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To be shocked that this was ever ok?! Blackface on Little Britain...

646 replies

BrexitBingoGenerator · 09/06/2020 17:27

Hello. I've just been looking at the Daily Mail (sorry) and there is a thing about this. I was genuinely gobsmacked seeing the photo and it's completely offensive. However, at some time in the not-so-distant past, this was seen as mainstream comedy and I remember it being on primetime telly. So a critical mass of people must have thought this was ok? I never really watched little Britain and this sketch in particular made me want to heave, but I think at the time it was rather for its horrible portrayal of women generally. I don't remember outrage over it at the time. But maybe there was? I guess I'm just ashamed that comedy like this could have been screened in my adult lifetime.

To be shocked that this was ever ok?! Blackface on Little Britain...
OP posts:
CuriousaboutSamphire · 10/06/2020 10:59

And I did not say that. You have simplified what I did say and missed quite a bit of what I meant.

Pumperthepumper · 10/06/2020 11:01

I’m not going back to find your quote but you absolutely did say that blackface might not be racist depending on context and intent. That’s not true.

Bluemoooon · 10/06/2020 11:17

It came out in 2003.

StormTreader · 10/06/2020 11:18

I thought that the joke of the Lou and Andy sketches wasn't that they were saying disabled people were faking, but that Lou only really saw Andys disability, he didn't see him as a person but more of a doll, as many disabled people are.
The point was that Andy WAS a person and was much more than Lou was seeing - Lou was as important to that joke as Andy was with his eternal wetness.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 10/06/2020 11:49

pumper OK. If that's what you read. But it's not what I wrote, or think.

I get the reductionist thing. I do. I just don't think it is appropriate, any time.

I can keep on saying that it's not that simple and you will keep on saying that statement is, in and of itself, racist. We won't agree.

Pumperthepumper · 10/06/2020 11:53

I read it because you wrote it. But yes, let’s leave it there. We won’t agree that blackface can be contextually non-racist, and luckily enough people agree with me to pull it from Netflix.

Juliet2014 · 10/06/2020 12:08

18 pages of indignation and yet...

DO A SEARCH ON “LITTLE BRITAIN”

There is no indignation, no horror, no threads how appalling it is.

Notredamn · 10/06/2020 12:17

I see the following sentence or thereabouts, brought up all the time about loads of dodgy jokes and sketches, 'it's not taking the piss out of (insert oppressed minority here), it's poking fun at racists/bigots'.....what does that even mean?
Does it mean it's not supposed to be funny? Does it mean that if two people watch it and one bursts out laughing, the other should laugh at the one who found it funny? Or is it just a bollocks excuse people trot out to justify why they find this shit so hilarious?

Lexilooo · 10/06/2020 12:19

Papa Lazarou in League of Gentlemen wasn't an impersonation of a black person. He was from a circus/carnival and the appearance is a reference to a certain style of morris dancing that can be seen not far from where it was filmed.

Now that is not to say that the character is ok. There is still potential racism there. The depiction of the carnival people was probably offensive to Roma People. Black-face morris is controversial too, some believe it has history in mocking or impersonating moorish people, but that is not the only credible explanation, some interpretations believe it is miners appearance that is being referenced, others that it was just about disguise.

Pleasenodont · 10/06/2020 12:23

I’d say LB aged badly as a PP mentioned but I didn’t think it was acceptable or even funny at the time which, let’s not forget, was only about 15 years ago so not the 1970s.

It mocked just about every fraction of society including disabled and gay people so kind of offensive all round. I’m not someone who tries to be offended fwiw, I just think LB was incredibly low brow.

MadameMarie · 10/06/2020 12:23

Little Britain was painfully unfunny and basic humour IMO. The sketch show with the same unfunny joke every time.

However, it should not be erased. It is one thing banning Love thy Neighbour or filtering racial slurs out of Fawlty Towers.

It's no wonder British comedy is so banal now. Comedians are terrified to offend anyone.

derxa · 10/06/2020 12:25

Papa Lazarou in League of Gentlemen wasn't an impersonation of a black person. He was from a circus/carnival and the appearance is a reference to a certain style of morris dancing that can be seen not far from where it was filmed. And not funny

buildingbridge · 10/06/2020 12:25

I thought it was a funny show. If a couple of black comedians made a similar show and painted their faces white..

There is a film like that called "White Chicks". I'm not going to lie. That film was funny too!

rainkeepsfallingdown · 10/06/2020 12:29

I don't recall the show being massively funny, but I don't recall it being massively racist either. They tried to take the piss out of everyone in the UK.

I would definitely feel differently if they had only portrayed different races on their show, e.g. if they had only played black characters, as that means they should have cast someone else. But to me, I think it feels different that they played all of the characters - they didn't just play different races, they played different genders too, and didn't seem to mind how ridiculous they looked. So they were also being laughed at themselves.

As much as I don't like being the butt of a joke, I think it feels more comfortable if everyone else is the butt of a joke. Because that's still exclusion. A better kind of exclusion, but still exclusion.

I'm not white, and I have experienced racism, and I do strongly feel that if a part is specifically written for a non-white actor, it should be cast appropriately. (Many parts are more flexible, but if you set a show overseas in the past, you're really going to struggle if you don't consider race.) However, I'm just not sure Little Britain was offensive - not particularly funny, but not offensive.

I might feel differently if I rewatched it now but I can't do that given they've pulled it!

AfterSchoolWorry · 10/06/2020 12:37

I always thought it was shit. Not even slightly funny. League of gentleman was shit too.

Bill Cosby was shit too. Unfunny crap.

MrsKeanuCharlesReeves · 10/06/2020 12:40

How do you feel about the film white chicks? Two black males dressed up as dippy white blonde women.

Pumperthepumper · 10/06/2020 12:43

@MrsKeanuCharlesReeves

How do you feel about the film white chicks? Two black males dressed up as dippy white blonde women.
You haven’t read the thread, have you?
YourVagesty · 10/06/2020 13:07

Lol you know the answer to that your vagesty

Reckon I actually do Destroyed Wink

Notredamn · 10/06/2020 15:18

They tried to take the piss out of everyone in the UK

No, they didn't. They singled out anyone who could fall into an oppressed category. They weren't getting laughs out of your ordinary run of the mill middle class type, which make up a lot of the population.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 10/06/2020 15:39

No! That shit was left to The Fast Show

needtoseperate · 10/06/2020 17:47

of course they are stereotypes like in Harry Enfield. Everyone gets lampooned, equal opportunities.

randomer · 10/06/2020 17:54

@Afterschoolworry, yes this!. Absolute shit along with that Tate woman.

A sweary old woman, oh the hilarity.

Gwenhwyfar · 10/06/2020 17:57

"They weren't getting laughs out of your ordinary run of the mill middle class type, which make up a lot of the population."

They had plenty of middle class characters who would be 'ordinary' if it wasn't for the funny thing about them. The racist WI ladies (they're not saying all WI ladies are racist - it's a joke!), the mother who breastfed her adult child, etc.

Pumperthepumper · 10/06/2020 18:08

@Gwenhwyfar

"They weren't getting laughs out of your ordinary run of the mill middle class type, which make up a lot of the population."

They had plenty of middle class characters who would be 'ordinary' if it wasn't for the funny thing about them. The racist WI ladies (they're not saying all WI ladies are racist - it's a joke!), the mother who breastfed her adult child, etc.

Except the middle-class male characters were played by middle class men. The Thai bride/black woman/disabled woman were played by the same men. That’s the difference. Do you honestly not understand why that’s different?
Noolablue10 · 10/06/2020 18:09

I enjoyed it.