Remake without the racism?

[Rhea]

Can we remake movies (or books, or plays) and take out the unnecessary racism? Is that okay?

Some movies are about racism. That is not the group I'm discussing. I'm talking about a movie that doesn't need to include racism or misogyny or bullying or any other negative behavior, and rewrite it without the gratuitous bad stuff?

Like remaking without smoking. Remaking without the cast being all white. Remaking without a theme that says "because they are southern,m they are stupid" or any other negative trope that is not needed for the plot?


Is there a problem with that?

 

[repoman]

Sometimes.

Like insular jewish sects and Pakistsnis do more inbreeding than our southern US brethren anyways.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Can we remake movies (or books, or plays) and take out the unnecessary racism? Is that okay?

Some movies are about racism. That is not the group I'm discussing. I'm talking about a movie that doesn't need to include racism or misogyny or bullying or any other negative behavior, and rewrite it without the gratuitous bad stuff?

Like remaking without smoking. Remaking without the cast being all white. Remaking without a theme that says "because they are southern,m they are stupid" or any other negative trope that is not needed for the plot?


Is there a problem with that?

I dislike remakes generally. Its lazy. Make a new movie.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Can we remake movies (or books, or plays) and take out the unnecessary racism? Is that okay?

Some movies are about racism. That is not the group I'm discussing. I'm talking about a movie that doesn't need to include racism or misogyny or bullying or any other negative behavior, and rewrite it without the gratuitous bad stuff?

Like remaking without smoking. Remaking without the cast being all white. Remaking without a theme that says "because they are southern,m they are stupid" or any other negative trope that is not needed for the plot?


Is there a problem with that?

No problem with that. A remake of a movie should be retelling it in a voice which makes sense for the current audience, as opposed to just reshooting the exact same film which was already made.

 

[thebeave]

Can we remake movies (or books, or plays) and take out the unnecessary racism? Is that okay?

Some movies are about racism. That is not the group I'm discussing. I'm talking about a movie that doesn't need to include racism or misogyny or bullying or any other negative behavior, and rewrite it without the gratuitous bad stuff?

Like remaking without smoking. Remaking without the cast being all white. Remaking without a theme that says "because they are southern,m they are stupid" or any other negative trope that is not needed for the plot?


Is there a problem with that?

Can you give some examples of movies that have unnecessary racism, that you would like to see remade without the bad stuff? Would something like Blazing Saddles be one of those movies that should/could be made without the "unnecessary racism"?

It sorta sounds like you would want to remake gritty, action movies in to Rated G Disney-esque stuff. I don't see much demand for that, honestly. People like movies that portray the real world, which has cussing, racism, smoking and *gulp* white people.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Oh, shit. Why not. Let's have Gone with the Wind with Mammy (Oprah Winfrey) telling Scarlett (Johansson, why not): "Git yo lazy, uppity white ass out to the kitchen and fetch me my breakfast! Bitch!!"

 

[Keith&Co.]

Oh, shit. Why not. Let's have Gone with the Wind with Mammy (Oprah Winfrey) telling Scarlett (Johansson, why not): "Git yo lazy, uppity white ass out to the kitchen and fetch me my breakfast! Bitch!!"

she specifically said 'unnecessary' racism. If we delete all racism, then anything set during the civil war just becomes full-contact real-estate transfers.

The question is going to be whether or not the racism, sexism is necessary.

In "A Few Good Men," Nicholson's character seems to just jump out of nowhere during that one scene where he talks about the joy of sleeping with a ranking officer. Certainly didn't advance the plot about investigating the death of the Marine, but i thought it said a lot about Col. Jessep. Established that he felt he had nothing to fear from either of the lawyers there, either for what he did, or anything about sexual harassment. Also made the rest of us really want to see that arrogant fuck nailed to the wall...
Kinda like Trump asking China to investigate Bidens.

 

[marc]

Can we remake movies (or books, or plays) and take out the unnecessary racism? Is that okay?

Some movies are about racism. That is not the group I'm discussing. I'm talking about a movie that doesn't need to include racism or misogyny or bullying or any other negative behavior, and rewrite it without the gratuitous bad stuff?

Like remaking without smoking. Remaking without the cast being all white. Remaking without a theme that says "because they are southern,m they are stupid" or any other negative trope that is not needed for the plot?


Is there a problem with that?

Can you give some examples of movies that have unnecessary racism, that you would like to see remade without the bad stuff? Would something like Blazing Saddles be one of those movies that should/could be made without the "unnecessary racism"?
.

Well in Blazing Saddles showing the racism was the point of the movie. It would probably be something more like in Dumbo leaving out the character Jim Crow, some bits in Fantasia, or total remake of Song of the South.

 

[abaddon]

Why not keep the good and the bad of all times in memory? What's wrong with that?

It's like bad memories from childhood. None are "necessary" compared to a perfectly-lived life that can never have happened. You cannot improve your present by erasing the bad memories, since you improved in life by overcoming them. In fact you diminish your present life if you erase any memories whether you like them or not. The memory must be there or you don't know the problem was there and there's no reminder "this is what I've overcome".

---------

Though maybe I misunderstood the question... If you're going to remake an old movie that had racism cuz of the social conventions of its time, and you're remaking it so that the setting is modern times, then depict this era as it is. If you're recreating that former era, then depict that era as it was.

 

[thebeave]

Can we remake movies (or books, or plays) and take out the unnecessary racism? Is that okay?

Some movies are about racism. That is not the group I'm discussing. I'm talking about a movie that doesn't need to include racism or misogyny or bullying or any other negative behavior, and rewrite it without the gratuitous bad stuff?

Like remaking without smoking. Remaking without the cast being all white. Remaking without a theme that says "because they are southern,m they are stupid" or any other negative trope that is not needed for the plot?


Is there a problem with that?

Can you give some examples of movies that have unnecessary racism, that you would like to see remade without the bad stuff? Would something like Blazing Saddles be one of those movies that should/could be made without the "unnecessary racism"?
.

Well in Blazing Saddles showing the racism was the point of the movie. It would probably be something more like in Dumbo leaving out the character Jim Crow, some bits in Fantasia, or total remake of Song of the South.

Its been said that Blazing Saddles could never be made in today's world, despite the fact that it is essentially a satire on racism and shows how ridiculous it is. Its a great movie. It seems people today have trouble taking into account the context and seeing a serious subject being presented in a humorous light.

 

[marc]

Well in Blazing Saddles showing the racism was the point of the movie. It would probably be something more like in Dumbo leaving out the character Jim Crow, some bits in Fantasia, or total remake of Song of the South.

Its been said that Blazing Saddles could never be made in today's world, despite the fact that it is essentially a satire on racism and shows how ridiculous it is. Its a great movie. It seems people today have trouble taking into account the context and seeing a serious subject being presented in a humorous light.

Yea, I can believe that. I also hear complaints about the use of the N word in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, even though the book is anti-racism, and the word is used to show what things were like at the time.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'd like to see a remake of Revenge of the Nerds where all of the nerds are expelled for sexual harassment.

 

[thebeave]

I'd like to see a remake of Revenge of the Nerds where all of the nerds are expelled for sexual harassment.

Yeah, that movie is hilarious, but also quite problematic in today's world. Especially the scene where Lewis wearing the Darth Vader mask has sex with Betty Chiles in the bouncy house, while pretending he's someone else. Sorta rapey.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Sorta?

 

[TV and credit cards]

I think leaving it is a good teaching tool for children. When I was very young, I knew what I watched in old shows like The Little Rascals and some of the older Popeye cartoons was not proper and should not be repeated in the current day.
Racism is our history, albeit maybe uncomfortable history for white people but our ancestors made this bed and now we get to lie in it.

 

[Keith&Co.]

When I was very young, I knew what I watched in old shows like The Little Rascals and some of the older Popeye cartoons was not proper and should not be repeated in the current day.

When i first let my son watch Blazing Saddles, i reminded him that there were words in the movie that he should not use tomorrow at day care or at school. He nodded, accepting that adults get to use words that kids don't.
There i was, thinking 'words.' The N-word, of course, a few others. Naïve first-time father...

When i pulled up to park at day care the next afternoon, all the pre-schoolers ran up to the fence and shouted, "Where da white wimmin at?'

Had to admit, there were worse lines he might have taught the little bastards.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Its been said that Blazing Saddles could never be made in today's world, despite the fact that it is essentially a satire on racism and shows how ridiculous it is. Its a great movie. It seems people today have trouble taking into account the context and seeing a serious subject being presented in a humorous light.

Blazing Saddles couldn't be made today because it was made in the 60's. Some comedies are born out of their own time. While they can be appreciated today, like Blazing Saddles is, it would be difficult to put such a movie like that together today.

It is also very important to recognize craft. Movies like Blazing Saddles and Life is Beautiful were crafted around extremely difficult subjects, and in order to work, they must be crafted very well by masters of comedy.

 

[Sarpedon]

I've expressed my opinion before that these movies should be rated for older audiences. Generally, all these old movies get a G rating because of no sex or violence. Bumping the racist or sexist movies up to PG-13 or even R will send the message that they are inappropriate for younger audiences and that the material is controversial. That would be simple and rather non controversial way of handling the problem. Modern movies with these themes should also get an older rating. Gone with the Wind or Duck Soup being PG13 is very appropriate.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'd like to see a remake of Revenge of the Nerds where all of the nerds are expelled for sexual harassment.

Yeah, that movie is hilarious, but also quite problematic in today's world. Especially the scene where Lewis wearing the Darth Vader mask has sex with Betty Chiles in the bouncy house, while pretending he's someone else. Sorta rapey.

Not sort of. He had sex with a girl who was almost passed out drunk by pretending to be her boyfriend while she wasn't in a state to realize what was happening. That's rape.

A remake of the film would have the Lambdas be a group of incels who all go to prison and the final scene would be one of them driving a van through a crowd of the jocks and cheerleaders. They are the bad guys. We all need to listen to Ogre and get them before they can get us.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Can we remake movies (or books, or plays) and take out the unnecessary racism? Is that okay?

Some movies are about racism. That is not the group I'm discussing. I'm talking about a movie that doesn't need to include racism or misogyny or bullying or any other negative behavior, and rewrite it without the gratuitous bad stuff?

Like remaking without smoking. Remaking without the cast being all white. Remaking without a theme that says "because they are southern,m they are stupid" or any other negative trope that is not needed for the plot?


Is there a problem with that?

I'm trying to think of what movies suffer from the taint of racism, sexism, etc... to start with.

The Littlest Rebel - generally the South is a bit over-sold as victims in this and the Union are over sold as the bad guys.
Several Marx Bros films - references. I think At the Circus had an over the top black actor get 'overly frightened' at the sight of a lion.
It Happened One Night - in general, this film is fine, but then in the climatic seen with the woman's father, Clark Gable gives us the ~'She needs a man that'll smack her once in a while, even when she doesn't deserve it.' double-shot to the gut.
His Girl Friday - Well... this has already been addressed in the remake. I was looking forward to seeing His Girl Friday, having already seen The Front Page and being a big fan of Cary Grant, but Grant's character is a sociopath... and Russell, despite being a strong minded and capable woman, just falls for the guy that killed her marriage. There is just so much wrong in that film that The Front Page really shifted and remolded into perfection.