IMPORTANT NOTE: This video has been MANGLED! At 23:46, when taling about SNL, there is a very sudden and strange cut. I am working with the very helpful and lovely RUclips staff at the moment to figure this out. Thanks for bearing with me!
I'm probably paranoid but isn't it interesting that the only one they've ever pulled happens to be the segment RUclips cut from the video? (When I say RUclips I mean anything they're responsible for, whether that's their staff or their algorithms.)
I agree. I'm pretty sure at age 9 I could have comprehended the real reason behind the civil war. There really wasn't the need for the "economics" and "state's rights" bullshit.
@@sierrasouthwell9237 Well see, the problem is that then you could've built up an entire worldview starting from age 9 based on a more correct understanding of the Civil War, which could've led to some much more dangerous places as your views developed into adulthood. The mantra of "you *think* the Civil War was about states' rights, but *actually* it was about slavery!" serves the interests of racists and neo-Confederates almost as well as "the Civil War was about states' rights!" does, because the "realization" that it was about slavery only comes at the end of the conversation instead of at the beginning where it belongs, which trains people to be satisfied with "arriving at" that "realization" instead of assuming it as a baseline starting premise. Much like the example in the video: by training people to take "wholesome Westerns" as a starting point and "revisionist Westerns" as an ending point, the culture can still keep most people's views moving somewhere along the spectrum between "wholesome Westerns" and "revisionist Westerns," resulting in a much shallower and more superficial critique than if the "revisionist Westerns" were the uncontroversial cultural consensus from the start.
@@sierrasouthwell9237 And ironically, one of the conclusions one might draw from a deeper critique of the Civil War is that it actually *was* about economics, specifically the economics *of* *slavery* itself, because slavery was an economic model for workforce management, and the South wasn't just full of mean old crazy racist "bad eggs" but also full of rational calculating entrepreneurs, for whom keeping millions of people in chains was just a savvy and profitable business practice. A scholar from Harvard Business School even wrote a book about this: www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674972094
I'll admit I didn't understand it, but it might have been because I only ever watched it a college party with a girl who was sitting on my lap. The only thing I remembered was the ending, and so I thought the whole thing was just farce.
Apparently when Mel Brooks had they final cut of the movie and showed it the studio executives, they all hated it and were ready to pull the plug. So Brooks rounded up all the studio's ordinary-type office workers and secretaries into an auditorium and showed it to them. They loved it. That convinced the execs to back the film.
The best part of the theme song, was that the singer wasn't informed that he was doing a theme for a comedy. So he did it all in that "wholesome west" style, which added to the hilarity.
I remember Mel Brooks talking about this in the commentary and I'm not buying it. Of *course* Frankie Laine had to know it was a parody. He can't have read the words "He rode a blazing saddle..." and not known that. And he also had to have known that the only way to make it work is to play it *completely straight* and that's how he did it. But here's the thing, and it's what so many miss about _Blazing Saddles_ and other things that they just see as "edgy" - it's the underlying truth and sincerity of the message, of conquering fear and hate, and uniting across artificial divisions in mutual aid and solidarity. That's the heart of the story, and that's what makes it a great movie. The movie is funny as all get-out - and the hero of the story is really to be believed in.
dwc1964 it’s honestly not that edgy either, “oh they say the n word in it” So what? Bart probably remembers slavery, it’s just historically accurate in that way, they even show that it hurts Barts feelings to be called that. What because they can make it funny by showing a sweet looking old lady say “up yours nigger” to Bart trying his best? They even turn around and say the townspeople are morons for that attitude. I have no earthly idea why people who have seen the movie think “ooohhh those SJW’s would hate this movie” or why some would hate it. Though according to Mel’s commentary a lot of whites also got mad at him for using the n word, whereas blacks were like “hey good job on using it right” so maybe the movie is just cursed to have people get offended in others behalf At first it was whites getting offended on behalf of blacks now the antiSJW’s are getting offended on behalf of SJW’s getting offended on behalf of blacks And with this video’s ending we might just be getting rational people getting offended on behalf of anti-SJW’s getting offended on behalf of SJW’s getting offended on behalf of blacks. I wonder if we will get another layer of that going.
@@woodlefoof2 "I have no earthly idea why people who have seen the movie think “ooohhh those SJW’s would hate this movie”" it's because they don't actually understand what SJWs are mad about. they think "social justice" is just a list of words you're not allowed to say anymore, because their own understanding of inequality is so worthlessly naive that they can't fathom how context and nuance can be the difference between whether something is offensive or not.
Its true! I tried making the next Blazing Saddles the other day. I got a meeting with the BBC asking if theyd be interested in making a film out of my idea, but they gave me the paper back saying "This isnt an original idea, this is just the script of Blazing Saddles". Pisses me off >:(
One thing I'd like to add is what Mel Brooks said about this very subject when asked "could you make Blazing Saddles today" when I saw him give a talk after a screening of the film in Boston in Dec 2016, which was that he couldn't then. He, in fact, had to send a cut several iconic scenes -- the only one explicitly named being the fart scene -- from the roll he sent to the screening audiences. He then sent the unedited, uncensored version to cinemas to show themselves. The biggest point people miss when they say "you can't make Blazing Saddles today" is that there was never a time when you could make Blazing Saddles.
Your point about mass media being terrified of offending corporations and government officials is so good it should be a second video. I am sharing this now.
@Paden Conner I don't think you understand. MEDIA companies are afraid of offending corporations and government officials. Individuals organize campaigns against them.
Only certain corporations and government officials though. Dunk on the Orange Man all you like, but one too many Xinnie the Pooh jokes and you're barred from that sweet sweet China money.
@Paden Conner Including our government officials. China is threatening to sanction some American companies over being (rightfully) attacked over Covid-19. The American companies will go to the white house and beg/demand that the anti-China stuff stops so they don't go through with it. Just watch how fast Trump bends the knee, just wait.
@@xmlthegreat then they are right. I'm the minister of funny walks too. My sister joined the spanish inquisition. She shows up when she's least expected.
"In 1958 alone, there were 50 Western TV shows on the air . . . there were FOUR channels. . . " That sentence alone astounds and vexes me. We have so many channels, IPs, production companies, means of media consumption, fanbases and sub-fanbases today that I can't imagine a market capable of supporting one genre in a similar fashion.
I never really understood why my grandfather watches nothing but old-school westerns. He always said they were popular when he was growing up but I never believed they could be THAT popular.
You can't? I'd say the market is doing just that. The only difference is that today's mega-genre is "Reality Shows". Nearly every major production channel has them, often several; and they don't seem to be going away any time soon. There are literally *hundreds* of reality shows out there, and it's only in the last five years or so that the production of new ones has started to finally slow down.
jorge, I don't understand your comment, all I ever saw on TV from the 50s & 60s was perfect families and perfect marriages. That didn't change until the 1970s with All in the Family, Good Times and Maude, a trend that continues to this day. But not all, they still show many shows that have perfect non-struggling marriages, even when the protagonists are complete opposites.
I was just always wondering how the logistics of sex worked for this couple. Which I'm sure was not the result the writers of that Hayes code were hoping for.
@Doctor Octagon Not really. Jonas Salk and the scientists who developed insulin released their patents specifically to make sure anyone could get them instead of just some corporation looking to profit.
@Doctor Octagon Same with cure for polio. It's not doctors that decide, it's whatever megacoporation is distributing the drug that decides... You know... The people that didn't at all have a hand in it. Martin Shkreli was a weasel because he had nothing to do with the creation of medicine, just how much he could charge for it. If real doctors had the option to choose how much to charge for medicine, I assure you most would give it away for free, as they got into their career to help people, not rob them.
Not only that, but we even seen that the same people this video is playing devils advocate for is completely bypassing the fact that many of these people tried to boycott Spring Time For Hitler because of the usage of Nazi Imagery regardless of if it was meant to poke fun at that sort of thing or not. That I feel is the major problem and flaw with the authors point in this argument, he doesn’t understand that the riled up nature of the things around us isn’t caused by people getting angry at the subject matter at hand, but rather the actual usage and content of the dialogue and actions itself. Meaning just having a white person say the N-Word in a modern movie, weather it was a historical or not (Because even Django Unchained got called out by these people as well). It is basically him not understanding the point being made more than anything I believe.
Randy Rhoades He’s ignoring a whole swath of information in this video. The sensitivity is off the charts with everyone on every side. It means we lose important views and takes on hot button issues. Art is supposed to create a dialogue and hold a mirror to society, wether it’s current, dreams or pitfalls. Whatever the issue, people need to realize that silencing art over something is more caustic than good. We only need to look at history to understand that.
@@RandyLRhoades The "point being made" is exactly what he said it was. That you couldn't make movies like Blazing Saddles today because modern audiences just couldn't handle it, peppered with the usual longing for the "good old days of cinema". That is precisely what people mean when they say this video's title. More to the point, they seem to believe that audiences back then had no issues with offensive content and just took everything in stride, unlike the snowflakes today. It's a complete crock of shit, and the OP of this thread just aids the point by pointing out how Blazing Saddles was offensive to a bunch of people for its time too, as was The Producers. So it's not a modern audience issue. It's not a "today!" issue. Hell, speaking of Nazi imagery, Jojo Rabbit just came out, a satirical comedy all about Nazis. I'm sure it has its detractors on the basis of "you can't use Nazi imagery!" But obviously, _it was still made today_, and modern audiences love it, so potentially offensive content doesn't stop movies from being made in the modern day like a bunch of morons believe. That goes for Django Unchained as well. You seem to be focusing on the fact that people get offended at all, and not on the fact that the offensive movies in question were made anyway. Nothing is stopping them. So the entire thesis of the people who say things like "You couldn't make Blazing Saddles today (because it's offensive)" is a complete lie. As the video correctly surmises, the real reason Blazing Saddles won't be made today is because the entire point it was making is irrelevant in the modern times.
@@lexc1560 What the hell are you even arguing? Nobody is silencing shit. You wanna talk history? Let me know when people simply getting offended by something has "silenced art". Again, "simply getting offended", not people in power a long ass time ago being offended and thus using their power to actively silence people. Oh hey, just like what the video said! Individuals can't do shit. I'm starting to think you guys are just arguing a completely different point that the video isn't even about.
Except he is missing the point like I mentioned in my original comment, Blazing Saddles was not made in response to overcensorship of the 1950's (in fact he hyper inflates it a lot by missing out on shows that actually do go against the usual standards he presents of the time, Bonanza certainly didn't follow these premises and neither did shows like The Rifleman, and some shows utilized it to their advantage by utilizing subtext to talk about these issues). The reason why you couldn't make it today is because the subtext and purpose of the movie (which he is at least correct about) would be lost, why do you think people miss the point of shows like The Boondocks all the time these days and almost always focus on it's copious use of the N Word more than the actual underlying themes of the episodes themselves. They would focus more on the fact that a white person is casually saying the N-Word more than they would be on the reasoning as to why they are using it and the purpose for it, the 1970's were a time when people tried to be edgy because there was a demand for it, and that demand increased after footage of the Vietnam War was shown on TV and people demanded for less sanitized material in entertainment; it's what lead to stuff like Blacksploitation movies and grindhouse movies, Blazing Saddles was admittedly stated by Mel Brooks himself that it was done to cash in on the whole concept of edgy humor which was on the rise in the 1970's, why else was Mel Brooks' later films relatively tame in comparison?
@@richardrobbin2731 the whole character was Richard Pryor's creation. I've seen the deleted scenes of him being tormented by Bart in several sketches, almost a pastiche or homage to Warner Bros and it's Looney Tunes cartoons
I was thinking the same thing! That show first aired only about 7 years or so after that code came into effect, and pretty much every episode was meant to "shock" the audience.
He got away with a lot by making social commentary through science fiction. You could do more with the stories when they didn’t involve real history or people, they weren’t as stringently controlled
@@Plisken65 Edward Newman. Sir, you are a genius. I have the same sentiment and opinion about that trashy series of so called "entertainment." The bad and sad part is that my entire family, daughters, their spouses, grand kids and others rave about that BS all the time. And I constantly am telling them, "you've been suckered and fooled into a stupid, silly, totally unrealistic and money grabbing environment ..." to no avail.
"There isn't very much room for realism, melencholy, or doubt when every TV show has to cater to hypothetical children." *eyes the issues with RUclips during and after Coppa, mainly the 'Kids lie so there's no way to reliably verify age' stance that was taken*
I recently watched Blazing Saddles in its entirety, uncut for television for the first time ever. The first thing I did after finishing it was get on the net and say to a friend "Bullshit, you could totally make a movie like Blazing Saddles today". It wouldn't be a Western, but you could make a movie with that level of satire, taking shots like it took, today. You'd have to look at who's marginalized today and what sorts of movies and tv we're inundated with. Military propaganda films definitely seem to be the right genre, imo, or maybe police dramas. From that you might be able to determine what sort of minorities the leads ought to be.
