The Times - UK (2022-01-19)

the times | Wednesday January 19 2022 2GM 33

Wo r l d

Twitter users were

not keen on Oscar

Isaac’s version of

a British accent

Books that tackle issues such as race
and sexual abuse are being banned as
Republican-led school districts target
award-winning novels in a right-wing
version of “cancel culture”.
One of the authors affected is Marga-
ret Atwood, whose dystopian novel The
Handmaid’s Tale, depicting the violent
oppression of women, has been turned
into an acclaimed television series.
The classroom has become one of the
key battlegrounds in America’s culture
wars, which pit traditionalists against
those with a left-wing agenda. The con-
flict is often fought over the teaching of
critical race theory — the idea that
racism is deeply entrenched in society
— but more recently the row has spread
to the subject matter of some popular
children’s novels.
The death of George Floyd, a black
man murdered by a white police officer
in Minneapolis in May 2020, spurred

The actor Oscar Isaac has been mocked
for his attempt at an English accent in a
new superhero film, drawing compari-
sons to Dick Van Dyke’s much-derided
stab at Cockney in Mary Poppins.
Isaac stars in Moon Knight, the latest
instalment in the rapidly expanding
Marvel Cinematic Universe, the trailer
for which was released this week. How-
ever, his unplaceable accent, which was
described by the Hollywood Reporter as
a “sort of London, maybe southeast,

ant who is tormented by blackouts and

memories of another life. He learns he

has dissociative identity disorder and

shares a body with a persona who is a

mercenary.

British actors seem to be having more

Joshua Thurston

Award-winning books banned as

culture wars enter the classroom

United States
Alistair Dawber Washington

greater calls for the teaching of the

theory, but in many areas of the coun-

try parents objected.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of

the office for intellectual

freedom at the American

Library Association

(AMA), told the Axios

news website that she

had never witnessed

such a “volume of chal-

lenges come in such a

short time” in 20 years.

The AMA tracked the

targeting of 566 books

in 2019 and 273 books

during the pandemic in

2020.

“I don’t want my

daughter growing up

feeling guilty because

she’s white,” one Pennsylvanian parent

told a school board meeting in York

county last year. The generally affluent

county, which voted overwhelmingly

for Donald Trump in 2020, is dominat-

ed by Republican officials. The row led

to an order to freeze the availability of

books that included references to criti-

cal race theory.

“Banning books on diversity is the

direct result of this Re-

publican-manufactured

crisis on critical race

theory,” Donna Bullock,

chairwoman of the Penn-

sylvania legislative black

caucus, said.

In October the school

district in Katy, Texas,

banned two books by the

graphic novelist Jerry Craft

that describe the

experiences of two black

boys who fall victim to

racist abuse at school after

400 local parents signed a

petition.

The ban has since been overturned,

but critics argue that school districts

are coming under pressure from politi-

cians and that the action amounts to

censorship. In some areas of the coun-

try proposed bans would lead to the

removal of children’s novels that raise

issues such as sexual abuse, teenage

pregnancy and drug-taking.

In November the Spotsylvania coun-

ty school board in Virginia ordered staff

to remove “sexually explicit” books

from libraries after a parent raised con-

cerns about their LGBTQ themes.

The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the

books that is most frequently chal-

lenged on account of its often violent

and sexual content. “If you’re a writer

and everybody likes you, a) you’re

doing something wrong, or b) you don’t

exist,” Atwood, 82, told the Associated

Press.

“I am happy to be in the company of

the Bible, Shakespeare, John Bunyan,

Lord Byron, Emily Brontë, Flaubert,

James Joyce, Nawal el Saadawi, Angela

Carter, Anonymous of A Woman in Ber-

lin and so many others. Lucky me, I live

in a democracy, so at least I’m not in jail

or being tossed out of a plane.”

Cor blimey! Marvel actor mocked for his English accent

probably nowhere, cor blimey guv”, led

many to poke fun on Twitter.

“Moon Knight looks awesome. Giving

Oscar Isaac a British accent feels like a

very personal attack,” wrote one user.

Another said: “Oscar Isaac’s Dick Van

Dyke-esque British accent is single-

handedly going to make this immense-

ly watchable, isn’t it?” Yet another

wrote: “Moon Knight is a show that

dares to ask ‘What if there was a super-

hero inspired by Don Cheadle’s accent

in the Ocean’s 11 movies?’”

