On Sun, Apr 26, 2020 at 7:02 AM Dave Feldman <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 5:51:39 PM UTC-4, Joe Hass wrote: >> >> On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 4:41 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Except, the casual homophobia in old media (a less intense version is >>> notable when I watched Friends for the first time a couple of years ago) is >>> ugly and best moved beyond, while the use of Ni**** in Blazing Saddles is >>> intrinsic to what makes the film both hilarious and classic. >>> >> >> You are absolutely correct. My aha moment with Blazing Saddles occurred >> when someone pointed out to me that the only people who say that word are >> the bad guys. >> > > Blazing Saddles use of the N-word was not without controversy at the time, > but it sure didn’t hurt having Richard Pryor as a writer-consultant on the > movie. > Blazing Saddles was rated R when it was in theaters. I point that out for the parents who are now watching the movie with their teenage children. I was 14 or 15 when the film came out and my mother judged me mature enough to come along when they went to see it. I don't remember controversy around the time of its theatrical run. The MPAA ratings system was still fairly new and people might have felt that if it got a rating there was nothing they could do and it would fade from consciousness once the theatrical run was over and some new outrage would come along. I don't remember Brooks doing a lot of promotion of the movie at the time so the explanations and defenses of the film I heard from him came decades later. And while Pryor was well known, he didn't yet have the stature he later got and it would not have been a stamp of approval. I got the DVD as soon as it was put on sale. From the extras that's the first time I heard of Pryor's involvement. There was also an interview with one of the characters who played a bad guy cowboy. He said he went to Cleavon Little and told him he was uncomfortable with the language in the script. Cleavon said he knew the actors weren't trying to insult him and that they should follow the script to make the comedy work. Brooks said that the movie played well with Black audiences because it confirmed their assumption that it was how White people talked about them when they were not present. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiE737ME%3DKFqhvWJNG5N2o7wxZtBOx%3D6yrYmhysQPSqg0w%40mail.gmail.com.
