Brewster McCloud Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 A sitcom about an evil racist getting his commupence probably wouldn't be very funny either, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Thunderplex Posted December 21, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 13 minutes ago, Gus Mears said: I ended up watching some of Love Thy Neighbour recently and came to similar conclusions. Besides the fact that Eddie Booth saying 'sambo' and the like is racist and is only meant to be funny because it's racist, the fundamental problem with it as a sitcom is that it's horribly written and one of the least funny I've ever seen. Alledgedly, a very young Thunderplex did a perfect impression of Eddie, and was encouraged to do so at family gatherings and infant school talent contests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 4 minutes ago, Brewster McCloud said: A comedy about an evil racist getting his commupence probably wouldn't be very funny either, though. Oh it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members garynysmon Posted December 21, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 21 minutes ago, Brewster McCloud said: Yes, I lean towards that view too. If you do actually sit through the stuff, there are clearly jokes in which Garnett is the butt, but it's quite clear the word "nignog" is supposed to be inherently amusing - it's not a hill I want to die on, but I have nothing against it getting repeated on UK Gold or whatever. I actually find Curry and Chips more interesting for its historical context - Spike Milligan in race drag obviously isn't cool, but within the first 10 minutes of the first episode you learn quite a lot about late 60s/early 70s Britain, warts and all. I'm not really a fan of judging historical output, especially comedy, on today's standards. The crux of it (for me anyway), is if there was any malice involved rather than genuine lack of cultural awareness , which is difficult if not impossible to prove either way. I can see some merit to such shows continuing to be broadcast as it was in this climate that our parents, uncles/aunts, grandparents etc were brought up in. It doesn't make the material right of course, nor does it mean its less hurtful to those at the receiving end. But during a time where the political world has never been so polarised, where no one seems to understand (or even attempt to understand) the opposing argument, its an interesting discussion at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted December 21, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 A colleague was only saying this morning how his lad had commented on how appalling a video of Fawlty Towers was. Think it's the episode where the Major is talking about which cricket team are the "wogs". There's a lot of stuff that doesn't hold up. Even Only Fools has had cuts in it's re-runs on BBC to remove references to "Paki" and "Paki Shop". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 The major talking about cricket was a brilliant bait and switch joke. OFAH also removed "The Turbanator" bit which was a really forced joke. Here's hoping they do the same with the bit in The Office where Brent asks a brown gentleman to do his Ali G impersonation only to say "Oh it's the other one" and finally do his "That's racist" and look to camera because he is so funny and edgy mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members DEF Posted December 21, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 36 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said: The major talking about cricket was a brilliant bait and switch joke. OFAH also removed "The Turbanator" bit which was a really forced joke. Here's hoping they do the same with the bit in The Office where Brent asks a brown gentleman to do his Ali G impersonation only to say "Oh it's the other one" and finally do his "That's racist" and look to camera because he is so funny and edgy mate. Isn't the point of that Office bit that Brent is THAT kind of pathetic loser? It informs his character rather than an attempt to be funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted December 21, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 I only recently found out that the US remade Till Death Us Do Part into the series All In The Family, and that Archie Bunker, the American Alf Garnett, was played by the weird-looking guy who plays hillbillies now in films like The Waterboy. On the topic of showing historically problematic material, I don't think it should be censored, but it should have a foreword saying something along the lines of "Please note that this programme is a product of its time, and may contain references and language that could be considered offensive and inflammatory. We wish to avoid censorship and offer this programme up for appreciation, but also are aware of some of the problematic and less considered attitudes towards issues of race, gender, sexuality, and religion at the time." I think it was @Chris B who initially made this point as regards broadcasting old WOS on modern TV, as you can sometimes hear some pretty horrendous stuff from the crowd towards the non-white wrestlers, and also towards Adrian Street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 Just now, DEF said: Isn't the point of that Office bit that Brent is THAT kind of pathetic loser? It informs his character rather than an attempt to be funny. To an extent, but that bit was more Gervais than Brent if that makes sense. I don't think that character was even in another scene, it was in the show so Gervais could do his edgy batnz and disapproving face. Plus, Gervais saw Brent as cringy but in the finale, he wasn't a loser as he was the one dishing out the comeuppance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted December 21, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 56 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: Even Only Fools has had cuts in it's re-runs on BBC to remove references to "Paki" and "Paki Shop". Maybe it was racist horseplay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Astro Hollywood Posted December 21, 2018 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2018 Gervais' subsequent work has outed his weird obsession with race, bogged down with thinking it's observational comedy to not know how to act around black people, getting all panicky and asking them to rap or if they've seen Roots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chris B Posted December 21, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 7 minutes ago, Carbomb said: On the topic of showing historically problematic material, I don't think it should be censored, but it should have a foreword saying something along the lines of "Please note that this programme is a product of its time, and may contain references and language that could be considered offensive and inflammatory. We wish to avoid censorship and offer this programme up for appreciation, but also are aware of some of the problematic and less considered attitudes towards issues of race, gender, sexuality, and religion at the time." I think it was @Chris B who initially made this point as regards broadcasting old WOS on modern TV, as you can sometimes hear some pretty horrendous stuff from the crowd towards the non-white wrestlers, and also towards Adrian Street. On a similar note, there was a pop-up Beano museum/exhibition on South Bank a couple of years ago, and they handled some of the older stuff well. Particularly with regards to 'Little Plum', and also with some of the more minstrel-like portrayals of black characters, they had notices by the exhibits, which basically said "While they weren't intended to cause offense, these comics clearly came from less enlightened times with regards to race, and this should be kept in mind while reading them'. I also liked the Warner Bros notice at the beginning of some of their Tom and Jerry DVDs from a couple of years ago: "Some of the cartoons you are about to see are a product of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejdudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While the following does not represent the Warner Bros.' view of today's society, some of these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted December 21, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted December 21, 2018 Channel 4 did a cracking documentary on Censorship for their banned season. Well worth a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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