In the film Isaac plays a shop assist-

success with American accents. In the

past few weeks Benedict Cumberbatch

has been praised for his portrayal of a

Montana rancher in The Power of the

Dog, Idris Elba for his Wild West gun-

slinger in The Harder They Fall and Tom

Blyth for his take on Billy the Kid in a

TV drama. US casting agents say Brit-

ish and Australian drama schools have

cottoned on to the demand for actors

who can convincingly portray charac-

ters from specific parts of the States.

Moon Knight will be streamed on

Disney+ in March.

Man charged

over crash

‘on autopilot’

Charlie Mitchell

A Tesla driver has been charged with

vehicular manslaughter after allegedly

skipping a red light and ploughing into

another vehicle, killing two people,

while his car was on autopilot.

Kevin Riad, 27, a driver for a limou-

sine service, has pleaded not guilty. He

is out on bail at present.

He is believed to be the first person in

America to face serious criminal char-

ges for a deadly crash involving a par-

tially automated driving system. Police

said the Tesla Model S was travelling

quickly when it left a motorway, ran a

red light and hit a Honda Civic at a

junction in Gardena, a Los Angeles

suburb, in December 2019.

Two people in the Honda, Gilberto

Alcazar Lopez and Maria Guadalupe

Nieves-Lopez, died at the scene. Riad

and a woman in the Tesla were taken to

hospital with minor injuries. The vic-

tims’ families have filed separate law-

suits against both Tesla and Riad.

Although the charges do not men-

tion autopilot, the National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration con-

firmed the technology was in use at the

time of the crash. Tesla has not com-

mented on the charges against Riad.

The company has warned that the

technology, which can control steering,

speed and braking, cannot yet drive the

car by itself safely.

Diners need

digital key for

the top table

Will Pavia New York

The latest restaurant on New York’s

crowded dining scene does not yet have

premises or a menu, and will serve only

diners who have bought tokens using

the digital currency ethereum.

In spite of these drawbacks — or per-

haps because of them — tokens giving

the holders the right to eat at this estab-

lishment have been trading for $21,000.

Flyfish Club, due to open next year,

has been set up by three restaurateurs

and a digital marketing entrepreneur

and is billed as the first NFT restaurant.

NFTs, non-fungible tokens, are unique

units of data stored on a digital ledger

using the blockchain technology that

underpins cryptocurrencies. Some 1,151

membership tokens for the Flyfish Club

were released for about $8,000 each on

January 7. “We sold them in less than a

minute. It was crazy,” David Rodolitz,

one of the founders, said.

The sales raised $15 million, Rodolitz

said. In the week and a half since, there

has been $19 million worth of sales on

the secondary market, of which his res-

taurant group received 10 per cent.

Reservations will be offered up to 14

days in advance on a first come, first

served basis. Tokens give the right to eat

at the restaurant but do not cover the

bill, which must be paid in US dollars.

At Flyfish Club, members own their

tokens and can sell them or lease them.

Rodolitz compared the concept to a

famous old New York restaurant, Rao’s,

where patrons “own” tables, guarantee-

ing them reservations — however, the

tables cannot be sold or transferred.

“A lot of people have already made

three times their money,” he said. “By

owning the asset, it becomes yours: you

can do what you want with it.”

CHARLES MCQUILLAN/GETTY IMAGES

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petition

I

rish police have

arrested a Slovakian

man for the murder of

Ashling Murphy, a

23-year-old primary

school teacher who was

killed while jogging by the

Grand Canal in Co Offaly,

central Ireland, last week

(John Mooney writes).

The man, a father of three

in his thirties, was taken to

the police station in

Tullamore, 60 miles west of

Dublin. His arrest was

confirmed shortly after

Murphy was laid to rest at

St Brigid’s Church in nearby

Mountbolus.

The man was arrested

after being discharged from

a Dublin hospital, where he

had been treated for injuries

consistent with attempted

suicide. Officers compared

DNA taken from his clothes

at the hospital with that left

at the scene by the killer.

They have yet to establish

a motive for the murder or

any link between Murphy

and the suspect.

Man held

over murder

of teacher

Pupils from Ashling Murphy’s

primary school class before

her funeral yesterday. She

was killed while out jogging