IMO the big difference is today all the bigots who are against a movie like that being made could rally together in an easier fashion, and also harass whoever is in it.
SavageGreywolf - I agree. The hardest part would be finding a comic genius like Mel Brooks to make the movie. Brooks is not only obviously a genius, but he has incredible audacity. People have gotten used to Blazing Saddles over the decades, but I remember when it came out and it was considered VERY “naughty”. I was just a kid at the time, and I didn’t know much about the movie, but most adults DEFINITELY considered Blazing Saddles to be a bad influence on kids and VERY controversial. We see it as genius NOW, but back then it was considered (by many) to be “lowbrow”, in poor taste, and scandalous.
"You just can't make these kinds of jokes today!" - says the comedian with a crowd of thousands, while being taped for a special that will be seen by millions
@@kloa4219 we live in an era of instantaneous online communication so its easier for people to voice there opinions on various stuff. I guarantee you the complaints people are making now were similar if not the same back then
If you can't laugh at anything else in the movie, you have to laugh at the governor's office scene. Mel Brooks dealt the perfect satire of crooked and clueless politicians. Anyone can appreciate the relevance of that.
I was thinking this the other day. He literally has his secretary dressed and ready for sex all day and doesn’t hide it or make her change. It’s so blatant and brilliant
I remember the deleted scene where the mayor entered the fake town and one of his staff mentioned that the townsfolk were dummies and the mayor responds, "Why do you think they voted for me?" 🤣
@@swirvinbirds1971 well with the speech codes and safe spaces in the modern sense are being written by Progressives. As they have taken over the job of Head Moral Busybody from the Religious Christian Right. Don't worry though a new religious right will eventually takeover Europe. However, it won't be Christian.
One thing I often try to remind folks as well, about the movie: consider when the movie came out; mere years beforehand, the Civil Rights Movement was in effect, culminating in the Civil Rights Act. It may not seem like a big deal today, but it was still very, *very* fresh in peoples' minds then, and the nation was still struggling with a culture that was progressing toward reflecting all of that. Blazing Saddles *couldn't* be made today, because the issues that were "hot-button" at the time...no longer are, no matter what many folks want to insist. It was about so much more than "offending everybody" ; sensibilities change. Hell, you can get away with shit today that you wouldn't be caught *dead* getting away with back then. As I even mentioned on Facebook...do you think *anyone* outside of a traveling circus might've hired Johnny Knoxville back in the day? Highly, highly doubtful. Very different time with very different standards.
In my film studies class, we had a discussion on Westerns and watched "StageCoach." In that Westerns discussion, I posted a link to this. The teacher decided she is going to study more into this era of Western and the old age of sitcoms after watching your video. You even taught a professor of film a few things. This is still one of my favorite video essays.
My good friend and I use to spend time together watching old western shows and movies every chance we had. Now he is about 50 years old and lives in a not so great area. We would work on cars together and take breaks from the summer heat to relax and watch westerns. On occasion we would take a break to go buy a cold beer for each of us a few blocks away and one day we did a simple u turn heading back and we were immediately lit up. Now my friend (Afro-America) was driving the vehicle and and I (Caucasian) was in the passenger seat. We were pulled over immediately. 2 cops got out guns drawn yelling "hands up! Hands where I can see them", one cop standing on each side of the car. You'd think we had just robbed the liquor store or were in a felony stop! All over a simple U-turn. Profiling and double standards based on skin color should never happen! I advise whomever reads this to keep this in mind when u see any minority appearing to over react when dealing with police. Can you even imagine having police draw guns (not even tasers) GUNS over a simple traffic violation?!? It made me so physically ill it took all my will to keep myself from going off on em knowing that'd escalate the situation by speaking up to question their immediate aggression and I'm not an aggressive or argumentative person. Even WORSE is that my buddy seemed conditioned to this behavior from police. It simultaneously opened my eyes and broke my heart.
Or Django Unchained. Or Pineapple Express. Not that either of those movies are of the same caliber, but the idea that we've become too "politically correct" is just nonsense.
