Blazing Saddles Essay

In earlier western films, Native Americans were viewed as savages and ethnic groups were viewed as ignorant due to the lack of political correctness. Like most early western films, violence was utilized in place of punishment for bad men, and as Thomas Myers said in his article about the comparison of western films, “was a means for restoring order to the community.” African Americans were not added to the cast of characters in Stagecoach, but during the early expansion of the western frontier, there were African American cowboys and other settlers that came from many ethnic groups. Another example of ignorance expressed in minority groups is the portrayal

Reid covers three genres of African American film types such as comedy, black family film, and black action film whether it be independent and/or commercial films. Under the comedy genre, Reid evaluates three subtypes, which include Blackface Minstrelsy, Hybrid Minstrelsy and Satiric Hybrid Minstrel films. Blackface Minstrelsy was the only film subtype, I was familiar with in African American film history. Hybrid Minstrelsy and Satiric Hybrid Minstrel films were new genres learned from

Firstly, a brief background of Early Black cinema is important to note. In 1915 The Plantation Genre (form of genre) came about with the release of Birth of a Nation an overtly anti-black film, which included three main mythic stereotypes. These included the “unlawful slave” who represented black slaves as unpredictable, cunning and violent; this representation was used as reasoning for whites sustaining control. The “subordinate slave” stereotype, which represented blacks as dependable, loving and accepting of their position; this allowed white audiences to displace any guilt about slavery. Additionally, there’s also what is known as the “clown entertainer” which included characteristics of innate humor and the

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.

Blazing Saddles, a Mel Brooks film, is a perfect example of satire. The main object of the movie is to make fun of the western genre of films. Mel Brooks is notorious for his satires of many different films and film genres, and Blazing Saddles follows true to form. Many of the film’s ideas and problems are common in most westerns, although Mel Brooks has added a twist. In addition, the movie pokes fun at a more modern theme, racism.

In order to fully ascertain the gravity of negative archetypes, it is important to explore a common one. Donald Bogle is a film historian and lecturer at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Bogle has authored a book entitled Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks, in which he outlines a few of cinemas most infamous black architypes. The one most salient this this essay is that of brutal black buck. Bogle divides the brutal black buck into two subcategories: “black bucks” and “black brutes.”

Often in many films that undermine African Americans, they are depicted as thief's, murders, or unintelligent. These images are used to show that African Americans are unlike their white counterparts. According to Friedman, "This formulation undermines the racially and sexually based violence toward African Americans, wiping out the memory of rape, castration, and lynching of slaves that occurred in the past" (Friedman). The development of African American films, or films that truly put African Americans in any type of positive light did not really start to occur until the 1970's or 1980's. Before then films were often negative in spirit. Paula Massood describes the Hollywood depictions of African Americans in the previous era as, "failing to recognize the sociopolitical changes in the American landscape. African American characters most often appeared within a southern setting, largely ignoring the black city space and culture that figured in the lives and the imaginations of a vast majority of African Americans" (Massood). However, in the following years the development and progression of African American films was able to be seen.

Harmful racial stereotypes have plagued the entertainment industry since blackface minstrel shows began in New York in the early 1800’s. Although the structure of minstrel shows changed over time; the images, blackface, and the caricatures of blacks continued. Early Hollywood films sustained the racist tradition of white actors performing in blackface with numerous silent movies that included white actors playing non-white characters in a particularly stereotypical fashion. Eventually non-white actors were allowed to play themselves in film, however they were cast in extremely prejudiced roles that degraded themselves like “the coon”, “the tom”, “the black buck” or “the mammy” for African American actors, and “the bandito”, “the greaser”, “Latin lover” or the “spitfire for Latino actors. Although there are some productive ambiguities within some of these roles, they are ultimately damaging.

Mel Brooks’ satirical western comedy Blazing Saddles is the movie that changes a genre, by heavily making fun of it. From the start there is that initial good guy and bad guy mentality, with the hero ultimately saving the day. A wealthy white man wants to grab a spot of land to build his railroad through, however there is a town in the way. He sets forth to taking the town until two unlikely heroes come to the rescue and wittingly save the day. Ultimately throughout the plot there are hilarious commentaries on things that just don’t make sense.

