Strong anti-colonial undertones can be seen in the recent BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s famous book Great Expectations.
The celebrated story will feature a new twist written by Stephen Knight, who also created the popular television series Peaky Blinders.
One of the main characters – the criminal Magwitch – is shown in a scene saying that the British Empire was “built on the lies of privileged white men,” according to The Telegraph.
When asked whether he thinks the new adaptation will hurt the sentiments of traditionalists Knight said: “It’s everyone’s right to react in the way they want to react.”
“But I would say that the book exists, it is still there. This is not an attempt to say the book is wrong or this is better.”
Knight also reportedly aims to remove stiffness associated with Victorian Britain. Actor, Ffion Whitehead, who plays orphan Pip, the novel’s central character, hopes that the BBC’s interpretation will make the novel ‘more accessible for younger people’.
“The Empire was a horrible thing which involved a lot of British people going out and enslaving, pillaging and destroying a lot of cultures around the world,” He said.
“It was powered by greed. If there’s anyone walking around believing that the Empire was a great thing they are kidding themselves.”
