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A film like Blazing Saddles could never be made today

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D

Dalek

Member
I think it's incredible that this film exists-it's one of my favorite comedy films of all time-if not my favorite. I'm still blown away that this was distributed by a major motion picture studio in 1974. I feel like race is still a major issue in America, but to think that this was so sharp so long ago and was beloved is amazing. I would have to think that if a film with this humor would to come out today, it would outrage the pundits and talking heads to the point where it would be boycotted.

Mel Brooks had a deal in his contract that he got final cut for the film-which is amazing when you actually see the final film.

Here's Mel Brooks on Conan talking about the movie a bit

and one of the most classic scenes from Blazing Saddles

"Isn't anybody going to help that poor man??"

EDIT:
Different wording for my post since others are arguing over minutia. "I would find it hard to believe that Blazing Saddles could be made by a major studio today."
 
B

Buddha Beam

Banned
I love this movie. It saddens me that something like it would go over like a lead balloon with... certain members of the primarily college-aged crowd. Monty Python wouldn't fly these days either.
 
C

Catdaddy

Member
Agreed, even TV shows like All in the Family and Jeffersons would have to be on HBO or Showtime just to get aired.
 
E

Enron

Banned
If someone made this movie today, they'd be thrown in prison and their house would mysteriously burn down
 
notworksafe

notworksafe

Member
Sad but true. One of the best comedies ever made but the regression in society means people wouldn't be able to handle even a hilarious movie because TRIGGERS
 
M

MutFox

Banned
People that are Politically Correct don't have a very good sense of humour.
Though it seems whoever yells the loudest gets their way in todays world.

Just glad GAF didn't go full PC, I still remember the bans from a few years ago.
It was like walking on egg shells.
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
it saddens me a show like Mind your Language would probably get burned down in one minute these days
 
MaddenNFL64

MaddenNFL64

Member
There is NO fucking way it gets made, unless its bankrolled by a ballsy company that is fine with boycotts, and brigades against them constantly.
 
W

WyndhamPrice

Member
I think at this point it's not the racial (not racist) content of the movie that wouldn't go over, it's the screwball comedy aspect.

Airplane wouldn't get made today either because the style of comedy wouldn't play broadly like it did in the 70s.
 
C

CrimzonSamurai

Member
WyndhamPrice said:
In a world where Django Unchained exists I'm not totally sure this is true
Click to expand...

This is a good point. Bart gets a total win in the end for justice just like Django did, albeit with slightly less bloodshed.

I feel like it would result in a massive twitter furor, but if we assume that Mel Brooks was still established as he is today that most people would understand the satirical nature of the movie.

There will always be someone mad about anything.
 
P

Piggus

Member
One of my favorite movies ever. I remember my friend and I watching certain scenes over and over because they were so funny.
 
E

ElFly

Member
The strawmanning of the current "PC" times is crazy.

Brooks would probably not get final cut rights today, but that's not due to any politically correct agenda. There's nothing particularly offensive about Blazing Saddles. I am curious what part of BS people think would be considered offensive today.

We had Django what, two years ago? And Tropic Thunder (ok, not a western, but whatevs) in 2008, which has some p offensive dialog, but people got the joke no problem.
 
W

WyndhamPrice

Member
CrimzonSamurai said:
This is a good point. Bart gets a total win in the end for justice just like Django did, albeit with slightly less bloodshed.

I feel like it would result in a massive twitter furor, but if we assume that Mel Brooks was still established as he is today that most people would understand the satirical nature of the movie.

There will always be someone mad about anything.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's not any point in Blazing Saddles where Bart isn't 100% your sympathetic hero and you are very unambiguously supposed to laugh at the cartoonishly racist villains.

I think people generally misremember what the movie is about and how it is about it and seem to think it's this taboo thing.

People can claim Django is just being ironic, even though it wasn't. Plus, completely different tones- a comedy would be seen as mean spirited.
Click to expand...

See above, there's nothing particularly mean spirited about Blazing Saddles unless you are already racist.
 
C

CrimzonSamurai

Member
Fury451 said:
People can claim Django is just being ironic, even though it wasn't. Plus, completely different tones- a comedy would be seen as mean spirited.
Click to expand...

The majority of the jokes in Blazing Saddles are actually directed at the white rednecks. They say racist stuff, sure, but Bart completely destroys them in a slapstick way. The only racist thing about the movie is the racist dialogue from the rednecks who get completely stomped on. The only racist stuff Bart says "Hey, where the white women at?!" is clearly intended to prey upon the idiocy of the rednecks.

I think it would go down better than a lot of people think.
 
V

VistraNorrez

Member
You could day this for any movie or work of art. It's all a product of it's time. But let's not act like offensive comedies aren't made today. And It's not like Blazing Saddles is some unknown film. Young people today still watch it.
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
notworksafe said:
Sad but true. One of the best comedies ever made but the regression in society means people wouldn't be able to handle even a hilarious movie because TRIGGERS
Click to expand...
I am deeply offended by this
 
S

Suite Pee

Willing to learn
ElFly said:
The strawmanning of the current "PC" times is crazy.

Brooks would probably not get final cut rights today, but that's not due to any politically correct agenda. There's nothing particularly offensive about Blazing Saddles.

We had Django what, two years ago? And Tropic Thunder (ok, not a western, but whatevs) in 2008, which has some p offensive dialog, but people got the joke no problem.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this.
 