In early African American Cinema, filmmakers had a mission to move away from white perspectives on what it meant to be black (Stewart 225). Oftentimes, we would see black actors being portrayed in scenes as the antagonist committing crimes, as in the case of D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. Soon after Griffith released the film, filmmaker Oscar Micheaux forever changed American Independent Cinema with his “response” film Within Our Gates, which helped start the advent of race films (NAACP 1). Some of the most notable race films were: The Homesteader, Body and Soul, and The Blood of Jesus. Such films were produced for all-black audiences that featured black casts. But that did not necessarily mean that they were directed and written by

The race film genre is a source of important material highlighting the African American culture. The genre not only focused on culture, but also emphasized African American talent, Black’s ability to film, produce, and direct a motion picture, and most importantly, the genre exposed the world to the “real” African American individual and family. Although many of these films were only shown and marketed to “colored only” theaters, films like Harlem of Prairie (1937) and The Blood of Jesus (1941) are notable films that struck a core with both White and Black Americans. These are a few of the forgotten race films that have provided today’s African Americans with a sense of encouragement and confidence to continue to fight the struggle of

I don’t think a movie like Blazing Saddles could be made today. Movies, money, and political correctness, the new golden rule in American life, which is to never joke about anything that may be deemed even remotely offensive or upsetting by any segment of the population for any reason. Watch a movie like Dirty Harry or a Marilyn Monroe film, and they are tame compared to what we see in today's horror movies like "Saw". But with Hollywood comedy, it has gone in a different direction, in the name of political correctness. I do not think a movie like Blazing Saddles could be made today.

Two men meet alone in a dusty town, facing off in one final gunfight or there is a line of cavalry men on horses waiting for the Indians to crest the hill that faces them. These are two visions of the Western film that has long been a staple of this genre. There are those that see the Western differently and their interpretation is just as intense or thought provoking, even comical. Unforgiven directed and starring Clint Eastwood and Blazing Saddles directed by Mel Brooks are two such films that took the Western to another level and envisioned the wild west in a new light. Their versions still held onto the some of the true Western themes and revered the scenic visions of the frontier and the mystery of the immense landscape while changing the view of how a Western film should be filmed. Both directors reexamine the typical Western characters, reenvisioned the role of violence, while still celebrating the beauty of Western frontier.

Blaxploitation movies in American society were at an all time high in the 1970’s. They gained popularity during and after the civil rights movement due to the influence African Americans were having on society. The movie Coffy, directed by Jack Hill and release in 1973, is a great example of how Blaxploitation movies reinforced the stereotypes that already exist about black men and women. Young African American filmmakers, made lots of these types of movies in order to appeal to the young African American crowd. In the article “Baadasss Gangstas: The Parallel Influences, Characteristics and Criticisms of the Blaxploitation Cinema and Gangsta Rap”, by Dustin Engels, it says, “African American artists began using their mediums to appeal directly to black audiences in an attempt to spawn cultural movements that would display and bring to the forefront the cultural, social and economic struggles of the African American experience.” The African American that was originally making these films had a positive purpose and wanted to spread social consciousness in the best way they could.

These representations led to Blaxploitation as a Genre, and according to bell hooks, “contemporary black men have been shaped by these representations”. Black Cinema challenges these representations by exploring the intersectionalities between race, class, gender, and sexuality. The concept of masculinity is rooted deeply in black males who are expected to share heterosexual experiences and serve the patriarchal ideal that comes with manhood. Barry Jenkins film “Moonlight” depicts the struggles of a homosexuality black male who finds himself internally conflicted with his identity and the external consequences that arise from society in respect to his sexuality. Moonlight serves as an example of what Black Cinema aims to challenge through it production, distribution, and exhibitions of films; reconstructing the black masculinity through issues of race, gender, class, and