Board index › General Discussion › News and Current Events

New York Barnes and Noble store’s curious diversity covers

Page 1 of 3 [ 36 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

Previous topic | Next topic

ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 68
Gender: Male
Posts: 39,637
Location: Long Island, New York

05 Feb 2020, 3:21 am

Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity

Quote:
A collection of classic books with new culturally diverse covers will make their debut at New York City’s largest bookstore.

To kick off Black History Month, Penguin Random House and Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue is partnering up to give twelve classic young adult novels new covers, known as “Diverse Editions.” The books will hit the shelves on Feb. 5, and Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue will have the books on display in their massive storefront throughout the month of February.

The following books will be on display with their Diverse Edition covers:

Alice in Wonderland
Romeo and Juliet
Three Musketeers
Moby Dick
The Secret Garden
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Emma
The Wizard of Oz
Peter Pan
Treasure Island
Frankenstein
Each title had five culturally diverse custom covers designed to ensure the recognition, representation, and inclusion of various multiethnic backgrounds reflected across the country. The new covers are a part of a new initiative to champion diversity in literature.

Customers who can’t make it in-store to purchase a book can download the new cover online for free.

To celebrate the release of the new covers, Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue is hosting a Diverse Editions Launch & Panel Discussion from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 5. The panel, which will be moderated by TBWA North America’s Chief Diversity Officer Doug Melville, will feature key opinion leaders within the industry including bestselling author MK Asante, literary agent Nena Madonia Oshman (Dupree Miller), Cal Hunter of Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue, and more


To me these covers are kind of like blackface.

Would not books by diverse authors be better at promoting diversity?


_________________
“Self Acceptance is a process not a performance”
“You are autistic enough. And you always have been”

Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.


Darmok
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Dec 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,030
Location: New England

05 Feb 2020, 3:30 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity
Quote:
Moby Dick

So, The Black Whale? 8O :D


_________________
 
There Are Four Lights!


Karamazov
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2012
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,979
Location: Rural England

05 Feb 2020, 3:33 am

Yay! Corporations inflaming socio-political tensions in pursuit of free publicity!
What a joyous time to be alive :roll:



Wolfram87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Feb 2015
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,976
Location: Sweden

05 Feb 2020, 5:11 am

Darmok wrote:
ASPartOfMe wrote:
Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity
Quote:
Moby Dick

So, The Black Whale? 8O :D


Have these people even read Moby Dick? The crew of the Pequod is absurdly diverse. The harpooneers are a Pacific Islander, a black man, a native american and an indian zoroastrian, the cabin boy is a black kid, the captain is disabled and I'm pretty sure several essays can be (and probably have been) written about all the homosexual undertones in that book. How much more do they need?


_________________
I'm bored out of my skull, let's play a different game. Let's pay a visit down below and cast the world in flame.


Karamazov
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2012
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,979
Location: Rural England

05 Feb 2020, 6:32 am

Wolfram87 wrote:
Darmok wrote:
ASPartOfMe wrote:
Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity
Quote:
Moby Dick

So, The Black Whale? 8O :D


Have these people even read Moby Dick? The crew of the Pequod is absurdly diverse. The harpooneers are a Pacific Islander, a black man, a native american and an indian zoroastrian, the cabin boy is a black kid, the captain is disabled and I'm pretty sure several essays can be (and probably have been) written about all the homosexual undertones in that book. How much more do they need?


Publicity = Controversy = Market Awareness = Sales = Profit.

The qualities and stances of the individual books is purely incidental, as is the political overtones of the new cover images; if neo-nazi themed covers shifted stock they’d do that instead.



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,959
Location:      

05 Feb 2020, 9:44 am

Discrimination! I do not see "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the list.


_________________
The mere fact that science may not yet adequately explain an object, event, or experience does not mean the immediate explanation should automatically default to a conspiratorial, extraterrestrial, paranormal, or supernatural cause.


Karamazov
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2012
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,979
Location: Rural England

05 Feb 2020, 9:54 am

Fnord wrote:
Discrimination! I do not see "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the list.


:lol:

Personally I’m looking forward to the furore over black Frankenstein’s Monster.



Karamazov
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2012
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,979
Location: Rural England

05 Feb 2020, 9:56 am

Karamazov wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Discrimination! I do not see "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the list.


:lol:

Personally I’m looking forward to the furore over black Frankenstein’s Monster.


