'Blazing Saddles' Gets Disclaimer Treatment at HBO Max

[Mark Jeffries]

The famous Mel Brooks comedy and race relations satire has been on the streamer for a month, but now has an introduction from TCM's Jacqueline Stewart similar to her introduction to HBOM's presentation of "Gone With the Wind"--and I can personally vouch for it, since I saw it today before settling back to hear Cleavon Little croon that "N-word song" written by a white gay man in the first scene:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-max-adds-proper-social-context-intro-blazing-saddles-1307351?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%27s%20Today%20in%20Entertainment_now_2020-08-14%2007:38:41_ehayden&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_tie

[Joe Hass]

This is the stupidest thing I've heard in a very, very long time.

(Also, to be pedantically correct, it's a "n-word *work* song".)

On Sat, Aug 15, 2020 at 10:14 PM Mark Jeffries <spotl...@gmail.com> wrote:

The famous Mel Brooks comedy and race relations satire has been on the streamer for a month, but now has an introduction from TCM's Jacqueline Stewart similar to her introduction to HBOM's presentation of "Gone With the Wind"--and I can personally vouch for it, since I saw it today before settling back to hear Cleavon Little croon that "N-word song" written by a white gay man in the first scene:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-max-adds-proper-social-context-intro-blazing-saddles-1307351?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%27s%20Today%20in%20Entertainment_now_2020-08-14%2007:38:41_ehayden&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_tie

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[PGage]

So, it’s not the stupidest thing I’ve heard of even this week (there are so many contenders for that title on a weekly basis these days, including a sitting President trying to steal an election by defunding the Post Office), but  it is stupid.

I like Stewart, and as I have noted here I strongly agree with her intro to Max’s GWTW. But as Specifically noted in our discussion of that topic, the rationale for inserting a contextual explainer into the start of GWTW is completely undermined by putting it into something like Blazing Saddles. GWTW *is* racist, and it sentimentalize sand apologizes for racism. Continuing to present it as an acceptable part of popular culture in the 21st century requires some explanation and justification.

 BS is not racist, it is in fact anti-racist, and a biting satire every bit as relevant and meaningful today as when it first came out. It needs no justification, and this introduction is as welcome as any attempt to explain a good joke - especially one given before the joke is even told. 

This is the kind of thing that *maybe* would be justified if a junior high school teacher was going to show the film in class, probably ending with the exhortation to  “please don’t use the N-word on the playground when teasing your friends.”

If HBO really felt the need to cover their ass something like this would have come better after the film, perhaps longer and less insulting, with a focus on the legacy of racism in Hollywood Westerns, and a discussion of “White Flight” in the 1970s.

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[Joe Hass]

Just for the record: in 2020, I grade stupid on a generous curve (Trump does stupid things, but he's a moron, so the score's lower.) It's TCM. I expect better.

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[Ben Scripps]

On Aug 16, 2020, at 11:39 AM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> BS is not racist

As someone who’s lived with those initials his entire life, and as someone who within the past few days was called a racist by a friend for saying Kamala Harris wasn’t my first choice for Biden’s running mate but I thought she was still a good choice, I’d like to thank you for those four words, even if I am taking them out of context...

[stannc]

If this service is going to continue to add these disclaimers to every movie, can we just call it “Max-splaining” ?

Max-splaining is where a certain streaming service feels that either:
Its audience is too stupid to understand the context or period that a movie was made or is depicting

Its audience is all frightened cats and will be “triggered” and protest on social media if their sensibilities are offended

[PGage]

As I have written before, I do not sign on to that. I think too often we are afraid of the need to make judgement calls, and so fall back on absolutes, in this case, either explain everything remotely offensive, or explain nothing. I would much rather see the responsible party stand up, identify their values, and criteria based on those values, and then make judgement calls about which cases fit the criteria and which don’t.

I would be much more forgiving of HBO if they explained a reason for classifying Blazing Saddles as An actually offensive film in need of contextualizing. I would disagree with them, but I accept that reasonable people can disagree, and if the underlying principles are articulated there is hope of productive discussion. What is infuriating is HBO simply apologizing for any film that it thinks might offend somebody. 

BTW I watched Blazing Saddles again yesterday (maybe the 5th or 6th time I’ve seen it), and was struck by the fact that if the film needs any explanation, it is of its casual homophobia and use of the F-Word, not its use of the N-word.

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[Joe Hass]

I completely agree with the f-word point. In fact, I'll go one step further: the next "big conversation" I'd love to see is how we treated gay relationships as things to be feared. And I'm *absolutely* burning a hole at a certain beloved sitcom from the mid 90s.

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[Tom Wolper]

On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 8:56 AM Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:

I completely agree with the f-word point. In fact, I'll go one step further: the next "big conversation" I'd love to see is how we treated gay relationships as things to be feared. And I'm *absolutely* burning a hole at a certain beloved sitcom from the mid 90s.

Before I read your other post I wondered which sitcom you meant and I came up with the "Not that there's anything wrong with it" episode from Seinfeld and that qualifies too.

[stannc]

Someone on Facebook posted a screen shot of a disclaimer that was shown on a basic cable channel airing of “48 Hours” (the movie, not the TV show). The whole racially sensitive, different times story.

-Stan

[Bob Jersey]

Fallon lampooned the professor's approach last night (8/17)...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jimmy-fallon-mocks-proper-social-context-movie-intros-on-hbo-max (link, w/'toob)

stannc, Mon. (8/18):

B