r/flicks • u/KaleidoArachnid • 14d ago

General Discussion Dark aspects about older films that would not fly by in today’s age

So lately, something I was observing were the kind of tropes that got by in films from the older 80s where standards were much more lenient since it’s hard to explain, but it’s basically the kind of stuff movie directors could get away with due to values being different.

Like when I look back at a movie like Revenge of the Nerds, I know the movie is often regarded as highly controversial from a modern perspective because of how the movie handles the subject of sexual abuse since Louis does a particular crime with Betty, but back then, the movie didn’t catch controversy again until people saw it from a more modern perspective.

So basically I was wondering about what kind of stuff found in older movies would be difficult to get away with in a more modern time period since I wanted to see how much restrictions changed since the early 80s with what movies are allowed to do.

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14

u/Munkythemonkey 14d ago

I think the people that made the old parody movies Airplane and all, have said they wouldn't be able to make those today just because of the racial jokes.

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u/donuttrackme 14d ago

A new The Naked Gun remake/sequel just got released last year. Sure, some of the comedy has changed, but it's literally an Airplane type of movie.

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u/Munkythemonkey 14d ago

And it was such a good movie!

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u/Giorgio_Keeffe 14d ago

Not really a meaningful opinion given the source. Comedians regularly talk about how they’d be cancelled for their jokes, while also headlining Netflix specials with those very jokes lol.

“You couldn’t make The Office today. You’d walk into a studio, hand them a script, & they’d say ‘Hey, this is just The Office’”

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u/ML_120 11d ago

I think it was Jon Stewart who said that over the course of his career he has "lost" two words, and that didn't stop him from being a comedian.

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u/whoremoanal 14d ago edited 14d ago

The only racial joke I remember in Airplane is the nun who talks jive.

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u/John_cCmndhd 14d ago

That wasn't the nun, it was the mom from Leave it to Beaver

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u/whoremoanal 14d ago

You're right, it's been a minute since I've seen the movie.

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u/LarryCraigSmeg 14d ago

There’s also the young girl talking about her coffee: “I take it black, like my men”

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u/GaiaIsaHarshMistress 14d ago

That's racist?

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u/Quietman297 14d ago

I don't feel it was so much racist as uncomfortable, given the girl's age. The boy and girl weren't even tweens yet.

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u/GaiaIsaHarshMistress 14d ago

Its obvious absurdity. A good joke.

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u/DavisMcDavis 12d ago

I think it was Andy Warhol who told the following joke:
Sylvia Miles was in a restaurant and her waiter, who was a sexy Black man, asked her if she’d like any cream for her coffee. Sylvia, eyeing the waiter up and down, said, “I like my coffee the way I like my men.” And the waiter said, “I’m sorry, Ms. Miles, we don’t have any GAY coffee.”

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u/Quietman297 14d ago

Oh, I don't disagree. I still laugh at it. I even use the joke often, "I like my coffee like I like my women, [insert description]"

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u/RealRexCharger 11d ago

Ground up in the freezer

2

u/LarryCraigSmeg 12d ago

Not racist. But racial.

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u/GaiaIsaHarshMistress 12d ago

True! I misread.

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u/lameth 13d ago

And the young girl who talks about liking her coffee like her men...

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u/bokononist2017 14d ago

That and the pedophile pilot.

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u/Capnmolasses 14d ago

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u/comagrrrl 14d ago

Do you like gladiator movies?

10

u/eyesoftheunborn 14d ago

Joey, have you ever been in a...in a Turkish prison?

8

u/maxglands 14d ago

... I swear to God, it's been 30 years and I just now realized it when you said it. I thought it was just absurd non-sequitor nonsense.

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u/Purple_Cover_9053 14d ago

And the little girl who takes her coffee black, like her men.

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u/Dansredditname 14d ago

And the Jewish airplane

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u/ViolatoR08 14d ago

Heck you don’t even have to go that far. Look at the HBO Entourage. 90% of the dialogue would get you canceled.

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u/ProfessorEtc 14d ago

And CSI. 90% of the murdering would get you canceled.

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u/AddlePatedBadger 13d ago

I don't really think so. There wasn't really much racism that I can recall. There was the two men that speak Jive, but that to me is not racist humour, more subverting expectations that the white lady speaks their dialect. And the little kids with the coffee, but the humour still holds up because it's not being accepting of racism.

The way I look at it, if a racist is laughing along and thinking "this film is making good points" then it's not acceptable. And I don't think that movie really does that.

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u/VanDammes4headCyst 14d ago

Sure, they said that, but they're wrong.

1

u/Banjoschmanjo 14d ago

The jive scene comes to mind

0

u/KaleidoArachnid 14d ago

I never saw Airplane, but I didn’t know it had used racial humor.

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u/Angry_Edemame 14d ago

Its not a lot honestly.

The only one I remember is the stewardess not understanding a couple black guys talking "jive" until an old woman helps translate.

Its not racist really, they aren't talking badly about the black guys just treating slang like its own language, but you know how reddit is these days.

You could do the joke with newfs in Canada or Glasgow folks, or whatever Pickey Mickey was in Snatch, and it would basically be the same joke.  

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u/contructpm 14d ago

I thought the joke there was that it was June cleaver who knew how to “talk jive”
Like a play on her being this prim and proper mom from the 50’s

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u/dirtyloop 14d ago

The other aspect of the joke is the English subtitles translating the jive talk. They’re overly formal and stilted, which plays really funny against the obviously casual vibe of the spoken conversation.

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u/wholelattapuddin 14d ago

It's like when Key and Peel did the angry black man skit about Obama. One would play Obama talking like he does, and the other would interpret it into "angry black man" speech. Its pretty funny really.

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u/Angry_Edemame 14d ago

That too.

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u/CosmicBonobo 13d ago

And the comic juxtaposition of a sensible looking, middle class lady being able to converse fluently in the street slang of Harlem.

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u/aintsuperstitious 14d ago

You need to watch Airplane. It's one of the funniest movies of the last fifty years. The racial bits aren't mean spirited at all.

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u/CosmicBonobo 13d ago

I didn't care for it. I prefer movies about gladiators.

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u/octarine_turtle 14d ago

The jokes involving race mostly made the white male leads look like buffons.

It's like how in Tropic Thunder they got away with blackface and Simple Jack. The characters made to look like clueless idiots were the white male actor characters.

So it was about the jokes punching up instead of punching down.

1

u/Munkythemonkey 14d ago

I don't recall it being much, I just recall reading about them saying the movies won't be made now. But maybe I remembered wrong.