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During a q & a session following a Los Angeles Film Festival showing of Boogieman, the superb Lee Atwater doc, I asked a question about the differences in the political climate of 20 years ago (i.e., during the Bush-Dukakis presidential race) and today, and said that I don't think that racial attitudes are quite as fearful and retrograde as they seemed to be in '88. I was obviously referring to the Obama ascendancy, but some in the audience flat-out laughed at me for saying this.
The night before last I happened to watch 48 HRS. ('82), the seminal action buddy movie with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy as a cop and a con kicking around San Francisco and looking to stop some bad guys. I was surprised how...yesteryear it felt.
And I'm telling the snooties who laughed at my political naivete a couple of weeks ago that the racial attitudes and undercurrents in this Walter Hill movie, which came out 26 years ago, have all pretty much disappeared in Blue America. They give you a taste of a racially-biased and separatist culture that no longer exists in this country, or is at least severely diminished, and would never be represented in an action film made today.
Nolte is a flat-out racist brute who calls Murphy "nigger" and "spear-chucker." They go into a redneck bar that's supposed to be some kind of haven for good ole boy white separatism (in San Francisco?), and when Murphy walks in the vibe in the room is like, "Holy shit, a black guy!" When Murphy order a drink the bartender goes, "How about a Black Russian?" Can anyone imagine material of this sort turning up in any movie made today? Even one set in Bumblefuck, Idaho?
48 HRS. is about Nolte and Murphy seeing beyond their personal petty crap and coming to like and respect each other for who they are inside, but the fact that Hill and his writers toss in the racial jibes tell you something about the culture back then.
Attitudes were still fairly ugly in some quarters. The hosing of the civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, had happened only 17 years before, or what 1991 is to us today. Ours was a reasonably progressive society in elite media circles (Bryant Gumbel began his Today stint in January 1982, and Bernard Shaw had begun as a CNN anchor two years earlier) but Nelson Mandela wouldn't be released from Robben Island prison until 1990.
I was around and I don't remember anything in the early '80s like the comme ci comme ca homogenous whatever vibe that you feel today. In the blue cities and upscale suburbs, I mean. Maybe my memory is faulty, but I don't think so. The flannel-shirt dumb-asses are obviously still out there in force (they obviously kept Hillary's campaign going in the final stretches of the Democratic primary race), but things have definitely evolved and progressed since the early Reagan era.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 3, 2008 at 11:21 AM
comment #1
George Prager
says ...
I agree 100% Jeff. 20 years ago Bernard Goetz was celebrated as a folk hero. Just look at any clip from Morton Downey Jr.'s show (like this sorry spectacle http://youtube.com/watch?v=WdRYdtENKTw
). Spike Lee was just getting started (how many black movies/movie stars were around in 1988?Not many.)
Posted by George Prager
at July 3, 2008 12:58 PM
comment #2
Jeremy Smith
says ...
Funny. I watched this the other night, too. I'm always stunned by the range of Cates's racial epithets. I mean, he calls Reggie "watermelon" at one point.
Such a great film, though. The scene in Torchy's is untouchable. ("I don't like white people, and I hate rednecks. You people are rednecks. That means I'm enjoying this shit.")
Posted by Jeremy Smith
at July 3, 2008 12:59 PM
comment #3
Joe Leydon
says ...
You couldn't get away today with A LOT of things you saw and heard in '70s and early '80s movies. Go back and take another look at Saturday Night Fever. John Travolta's character is casually racist, and very nearly commits what today we would call date rape. And don't get me started on The French Connection. Still a great movie, sure. But when I recently showed it to my students, I had to spend several minutes beforehand preparing them for Popeye Doyle's, ahem, colorful language.
Posted by Joe Leydon
at July 3, 2008 1:08 PM
comment #4
Arizona Joe
says ...
Things have changed. That's for sure. But in odd ways. And in ways unrelated to the Obama ascendency. But even in the "48 Hrs" era, people were shocked by racist language.
For instance, back then basketball star/ analyst Rick Barry used the term "watermelon grin" to describe a black man, and his career was immediately over. He was banished.
One of the greatest sport novels ever, "Semi Tough," by Dan Jenkins was excoriated in the early 1970s for the great amount of racial epithets in it. (I'm not talking about the half baked movie.)
Jenkins said that one of the good things that happened to him during the controversy was when "Roots" author Alex Haley wrote him a personal note saying the book was not racist, but anti-racist.
The film begs for a remake, with a few tweaks, and participation by someone like Chris Rock.
It's still very acceptable for blacks to use racist language, people like Chris Rock and Oprah. And I can see their point about that. And the hip hop guys aren't shy about it either. A few years ago, Chris Rock's mother went on "60 Minutes" and made a distinction about different sorts of African-Americans.
I was reminded of all this recently with the release of "Mandingo" on DVD. I have used ethnic language, I must admit, and I was very offended by the film. Yet, I read a newspaper article the other day, and a black academic gave the film some praise.
I remember linebacker Ken Norton Jr. doing an NFL Films piece just a few years go, wearing a microphone. He flew all over the field, knocking the stuffing out of people. Then he looks the opponent in the eye, and announces, "I'm the son of Mandingo." Absolutely hilarious, but only a black guy could get away with using that word.
I think people were snootie and stupid to laugh at Wells. Racial attitudes have changed. The situation has ameliorated somewhat. Obama is going to be the next president. But racial distinctions are still drawn, but under a grid of political correctness, and the aegis of skin color.
I do not condone the situation. That's just the way it is.
Posted by Arizona Joe
at July 3, 2008 2:19 PM
comment #5
nemo
says ...
