They could never make (Insert old movie or show) today!

Yep, and with all other right wing conspiracies they all end up being blamed on the Jews somehow. One has to wonder where those Jews find the time.

I still disagree.

Yes, there were men who protested against Mad Max: Fury Road. But those protests didn’t stop the production of The Force Awakens.

And there were men who protested against The Force Awakens. But those protests didn’t stop the production of Ghostbusters.

And there were men who protested against Ghostbusters. But those protests didn’t stop the production of Wonder Woman.

And there were men who protested against Wonder Woman. But those protests didn’t stop the production of Ocean’s 8.

And there were men who protested against Oceans 8. But those protests didn’t stop the production of Birds of Prey.

And there were men who protested against Birds of Prey. But those protests didn’t stop the production of Black Widow.

And there were men who protested against Black Widow. But those protests didn’t stop the production of Thor: Love and Thunder.

There have been men protesting against every action movie with a female lead. And studios ignore their protests and keep making those movies.

I feel this illustrates what I said. A protest is a dead end unless it reflects general public opinion.

A protest against a movie for being racist is only going to matter if most people are opposed to racism.

My exploration has led to the discovery of BALONEY … lots of it! It’s actually the other way around. Many of the movies made today could have never been made decades ago without looking completely ridiculous.

Or, at least, a significant number (not just a relatively small number of loudmouthed trolls).

You don’t feel that “most people are opposed to racism”?

For years, I’ve said that they couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today.

Then Mel Brooks goes and proves me wrong:


Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

That movie is SO MUCH a remake of Blazing Saddles that they gave Richard Pryor a writing credit!

I have never heard of this movie, but now I will have to watch it!

There’s a lot of drinking, but “good-natured”? Naah. Withnail is a bitter alcoholic, not a happy drunk.

Animated. Blazing Saddles plot with Fists of Fury setting with cute fuzzy animals.

I wonder if like in “Airplane!”, a grey haired Peter Graves with his arm around a twelve year old boy asking the questions “Do you like gladiator movies?” and “Have you ever been to a Turkish prison?” would fly today. When I watched the movie as a twelve year old boy myself in the theater in 1980, these jokes went totally over my head, but when I rewatched it with about 20, I was smart enough to get them and found them hilarious. But those were times when the scale of child abuse in our societies wasn’t already generally known, and I think that now it’s a subject you don’t joke about anymore.

I think it’s the success. They’re proven winners and have a large & reliable fanbase. Comedy Central isn’t really taking any risks letting them do what they do (and so well).

Family Guy still plays a pedophile for laughs.

The Hays Code was the Comics Code Authority of movies :slightly_smiling_face:

Three things worth nothing regarding Birth of a Nation:

  1. The KKK was pretty much dead, and this film caused its revival, much to the shock of the director, DW Griffith.

  2. Other people in Hollywood thought Griffith was unforgivably naïve not to have foreseen a, to put it mildly, bad outcome, and the accusations of racism began way back in 1915, so it’s not a recent phenomenon.

  3. The “Sheesh, guys, it’s a freaking movie” defense goes back just as far. And even carried some water then, because no one took “flickers” very seriously in 1915, and this was the first one to move people to some kind of action.

These are just historical footnotes, and are not to be construed as me defending the film.

Like all things, it’s all about punching up or punching down. Blazing Saddles is about punching up. But there’s a lot of older movies that punch down, especially movies featuring a gay/trans-panic plotline.

Take Ace Ventura. It’s a silly movie about a very silly man. Except that everyone kinda forgets that the climax of the movie is Ace finding out that the real killer is a transgender woman posing as a police captain. Which he reveals by showing that she still has a penis. Cue multiple male characters acting in disgust because they “kissed a dude”. Hardyharhar. Never would get made today.

Today I learned what the Ramones song “Pinhead” is all about. Thanks for the education.

I feel most people are opposed to racism.

Fair enough; as you had, earlier, replied to me with:

Do you still feel that, in this hypothetical situation, there would not be effective / large-scale protests against the studio and financiers?

It seems like you and I are in agreement that the “protests” by a small minority of misogynistic trolls against films and shows that featured females in leading roles weren’t effective. Do you see how, at least IMO, this would be a different kind of situation?

I feel this is the distinction I’ve been making. A company’s decision whether or not to finance a movie isn’t based on their assessment of whether the content of the movie will draw protests; it’s based on their assessment of whether there will be widespread public disapproval of the content.

As we’ve noted, people have protested against female representation in movies without it having any substantial effect of what movies are made. I feel that’s because these protests aren’t backed up by public opinion.

But if I’m understanding your position correctly, you hold that protests can affect movie making, even when the protesters do not have the support of public opinion behind them. And that’s the position I question.

Nope, you still aren’t understanding what I’m saying, and I honestly think that you and I are in agreement.

I’m saying that, if a big studio made an overtly racist film, they would be roundly criticized and protested against, and that those protests would have an impact, because those protests reflect the majority of public opinion.

And, yes, that’s why no major movie studio would make an overtly racist film – not just because it would appeal to a relatively small audience, but because it would also be a PR nightmare for the studio, due to widespread public outrage.

All of those protests that you and I have both mentioned, from misogynistic trolls, didn’t have a significant impact on the studios, or the choices that they’ve made on films and shows to produce, because they didn’t have the weight of wide public support. (However, those trolls absolutely did, and still do, have a horrible impact on the actors and creators whom they have targeted for harassment.)