- Moderator
- #61
Online
Blazing Saddles is an interesting case. It shows how stupid racism and prejudice are, "You know.....morons." By the way, Wilder ad libbed that line, which cracked Cleavon Little up.
When you take the n - word out, it can eviscerate the humor. The guy who played Lyle felt very uncomfortable saying it, but Cleavon Little said to go ahead because it was all in fun.
That's part of the problem. No white person should ever use the n - word in my view, with the possible exceptions of clowning or quoting, but you can self-censor when you are quoting. Humor takes place in the moment, so censoring can ruin the effect. In the case of Blazing Saddles, taking out the n-word diminishes the humor almost beyond recognition.
Look at the scene where Gabby on the roof keeps saying, "The new sheriff is a n" and the bell goes off, thereby censoring itself. When we lose the ability to laugh at ourselves--in this case, the utter stupidity of racism--we lose a vital part of perspective.
I knew someone for whom Archie Bunker was a hero. When you can't understand that racism is stupid, and that stupidity deserves ridicule, you are seriously warped.
Yeah, I've never used the n-word in any context. It was a word that I was taught to be a complete no-no when I was a kid and never used it.
But, even after teaching my kids how awful the word is, one of my daughters and her best friend always calls each other my n---a. Even though I realize a lot of kids do that, it still makes me cringe. She knows how I feel about it, but she gonna do what she's gonna do.