Religion and Ethics Forum
General Category => Literature, Music, Art & Entertainment => Topic started by: Bubbles on May 05, 2016, 08:01:01 AM
-
They are thinking of bringing it back and remaking it :D
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3485221/BBC-revive-controversial-grumpy-old-man-Alf-Garnett-PC-brigade-cope-trenchant-views-views-women-gays-ethnic-minorities.html
:)
I miss those politically incorrect shows
Spitting image etc.
Pity they got pulled, being able to laugh at things is a good thing. IMO
-
Saw a short video featuring John Cleese on political correctness the other day - but can't remember whether it was on Facebook, the Beeb website, ...
-
They are thinking of bringing it back and remaking it :D
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3485221/BBC-revive-controversial-grumpy-old-man-Alf-Garnett-PC-brigade-cope-trenchant-views-views-women-gays-ethnic-minorities.html
:)
I miss those politically incorrect shows
Spitting image etc.
Pity they got pulled, being able to laugh at things is a good thing. IMO
The working class Tory pontificating from his armchair is alive and well but would need to be revamped, the old Alf Garnett is quite old fashioned. It's an interesting idea and young people will not remember the old version.
I loved Spitting Image, they would have a field day now with Farage and the like, never mind the celebrities with injunctions.
There's a spoof comedy-drama on tomorrow night about the Royal family which looks as though it will be fun, Harry Enfield as Prince of Wales. Not unkind by all accounts, just a mick take.
-
I miss those politically incorrect shows
And you will have to continue to do so.
-
They are thinking of bringing it back and remaking it :D
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3485221/BBC-revive-controversial-grumpy-old-man-Alf-Garnett-PC-brigade-cope-trenchant-views-views-women-gays-ethnic-minorities.html
:)
I miss those politically incorrect shows
Spitting image etc.
Pity they got pulled, being able to laugh at things is a good thing. IMO
Anything like that should be pulled imo!
-
Anything like that should be pulled imo!
::)
-
Pulled where floo?
I just edited my last post, not the words but the fact that my post was with Rose's, inside the quote box.
I already said my bit about '' 'til death us do part'' so won't repeat it. Great show but I think some didn't understand the subtlety of Speight's writing. Alf Garnett was a caricature (unfortunately I did know someone slightly who personified the character, better off financially and not crude but very, very like him).
Really loved Spitting Image! Marvellous, so clever.
Later: Wiki article about Alf Garnett. If you scroll down to the ''Character'' section, everything about him is explained. He really was a horror.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Garnett
Here's an extract:
''Alf was reactionary, mean-spirited, selfish, bigoted, anti-Irish, anti-Catholic, racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic. Warren Mitchell himself was in fact Jewish. In In Sickness and in Health he also displays homophobia, largely because he gets a gay black man whom he calls "Marigold" as his home help. The home help calls him "bwana".''
and this:
''The British public loved Alf Garnett - since everyone knew such a reactionary figure within their own locality - although the television show was heavily criticised for the character's prejudices. Writer Johnny Speight often commented that the character was supposed to be a figure of ridicule, but admitted that not all viewers saw the satiric elements of the character.[2][3] Speight defended the Alf Garnett character, saying: "If you do the character correctly, he just typifies what you hear - not only in pubs but in golf clubs around the country. To make him truthful he's got to say those things, and they are nasty things. But I feel as a writer that they should be out in the open so we can see how daft these comparisons are.''
-
I miss those politically incorrect shows
Bring back Mind Your Language! It was years ahead of its time, it featured a Hungarian character ten years before the barbed wire border came down.
All together now "Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba doo doo doo wah arh"
-
I wouldn't have called, ''Till death us do part'', politically incorrect because the character of Alf Garnett (though credible unfortunately), was being subtly lampooned. The whole point of it was to show how ridiculous people are who say the things he did - especially those who hardly go anywhere or do anything so it all comes from tabloid and telly, spouted from armchair.
''Spitting Image'' was like that too, it took the mick. I do remember the song, ''I've never met a nice South African''.
''Mind Your Language'' - was that the one about an evening class for people to learn English as a second language? If so, there was a woman who was always knitting and two men, a Muslim and a Hindu, who were always having goes at eachother about their religions - a bit stereotypical. I wouldn't put that in the same league (if I've got the right programme).
-
''Spitting Image'' was like that too, it took the mick. I do remember the song, ''I've never met a nice South African''.
Would they now have a sketch about a nasty little black safa laughing at a white waitress crying?
''Mind Your Language'' - was that the one about an evening class for people to learn English as a second language? If so, there was a woman who was always knitting and two men, a Muslim and a Hindu, who were always having goes at eachother about their religions - a bit stereotypical. I wouldn't put that in the same league (if I've got the right programme).
Actually it was a Muslim, and a Sikh. I knew a Bangladeshi woman who found the show hilarious. The whole show was stereotypical, but it was considered harmless. Today all sorts would be spitting into their skinny lattes about it. You could always update it & have a Romanian, and a Hungarian, who are always arguing instead.
-
Yes but the script would have to be better, it was one of those shows on before the watershed and consequently rather tame - it may have had canned laughter, I don't remember but can imagine it. For all that, I used to watch 'Mind Your Language' and quite enjoyed it at the time.
An updated version would be good, with your suggestions. The old one, if shown again, would probably seem very dated by comparison. An obvious thing in many ways but some shows are timeless.
I watched 'The Windsors', or most of both episodes, and thought it was dire. I had expected it to be satirical, maybe in the style of 'Spitting Image' but with real people, and it wasn't. For something to be really funny I believe it has to be credible and I didn't find it so. It was quite unbelievable and the characters were awful. My opinion of course, I'd be interested to hear others.
-
I've never got this whole position that 'political correctness' somehow got rid of good comedy shows. It didn't.
It perhaps sped up the demise of an already dying sub genre of the species but that is all.
Nowadays you can't really claim that 'Mrs Browns Boys' is politically correct. But what it is to a lot of people is very funny. (A lot of critics still hate it precisely because it is very broad comedy - they seem to think we need subtle all the time - newsflash - I don't)
Comedy shows evolve they can't stay preserved in aspic forever (except on UK Gold) - that's why the likes of 'Mind Your Language' & 'Love thy Neighbour' went - times and tastes changed. Just as the once new wave of comics (Ben Elton et al) have now largely become establishment.
-
Saw a short video featuring John Cleese on political correctness the other day - but can't remember whether it was on Facebook, the Beeb website, ...
I hope this is it for you, H
https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom/videos/10153596674478527/?pnref=story