To wonder if these Bugsy Malone lines should be edited?

[stoopedandooped]

DS is playing the part of Smolsky in the school production of Bugsy Malone and has some lines to learn. Some of them are:

"You Irish potato head!"
"You dumb potato face Irish jerk!"
"I'm going to punch that stupid Irish nose right back to Tipperary"

Would it be unreasonable to suggest to the school that these lines could be construed as offensive and should be tweaked?

How old are the children? Assuming quite young, I'm actually with OP on this. I think slightly censoring a children's school play is not comparable to editing Shakespeare, given the impressionability of the audience and actors. If they're going to leave it in for the sake of historical accuracy, I'd at the very least expect the class to be having a very thorough and frank conversation about that historical context.

There's a great slide that a big movie house have started adding to the start of their films when they are reproduced (can't find it anywhere, might be Warner Bros), but it basically says "There might be offensive references in this film, that we no longer believe are acceptable, but we have made the decision to leave it as it was made, in order to reflect the culture and feeling of the time, to learn from it and to not erase it"

Her part was much worse in taxi driver. But essential.

I'm Irish & certainly don't support censorship of literature/the Arts generally. If it's being put on in school even if it's not being studied then it serves an educational purpose. I'd certainly encourage you to discuss this with your DC & the teachers involved but not with a view to having speeches banned.
This is an opportunity to demonstrate the connected nature of learning/education - nothing stands alone, all things overlap - & an ideal chance to draw these aspects out during rehearsals etc.
The lines are indeed reflective of attitudes of the time, as are these cartoons which the link gives some context for, & makes the connection between the various groups which suffered from discrimination. www.victoriana.com/history/irish-political-cartoons.html

Well, surely the whole play is offensive.

Why are children playing gangsters? Surely that's not great? romanticising gang warfare?

Getting a young girl to play the 'seductive ' Tallulah

stealing.... revenge... gun fights....

the whole thing is offensive and inappropriate really

Getting a young girl to play the 'seductive ' Tallulah

Yeah 100% that's just really creepy and weird

Why is ‘letter opener’ being used as an example of an insult?

It all depends on how you play it.

The dancing girls in Alan Parker's production were more than a bit iffy even in the 70s.

But what about Pirates? Cowboys and Indians? Even going on a bear hunt is a potential endorsement of animal cruelty.

What a load of bollocks. It's a school play. It's meant to be an enjoyable comedy, not a historical reflection. If they were studying the play academically, that might be different, but they're not

I disagree. Part of putting on a production should be understanding the historical context.

Use it as an additional learning tool and explain the history and context to your child.

I thought Phoebes mum censoring every film she saw was funny once upon a time. Not any more though, now it seems prophetic.
Weird that those comments are noticeably offensive in a film about gangsters, guns and speakeasy clubs

Has it been mentioned that censoring racusm is now understood as racist in itself?

Has it been mentioned Jodie was in a cast of other teens playing a role kids see in every adult film?

To quote the formerly known as Fat Sam "This is getting ridiculous" get over yourselves stop lying to your kids, you're going to get found out eventually.

Oh thank fuck you were here spinneyhill, I'll just stick on American History X for my 20 mo. Thanks for talking some sense into me 😂.

Why is ‘letter opener’ being used as an example of an insult?

I wondered this aswell also in the list of insults that's worse than insulting someone's nationality?

They're portraying characters from a certain time in history

Oh FFS, it's Bugsy Malone, a 70s kids' comedy, not Beowulf. "Potato head" is not a historically-accurate 1920s gangster insult, any more than Robin Hood: Men in Tights accurately portrays life in thirteenth century Nottinghamshire.

OP, I'd suggest it's toned down a bit too.

Agree, it’s not exactly a historically accurate piece - what with all the characters being children and the splurge gun things. I’m sure you could get away with a few minor edits and not upset history boffins.

I dont think it has historical context, it's a fantasy where kids shoot killer custard pies at each other (apart from at the end where everyone survives for some reason) and they are running illegal soft drink rackets, it has a 1920s look but was written in the late 70s. So OP I would say something.

@sashkin

but where does the 'toning down' stop?

Should OP censor the whole script? Get involved in the diorection? costumes?

My daughter did Bugsy when she was 4. She insisted on auditioning (aged 3!). Some of the lines were wildly inappropriate but even at 3 she was old enough to know they were part of the show and the characters and not something to say outside rehearsals.
So YABU. Editing history is dangerous.

Editing history is dangerous.

It isn't "Editing History" though is it, it's editing a school play. Plays are edited all the time, the original film will still exist ......

but where does the 'toning down' stop?

At the point where you've taken the racism out, maybe?

This has to be a wind up??

I’m looking forward to No stranger to the dessert trolley Sam’s Grand Slam

❄️

Presumably the school has paid for performing rights to the show. They won’t be legally permitted to make changes to the show as it is written. That includes things like changing lines, changing the gender or ethnicity of a character, adding or removing songs, etc.

Bugsy Malone is a weird film all round.
When our school performed it- I was so sheltered, I thought Tallulah was a social worker.
This was based on her dedication to helping "lonely" people and her "training" in North Carolina, presumably the location of a prestigious social work college.