Fawlty Towers “Don’t mention the war” removed.

[boredtotears11]

Aibu to say I think that is a ridiculous decision by the BBC.Theyve removed it from its streaming service because of its “racist slurs”. It was a classic piece of comedy. I mean if they start picking apart old classic comedy how far are they going to go. Dads Army next?

attitudes

Benny Hill should go instead!

they could start with a disclaimer along the lines that pps have talked about: that 'this episode may offend/reflects a time of different standards of awareness/etc'.
I'm surprised they don't have anything like that yet. But would it satisfy the people who are actually likely to complain?

Toddlerteaplease
Dambusters will be banned next because of the Dog. This is getting ridiculous now.

The name of the dog was removed some time ago.

FrippEnos...
I watched this on tv a few weeks ago(during lockdown) and the dogs name DEFINITELY was not removed. There was ,however, a disclaimer at the beginning of the film.

@malificent7

Benny Hill should go instead!

He should. Very quickly, with saxophone music.

@intermittentParps

Life Of Brian takes the piss out of unquestioning and mindless followers, not out of Christians or Christianity or any religion per se

Come on! TLOB is a massive pisstake out of Christianity. For starters, the film is a parody of the Jesus film. No one in it comes out well, the point it's making is: what if first century Palestine was really like that, with all those credulous idiots running around. Brian, a bumbling fool, becomes a Messianic figure entirely by accident, all his followers are fools, the implication being that you are a fool if you follow religion. And potentially dangerous too: it takes no time at all for Brian's followers to kill someone and then split into two rival groups.

It takes the piss out of just about everything in the Gospels that matter to Christians: the birth of Christ, his teaching ministry, his arrest and crucifixion. Everything in the film happens by accident, not by any divine plan.

It's the funniest film I've ever seen, but it's absolutely hostile to organised religion in a way few other things I've seen are.

Why boomers, especially?

Very quickly, with saxophone music.
I would watch that 😂

Everything in the film happens by accident, not by any divine plan.

To Brian, yes. Jesus is just quietly getting on with what Jesus does in the background.

It takes the piss out of just about everything in the Gospels that matter to Christians: the birth of Christ, his teaching ministry, his arrest and crucifixion. Everything in the film happens by accident, not by any divine plan.

I don’t know. There’s a scene where Jesus can be heard preaching the Beatitudes in the distance which is quite moving.

Brian, a bumbling fool, becomes a Messianic figure entirely by accident, all his followers are fools, the implication being that you are a fool if you follow religion. Yes, MINDLESSLY and uncritically.

It takes the piss out of just about everything in the Gospels that matter to Christians: the birth of Christ, his teaching ministry, his arrest and crucifixion. The point is that all of these things happen to someone who is NOT the Messiah (insert the second half of that sentence for own amusement if wished )

I will say that I could have worded my post more carefully, reading it again: what I meant is that yes, it is about organised religion, as you say. My point on that being that it's not an attack on anyone's personal faith.

It was quite obvious that there was very little to ridicule in Jesus’s life, and therefore we were onto a loser,” said Michael Palin in 1979. “Jesus was a very straight, direct man making good sense, so we decided it would be a very shallow film if it was just about [him].

Original theme ‘Jesus Christ:Lust For Glory’ quickly dismissed as not appropriate or inherently comedic.

People blindly following fake religious leaders with no thought or self-reflection are ridiculous.

Organised religion

Vs faith

As with much comedy, the nuances going completely over the head of many. That’s the problem.

A huge percentage of Fawlty Towers is built around the 'hilarity' of Manuel a) having a funny accent because he's foreign and b) not understanding British people/English-speakers and them not understanding him, again because he's foreign.

Again, the joke is not on the "foreigner." The joke is that Basil is so tight-fisted and nasty that he flew Manuel over from Spain and paid him a pittance instead of hiring an English person, and then is constantly infuriated because Manuel doesn't speak perfect English.

@boredtotears11

Getupagain Comedy today can’t compare. Yes a lot of us do want to watch old comedy shows, because they were actually brilliant. Cut out the racist slurs definitely but let’s not lose them. What the hell have we got now that can compare to Fools and horses, Fawlty Towers, Porridge etc.

How can you make good comedy today when you can't say anything for fear of offending someone?

Sitcoms have been pretty much killed off by political correctness for better or worse.

It is stylistically like ‘the Jesus film’ because it is parodying that type of Hollywood epic. They were fortunate enough to be able to use some of the sets from Jesus Of Nazareth that hadn’t been dismantled too, which helped.
Parodying an overblown, glossy Hollywood version of the Bible isn’t taking the piss out of Jesus.

I worked with a German team a long time ago. It was their catchphrase. Quite german sense of humour actually.

@Midsommar

They could just blank out the N-word, not pull the bloody episode. We are quickly sliding into a nanny state, full of censorship and people dictating what we can and can't watch. It's scary. I feel our TV history is being erased to meet the ideals of the modern generation.

The modern generation have grown up terrified of causing offence and are easily offended.

I seen this new fad of every old show being too offensive when Friends first went onto Netflix and younger audiences were complaining it wasn't politically correct enough.

Let's face it if a TV show in 2020 doesn't have 3 graphic sex scenes every episode and a lot of gratuitous violence then it won't appeal to modern audiences anyway.

Again, the joke is not on the "foreigner." The joke is that Basil is so tight-fisted and nasty that he flew Manuel over from Spain and paid him a pittance instead of hiring an English person, and then is constantly infuriated because Manuel doesn't speak perfect English.

I get that, but unfortunately it is Manuel's speech (and people's baffled reactions to it) that seems to be played for laughs.

@AnnaBanana333

A huge percentage of Fawlty Towers is built around the 'hilarity' of Manuel a) having a funny accent because he's foreign and b) not understanding British people/English-speakers and them not understanding him, again because he's foreign.

Again, the joke is not on the "foreigner." The joke is that Basil is so tight-fisted and nasty that he flew Manuel over from Spain and paid him a pittance instead of hiring an English person, and then is constantly infuriated because Manuel doesn't speak perfect English.

Polly and Sybil have no trouble communicating with Manuel, either, because they can speak Spanish or have the patience to use a non-shouty English that he can follow.

We are meant to sympathise with him faced with the irascibility and unpredictability of Basil. It was said in reference to Cleese’s more vituperative Python sketches but applies to Basil Fawlty too - it is scary to see a man lose his temper like that, to lose control in that way.

Absolutely Saucery

IntermittentParps I don't agree. The joke was played to be on Basil at all times. Just because some of the audience is too dim to get the actual joke, doesn't mean the programme is at fault!

@ravenmum

Leviticus 20:13 ESV

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Before I get deleted for homophobia I do not agree with the above.

Or

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And I don’t agree with this quote either.

I felt at the time that the scenes in Fawlty Towers with the young Australian woman were sleazy, unnecessary and not even remotely funny. Making fun of the deaf woman ('Communication Problems') I still find very funny - and I wear hearing aids.

We laughed at different things then because the times were different. 'Love My Neighbour' and 'Till Death Do Us Part' will probably never be repeated. 'Rising Damp' was very funny - Philip always got the better of Rigsby but it would be a shame to shelve the entire comedy. 'Open All Hours' is still repeated but some scenes may cause offence.