http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPcLPzItOQs
I felt that with the first class along with Astarte's post, posting this may have some benefits. Here is the opening scene for one of the funniest movies ever made. While it can be considered offensive, notice how it takes what would have been happening at the time, and flips some stuff around to show how blatantly stupid racism is.
I have to also relate a story. When I was in high school, the Family Channel played this two weekends in a row. The first was uncut, and all n-words were in tact. The next weekend it was replayed with bleeps over every single one. I am not arguing that the word is considered offensive and why it is considered such. In a way, I think that this movie was revolutionary for taking such a stance and using the word throughout the film. Reminds me of All in the Family in that stance. By showing Archie Bunker as this racist bigot, it illuminates exactly how preposterous his actions, thoughts, and words are.
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3 comments:
Blazing Saddles is truly Mel Brooks at his BEST! It is pure comic genius. My parents first sat my sister and I down and showed us this movie when we were 4 and 6 years old! For them, it was a funny and entertaining way to teach us about antisemitism, racism, bigotry, everything- way more than any serious message piece could do.
I remember in first grade, when the teacher passed out name tags, I responded with "Badges?! We don't need no stinkin' badges!", and I've been quoting this comic masterpiece ever since.
I love it when people get all uppity about it and think that it's racist because that just goes to show that they've truly missed the point! Brooks is a VERY liberal Democrat who used the racist characters in the movie to poke fun at people who are actually racist, and show them how ridiculous they sound. If you notice, it's the white racist, anti-semitic characters who come up looking stupid the entire movie. Hilarious and definitely one of my favorite movies of all time, coming second only to Young Frankenstein, another Brooks comedy that I believe was released the same year.
I have to wonder if something this edgy would even be produced today and shown in major theaters? I think we've gotten a little prudish as a society since the 70's...
By the way, thanks for posting this- it's been a while since I watched it, and it truly made my day :)
I've never seen this movie before. I've seen so many things with the roles reversed that it seems very odd to me... but I do get that is it is satire.
I don't know how to feel about this...
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