F

Fury451

Banned
CrimzonSamurai said:
The majority of the jokes in Blazing Saddles are actually directed at the white rednecks. They say racist stuff, sure, but Bart completely destroys them in a slapstick way. The only racist thing about the movie is the racist dialogue from the rednecks who get completely stomped on. The only racist stuff Bart says "Hey, where the white women at?!" is clearly intended to prey upon the idiocy of the rednecks.

I think it would go down better than a lot of people think.
Click to expand...

Perhaps it's A trend I've observed online that doesn't translate into real life, there seems to be a great number of people that cannot detect satirical humor, whether it's more blatant or especially when it's subtle.

Blazing Saddles is brilliant for the reasons that you said, but I can't help but think that the humor would be immediately and drastically misinterpreted or misunderstood.
 
S

Sephzilla

Member
Yeah, I don't think a movie like this could get made today. There are too many things in Blazing Saddles I could see groups having hissy fits about
 
A

aeolist

Banned
actually i'd be surprised if it came out today and we didn't get a bunch of fox news reports lambasting it for negatively portraying courageous white settlers in the old west
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
ElFly said:
We had Django what, two years ago? And Tropic Thunder (ok, not a western, but whatevs) in 2008, which has some p offensive dialog, but people got the joke no problem.
Click to expand...

Black Dynamite did a pretty good job with using racism as part of its comedic social cometary as well.



Dalek said:
Here's Mel Brooks on Conan talking about the movie a bit
Click to expand...


What's really amazing is that Mel Brooks had final cut over the movie. I could imagine movie studios in the 1970's feeling really iffy on the material in this movie and forcing changes if they could.
 
K

KingGondo

Banned
aeolist said:
a movie making fun of racists would probably do pretty well
Click to expand...
That's what's brilliant about Blazing Saddles. Brooks was able to tap into both markets: sorta/closeted racist people who were able to laugh at the outright racism of the villains and feel better about themselves in comparison, and fully fledged racists who are too dumb to see that they're the butt of all the jokes.
 
T

TheLostBigBoss

Banned
aeolist said:
a movie making fun of racists would probably do pretty well
Click to expand...

Yea, Blazing Saddles is pretty open about who it's pointing the joke at.

I don't see Blazing Saddles really causing much of a controversy, maybe some people would be mad because of the constant use of the n-word, like in Django.
 
J

JDSN

Banned
I like how these points are made so they cant be argued because they are hypoceticals, so I guess ill just throw in some vague insults about PC society and tumblr.

Or I could point out the existence of movies like Movie 43, Adam Sandler movies, Jason Friedberg movie, actually offensive films. I never got why people believe that movies like Tropic Thunder and Blassing Saddles are considered offensive or problematic by the " PC" audience, its like they failed to grasp the themes and criticism behind those films, like the preppy guy that sees Chappelle show and all he gets its "Its Rick James, bitch!"
 
C

CrimzonSamurai

Member
Fury451 said:
Perhaps it's A trend I've observed online that doesn't translate into real life, there seems to be a great number of people that cannot detect satirical humor, whether it's more blatant or especially when it's subtle.

Blazing Saddles is brilliant for the reasons that you said, but I can't help but think that the humor would be immediately and drastically misinterpreted or misunderstood.
Click to expand...

We don't get a lot of satirical or spoof movies these days anyway because that style of humor just isn't very popular. It's not like Space Balls or Men in Tights would have a good theatrical release these days. The 80s was like the decade of satire in film. Everybody wants gritty realism these days like Django or the Dark Knight Trilogy. The only real parody movies we get are the Wayans bros movies and well, yeah.

There would definitely be people who were mad about it, but there are people who get mad about everything. I think the majority of people could detect the nature of Blazing Saddles. It's basically a live-action Looney Tunes sketch, only a very small subset of incredibly dumb people wouldn't get that.

aeolist said:
actually i'd be surprised if it came out today and we didn't get a bunch of fox news reports lambasting it for negatively portraying courageous white settlers in the old west
Click to expand...

The villains are actually the same villains in like every classic Western. Railroaders trying to destroy the honest, hard working folk. Westerns as a genre have always negatively portrayed aspects of the westward expansion.
 
T

The Albatross

Member
Fury451 said:
Perhaps it's A trend I've observed online that doesn't translate into real life, there seems to be a great number of people that cannot detect satirical humor, whether it's more blatant or especially when it's subtle.

Blazing Saddles is brilliant for the reasons that you said, but I can't help but think that the humor would be immediately and drastically misinterpreted or misunderstood.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but more so, it would be intentionally misunderstood. More so now than ever we have a groups of people on every side of every argument that want to intentionally misunderstand something and be offended by it. They seek out things to be intentionally misunderstand and then be offended by.
 
K

KingGondo

Banned
notworksafe said:
No one at Fox News lost their shit over that Seth MacFarlane western and that portrayed western settlers as more moronic than Blazing Saddles.

Next?
Click to expand...
That's a terrible comparison.

There's a key distinction there (besides the fact that the Seth McFarlane western was a commercial and critical bomb that nobody cares about while Blazing Saddles is a classic): the settlers are not only portrayed as buffoons, but as racist buffoons.

Fox News, which has made its reputation largely on selling professional victimhood, would likely hate a movie that points out the uncomfortable truths about the old west and all the John Wayne/Ronald Reagan/Clint Eastwood bullshit mythology that has been built up around it.
 
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