Little cultural things you don't want people to forget.

Cafe Society
1

You know…little things that people over time might forget or misremember.

For instance: The initial outrage over Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder WASN’T that “He’s doing blackface!!!”

Since the pictures hit the internet before the actual plot…the outrage was, “He’s playing a black man?? He’s taking an acting job away from a black man??”

Then that all dissipated as soon as the plot was revealed.
I also want to point out there was ZERO outrage when Billy Crystal would play Muhammad Ali in brown face…now…him playing a gay man on Soap??? Plenty. But that was just having a character be gay.

Were Soap done today the outrage would be moderately that a straight man was playing Jody…maybe a little when he falls in love with a woman. And probably A LOT that several protagonists get away with homophobic behavior towards him.

2

I get a kick of out telling people not to get too attached to rock music cause it’s a fad that will fade in a couple of years.

3

Fatty Arbuckle was not guilty.

4

Heh.

In an even more ‘get off my lawn’ angle…The original DC Trinity was Superman, Flash and Green Lantern.

Wonder Woman lost her powers and learned Kung Fu, and Batman was always bemoaning how he didn’t have any powers and was worthless in the JLA.

5

Jim Clark and Graham Hill are the best representatives of Formula One Champions.

6

Have you stopped doing that since Rock died a decade ago?

7

How original? Technically, Flash and Green Lantern were not even DC originally (though All-American was connected with DC editorially). In the 50s, the trinity was Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman (three of the only five heroes to be published continuously from the 40s to the 60s – the others were Aquaman and Green Arrow)).

Batman also was an important member of the original JLA because he was “The World’s Greatest Detective,” a part of him that has certainly been forgotten.

8

Actually neither Batman or Superman were ever members of the JLA until the '80’s reboot.

9

…I think this is all… dubious… There was and are still people calling that part of Tropic Thunder problematic but that is different. I don’t recall any people claiming he was playing a black person and was taking a job–the trailer shows that his character is white and is a satire of actors who go overboard for roles. So…that “outrage” would have been…a minute?
And straight actors play gay all the time to this day and it’s not really an issue except for trolling–it’s about how the characters are handled. Schitt’s Creek has a queer relationship as it’s main romance and one of the actors is straight.

10

60s, you mean. They’re listed in wikipedia as one of the seven original members, though they didn’t appear in all issues (but neither did some of the others), and, for some reason, were not usually pictured on the cover. By 1965 one or the other (or both) were featured regularly on the cover. I remember well how Mike Sekowski could never draw Superman’s shield correctly.

11

…and one of the gay couple on Modern Family (Cam/Eric Stonestreet)…and Will (Eric McCormack) on Will & Grace. Neither Hank Azaria nor Robin Williams of The Birdcage are gay, and neither star of Brokeback Mountain is gay.
**
Push You Down** is right. I don’t think that non-gay actors playing gay characters is a problem “these days.”

There IS a problem “these days” with white actors playing characters that are people of color. You can fondly remember Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s if you want.

12

I used to think rock was dead, turns out it actually just moved to Japan where it’s played by girls in French maid costumes.

My thing I like to do is to screw up the names of tech stuff (“Kids these days, with their hash browns on the Tweety Bird…”), or to use current slang and then follow up for clarification (“That’s lit! Did I use that correctly, “lit”? Is that what everyone’s saying these days?”).

13

Rock music is deader than John Lennon for many if not most people under 40.

14

Do not forget Trashman or Mr. Natural or the Freak Brothers or the Checkered Demon or Cherry Poptart or Tits & Clits.

15

Romance movies have taken a huge nose dive in popularity. Looking through Wikipedia’s lists, the last #1 romance movie was 2018’s Fifty Shades Freed, and before that, the #1 romance movie was 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey. What this signifies, I don’t know.

16

What first appeared were photos and the news his character was playing a black man.

And yes…it was ‘a hot minute’ before it dissipated. I recall no outcry THEN of “RDJ is doing blackface!!”…doesn’t mean it didn’t happen of course.

17

Local TV stations dont do ‘after-school cartoon camps’ for kids anymore do they?

Shit…I know that ‘all things will pass eventually’…but once those who grew up seeing WB cartoons (and Popeye and Woody Woodpecker and Tom and Jerry) in the theatres and those of us who grew up seeing them on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show or local TV cartoon shows pass away, I don’t see how the classic WB cartoons stay in peoples consciousness. I don’t think its the greatest loss in the world for say, Tom Swift or Super-Chicken (great theme songs though) to pass…but classic WB cartoons? That’s a shame.

18

There were complaints that Ruby Rose was gender fluid which wasn’t “gay enough” to play a lesbian character in Batwoman. It wasn’t that long ago the idea of a lesbian lead in a mainstream series would have been out of the question with nobody caring whether the lead actor was gay enough.

19

AARP magazine - 50 Things Over 50 We Still Love:
Mr Coffee, Mr Potato Head, color TV, Tupperware, ice cooler, microwave, LEGO, UPS, AmEx, Warren Buffet, 10-speed bikes, skateboards, Ford Mustangs, chopped Harleys, sunscreen, chapstick, The Pill, Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Motown, Jeopardy!, Star Trek, Spiderman, Margaret Atwood, Green Eggs and Ham, To Kill a Mockingbird, smiley faces, James Bond, Clint Eastwood, Birkenstocks, miniskirts, Spandex, high-top sneakers, tie-dyes, Ray-Bans, bikinis, M&Ms, Gatorade, Subway, frozen pizza, Big Macs, Hershey’s Kisses, Cheerios, Pop-Tarts, Cheetos, Kraft Mac-n-Cheese.
See also 25 Things You Don’t Need Anymore

20

British contribution:

I don’t want people to forget that the Black And White Minstrel Show ran for 20 years. Not just ran, but was one of the biggest shows on British TV, your Saturday Night primetime show to gather the family together. I truly believe we’re still working our way through the effects of this monstrosity today. This clip - which is only two minutes long, so give it a punt - tells you everything that you would ever need to know about it.

j