THE BANANIA MAN (BONHOMME BANANIA)

You mean, Bananaman? "Eric is Bananaman?"

THIS Bananaman?

No siree.

This guy is FRENCH and has a far darker story (if you thought Jean Mineur was dark, you OUGHT to read THIS post!)

For starters, I have been to France but NEVER LIVED there, so I got to learn about this guy from Karambolage (just like Jean Mineur!) 

Banania is an instant cocoa drink, Nesquik's main rival. The ingredients are all of them very tropical: chocolate powder, cane sugar, and the special ingredient: banana or plantain starch (hence the name!).

The mascot was originally this Afro-Caribbean girl, quite similar to Chiquita Banana...

 

But the World Wars changed that, and she was replaced by the Banania Man, a Senegalese soldier (Senegal was a French colony at the time):

Look at that innocent yet ominous smile, "half devil and half child" to quote Rudyard Kipling. And at that uniform: the red fez because he's a Muslim, French blue jacket, and puffy white trousers perfect for the bush, a tropical environment. Instead of saying "c'est bon" in Standard European French, he says "y a bon" in his own regional dialect.

Thousands of men like him were sent to the Western Front, a completely different world, along with TRAINLOADS of Banania powder for the whole French army's breakfast (and it got eaten by bugs and rats too, of course). The Senegalese men and those from other tropical colonies (like Afro-Caribbean and Vietnamese soldiers) were used as a human shield for the European French men and put on the frontlines to be massacres during the warm seasons, the rationale being that, hailing from tropical climates, they would not survive the European winter!

No one mourns these men from across the seas. Their names never appear on those memorials for those "slain for France," crowned by Gallic roosters. Yet their memory survives, for instance, in the form of the Banania Man. Although he is pretty racist, he has been reclaimed as a symbol by the Senegalese immigrants that live within the Hexagon (European France). Like Jean Mineur, he is scary to some people but reassuring to others, even to collectors of his merchandise!

Even ARSÈNE LUPIN had a Senegalese servant that went by "Y a bon," which was most likely a nickname - yes, he has become a literary character!

The modern-day iteration of the Banania Man has less racist features...

His lips have become far thinner and his skin a little fairer, and his smile far more charming, and the "y a bon" in regional accent is gone, but he's still black and still wears the trademark Islamic fez. I'm so glad this brand does not exist in Spain and I would rather take my chances with Nesquik!

After all, there's NOTHING racist about a brown rabbit!

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PS! SAY GOODBYE TO UNCLE BEN AND TO CHIQUITA BANANA!

The Banania Man and the Sarotti Moor are not the only politically incorrect mascots to have been rebranded.

Uncle Ben, a staple of my childhood summers in Sweden, is now also gone forever. Requiem for a reassuring bald black guy who always reminded me of Sam L. Jackson, the Mace Windu of my childhood. The brand is now the 100 percent Uncle-free Ben's Original!

And Chiquita Banana also got axed! 

Which makes me wonder: within half a century, will the Wizarding World and Middle-Earth also be sacrificed on the altar of the Politically Correct Gods? Will Dudley Dursley (pre-dementor's kiss) no longer be "the size and weight of a young killer whale," but simply "enormous" (like Augustus Gloop or Aunt Sponge)? Will hobbits nevermore smoke pipeweed? And what about the Haradrim? It would be sacrilege to alter all of that...

HBO - NEW WIZARDING WORLD (THIS DECEMBER)

This winter I am really looking forward to two new things: the release of Pokémon Gen 10 (a new region/counterpart culture inspired by Southeast Asia, new starters, new species, new guiri(foreign tourist)-looking Pikachu, a male and female...) but first and foremost HBO HARRY POTTER, The Series of the Books (like Game of Thrones or Lemony Snicket) instead of the Films of the Books - this being a series with hour-long episodes will add many more details that were skipped in the films (many scenes with Harry at the Dursleys' for instance) and characters and subplots that were likewise skipped (like poltergeist Peeves or Winky, the Crouches' female house-elf!) for want of space, in the films. (Not to mention the SPEW subplot)! We could also get A LOT of Marauders flashbacks - MARAUDERS FANS, REJOICE!!!). Actors have been recast and objects/products have been rebranded, we have a new Hogwarts coat of arms and new uniforms...

The new Golden Trio, canonizing now the fanon that Hermione is black - makes sense given that she is the Daenerys of the Wizarding World, freeing the slaves (house-elves) and being called ethnic slurs (mudblood).

But I can't conceive of a black Snape. He must be pale and have an aquiline nose... More Lion of Judah than Serpent of Slytherin, even more in these dreadlocks... looks like many Rastafarians I have seen at the Rototom during summers in Benicàssim!

The new Draco Malfoy has the wrong shade of blond and the wrong shape of hair, the goldilocks look makes him look like David Bisbal (and on screen he doesn't change his colour and shape of hair to straight and platinum)... 

Draco wearing the male uniform

Hermione wearing the female uniform.

You can also see that the uniform has changed. The house ties/scarves are still there, but the uniform now has, for males, a maroon waistcoat and gray trousers; for females, a green plaid dress with a ribbon in her house colours around the waist. The uniforms are far less gender-equal than in the films. I prefer the old ones, in black and gray with the house colours for a pop of colour... these new uniforms remind me more of shoujo anime and Catholic schools, NOT Hogwarts!

The new Hogwarts crest, with the Lion of Gryffindor and Badger of Slytherin as tenants, the Eagle of Ravenclaw on top, and the Serpent of Slytherin as an ouroboros around the initial H. Looks like a real coat of arms and moreover more inspired by the Queen crest:

I grew up with the quartered, four-coloured Hogwarts crest but I can totally see this new design on merchandise, like on a sweatshirt sold at Primark.

The packaging of the sweets also changes. Every-Flavour Beans now come in pyramidal packagings with a Jack and the Beanstalk motif, and that of Chocolate Frogs is now shaped like a six-petal waterlily. 

The Chocolate Frog packaging opens at the top, the petals unfold... and the Frogs are still made of Croakoa, and sentient, but now green (tastes like mint, I guess?) and much more realistic. Also, the famous wizard trading cards now come in hexagonal shape because the packaging is no longer pentagonal!

Moreover the new series has added scenes of Harry at the Dursleys' when his powers activate (before he learns he's a wizard: Harry's powers activate when he's stressed/bullied). For instance: Aunt Petunia gives him a bad haircut and his hair grows back at lightning speed.