RIP Richard Adams

So 2016 just hadnt taken enough people from us. I didnt intend to end this year with tribute after tribute, I had video games and films to talk about as well as a few other ideas for posts but each and every one of these people who has passed has effected my life very strongly for one reason or another and I would feel bad if I was to ignore there loss.

So Today I am here to mourn the passing of Richard George Adams an English novelist who is arguably best known as the author of Watership Down. Now I will admit that I came across this novel via the film adaption. In fact the last time I talked about WaterShip down on this blog when it was shown at easter and the fact that for a film with a U it had a suprsingly dark edge to it. Well in honesty its not really dark its just realistic and uncompramisingly so. I watched it at quiet a young age and in honesty I think it is a great film and the film led me to the book which is arguably even better. It is a classic piece of literature which I feel the world would be worse without. Richard Adams breathed so much humanity in to the rabbits in his book that you couldnt help but better understand the plights faced by a rabbit in its day to day life, its not suprising that he spent a year as the president of the RSPCA, his work has proberbly made more people stop and think about the animals around them than anyone else and he did it while crafting one of the most enjoyable stories out.

I also think its intresting to note that Adams originally began telling the story that would go on to become Watership Down to his two daughters Juliet and Rosamond during a car trip. The story goes that it was his daughters who insisted that he turn this story in to a book. This process took him two years to complete and the struggle wasnt over there four publishers and three writers agencys turned it down before Rex Collings agreed to publish it. Kind of suprising for a book which would go on to gain international acclaim almost immediately after itse release going on to win both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. I guess if anything can be taken from this story it is that if you have faith in something you have created then stand by it keep pushing and ride out the rejection.

Rest In peace Richard Adams your loss as well as the loss of many of my other heroes this year has been a bitter pill to swallow but swallow it we all must I will end with some words of his own from Watership Down  “Would that the dead were not dead! But there is grass that must be eaten, pellets that must be chewed, hraka that must be passed, holes that must be dug, sleep that must be slept.”

My thoughts on Watership down being shown at Easter

Ok so a few days ago the various online newspapers were full of headlines like the following ''Watership Down: Parents left 'horrified' as Channel 5 airs 'traumatic' film on Easter Sunday'' To put it as basically as possible some parents threw a bloody fit because Channel 5 showed WaterShip Down a film about the struggle undertaken by a group of rabits to escape from almost certain death and find a better way of life. It is a story which covers concepts such as loss, death, betrayel and a kind of rebirth (not of a person but of a society and a way of life) So as far as I am concerned I think its showing at easter was kind of appropriate. We have parents here saying its too bloody, well yes there is a lot of blood, there is to much death, yes death is in it to a fair degree, The film is a complete classic though as is the book it is based off of.

This is not the first time Watership down has caused controversy the very fact a lot of violence is in it and its a kids film with a Universal for everyone rating has caused more complaints to the British Board of Film Clasification than any other film, and I personall believe it needs a PG rating. Lets stop and remember though that while some parents are moaing about this others are telling there children the story of a man betrayed by his people, who is brutally tortured and nailed through his wrists to a wooden cross only to resurrect several days late, some are even taking them to churches to see statues depicting this, compared to this the bunny option doesnt sound to bad, let them deal with the death of a gold fish before you go telling them oh by the way the son of God got bruttaly knocked off.

So why are peole happy to tell there young kids the stories about JC and the sunshine gang? Well its because they believe that the stories have merit to them, they can be used to teach morals  and life lessons. Well I happen to think that the same can be said about Watership down so if your going to apply the above logic that a gory story can still be a good story if it has a purpose if it contains lessons that are worth learning.

I think part of the problem is that people are too easily offended coupled with the fact that everyone is now so used to shows like the X factor that they seem to think they can vote anything they dont like off of TV. Add to that the fact that some people dont seem to feel the need to raise there own children, they want to just throw them in front of the TV and let it do the job for them. I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of the complaint didnt come from parents who had to get off there arse and deal with there child because something in the film upset them. A real parent would be there ready and willing to discuss anything which had a big impact on there child.

The whole thing is just a joke if we banned and censored everything someone had a problem with then there would never be anything on with any real worth, anything that makes a person think will upset someone.