Apparently it took Gene Hackman some time to prepare himself for Popeye Doyle's colorful language, even back in the day.
For a while both Friedken and Eddie Egan (the NYC cop Doyle was based on, and who acted as a technical advisor to the film) wondered whether Hackman was the right actor for the job. Initially Hackman was visibly uncomfortable with the character's racist language.
And apparently Hackman didn't initially impress Egan as much of a tough guy, which is hard to believe now, not only after The French Connection, but also after Hackman's whole subsequent career.
I say good for Hackman that he was uncomfortable, and good for him that he's an actor who can still commit so totally to a character who makes him uncomfortable.
Posted by nemo
at July 3, 2008 2:19 PM
comment #6
lazespud
says ...
Jeff, you're exactly right. Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees when you are living through changing times, but we are clearly a much improved society now than we were 20 years ago. For a parallel example also involving Eddie Murphy, watch his "Raw" concert movie again; the level of anti-gay language is simply stunning. I remember laughing, a lot, at the performance when I first saw it. Now I just cringe.
And with both racism and the homophobia, I don't think it is "political correctness" at all as a reason that this stuff has begun to go away. I think in general we have just evolved....
Posted by lazespud
at July 3, 2008 2:30 PM
comment #7
Count Thread
says ...
Good news: Jeff's right, America has changed A LOT when it comes to race.
Bad news: Jeff's wrong. This isn't just a blue state phenom. You can't go anywhere in America today and act racist like people used to. It simply no longer exists.
"Ours was a reasonably progressive society in elite media circles (Bryant Gumbel began his Today stint in January 1982, and Bernard Shaw had begun as a CNN anchor two years earlier) but Nelson Mandela wouldn't be released from Robben Island prison until 1990"
Ummm, you do realize that Nelson Mandela never lived here? South Africa isn't America-- it wasn't even the American *South* during Jim Crow days. Different continent, different culture, different problems for different reasons.
Posted by Count Thread
at July 3, 2008 2:55 PM
comment #8
Studly Semite
says ...
It's funny you posted this comment today since last night I underwent my first racial incident in Los Angeles since I've been here. I was walking to CVS on 26th and Santa Monica Blvd (in Santa Monica). When I exited the store, a saw a what appeared to be a cute asian girl in a strange dress with a white cracker Timothy McVeigh lookin' boyfirend. I stared at her dress as I walked past the couple. As I kept on through the parking lot (which was dark). Suddenly, the white guy barked at me, "hey you KIKE! Stop lookin' at my girlfriend." I was so stunned/not prepared for this I just yelled back. "Oh I like you're dress! It's cool." That's what I was gonna say anyway. Was he joking about the kike thing? No. The kid replied (with a U.S. army grunt midwestern/southern drawl) "stop lookin' at my girl yo big nosed jew bastard. I'll kick your ass!" It was literally the kind of racist garbage we would make fun of at NYU - it was too outrageous to be believed. First off, how did he know I was jewish from so far away (at least 50 feet) and in a dark parking lot. Do I radiate jewyness? Or does he just assume after driving through LA all the "kikes" live in West L.A.? And 2nd, WHO TALKED LIKE THIS ANYMORE? After I thought about it I was sorta pissed for not reacting, and I had the thought that maybe I should go back home and come back run him over with my car. But then the notion of what he said was completely ridiculous - almost harmless. Is this that sign a progress? That racial epithets carry no weight whatsoever? Or is it just a harbringer of a more racist and anti-semetic society to come? I have no idea... it was pretty surreal though.
Posted by Studly Semite
at July 3, 2008 3:01 PM
comment #9
George Prager
says ...
At first I thought Studly Semit was MIlkMan in disguise. I guess if you get called a kike you're allowed to call someone a cracker? Joan Didion would've described him as "vague hill stock."
Posted by George Prager
at July 3, 2008 3:05 PM
comment #10
cjKennedy
says ...
I don't buy the argument that we're a less racist society than we were 20 or 25 years ago, but more people are afraid to admit it. It's covered up and there's a smiley face put on it and you can't drop the n-bomb in movies anymore, but I still suspect large numbers of people are filled with rage and hate toward 'the others'.
But then I'm filled with rage and hate toward just about everyone, so maybe I'm just blinded by it.
Posted by cjKennedy
at July 3, 2008 4:19 PM
comment #11
D.Z.
says ...
Semite: I heard a guy screaming the N-word for some reason, while another mystery person tagged it on a bus.
Posted by D.Z.
at July 3, 2008 9:22 PM
comment #12
Teacher's Pets
says ...
Count Thread, though Mandela lived in a different society he wasn't taken off the State Dept. terrorist list until this week; the administrations of the 1980s were firmly supportive of apartheid South Africa. Comparing his status twenty-plus years ago to today is supportive of Jeff's point.
Posted by Teacher's Pets
at July 3, 2008 10:20 PM
comment #13
Rain
says ...
Not a hooker? Only God will believe him. Not long ago, I've seen him on the wealthy dating club R I C H L O V I N G.C O M for hot guys and girls to hook up for Hot Love and Sexy Dating. And he has stayed there for months...
Posted by Rain
at July 4, 2008 4:32 AM
comment #14
SpinDozer
says ...
'I don't buy the argument that we're a less racist society than we were 20 or 25 years ago, but more people are afraid to admit it.'
Things have changed (more inter-racial relationships, hollywood code-no black villans, etc), but that doesn't mean we aren't a distinctly racist society. Wells, wanna watch the Hopper speech from True Romance and re-extrapolate when the Golden Age of enlightenment descended?
Posted by SpinDozer
at July 4, 2008 9:17 PM
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