Ffs: I just followed the link...
They really have gone there and done that :roll: :lol:



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,959
Location:      

05 Feb 2020, 10:00 am

Karamazov wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Discrimination! I do not see "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the list.
Personally I’m looking forward to the furore over black Frankenstein’s Monster.
I would like to see a movie in which the Monster was assembled from racially-diverse parts, or from parts that came only from deceased black people. It would put a completely different perspective on the villagers' reactions and rejections of the Monster, especially if the locale was changed to New Orleans in the late 1800s.

Not exactly a Disney movie, right?


_________________
The mere fact that science may not yet adequately explain an object, event, or experience does not mean the immediate explanation should automatically default to a conspiratorial, extraterrestrial, paranormal, or supernatural cause.


Karamazov
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2012
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,979
Location: Rural England

05 Feb 2020, 10:24 am

Fnord wrote:
Karamazov wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Discrimination! I do not see "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the list.
Personally I’m looking forward to the furore over black Frankenstein’s Monster.
I would like to see a movie in which the Monster was assembled from racially-diverse parts, or from parts that came only from deceased black people. It would put a completely different perspective on the villagers' reactions and rejections of the Monster, especially if the locale was changed to New Orleans in the late 1800s.

Not exactly a Disney movie, right?


Yes: if done thoughtfully at every stage of the production in could work as an organic interweaving of race issues with the original themes of the novel.

Surely Disney could release it back to back with a woke remake of ‘song of the south’ :lol:



Wolfram87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Feb 2015
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,976
Location: Sweden

05 Feb 2020, 11:02 am

Funny thought: would depicting muslim Juliet as her canon age on the cover count as respect or disrespect for islamic culture?


_________________
I'm bored out of my skull, let's play a different game. Let's pay a visit down below and cast the world in flame.


EzraS
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Sep 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 27,828
Location: Twin Peaks

05 Feb 2020, 11:05 am

Karamazov wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Discrimination! I do not see "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the list.


:lol:

Personally I’m looking forward to the furore over black Frankenstein’s Monster.


His previous color was too much of a pale green supremacy thing.



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

05 Feb 2020, 11:08 am

If diversity is shown where there was no diversity, then we're skewing history.

I wish we had Three Musketeers who were ethnically diverse----but we didn't. They were meant to be three Frenchmen of European descent.

I do believe we have to present Jesus as a man of Middle Eastern descent, rather than a man who obviously looked northern European in descent.



Karamazov
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2012
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,979
Location: Rural England

05 Feb 2020, 1:07 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
If diversity is shown where there was no diversity, then we're skewing history.

I wish we had Three Musketeers who were ethnically diverse----but we didn't. They were meant to be three Frenchmen of European descent.

I do believe we have to present Jesus as a man of Middle Eastern descent, rather than a man who obviously looked northern European in descent.


Makes sense to me: we should have Sikhs in WWI trenches, the occasional black roman emperor, Middle Eastern Jesus (everyone else in the bible for that matter) and curry houses run by Indians in C18th London.

Come to think of it: there’s a running thing in three musketeers of one of the characters getting attitude from the others for being a Gascon...
Because in Europe we’ve spent a lot of time being racist at each other :D :roll:



Darmok
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Dec 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,030
Location: New England

06 Feb 2020, 2:51 pm

STOP THE PRESSES!


Barnes & Noble suspends reissues of classics with new images

NEW YORK -- Barnes & Noble is withdrawing a planned line of famous literature reissued with multicultural cover images that has been met with widespread criticism on social media.

"We acknowledge the voices who have expressed concerns about the Diverse Editions project at our Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue store and have decided to suspend the initiative," Barnes & Noble announced in a statement Wednesday.

The author Adriana Herrera had called the books, scheduled to be launched this week, “the classics in blackface.”

“Diverse Editions,” a joint project between Barnes & Noble and Penguin Random House, featured 12 texts, including Lewis Carroll's “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,” Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” and L. Frank Baum's “The Wizard of Oz.” The words are the same, but on the cover, major characters are depicted with dark-skinned illustrations by artists of “different ethnicities and backgrounds,” according to Barnes & Noble.

“Diverse Editions” was announced at a time when the publishing industry is already facing scrutiny over the novel “American Dirt" and its depiction of Mexican life and culture. "Absolute TONE-DEAF decision-making," Mexican-American writer David Bowles, a leading critic of “American Dirt," tweeted about “Diverse Editions.”

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wi ... s-68779769


_________________
 
There Are Four Lights!


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 68
Gender: Male
Posts: 39,637
Location: Long Island, New York

06 Feb 2020, 3:06 pm

Barnes and Noble did seemingly the impossible, unite both sides of the political divide.
One side for blackface and cultural appropriation, the other side for erasing history.


_________________
“Self Acceptance is a process not a performance”
“You are autistic enough. And you always have been”

Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.