Posted on 06/30/2021 11:45:17 AM PDT by Red Badger
Airplane! (1980) is a fun spoof comedy with lots of laughs, right? I watched this film on Netflix for the first time the other night. Instantly, I recognized so many references and clips that I had previously heard and seen. At every turn, it’s filled with great gags that are so incredibly clever and intelligently crafted. Even for someone watching it for the first time all these years later, I loved it. Then came the racist jokes. I think it’s easy for people to dismiss this as being a “product of its time.” I agree, but that doesn’t excuse the racism, nor does it mean that we can’t dissect why these jokes are problematic. If we gloss over casual racism in older movies, it doesn’t allow us to understand the issue with them; and if we don’t understand why they are problematic, then we can’t take the necessary steps to evolve as a culture.
Let’s start first with this: what is the kind of humor that Airplane! is embodying? From the very beginning, this is clearly a spoof comedy. It’s going for absurdism that largely comments on the stupidity of human beings. Common gags involve people misunderstanding each other (“don’t call me Shirley”), playing on expectations for how routine things operate (the announcers arguing in the airport), and visually contrasting what characters say is the case with what the reality is (the dance scene where Ted is stationed). These jokes are based on wordplay and expectations; essentially their craft is what makes them funny. The jokes regarding race in the film are different; these jokes are not based on wordplay or craft, but are rather made at the expense of a particular group of people — specifically targeting them. The other gags in the movie relate in no way to race; anyone could have been at the center of those jokes and the intended effect of the gag would not have changed. The joke is based on something other than the identity of the character involved; they are merely a vessel for the punchline. However, these jokes only feature White characters. The jokes involving People of Color are usually based around that person’s color, whereas none of the jokes involving White characters specifically involve them being White. The identity of the character in these gags is irrelevant; the identity of the character in the jokes involving People of Color is pertinent.
Throughout the movie, two Black men talk really fast to each other on the plane, with subtitles translating their “Jive” into English. Many of the other White passengers make periodic comments, saying they can “never understand them.” One of the White passengers turns out to be “fluent in Jive.” Many other momentary gags with People of Color often involve them playing into some preexisting stereotype. Airplane! makes it clear from the beginning that it is going for balls-to-the-wall absurdism: everything is a gag, and nothing is to be taken seriously. This makes it easy for some people to write off the more problematic race jokes as having no more stock than any other gag. When a joke goes after someone’s personal identity — their race, their gender, their sexual orientation, their physical attributes — they themselves become the joke. No longer are they merely a vessel for the joke, they are now the face of the punchline; and no one wants to be a face in a punch line. It’s not even that these jokes aren’t funny in and of themselves; what matters is who is telling the joke. In the case of Airplane!, all three of the directors are White. There are also three additional White writers, and another three White producers. This is a team of all White men writing jokes targeting People of Color, which immediately makes it a White interpretation of a Person of Color. This is where it turns from being merely a gag into a caricature.
When a Person of Color is involved in the joke’s craft, or is even the one telling it themselves, they are making the joke at their own expense. It doesn’t target a group of people different from themselves; it is based on their own identity. That becomes your joke to tell. Had this movie been directed by three Black people, with three additional Black writers, and another three additional Black producers, these jokes would hold no venom. It isn’t the joke itself, but rather who is telling the joke, and who is the punchline. Filmmaking is all about making mistakes so that other filmmakers can learn how to do it better. Inclusivity in Hollywood has changed drastically from 1980 to 2020. There are filmmakers working today who were inspired by Airplane! and other films of its time. What these filmmakers need to do is see where Airplane! went wrong, and then work to improve. It’s all about who is telling the story, and the filmmakers who are currently in positions of capability within the industry directly influence who the storytellers are. Airplane! is a brilliantly crafted spoof comedy that should be timeless. With nonspecific jokes, there shouldn’t be a period of time where they don’t land. The race jokes, however, are specific, and in our period of time, they are uncomfortable to watch. As comedy fans revere Airplane! as one of the greats — and 80% of the film is phenomenally written and perfectly executed comedy — let us not gloss over the shortcomings of the filmmakers with these specific jokes. If we turn a blind eye, or chalk it up as merely being a “product of its time”, the filmmakers of today cannot learn from these shortcomings, and subsequently work to be better.
However, in his mind, it’s alright for blacks to make fun of blacks, since they’re black. We whites cannot make fun of them.
And they can make fun of us because we deserve it, for taking them by force out of Africa.
Barf alert! We’re a better country when we laugh at ourselves!
Anyone want to bet that media charactures of white, snaggle-toothed, redneck MAGA hicks are perfectly fine with this cuck?
Exactly. I have yet to meet a modern day liberal who isn’t always angry and looking for something to be mad at, and if you aren’t mad at the things they are they are even madder and angry.
Then they wonder why people shun them.
This is where this author, who admits that "I watched this film on Netflix for the first time the other night" loses it to his ignorance.
The author is apparently too young to realize that the "One of the White passengers turns out to be “fluent in Jive” was Barbara Billingsley, who played the mother in Leave It To Beaver. The "joke" was not that some white lady spoke jive to black men, it was that Barbara Billingsley spoke jive to black men. The "identity of the character" was the joke, and was not "irrelevant" as the author presumed.
-PJ
“How about “Blazing Saddles”?
One of the greatest Mel Brooks movies ever if not the greatest. I have it on DVD and haul it out now and then just to remind myself of what we have lost.
I read a piece from an interview with Brooks where he said those movies he made including Saddles and History of the World and Space Balls could never be made today.
Jerry Seinfeld also commented that stand up comedy was dead because performers are terrified of saying the wrong thing.
It happened because we let it happen and will continue until we stop it.
IMHO, Airplane did more to further the cause of anti racism than ail the woke race baiting identity politics trolls on the planet.
Winston Churchill once said that there was no more more retrograde force in mankind than Islam. it's debatable, but today's Woke progressives Marxists with their racial/identify politics Sharia may actually be moving into top spot.
And don't call me Shirley
I would say that about Blazing Saddles.
The producers were shocked that the audiences of Zero Hour thought it was a comedy!!!
Of course the Fags hate it because of the portray of “Johnny”.
And you would be correct
The film was actually written by a white guy, Michael McCullers. A white savior film!
From the article:
“It’s not even that these jokes aren’t funny in and of themselves; what matters is who is telling the joke. In the case of Airplane!, all three of the directors are White. There are also three additional White writers, and another three White producers. This is a team of all White men writing jokes targeting People of Color, which immediately makes it a White interpretation of a Person of Color.”
I wonder if the author gets just as hot and bothered about Get Out, a black-directed film that accurately casts white liberals as the real racists and trades in stereotypes about affluent white liberals. I doubt it.
Racial humor is not necessarily Racist humor.
Racial humor is how a healthy diverse society laughs at itself.
When Conan O’Brian referred to Irish-Americans as Drunken-Americans, it was appropriately funny.
Dumbest article I’ve ever read.
Lighten up, Nathanael.
I’ll bet Nathaniel has a very difficult time taking a dump.
Lighten up, Shirley.
Looks pretty much like one too.
Mash had Spearchucker Jones. That was brought over from the movie and after a few episodes he was gone.
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