Mierin
Donor
I generally err on the side of not seeing this as a big deal or caring much, and think it's typically overblown.
But I've been rewatching Golden Girls and they are on an episode where Rose is dating a little person. Before Blanche realizes he's her boyfriend, she makes all sorts of jokes and horrible comments thinking she brought him to the house as a practical joke, then realizes he is actually her boyfriend. She and Dorothy then keep accidentally embarrassing themselves; e.g. Blanche comes into the room with a tray of food and shouts "shrimp?" and then turns around and exits the room (not intending to make fun but realizing what she was saying and thinking about him being short). Then it turns out what they're eating for the main course is short ribs. The whole episode turns into a lesson on not judging a book by its cover.
I don't think the topic would ever be covered in this way in this century, but I don't think the way they did it was wrong. It's okay to portray people who are making mistakes, and then show that they were in the wrong. We don't really see it done this way anymore. You're just not supposed to have anyone who acts this way because it's wrong, so it shouldn't be shown at all.
Another example that bothered me is there is a Christmas episode of The Office with blackface. Dwight's German Santa figure has a helper that traditionally wears blackface (no idea if this is a real thing or made up for the show). Someone is reading online about the traditions and mentions this one and everyone is horrified. Dwight says something like "of course we aren't going to have that part of it" and he quickly texts his cousin and it shows the cousin in blackface about the enter the building, looking at his phone, then leaving. Literally everyone was horrified and Dwight was obtuse but he kind of has an excuse that it's an old tradition his parents would have done and he was just ignorant. They didn't pull it because they didn't want Dwight to look obtuse. It was likely an NBC decision just because it was blackface. This is another thing that I think is stupid. I believe showing examples on TV/in movies of people being ignorant/callous/insensitive can actually help educate the people who watch them.
But I've been rewatching Golden Girls and they are on an episode where Rose is dating a little person. Before Blanche realizes he's her boyfriend, she makes all sorts of jokes and horrible comments thinking she brought him to the house as a practical joke, then realizes he is actually her boyfriend. She and Dorothy then keep accidentally embarrassing themselves; e.g. Blanche comes into the room with a tray of food and shouts "shrimp?" and then turns around and exits the room (not intending to make fun but realizing what she was saying and thinking about him being short). Then it turns out what they're eating for the main course is short ribs. The whole episode turns into a lesson on not judging a book by its cover.
I don't think the topic would ever be covered in this way in this century, but I don't think the way they did it was wrong. It's okay to portray people who are making mistakes, and then show that they were in the wrong. We don't really see it done this way anymore. You're just not supposed to have anyone who acts this way because it's wrong, so it shouldn't be shown at all.
Another example that bothered me is there is a Christmas episode of The Office with blackface. Dwight's German Santa figure has a helper that traditionally wears blackface (no idea if this is a real thing or made up for the show). Someone is reading online about the traditions and mentions this one and everyone is horrified. Dwight says something like "of course we aren't going to have that part of it" and he quickly texts his cousin and it shows the cousin in blackface about the enter the building, looking at his phone, then leaving. Literally everyone was horrified and Dwight was obtuse but he kind of has an excuse that it's an old tradition his parents would have done and he was just ignorant. They didn't pull it because they didn't want Dwight to look obtuse. It was likely an NBC decision just because it was blackface. This is another thing that I think is stupid. I believe showing examples on TV/in movies of people being ignorant/callous/insensitive can actually help educate the people who watch them.
Last edited by a moderator:
