No. It’s not. I’m actually working on a long form series of articles about humor.
This and the episodes of always sunny, and mr show are all completely fine. The line is so arbitrary. Black face it self is such a uniquely American based on a negative and complicated history with vaudeville and early film. Which was bad for the most part. But why we are still paying for it is beyond me.
The reason blackface is historically considered racist is because it was used so Hollywood would not have to cast actors of color. That’s the offensive part. These modern examples didn’t actually do that. It was also used historically to make fun of what people considered “stupid black people”. Which is not what is happening in any of these circumstances.
The jokes. Especially in community, which as a d&d player I find funny because that’s kind of what dark elves look like. It’s such a deep unnatural shade of black. The whole joke in the scene is that the line is arbitrary and completely based on a sort of social semantics.
The whole banning of all of these episode is essentially corporate guilt. And while corporations have a lot to be guilty about this is low hanging fruit so they can say “see, we are cool. We don’t like racism”. Even though none of this has to do with historical marginalization. It’s simply referencing historical marginalization in funny ways.
Is that Allowed? To crack a few jokes about it? The thing about the style of humor you talk about. Edgy and provocative is that there’s a reason for it. It shocks.
I don’t think any of these episodes are offensive. No more than swearing in public is.
You make some great points. I remember reading about Vaudeville and how black-face was used to avoid having POC and to exaggerate offensive stereotypes, but for some reason I didn't make that connection to modern-day retellings as satires. I also definitely didn't know about Dark Elves actually being that unnatural shade of black (but I am trying to get into DND so maybe I'll be able to go back and watch this with a greater appreciation for the comedy LOL but even without that background knowledge I loved this episode). I also agree with the corporate guilt expunging these episodes but not the entire series as a way to showcase some sort of social-justice-checkbox. But in researching the reactions to this episode, it was a visceral reaction from audience members and fans that prompted the removal, one that corporate would have gladly allowed to stay if not for the cancel culture America has cultivated in recent years.
The problem of blackface, I would say, really comes down to America (as you've mentioned). It's this fanatical desperation for representation and reparation, but where the freedom of expression to do so is so heavily policed. America is self-centered in a way that makes it hard to appreciate or indulge in the nuances of other cultures and we hold others to our esoteric expectations of right and wrong, and that extends to media.
I think RDJ's character in "Tropic Thunder" is a great satire on blackface in Hollywood, but it's somehow more socially acceptable because of the awareness the creators had in making that a role. The entire movie is a satire, but the fact that "Community" created a similar affect in only a handful of minutes speaks to the social dynamics America has in play and helps/hinders our storytelling processes.
But damn. I'm really looking forward to your articles about humor! It'll be fascinating to analyze how it's changed and how culture plays a significant role in if something flops or not :D
To be fair I think there was very little visceral reaction to those blackface episodes that was "genuine" Not that they didn't believe that they were offended. I think they were but I think if you gave them a truth serum they wouldn't have a very good reason why. And that's problematic. It's just bad because it's referencing something that people know is bad. We have a word for that in religion. It's called blasphemy. "goddamned" is incredibly offensive to a certain subset of people. They literally believe it's taking the lords name in vain and they get uncomfortable at it. But we've all come to the conclusion that we don't "censor" Goddamned out of movies or TV shows if the author put them in because obviously they are not writing from a place where they find it offensive. It's completly OKAY to be offended by something. The problem becomes when you start telling other people that they ALSO need to be offended on your behalf. That's not how art works that's how dogma works. John Mcwhorter has written about this kind of racial stuff sometimes. He's a linguist, and black. HE writes for the NYtimes now but he used to have a substack. He actually wrote a book recently about it https://www.amazon.com/Woke-Racism-Religion-Betrayed-America/dp/0593423062 Which I have not read yet. But have seen him talk about it in interviews. We are stuck in a semantic argument over what's offensive rather than the older argument which is "should we have a society in which offensive material can and should be tolerated, not liked, but tolerated."
There was a great quote from some canadian I saw a while ago and I do not remember who said it but it goes like this. "If you think you live in a free society and you have never seen or read anything that offends you, then you do not live in a free society."
Lately, as kind of research, but also just for fun. I've been watching youtube a lot and watching people react to things like tropic thunder, and community and all kinds of stand up bits and it's funny. I have a hard time finding the people who ARE offended by this stuff. Most reaction videos are people, usually of color (there is a crazy sub-genre of youtube of black people reacting to older movies, music.. etc) It's illuminating. Rather than taking a few exceptionally connected people's word for it on what's offensive you can go right to people on the street and see, and mostly. They think it's hilarious. They get it. The tide is turning on the culture now. I feel like we are at about the point we were in the late 70s to mid 80s where there is a lot of social pressure to eliminate "offensive" material. This is going to backfire. It always does. The right wing censorship of the 80s led to the roaring 90s and it's no-holds-barred comedy. Right now, if people have their ear to the ground, there is a lot of rumbling. I think within a few years a lot of repression is going to release and we are going to see the return of shock comedy. Think John Waters, Howard Stern, A lot of Early internet, dead baby jokes. Whenever there is a long period of overly censorious or sensitive people, no matter what side it is, there is an inevitable backlash. The late nineteenth century led to the Roaring 20s. The stodgy 40s and 50s led to the free love 60s and disco 70s. The satanic panic anti music 80s led to some of the most offensive music and movies ever in the 80s/ 90s. The 2010s was also a decade of very overly sensitive people who "mean" well but really don't seem to understand how important humor is. So, I think we are about to see a big backlash. :) keep an eye out.
