Lately I’ve been renting Harold Lloyd’s films on Netflix. I highly recommend them. Yes, they’re silent films, they’re in black-and-white (with perhaps some tinting), they’re in 4:3 aspect ratio. They’re also funnier than a lot of big eye-candy comedies they make these days.
There’s one aspect to the films that bothers me: the casual racism of that era. For example, all the black people in the films speak (or are sub-titled) with the “yassuh, massa” tone of voice; in “Feet First”, Lloyd’s character casually addresses a black man who’s helping him as “Charcoal.”
Sigh. The only way I can stand it is to treat these incidents as a historical document of racist attitudes, and to be grateful for Dr. King.
I’ve mentioned racism against blacks in the films. I’ve also noticed racism against Asians and Hispanics in some films.
But…
One of Lloyd’s most famous films is “Safety Last.” It’s hilarious. It’s the one that contains the iconic image of Lloyd dangling from the face of a clock.
There is an instance of anti-Semitism in the film… and I did not notice it. I would not have noticed it if it hadn’t been pointed out in the audio commentary.
I’m Jewish, or at least of Jewish heritage. Why was I sensitive to all the racism towards groups of which I’m not a member, but didn’t see the racism towards my own ethnic group?
Pingback: Marx and racism – The Argothald Journal
There is something I call “Cultural Background Radiation”. Its culture stuff that is everywhere and your brain starts filtering it out because there is so much of it, but when ever you address it, you don’t like it. I think it’s something we all do. Like seeing women as sex objects, trans people as sexual deviants, various race things, and this too.
It’s likely it just fell into your filter and your brain just pushed it aside.