague enough to the Kieran children - its target audience - that it might as well have been a mole or a beaver).

*****

And that reminded me of another bit of American Animalisation done by Disney, in the 1949 short "The Wind and the Willows" - though in this instance it's visual since the voices are, for the most part, suitably British.

They include Basil Rathbone as narrator, and a horse who sounds like George Formby. In some scenes the horse actually looks like Formby, so this voice may not be entirely accidental.

Badger, however, sounds like a Scotsman - the worst kind of stage Scotsman at that - rather than how I used to "hear" him as a C. Aubrey Smith-voiced crusty retired colonel.

That, however, is just personal preference.

However, Disney's Badger is not a proper British (more correctly, European) badger, Meles meles. Here's one, which though not the most amiable of beasts in reality, still manages to look fairly affable ("I say, old chap, whatever are you looking at?")

Instead he's a North American badger, Taxidea taxus, which not only has a less affable expression ("Hey, bud, you. Yeah, you. You lookin' at me? You lookin' at ME?") but, more important, different stripes.

Here's Disney's version alongside mine. The correction took about five minutes of pixel-tweaking.

Disney's animators could have got it right from the outset just as easily, because I'm pretty sure the reference library which provided costume info for Rat's tweed Norfolk jacket and britches included picture-books of natural history.

Come to that, any "The Wind in the Willows" after the unillustrated first edition would have been enough, and there must have been at least one copy lying around for story adaptation and scene-description purposes.

The first illustrated edition came out in the UK in 1931, and its artist was, at author Kenneth Graham's request, the very same E.H. Shepard who had illustrated the Pooh books just a few years previously...

...while this Arthur Rackham colour plate is from an edition published in 1940 in New York.

So those books wouldn't have been impossible for Disney to get.

The problem, however, is that if a word ("badger", for instance) is well known to mean one thing here, it may be Too Much Trouble to find out if the same word means something else there, with the result that finding out can sometimes come as rather a surprise.

we have the longest living cultures on earth

if you want to call tatooine space australia because it's 'backwards' when we have abolished the death penalty, have universal healthcare and gun control... your (american) ignorance is showing. we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world, a far cry from tatooine.

there are elements of 19th century australia, a really horrific era of colonisation, genocide and, yes, slavery (although on a much smaller scale, particularly in the pearling industry) as a far off british colonial outpost, that are similar to tatooine (such as bushrangers and ned kelly) so if you're going to call tatooine space australia, be accurate and say 'space australia circa 19th century'

There’s been much discussion abroad in the USA, as to making Canada or even Greenland their 51st state. Well, they already have one down under. I say this not just because we’ve wholeheartedly supported America in its decisions, especially its foreign policies, but also because we’ve absorbed their culture into our own, perhaps more so than other cultures which have found homes in Australia. 

Not only this, but we have surrendered our sovereignty, by making America’s problems our problems and allowing them to embed themselves 

While there is a stereotype that Aussies are very anti government and frequently bend the law, we’re actually quite obedient, and have relinquished what little independence we have with little argument. Now we’re ruled by the king of the United Kingdom and the president of America, the latter of whom is essentially a king in function if not in name. 

Now, what I mean when referring to culture, isn’t necessarily the appropriation of American slang or spellings. Language is a constantly evolving system, and Australian terms have a plethora of influences; Indigenous Languages, Irish, English, and yes American. The replacement of the ‘G’day’ with the ‘What’s Up’ won’t topple Australian society anytime soon. 

What I mean by culture is primarily political rhetoric. 

There has been a noticeable increase in the frequency and intensity of the ‘us vs them’ style of political discourse. Why tell the public what you can do for them, when you can make your opponent out to be the devil? You don’t want them to get into power now do you?

This kind of smearing prevails in America, whose voting isn’t compulsory. So if you’re to attain votes, you need to motivate people, fuel them with so much hate and discontent they’ll find the courage within themselves to make the perilous journey from their couch to the voting booth. 

So, why are Australian politicians adopting this method more and more? People are required by law to vote. Right? 

Yes, but the punishment for not voting is quite negligible; A 20 dollar “Administrative Penalty”. At the moment, Australians value their lobsters, 2025 had one of the largest voter turnouts to date. At the same time, there was quite a large amount of prepollers as well. I, a first time voter, considered voting early as well, for the same reason many people consider it. And, this is the same reason aussie politicians demonise their opponents.

Australia’s two party system is increasingly looking like a one party system, two heads belonging to the one body. Sure the two squabble over control, but their end goal is always the same; to maintain the status quo. Because in essence, the two parties are painfully centristic, leaning only slightly to their respective left and right, they need to differentiate themselves without making themselves look extreme. So they make the opposite party look like the extremists. 

But, as I implied earlier, it isn’t just politics at stake, it’s also our independence. And, America isn’t entirely to blame. Our own leaders and governments have adopted these political tactics, who’ve facilitated this Americanisation, who’ve accepted deals which make Australia just another military base; a proxy state to fight imaginary wars with its perceived enemies in East Asia and the Middle East. 

The few people that have attempted to speak out, have conveniently been removed from their public offices, or have backed down, allowing themselves to become another cog in the Australian-American machine. 

A machine, which, on Australias part, has churned through billions of dollars on military deals and purchases which, in all likelihood, collect dust. Deals, like ANZUS, AUKUS, and other equally as fun sounding acronyms. I could go on and on about any one of these “trilateral security partnership’s, but there’s a different piece of hardware I’ll touch on. One which ties us inextricably to the US and has for quite some time. 

A few k’s from Alice Springs is a chunk of land under the ownership of America and used for its benefits only. Officially, the running of Pine Gap and its various golf ball looking structures is a joint effort, the centrepiece of the Australian-American military partnership. There have been suspicions that only 10% of the 800 primary staff stationed at Pine Gap are Australians. So, despite what defense ministers say, do we, as in the government, really know what “intelligence” Pine Gap collects? 

And how does this benefit us? Is this base not a contradiction? Doesn’t its presence make us a target. Without it and our partnerships with America, would other powers really be suspected of putting a target on our back? Who does this base keep at bay?

China? 

Why do we fear China? Because America does. They fear them to such a degree, that they’re willing to use other nations as a proxy to deal with them so they don’t get their own hands dirty.

Our relationship with the US is not one of mateship. it’s one of parasitsm. Both ways as well. America pushes us around for their own goals, and we hold and cling onto them, because we’re so desperate to big note, prove ourselves to the rest of the world. America is the top dog, so if we stick with them, surely we’ll get some recognition and respect?