No. It’s not. I’m actually working on a long form series of articles about humor.
This and the episodes of always sunny, and mr show are all completely fine. The line is so arbitrary. Black face it self is such a uniquely American based on a negative and complicated history with vaudeville and early film. Which was bad for the most part. But why we are still paying for it is beyond me.
The reason blackface is historically considered racist is because it was used so Hollywood would not have to cast actors of color. That’s the offensive part. These modern examples didn’t actually do that. It was also used historically to make fun of what people considered “stupid black people”. Which is not what is happening in any of these circumstances.
The jokes. Especially in community, which as a d&d player I find funny because that’s kind of what dark elves look like. It’s such a deep unnatural shade of black. The whole joke in the scene is that the line is arbitrary and completely based on a sort of social semantics.
The whole banning of all of these episode is essentially corporate guilt. And while corporations have a lot to be guilty about this is low hanging fruit so they can say “see, we are cool. We don’t like racism”. Even though none of this has to do with historical marginalization. It’s simply referencing historical marginalization in funny ways.
Is that Allowed? To crack a few jokes about it? The thing about the style of humor you talk about. Edgy and provocative is that there’s a reason for it. It shocks.
I don’t think any of these episodes are offensive. No more than swearing in public is.
You make some great points. I remember reading about Vaudeville and how black-face was used to avoid having POC and to exaggerate offensive stereotypes, but for some reason I didn't make that connection to modern-day retellings as satires. I also definitely didn't know about Dark Elves actually being that unnatural shade of black (but I am trying to get into DND so maybe I'll be able to go back and watch this with a greater appreciation for the comedy LOL but even without that background knowledge I loved this episode). I also agree with the corporate guilt expunging these episodes but not the entire series as a way to showcase some sort of social-justice-checkbox. But in researching the reactions to this episode, it was a visceral reaction from audience members and fans that prompted the removal, one that corporate would have gladly allowed to stay if not for the cancel culture America has cultivated in recent years.
The problem of blackface, I would say, really comes down to America (as you've mentioned). It's this fanatical desperation for representation and reparation, but where the freedom of expression to do so is so heavily policed. America is self-centered in a way that makes it hard to appreciate or indulge in the nuances of other cultures and we hold others to our esoteric expectations of right and wrong, and that extends to media.
I think RDJ's character in "Tropic Thunder" is a great satire on blackface in Hollywood, but it's somehow more socially acceptable because of the awareness the creators had in making that a role. The entire movie is a satire, but the fact that "Community" created a similar affect in only a handful of minutes speaks to the social dynamics America has in play and helps/hinders our storytelling processes.
But damn. I'm really looking forward to your articles about humor! It'll be fascinating to analyze how it's changed and how culture plays a significant role in if something flops or not :D
To be fair I think there was very little visceral reaction to those blackface episodes that was "genuine" Not that they didn't believe that they were offended. I think they were but I think if you gave them a truth serum they wouldn't have a very good reason why. And that's problematic. It's just bad because it's referencing something that people know is bad. We have a word for that in religion. It's called blasphemy. "goddamned" is incredibly offensive to a certain subset of people. They literally believe it's taking the lords name in vain and they get uncomfortable at it. But we've all come to the conclusion that we don't "censor" Goddamned out of movies or TV shows if the author put them in because obviously they are not writing from a place where they find it offensive. It's completly OKAY to be offended by something. The problem becomes when you start telling other people that they ALSO need to be offended on your behalf. That's not how art works that's how dogma works. John Mcwhorter has written about this kind of racial stuff sometimes. He's a linguist, and black. HE writes for the NYtimes now but he used to have a substack. He actually wrote a book recently about it https://www.amazon.com/Woke-Racism-Religion-Betrayed-America/dp/0593423062 Which I have not read yet. But have seen him talk about it in interviews. We are stuck in a semantic argument over what's offensive rather than the older argument which is "should we have a society in which offensive material can and should be tolerated, not liked, but tolerated."
There was a great quote from some canadian I saw a while ago and I do not remember who said it but it goes like this. "If you think you live in a free society and you have never seen or read anything that offends you, then you do not live in a free society."
Lately, as kind of research, but also just for fun. I've been watching youtube a lot and watching people react to things like tropic thunder, and community and all kinds of stand up bits and it's funny. I have a hard time finding the people who ARE offended by this stuff. Most reaction videos are people, usually of color (there is a crazy sub-genre of youtube of black people reacting to older movies, music.. etc) It's illuminating. Rather than taking a few exceptionally connected people's word for it on what's offensive you can go right to people on the street and see, and mostly. They think it's hilarious. They get it. The tide is turning on the culture now. I feel like we are at about the point we were in the late 70s to mid 80s where there is a lot of social pressure to eliminate "offensive" material. This is going to backfire. It always does. The right wing censorship of the 80s led to the roaring 90s and it's no-holds-barred comedy. Right now, if people have their ear to the ground, there is a lot of rumbling. I think within a few years a lot of repression is going to release and we are going to see the return of shock comedy. Think John Waters, Howard Stern, A lot of Early internet, dead baby jokes. Whenever there is a long period of overly censorious or sensitive people, no matter what side it is, there is an inevitable backlash. The late nineteenth century led to the Roaring 20s. The stodgy 40s and 50s led to the free love 60s and disco 70s. The satanic panic anti music 80s led to some of the most offensive music and movies ever in the 80s/ 90s. The 2010s was also a decade of very overly sensitive people who "mean" well but really don't seem to understand how important humor is. So, I think we are about to see a big backlash. :) keep an eye out.