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You cant watch Basil doing his German thingy sketch anymore on UKTV's streaming service as it's been taken down, as Basil once said to Sybil "What's the point, what's the bloody point?"
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
Its because it has the N word not the german thing. Most other platforms removed that part a couple of years ago so I suspect it will be back up soon with that bit edited.
Its because it has the N word not the german thing. Most other platforms removed that part a couple of years ago so I suspect it will be back up soon with that bit edited.
Yep, John Cleese approved the edit to remove the N word from the Majors lines in 2013, UKTV wereusing the old version still.
I watched the young ones a few weeks ago on britbox I think it was. Anyway, there's an episode where they win a Ford tippex, and a policeman says "sorry John, I thought you was a n*****"
I watched this with my son a few months ago and he loved it but the Major using the N word did feel a bit shocking when i saw it, couldn't believe it hadn't been edited out.
It's just a token effort from broadcasters to say they did something. They won't tackle the actual issue about a lack of diversity in boardrooms or in shows so throwing a few old shows off air for a few months is a quick win for them
It's just a token effort from broadcasters to say they did something. They won't tackle the actual issue about a lack of diversity in boardrooms or in shows so throwing a few old shows off air for a few months is a quick win for them
Yeah, tokenism at best. All about being seen to be doing the right thing more than actually doing the right thing.
Fawlty Towers is a fictional comedy show. The characters in it are various exaggerations of certain behavioural types, especially British ones.
The major is a 80 ish year old man that has lived through two world wars and his vocabulary and world view are of his time.
These are characters in a fictional comedy show. Not all are going to be nice people with appropriate language. Not many of the characters in Fawlty Towers are that sympathetic but that’s the comedy of it.
Look at a film like Pulp Fiction. This has negative racial slurs throughout the film along with a high amount of violence. This can be watched on Netflix by anyone of any age, day or night. If I was to choose which I consider does more to continue stereotypes, I’d say this would. But I wouldn’t take away peoples choice to see it and make up their own minds.
Fiction has the right to portray the characters it depicts with the language that they would use. That may not fit in with the current world view but it’s not a reason to ban or stop people viewing it.
Tv shows, films, books, plays. All these things are there for us to participate in. They bring out emotions in us which is a good thing. That includes feeling uncomfortable at certain situations.
The difference is they are fictional and part of a narrative. Changing language or banning them is not the way to fundamentally change anyone’s world view but it does retrospectively change our cultural lineage.
To me these stories are important human expressions. They are not always cosy, fluffy ones. Some can make us question our behaviour and maybe look to change it.
Fawlty Towers has language in it that is out of place and wrong. But in the context of the situation, characters and time it was truthful.
I watched this with my son a few months ago and he loved it but the Major using the N word did feel a bit shocking when i saw it, couldn't believe it hadn't been edited out.
I've watched the German repeat episode countless times, hand on heart I've never heard the Major use the N word, I just started reading the BBC header mentioning the Germans, guess I should have read the whole story (my bad).
I better not watch 'Till Death Us Do Part'
Silly old Moo.
World has gone mad anyway..
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
It's just a token effort from broadcasters to say they did something. They won't tackle the actual issue about a lack of diversity in boardrooms or in shows so throwing a few old shows off air for a few months is a quick win for them
This is it exactly.
Deliberately manages to not address a bigger and more damaging problem - like you say, try finding black faces at senior levels in TV or broadcasting - while failing to even explain why they're doing what they're doing, making the whole issue look trivial and "PC Gone Mad."
When I lived in Austria in the 1980s, I lodged in a grand house on the edge of town. The elderly Austrian owners lived on the top floor and let out rooms on the other two floors.
A Turkish bloke started renting a room and they used to refer to him (in German) as "The Turk". I had to point out to them that he did in fact have a name, Hakan Sukur*. Poor by them.
* Only joking, he was actually called Altu
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
When I lived in Austria in the 1980s, I lodged in a grand house on the edge of town. The elderly Austrian owners lived on the top floor and let out rooms on the other two floors.
A Turkish bloke started renting a room and they used to refer to him (in German) as "The Turk". I had to point out to them that he did in fact have a name, Hakan Sukur*. Poor by them.
* Only joking, he was actually called Altu
You’ll be having a word with Rod Stewart I presume? Billy left home with a dollar in his pocket...
Its because it has the N word not the german thing. Most other platforms removed that part a couple of years ago so I suspect it will be back up soon with that bit edited.
The joke, as always, is on Fawlty. He's a caricature who's supposed to be loathsome and of course, has loathsome opinions.
It only dawned on me a few years that some people didn't actually understand the Germans sketch and thought it was taking the piss out of Germans rather than Fawlty as a proxy stereotype.
I've watched the German repeat episode countless times, hand on heart I've never heard the Major use the N word, I just started reading the BBC header mentioning the Germans, guess I should have read the whole story (my bad).
I better not watch 'Till Death Us Do Part'
Silly old Moo.
World has gone mad anyway..
to be honest I'd never heard it either until i re watched them on Netflix earlier this year, I think it had been edited out of the dvd but not all of the tv repeats.
The joke, as always, is on Fawlty. He's a caricature who's supposed to be loathsome and of course, has loathsome opinions.
It only dawned on me a few years that some people didn't actually understand the Germans sketch and thought it was taking the piss out of Germans rather than Fawlty as a proxy stereotype.
I dont agree with this rewriting or erasing. Yes i wouldnt expect a modern day comedy programme to use the terms referred to but. these programmes reflect society at a period of time and as such are important reference points and part of our heritage and shows how far we have come as a society regarding racism, hompaphobia etc, a old comedy programme or a film is not the same as a monument to a slaver plonked in the centre of a town.
If we try and erase the past how will people be able to effectively measure and appreciate the efforts of those who struggled to overcome those prejudices.
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