Paddington has an official passport. The makers of the new Paddington film Paddington in Peru revealed this in passing to the Radio Times today.
They needed the passport for scenes in the new movie, presumably showing Paddington clearing customs on his journey back to darkest Peru. So they approached the Home Office for a facsimile, which is odd in itself, given that any decent prop hand on a film set can rustle one up for you – one that will fool a camera, anyway – in half an hour.
The issues around immigration are often reduced to the level of a CGI bear – because this is the level at which many of the country’s ‘nice’ centrist middle-class people operate
‘We wrote to the Home Office,’ revealed producer Rob Silva, ‘asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport – there’s only one of these … you wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear.’
I wish I had Rob Silva’s touching faith in the Home Office. Because that is exactly what I would have expected from them.
The serious and concerning issues around immigration are often reduced to the level of a CGI bear – because this is the level at which many of the country’s ‘nice’ centrist middle-class people operate. In 2022, after all, when the Rwanda scheme was first mooted, a group of Home Office civil servants styling themselves ‘Our Home Office’ stuck ‘Refugees Welcome’ stickers and parody Immigration Enforcement notices featuring Paddington on staff noticeboards in protest at the ‘barbaric’ policy.
Paddington has become a symbol of arch tweeness in adults who really should know better. Twee is like sex – lovely behind closed doors, appalling in public, and you should be sent to prison if you force it on people who don’t consent.
So of course the simple of mind and thought have latched on to Paddington and his immigration status, because it suits their frequently infantile world view. An adult story would be too difficult, too complex, too uncomfortable. Far easier to divide the world like a child into nice progressive people like the Brown family and nasty right-wingers like curmudgeonly old Mr Curry. Why stop there? We should maybe tackle other big topics of the day through the lens of children’s books and TV shows. I’m sure The Very Hungry Caterpillar could teach us about Ozempic, and just think of the lessons The Wombles could impart about net zero. Maybe Curious George would be a good ambassador for eradicating monkeypox?
We are supposed to grow out of children’s stories. Discovering that the world and the human race are far stranger and far more complicated than the basic package you get served up as a tot is one of the most fun things about growing up. And yes, that can lead to adolescent cynicism and nihilism, and yes, that is every bit as annoying in adults. The trick is to move on successfully through both vital stages. Children’s stories are for children, they belong to children, and that is no small or bad thing. Adults seeing them as political symbols – or worse, using them for didactic political purposes – are a bad lot.
In a pleasing coda to this story, Downing Street told Harry Cole of the Sun that ‘they are not aware the Home Office had given Paddington a passport, and declined to answer whether this was a good use of taxpayer funded civil service time.’ This is the rub. In a country at ease with itself, where things are bubbling along reasonably nicely, government departments and institutions can afford such cutesy gestures. With the Home Office mired in a permanent state of dysfunction and chaos management, it is infuriating.
Paddington should be deported – not to Peru, but back to the world of children’s fiction, where he belongs.
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