There is a lot of this never shown - usually because it is too violent, racist or promotes smoking - a classic example ticking all three boxes being when Tom smokes an exploding cigarette leaving him looking like a stereotypical cartoon negro.
Slightly off topic, but I was on an episode of 'Bargain Hunt' (recorded in 2006) that was shown today on 'Yesterday'. On the original broadcast we were talking about pop memorabilia and Top of the Pops and we had a conversation with the expert about Jimmy Savile. I then did a really poor impersonation: eg "as it 'appens eruughh, eurrghhh urrrghh...." Needless to say, in today's showing, all the references to JS were cut out.
It got me thinking about how we are in danger of airbrushing and sanitising history/culture. For example, up until the early 1990s, every 1970s retrospective talked about Gary Glitter being a major artist in the early 70s. Now, there's no mention of him. It also reminded me of the OFAH episode where there's the seance. Rodney thinks that the person with the long blond hair and lots of jewellery (who is speaking to the medium) is 'Jimmy Savile'. This line has now been removed - making the whole scenario obsolete.
Wasn't there a story where a member of the public shouted something congratulatory about Alf Garnett's racism to Warren Mitchell and he replied along the lines of. "We're taking the piss out of people like you" or something?
Your post is spot on, but only the very dimmest couldn't see that
Warren Mitchell told the story on a chat show.
A chap in the street said to him "I love the way you take the p*ss out of the blacks"
He replied "I'm taking the p*ss out of you actually".
Love Thy Neighbour can't be compared with 'Til Death.
It was a lame rip off and not in the same league.
Totally un PC but incredibly funny - Homer Simpson.
In one episode he screams and boards up his house in one episode when Marj explains that a mutual friend is homosexual.
And if anyone can recall Amos 'n' Andy from the 50's............
But Eddie always came off worst at the end of every episode.
I think that there is a problem with Love Thy Neighbour. In as much as they can say that although the black man gets the last laugh, it could be argued that it gets away with it by filling its content with racist jokes up until that point. As though the end justifies the means. It's called having your cake and eating it.
I'm not necessarily saying that any ill intentions were deliberate, but its simplicity and basic humour meant that it was inherently flawed.
Where with Till Death Us Do part and In Sickness and in Health it was done more skilfully and was better written. It was more about exploring people and what makes us tick and asking questions of why people are like they are.
Perhaps that was the intention of Love They Neighbour too, but In Sickness and in Health was a lot more sophisticated in how it challenged the audience and made it question its sympathies, rather than it being more about getting lots of racist jokes in.
It made you think, feel, and question.
I personally would like to see TDUDP and ISAIH repeated. The Alf Garnett series had dodgy moments, granted, but overall I think people would see that it's intentions were very deliberately coming from a good place.
I remember "It Ain't Half Hot Mum"was full of racist and homophobic jokes.
I'm also pretty sure some of the Indian characters were actually white actors blacked up!
They say that 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' was racist, but when I was a child watching it I always saw the Indian characters as very likeable.
If it was racist, it must have had the opposite effect on me.
IAHHM was innuendo, funny, tongue in cheek but I don't think it was homophobic and racist though the BBC would agree with you and has said it was so racist that it has been banned from ever being repeated again.
Personally I think its a silly decision and as for "blacked up" Muhammad the Char Wallah was played by Dino Shafeek a Bangladeshi actor, Rumxna Punkha Wallah played by Babar Bhatti, a Brit actor of Pakistini origin, and rangi ram the bearer played by Michael Bates used a tan not blacked up.
Yes I definitely think that some 70s TV shows are treated way too harshly.
I tend to think from watching the occasional 70s show on TV from time to time that sexism is more of a problem than racism. However the shows from that era that tend to get repeated now seem to have a fair amount of sexism in them.
Only Fools and Horses is an interesting example. There are certainly references made by Dell Boy. Examples I can remember is the episode Danger UXD with the inflatable dolls and how he describes them. Also, the way he refers to women can be seen un pc.
In contrast, Rodney who is of a younger generation would not refer to ethnicity in derogatory way. This is because he represents the first generation of people that would go to school with people from West Indian backgrounds. Therefore, he would be more likely to receptive to integration whereas Dell came from a different generation.
That makes ask the question, is the racial references implicit in order to highlight this contrast?
I think so.
The problem with censorship is that it refuses to accept that characters in a fictional work can possess very dodgy views.
In real life many people hold views that some of us would find reprehensible, but I don't think it serves the public well to pretend that people who hold those views don't exist, and shouldn't be represented as characters in comedy or comedy drama in case a viewer might be offended. Writing has to reflect reality to some extent and not hide everything under the carpet.
Comments
There is a lot of this never shown - usually because it is too violent, racist or promotes smoking - a classic example ticking all three boxes being when Tom smokes an exploding cigarette leaving him looking like a stereotypical cartoon negro.
I used to enjoy the Wrestling on World of sport, however, this too was very un-PC. Example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoKA7ACB26M
After the contest at 5:16, the MC refers to Johnny Kwango as "our coloured friend". FFS!
It got me thinking about how we are in danger of airbrushing and sanitising history/culture. For example, up until the early 1990s, every 1970s retrospective talked about Gary Glitter being a major artist in the early 70s. Now, there's no mention of him. It also reminded me of the OFAH episode where there's the seance. Rodney thinks that the person with the long blond hair and lots of jewellery (who is speaking to the medium) is 'Jimmy Savile'. This line has now been removed - making the whole scenario obsolete.
Warren Mitchell told the story on a chat show.
A chap in the street said to him "I love the way you take the p*ss out of the blacks"
He replied "I'm taking the p*ss out of you actually".
Love Thy Neighbour can't be compared with 'Til Death.
It was a lame rip off and not in the same league.
Totally un PC but incredibly funny - Homer Simpson.
In one episode he screams and boards up his house in one episode when Marj explains that a mutual friend is homosexual.
And if anyone can recall Amos 'n' Andy from the 50's............
That show was awful.
But then Spike Milligan to me was as funny as toothache.
I think that there is a problem with Love Thy Neighbour. In as much as they can say that although the black man gets the last laugh, it could be argued that it gets away with it by filling its content with racist jokes up until that point. As though the end justifies the means. It's called having your cake and eating it.
I'm not necessarily saying that any ill intentions were deliberate, but its simplicity and basic humour meant that it was inherently flawed.
Where with Till Death Us Do part and In Sickness and in Health it was done more skilfully and was better written. It was more about exploring people and what makes us tick and asking questions of why people are like they are.
Perhaps that was the intention of Love They Neighbour too, but In Sickness and in Health was a lot more sophisticated in how it challenged the audience and made it question its sympathies, rather than it being more about getting lots of racist jokes in.
It made you think, feel, and question.
I personally would like to see TDUDP and ISAIH repeated. The Alf Garnett series had dodgy moments, granted, but overall I think people would see that it's intentions were very deliberately coming from a good place.
They say that 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' was racist, but when I was a child watching it I always saw the Indian characters as very likeable.
If it was racist, it must have had the opposite effect on me.
Yes I definitely think that some 70s TV shows are treated way too harshly.
I tend to think from watching the occasional 70s show on TV from time to time that sexism is more of a problem than racism. However the shows from that era that tend to get repeated now seem to have a fair amount of sexism in them.
I think so.
The problem with censorship is that it refuses to accept that characters in a fictional work can possess very dodgy views.
In real life many people hold views that some of us would find reprehensible, but I don't think it serves the public well to pretend that people who hold those views don't exist, and shouldn't be represented as characters in comedy or comedy drama in case a viewer might be offended. Writing has to reflect reality to some extent and not hide everything under the carpet.