IIRC from S. Jackson’s Playboy interview, when asked about using “nigger” in the movie he said something along the lines of “What? Spike can use it in his movies and Quentin can’t? That seems like a double standard to me.”
I’ll have to find that Playboy and do some . . . research.
"When you drove up did you see a sign that said “Dead Nigger Storage”?
“No.”
“That’s right, ‘cause storin’ dead niggers ain’t my business!”
Oh, that kills me.
I hope the mods will forgive me for posting the script in its entirety:
[quote]
mothermothermother/quote]
I always find it interesting that when I run across Blazing Saddles on TV, most times the n-word is left in and the campfire scene is censored. Of course, the movie’d be pretty hard to understand if it were the other way around.
If you pay attention, Jimmy’s wife is black. You see her in the scene where they imagine her coming home from work only to find them dragging a dead body through the house.
He married a black woman, it’s safe to say he’s not racist.
Happy
As an interesting side note, I own a Spanish translation of Pulp Fiction in which the line in question is rendered as “Almacen de negros muertos”: Warehouse of dead blacks.
Somehow it loses something in translation.
Makes me think of the pimp in True Romance.
I’ve heard the word “nigger” in regular tv shows (like “NYPD Blue”), but never used so casually.
Thanks, Happy. I thought they hinted at that as well, but it’s been a while since I’d seen the movie, and after butchering Tarantino’s name, I figured one big flub was enough for me.
This was Spike Lee’s issue with Tarantino and the “N”-word:
I’m not a big fan of the recent MJ (but I am of JB), but it’s a double standard that’s a little hard to argue with.
I don’t know if this is still the norm, but I once saw Blazing Saddles on TV and they left all the “niggers” in. They cut out the “shits” and some of the innuendo in Lilly’s scene. Interestingly, they also added some scenes that were not in the original release (That happened with the TV broadcast of The Naked Gun that I saw once, too).
And a clarificiation: I think the distinction that South Park holds is swear words per minute (since the movie is only like 90 minutes long). Scarface, Pulp Fiction, and Casino are all lengthy bohemoths with plenty of time for bad words.
I’d say it’s rather easy to argue with. The word “nigga” has been embraced by many black Americans as a non-offensive term of endearment. It’s a real life situation for that word to be used as it was in Pulp Fiction.
AFAIK, “kike” is not used in casual conversation as a term of endearment amoung Jewish Americans. Using it excessivly in a film like Pulp Fiction would not be a reflection of real life in any way. I’m no Spike Lee basher, but I think the example he gave to Harvey Weinstein is way off base.
Pash
I’ll defend Tarantino’s use of the word as art for one reason:
The Zed character’s use of is was in wonderful contrast to Jules’s and Tarantino’s. Same word, WAY different meaning. This contrast greatly enriched the movie experience. Zed’s use of the word puts Tarantino’s and Jules’s into perspective. It wasn’t done haphazardly or just for shock value, and I think this was the first time such a thing was done with that word in a movie.
That’s what makes it art.
Besides, Michael Jackson is a real person (kind of) saying “kike” in the real world. Zed was a fictional character in a make believe world.
So the characters in Pulp Fiction murder, cheat, threaten, torture, extort and steal.
They’re not rascists, though, are they? That would be bad.
Marcelous Wallace - Ving Rhames calls his Employees N*****, all the time, Vincent Vega, Butch - I recall MW - VR saying My N***** or You My N*****. It seems to me it is a Power Thing, a Black Man calling White Guys N*****.
I would hardly call “Dead N----- Parking” an endearment reference. Do you think QT’s character would’ve used the same word if Marvin was white? Uh-uh. He didn’t even know Marvin, so it wasn’t even a respect-for-the-dead usage; he just saw a dead black guy. This argument’s pretty weak
So, songs are automatically excluded from employing the technique of “dramatic voice”, huh? If MJ uses, “I”, then he must be talking about himself, all the time. That’s news to me. Also, MJ (dramatic voice or not), is using the word in a rant–being provocative in his effort to make a statement about an industry he finds problematic. Whether he’s right or not, it wasn’t just an invective-for-invective sake. I think the double standard still holds.
I think that songs are a very different case from movies. In a (typical) movie, it is 100% clear that the offensive word is being used by a fictitious character. It is entirely possible to have onscreen characters tell horribly offensive jokes, molest children, be involved in the holocaust, etc., without the movie itself being offensive.
A song, on the other hand, is much more amorphous. Unless the song goes way way way out of its way to imply that the words in the song are being spoken by a particular character, there is a presumption that they are being sung by the artist. And it’s always easier to misunderstand a song, turn it on partway through, etc., than it is to get confused about a movie.
(Not to say that movies have carte blanche… but if a character in a movie uses the N word, and it’s deemed offensive, it’s likely not because the word was used, but because the movie was felt to glorify or support the use of the word, or the character who used it…)
The difference between Michael Jackson’s song quoted above (‘Sue me, Jew me … Kick me, Kike me.’) and the N-word in Pulp Fiction is that Jackson is deliberately using slurs to to put down Jews. In Pulp Fiction, characters don’t use the N-word derogatorily; it’s got no more emotional baggage (for them) than “black person.”
And by the way, I saw Pulp Fiction on broadcast TV back in 1996 or '97, in a version that had offensive terms dubbed over with non-offensive terms. It was hilarious. Alas, the only one I still recall was Samuel Jackson vehemently calling someone a melon-farmer.
Records were made to be broken, give me a cite.
from:Here
Weren’t the lyrics MJ sang in reference to a financial dispute he had with Sony?
If so, then he’s using a derogatory stereotype about jews (and not a very subtle one, at that) in the context of a real-life situation. If he were telling a story about some fictional person who felt they got screwed over by someone and used these words, the context would be much different.
The N references in Pulp Fiction is an entirely different thing. Firstly, it’s a work of fiction. Secondly, it’s a work of fiction.
In the movie, Jimmy has been thrust into a very difficult situation. He’s panicking. He’s going to lose it. He’s going to say things which aren’t PC. Who doesn’t? Do you really think he cares if he offends Jules by saying Dead N***** Storage? I’m sure offending an acquaintance is the last thing on his mind. Do you think Jules would hold it against him for saying that? Jeez, if anything, Jules should be apologizing. Personally, I think the dialogue is brilliant. It’s shocking (back then, it was). It helps to paint a complete picture of the chaotic situation at hand.
Spike Lee thinks QT doesn’t have the artistic license to use the N-word because QT is not african-american? I’m not Italian, but I found his unbelievably stereotypical portrayal of Italian Americans in Do The Right Thing and Son of Sam pretty hardcore. The actors didn’t seem to mind, though.
According to IMDb’s page for South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut trivia
The figures quoted above for Scarface, Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction match those at IMDb, but Casino has 422. Even Quentin can’t compare to the true master of the F-word.
refusal beat me to it. Thanks.