Blazing Saddles Research

An example that shows racism in the modern world today was when Eddie McGuire, a well-known presenter and businessman, specifically told Adam Goodes to play the role of King Kong, on the breakfast radio show on Triple M, which was originally, promoting the King Kong

All of this proves that Hollywood is not doing a good job in making up for the blatantly racist films of the twentieth century. Hollywood needs to do more to reverse the stereotypes of early film because such stereotypes are still seen today along with their respective repercussions.

The concept art imitates life is crucial to film directors who express their views on political and social issues in film. In regard to film studies, race is a topic rare in many films. Like America, many films simply refuse to address this topic for various reasons. However, more recently, Jordan Peele’s 2017 box office hit Get Out explicates contemporary race relations in America. In the form of an unconventional comedy horror, Get Out is intricate in its depiction of white liberal attitudes towards African Americans. In short, Get Out suggests a form of covert racism existing in a post- Jim Crow era. Similarly, Eduardo Bonilla- Silva’s book Racism Without Racists acknowledges the contemporary system of racism or “new racism,” a system

In Michael Omi’s essay “In living Color: Race and American Culture,” he describes how racism still exists today, but portrayed differently than just a few decades ago. First, Omi discusses how overt racism (openly showing one’s racism) does not seem as popular today as with generations before us. For example, the Ku Klux Klan became highly popular in terrorizing, murdering, and assaulting minorities. Today, the Ku Klux Klan has become less popular, but we still run into overt racism, such as when Al Campanis stated that blacks do not hold management positions in big industries because the African American community contributes more to society as athletes (Omi 540). Al Campanis theory states that due to the African Americans body structure

Racism has not just gone away there are still people out there thinking there are only certain things white people can do and certain things only black people can do. Or some people that think the world is owed to them because of their skin color, or they are superior because of their skin color. It has never stopped because as a society we have done nothing about it and made it a common thing. A good example would be, in To Kill a Mockingbird when Calpurnia brought the children to church Lula got upset about it. “Lula stopped, but she said, “You ain’t got no business briging’ whit chillun her-they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church ain’t it, Miss Cal?”(Lee) Things like that still happen today just not as extreme people separate themselves in some cases due to race and that is one thing that needs to be worked on.

     I believe racism to be as apparent today if not more profound then in the past. A large portion of society believes that no man is still to this day denied any unalienable rights. I do not believe this statement to be true. We have adopted affirmative action programs and enforced strict equal opportunity employment laws to hinder discrimination. Although I believe it is still a very prevalent issue in today’s society. Despite laws, investigations and results show that twenty percent of African Americans interviewing for jobs were turned down due to the color of their skin (Omi and Winant 67-68). Indeed racism may be very subtle in most cases; it is not a thing of the past but rather a very serious problem in society that evolves

The world of film has changed dramatically over the last fifty years, both in technology and perceptions on how the industry should work and how it is viewed by the public. The ending of the production code in Hollywood started the cultural change in the industry. With this restrictive institution gone, many directors chose to take advantage of this in many different ways. My favorite of these is Mel Brooks; he chose to break and push boundaries both socially and comedically. Brooks’ style often includes crude humor inlaid with deeper jokes and meaning, many fourth wall breaking moments such as the “We’re in now now” scene of Spaceballs, to stand out in the world of comedy. His masterpiece, Blazing Saddles, is one such film that did just that. Through its new found sense of humor in the post production code era and its twists on common genre tropes of the time, Blazing Saddles was able to find its place into the New Hollywood Cinema.

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, sheds light to the cultural problems of the Western era through satire with elements of parody within. John Vogel describes Blazing Saddles as “The Ultimate Western Spoof.” The problem of racism is the main focus of this film. If one takes a closer look at the work of Mel Brooks, there is a noticeable trend of his films pointing fingers at racists. In order to better understand why he takes this

According to Tukachinsky, Mastro, and Yarchi, prior to 1930, the role of Blacks on screen were seen involving mostly in criminality and idleness (540). That role still persists until the present, with Blacks usually have to withstand to “longstanding and unfavorable media stereotypes including sexually provocative females and aggressive male thugs” (Tukachinsky 540). 1970’s movies such as The Mack, Black Caesar and Coffy have reinforced this stereotypic image of the black community. The

Although racism has changed over time these past 50 years, racism in many ways still exists. Everybody has their own opinion and those opinions are influenced by the public and the media. In some way,

is no law saying that every film involving cross-racial relationships has to make some kind of defining statement about racism or race-relations in general, but there should be a rule against painting such broad character strokes using painfully obvious and patronizing stereotypes.” (Mendelson’s Memos)

Racism in this country has been prevalent over centuries now, and still a huge hindrance in the United States of America. Racism has a huge history with scholars documenting the long illustrious reasons and root causes as to why this has become such a major topic of issue in the United States and its psychological and social obliterations in the society.

These people are correct in a sense; loud and public acts of racism are no longer prevalent in the US as they were in the past. However, today racism is stealthy and unspoken, and often deftly covered up with fabricated cover stories to legitimize the discrimination. This new breed of racism is perhaps even more difficult to fight against than its more egregious past self; its subtlety allows its perpetuators to claim ignorance of any discrimination, and its lack of media attention lulls Americans into complacence and acceptance of the current system. Further disturbing is the prevalence of “covert racism”, also commonly called “subconscious racism”. Many white Americans may actively stereotype and discriminate against blacks without even being aware of their actions and thought processes (BlackYouthProject). This phenomenon is a sad consequence of being raised a subtly racist society which perpetuates discrimination, even if never openly. Many subconscious racists may also be unwittingly subscribing to “symbolic racism”. In J.H. Moore’s book Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, Henry Sears characterizes symbolic racism as the endorsement of four specific beliefs:

I like how you described different events that have occurred over many years that show forms of racism. While President Obama was running for president, I remember people talking about how they would or would not vote for him, just because he is black. Both of those reasons to vote for or against someone show racism because the color of someones skin should not matter. Even when I overhear someone make a quiet remark that would be considered racist, I get nervous for the person because it is so disturbing. It’s crazy to think that back in the day racism was shown so openly.

The population of the United States of America has been one of mixed race since its very beginning. Boatload upon boatload of enslaved Africans provided a labor force which would fuel the American South’s economy for many years, until national abolition and the subsequent civil rights movement created a primarily biracial population of blacks and whites. The US has come a long way since those days, and today every child born into the US is taught from an early age the evils of racism and the shameful actions committed by slave-owning US citizens in the past. From textbooks to televisions, the modern USA seemingly works tirelessly to teach its population that discrimination by race is wrong and that all races are equal. This has led to a great national complacence among whites, and a widespread belief that the US has mostly eradicated racial prejudices. But it is not so, and despite a population almost entirely composed of people who would not consider themselves racists, racism still pervades in the US. In many cases modern racism occurs at the hands of whites who almost absolutely are completely unaware of their discriminatory actions. In the films “Frozen River” and “The Visitor” racism was touched on repeatedly and played an evident part in the messages they were trying to portray.