Post by Vits on Apr 14, 2018 10:37:21 GMT
I got this from a Rotten Tomatoes article published due to a controversy with THE SIMPSONS and their famous Indian character. There's also been a debate about ROSEANNE that I think is similar to the debate about ARCHIE BUNKER. I wanted to see if you folks agreed. I also wanted to give my 2 cents on the subject.
Look, things aren't black or white (no pun intended). If an old show (or movie) has a stereotype, the viewer has to analyze how it affects things before deciding whether it ruins the whole thing or not. A lot of times, a stereotype is a character that appears briefly and has no real relevance to the story.
APU's portrayal is positive. He's a good person in a show that doesn't have that many good people. He just happens to have an exagerated accent that we don't even pay attention to after a while. Yeah, he has done wrong things from time to time, but he always redeems himself. If anything, HOMER is the offensive stereotype. He combines all the negative aspects of a white American man (I'm not one, by the way) and rarely redeemds himself... and he's the protagonist!
GENERAL LEE is the vehicle that the heroes use not only for transport but also during the action sequences. I think we see more shots of the car than the DUKES. It's like having a superhero with an offensive symbol on the chest. Again, I'm not American, so I don't have a stance on the debate about banning the flag from public places but, if one uses it personally, it's because one believes in those ideologies.
I remember seeing Leonard Maltin introducing old cartoons and explaining the context and why they had something that could offend modern viewers. Then they showed the cartoon without any edits. That's how they should broadcast the shows in this article.
Look, things aren't black or white (no pun intended). If an old show (or movie) has a stereotype, the viewer has to analyze how it affects things before deciding whether it ruins the whole thing or not. A lot of times, a stereotype is a character that appears briefly and has no real relevance to the story.
APU's portrayal is positive. He's a good person in a show that doesn't have that many good people. He just happens to have an exagerated accent that we don't even pay attention to after a while. Yeah, he has done wrong things from time to time, but he always redeems himself. If anything, HOMER is the offensive stereotype. He combines all the negative aspects of a white American man (I'm not one, by the way) and rarely redeemds himself... and he's the protagonist!
GENERAL LEE is the vehicle that the heroes use not only for transport but also during the action sequences. I think we see more shots of the car than the DUKES. It's like having a superhero with an offensive symbol on the chest. Again, I'm not American, so I don't have a stance on the debate about banning the flag from public places but, if one uses it personally, it's because one believes in those ideologies.
I remember seeing Leonard Maltin introducing old cartoons and explaining the context and why they had something that could offend modern viewers. Then they showed the cartoon without any edits. That's how they should broadcast the shows in this article.
