Wednesday, July 13, 2011

And You Knew Who You Were Then

John Nolte has a point right on the top of his head:
Mickey Rooney’s Japanese character in “Breakfast [at Tiffany's]” is way too over-the-top to ever be considered funny (I also think the movie is overrated in general), but if we’re going to start banning and making lists of “offensive” characterizations, I’d like to start with every portrayal of a Caucasian Eddie Murphy has ever done. And what about Archie Bunker? Talk about ethnic stereotyping.
Ha ha, he is totally right. There were never any white people like knee-jerk racist Archie Bunker or, er, all those white folks that Eddie Murphy must have played that I do not remember except for one Saturday Night Live sketch in which the white person does not really do much and a fantasy world is posited in which white people do not rip off white people ever.

Totally the same.

20 comments:

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Erm, you mean like this portrayal of an old Jewish guy,which is basically like every imitation of an old Jewish guy ever done by anybody, white or black?

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

No Irish!

mikey said...

Y'know, there is so much wrong with that whole argument about who might or might not be the greatest boxer of all time, it's hard to even know where to begin.

But the thing is, there's just too many variables. You've got those pillows on your hands, there's only two combatants, there's a bunch of arbitrary rules enforced by a third dood you not only can't hit, you can't even threaten to hit, and there's this enclosed space with a nice level floor, no furniture and no hard or sharp-edged items that might be brought into play.

I don't know what that is, but it's far to artificial to proclaim that this dood or that dood is the greatest.

The greatest was David Villareal, a five foot six inch Mestizo Mixtec from the dry mountains, the fastest, craziest and most fearless barehand fighter I ever saw.

David loved to fight. You had to think long and hard about going out drinking beer with him, because there was going to be a fight, and it was going to be a serious one, not a few perfunctory slaps and an angry bartender. He actively preyed on cowboys, and when he was finished with a bar full of them, he would go out to the parking lot and pee on their pick em up trucks.

He never stopped laughing, and he had a huge supply of gorgeous dark-eyed 'cousins' that were an incredible pleasure to wake up next to, no matter how much everything from the soles of your feet to the ends of your hair hurt.

It seems like a crazed dream now, but standing back to back with David between two broken down pool tables in the back of a Fort Worth honkey tonk laughing our asses off and waiting for what appeared to be a battalion of cowboys to work their way in was truly one of the happiest moments of my life.

Now THAT was a boxer...

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Boxing is another thing I know a lot about.

Substance McGravitas said...

In the time before boxing was state-regulated a guy would go down and his opponent was allowed to smear him with Jif to the count of ten. These days boxing is less dangerous.

Smut Clyde said...

all those white folks that Eddie Murphy must have played

Is this one of those Affirmative Action things?
Now I am imagining an alternative-worlf production of Othello in which Murphy plays Iago.

Substance McGravitas said...

He must have played more white folks at some point, right? The Klumps or something?

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

alternative-worlf

This must be one of those alt slash Star Trek thinghies, right?
~

Hamish Mack said...

According to the TV programme QI bare knuckle boxers were much less likely to be killed by the boxing because they did not aim for the head because the jaw bone used to break their fingers.
Fascinating.
Mr. Nolte has a fried brain, sad but true. He seems to think that one cannot find a movie characterisation offensive if one doesn't find all movie characterisations offensive. I would suggest that Mr. Breitbart have the air conditioning system at bug-eyed Hollywood checked out because it seems to be putting out strange fumes.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

In the time before boxing was state-regulated a guy would go down and his opponent was allowed to smear him with Jif to the count of ten. These days boxing is less dangerous.

That is funny. :D

Everybody knows that Jif causes concussions.

fish said...

I don't know mikey, even with the pillows and the rules and all, ain't no way I am getting in the ring with Mohammed Ali.

Dragon-King Wangchuck said...

Yes, because episodes of All in the Family are constantly being presented in public spaces with public funding. Also too, Eddie Murphy played Jerry Lewis in teh Nutty Professor movies.

Semi-OT, apparently a musical version of Thoroughly Modern Millie has become quite a popular production amongst high schools.

Substance McGravitas said...

I would suggest that Mr. Breitbart have the air conditioning system at bug-eyed Hollywood checked out

John Nolte, editor-in-chief of Big Hollywood, has moved to North Carolina.

davidly said...

'Totally the same' unless you are judging the funny. I never saw that sketch and I lol'd - which I don't do typically.

And Nolte from Sub McGrav's link:
What city does that man live in? Or does he just look down on the “little people” hustling out a living in the valley and seize every opportunity available to lord his progressive superiority over us? Because the Oscar-winning moral obscenity known as “Crash” would have you believe that the marvelous American melting pot known as Los Angeles is filled with racists and racial strife and racial tension and race, race race, race race. Well, that’s a damned lie. My hand to God, in eight years I have personally never seen, been involved in, or known anyone involved in any kind of racial incident.

I also found 'Crash' to be a bit too Lawrence Kasdan for my taste, but that what he done said there is just pure gold-shit, Haggis notwithstanding.

mikey said...

Mr. Breitbart have the air conditioning system at bug-eyed Hollywood checked out because it seems to be putting out strange fumes.

I dunno, AK. I'm not convinced that's the air conditioning that's doing that.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Now I am imagining an alternative-worlf

It's hard for me to imagine a worlf, much less an alternative one. What's a worlf? I'm thinking it must be some sort of character in Dungeons and Dragons or something. What powers do the worlfs have?

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

John Nolte, editor-in-chief of Big Hollywood, has moved to North Carolina.

Uh-oh. NC has become a popular place to film movies on the cheap. Hope those damn moviemakers don't get their liberal cooties all over the state.

Substance McGravitas said...

North Carolina has more production complexes and sound stages than any state in the nation outside of California

Not going to count, but isn't there a place called New York with some major media going on in it?

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Oh, I just noticed AK already made my joke. You can go straight to hell, AK.

Substance, I can't imagine NC beating NY, but who knows? You're not actually going to make me verify this with actual research and factual information are you? Sheesh.

Hamish Mack said...

What powers do the worlfs have?

They can make anything fit inna waffle, anything.