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Little Britain removed from streaming platforms

Split from US Demonstrations | News Coverage (June 2020)

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SP
Steve in Pudsey
Now I am fully aware that the character of the Major is an old buffoon that we are meant to laugh at, not with, but if you don't shudder at the use of the language, then you really don't get the effect these words have.


And that is the point that some people haven't grasped. You are supposed to shudder.

This isn't a sketch that's "of it's time" or some misjudged blackface routine. The language used was intended to have that same effect in the 70s when it was first shown.

To call out and ridicule those attitudes, which you can't do by pretending they don't exist.
NL
Ne1L C
I believe in equality but I also believe in history. If we can't keep our history then we're not being treated equally
JO
Jonwo
Broadcasters do have to tread a careful line. If people have been fired or forced to step down due to making a slur as has happened recently and in the past but they continue to show an ancient sitcom with outdated slurs then it would be seen as hypocritical.
LL
London Lite Founding member
Whenever I've seen racist slurs used in Fawlty Towers, Love Thy Neighbour or Til Death us Do Part, the joke has always been on the white characters who make the comments.

Even in the 70s, there were audiences who understood why they were used. I understand why some people then would laugh at the racist slurs, but that's down to their lack of understanding of the comedy or being bigoted. Cleese didn't write that episode to pander to racists.
:-(
A former member
I think a sensible move is to reassess contentious content and then reupload it with a warning/historical context.

However, the cynic is me does think that maybe Gone With the Wind's removal from HBO Max was potentially to garner publicity for a recently launched service. Or at least in doing what was right, the publicity was deemed to have done the service no harm.


Or have two versions available to view on streaming platforms.

An uncut version (with warnings) and possible pin code access, and a censored version with all the bits removed that are deemed offensive.

Well I mean there’d certainly be an audience for Racist-Netflix, maybe they could have 2 different tiers of membership.
JO
Jonwo
It's funny that people are outraged at comedies being removed when only 12-13 years ago, the same people were likely calling for comedy to be pulled for having swearing or taboo topics. I remember Emily Maitlis on Newsnight interviewing Mark Thompson, then DG of the BBC about Frankie Boyle's gag on Mock the Week about the Queen: 'I'm so old, my Pussy is haunted' which by Frankie Boyle standards isn't that taboo but ironically Emily saying in all seriousness made it funnier.
MA
madmusician
Jonwo posted:
It's funny that people are outraged at comedies being removed when only 12-13 years ago, the same people were likely calling for comedy to be pulled for having swearing or taboo topics. I remember Emily Maitlis on Newsnight interviewing Mark Thompson, then DG of the BBC about Frankie Boyle's gag on Mock the Week about the Queen: 'I'm so old, my Pussy is haunted' which by Frankie Boyle standards isn't that taboo but ironically Emily saying in all seriousness made it funnier.

SP
Steve in Pudsey
Jonwo posted:
Broadcasters do have to tread a careful line. If people have been fired or forced to step down due to making a slur as has happened recently and in the past but they continue to show an ancient sitcom with outdated slurs then it would be seen as hypocritical.

Not really. It's about context.

Somebody casually coming out with a racist slur in a (for want of a better word) natural way is not the same as a scripted comedy or drama using it to make a point about racist attitudes.
BF
BFGArmy
Jonwo posted:
It's funny that people are outraged at comedies being removed when only 12-13 years ago, the same people were likely calling for comedy to be pulled for having swearing or taboo topics. I remember Emily Maitlis on Newsnight interviewing Mark Thompson, then DG of the BBC about Frankie Boyle's gag on Mock the Week about the Queen: 'I'm so old, my Pussy is haunted' which by Frankie Boyle standards isn't that taboo but ironically Emily saying in all seriousness made it funnier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIxy9ce5aCI


Struggling to find the clip but Paxman interviewing the head of the BBC Trust (I think) Sir Michael Lyons about BBC Three was highly entertaining too as he started off listing particularly highbrow BBC Three shows including 'My Dog Is As Fat As Me' and 'Help Me Anthea I'm Infested'. The sentence 'My Man Boobs and Me, how about that?!’ still remains one of my favourite news programme quotes Laughing
Last edited by BFGArmy on 12 June 2020 4:15pm - 2 times in total
IT
itsrobert Founding member
Speaking as someone with both history and librarianship degrees, I am almost as appalled by the cultural vandalism that is occurring as the attitudes contained within the programmes being censored. I am a firm believer that history and culture should be accessible for everyone to see, warts and all. Granted, those programmes deemed outdated and offensive to modern audiences shouldn't be broadcast on primetime television. But, they should be as easily accessible to the populace, should they choose to see them, as books like Mein Kampf. As others have said, we can only learn from the past and try not to repeat it. History is the collective knowledge and experiences of thousands of years of humanity. What is important is how we move forward but the only way that we can ensure we don't go backwards is to see where we have come from. And for that you need historical sources.

My concern with what is happening is where does it stop? Do we stop teaching children about Hitler because he exterminated Jews? Henry VIII because he was clearly sexist? Archival television programmes are as good a historical source as a manuscript is from the 16th century. They should be preserved in their entirety and be accessible to all those who wish to see them. To censor them is historical and cultural vandalism.

What I find most ironic is all the vandalism being done to statues and street signs in cities like Bristol and Liverpool. Do they not realise that those cities were built on the back of slavery? As abhorrent as slavery is, there is no denying that Liverpool, Bristol and, indeed, London only became the cities they did due to the proceeds of slavery. What next? Should we raze them to the ground because the very bricks and mortar were paid for indirectly by slavery? To understand the importance of slavery to the development of those cities, you only have to learn how Liverpool was on the side of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. And even towns further afield in Lancashire, like Manchester, only became what they did through the cotton that was picked by slaves and imported via Liverpool.

My point here is that trying to right the wrongs of history is going to get us nowhere. We should learn what happened from the sources left from the time and never repeat it. That's the way to make things right. Not vandalising statues and censoring TV programmes. We should be preserving them for future generations to see and learn from.
DB
dbl


NL
Ne1L C
Sky News have this list of some of the shows that have been pulled:
https://news.sky.com/story/black-lives-matter-the-shows-pulled-by-broadcasters-and-streaming-services-12004775

The Guardian has this article on police shows in the current climate:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/12/watch-police-shows-black-lives-matter
Last edited by Ne1L C on 13 June 2020 5:34pm

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