Okay, funny story: As a kid in the eighties my first exposure to Blazing Saddles was my dad taping it off commercial broadcast television in Central California where local stations came out of Sacramento. I remember seeing several scenes with extra footage (like Mel Brooks as governor showing up at the end: “Governor, these people are dummies!” “I know that, how do you think I got elected?” And Mongo being defeated several times) and certain swear words being either silenced or replaced. My point is, in the scene where Cleveland Little as sherif greets the old white lady and says good morning to her, she responds, “Outta mah way, n-word!” On TV, that is. But I could tell the dialogue didn’t match her lips. I didn’t find out until years later when I bought the movie on VHS that what she actually said was: “Up yours, n-word!” The fucking television broadcast back then censored “up yours” and replaced it with “out of my way” (because it was deemed too offensive for TV audiences) but left in the n-word at the end of the line (because that was apparently okay).😳🙄🤯
brb, killing myself for being king idiot, moron supreme, who somehow spent 100 hours researching and editing this video only to make the stupidest and easiest-to-fix mistake in the world in the opening 20 seconds
@@infranaut That's just how it be mang. Spend forever on a video, go over it multiple times to make sure its good and then release it after what feels like forever. Only to realize you made a spelling error or stupid mistake after its too late. OOF. Happens to me all the time.
Infranaut In a way it lends to the point. Such sayings are repeated so much the words don’t even have to be said properly to recognise it and what it’s saying. Silver linings I guess? or should I say lining silvers.
@@slyguythreeonetwonine3172 More like, someone takes all of the rape and murder out of the greco-roman myths and calls them "safe for primetime", and then someone later goes and puts it all back in, but the restored myths are called "revisionist".
Revisionist when used properly refers to a correction of the historical record when it is either overly narrow or in some way inaccurate. For example any narratives of the civil war that portray the war as an effort to preserve slavery and white supremacy would be revisionist. As prior to that the official historical account downplayed the role of slavery and white supremacy. The negative connotations of the phrase originates from Chudds who hijacked the phrase in order to white wash (pun intended) their racist and bigoted views and make them seem less heinous. Do not let them get away with this.
@@blixer8384 Unfortunately, I'm afraid they already have. The political negative is all I hear when I hear someone say "revisionist", as I never heard or saw the word used, prior to that. The suffix "ist" tends to imply "one who believes in _______" as though there are multiple valid points of view. Bapt"ist"s believe in the power of baptism, or did, originally. Marx"ist"s believe in the vision of Karl Marx, etc. "Revision" of what most would consider documented factual events is also widely viewed as being motivated by a political agenda, rather than an honest conviction and thorough research, regardless of the actual motivation in most cases. Thus, the use of the word "revisionist" has come to mean "the fake version that 'they' want you to believe so that you'll buy into their agenda", regardless of how it began, and it's best to avoid the word, entirely, if you want what you say to be taken seriously.
Someone else in the comments said this and I believe it bears repeating; "it's literally trendy to be offensive to an imagined hyper-sensitive audience"
Also, any reaction can count as "offended/triggered", including but not limited to: "You're not funny." "That's factually incorrect." "What does that even mean." *Not viewing it in the first place because it's unfunny, based on inaccuracies, and/or confusing to the point of lacking meaning.* It's easy for what you say to be "funny" when literally any reaction from a third party, real or imagined, that isn't *meant* to find what you said funny was, apparently, the intended source of comedy rather than the words themselves being funny.
It’s not imagined at all. The idea of the public being hyper sensitive is an absolute real one. The thing is that too many people are trying to categorize the people being offended as all being like minded, when in reality it doesn’t matter.
Don't forget to do it RIGHT. Why this really does work is we see the idiots either get humbled or punished for being racists. Every other "edgy" shit out there is like a rape of a choir boy during mass.
"Not only did these cowboys fart, but they did so with ill intent" I love your script man. Plus the second half of the video breaking down the actual power relationships in media was excellent (and the ripple effect on Gervais was killing me). And holy crap that Schoolhouse Rock parody by SNL is unbelievably good I need to go find it.
“People are too sensitive these days” says the people who got a movie about the declining mental health of Ronald Reagan cancelled before it was even made.
I almost didn’t click this because I’m sick of the phrase, even though I adore the movie but I learned so much and you summed up my feelings for the movie without really knowing them. Thanks so much man
If I hear this argument I conversely reply with "You couldn't make Moonlight, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, Lady Bird, Sorry to Bother You or The Farewell etc. back in the day. "
@@elias_xp95 cannot wait to learn the unironic reason each of these movies was problematic/degenerate depending on which flavor of insufferable you are
“Man, you just can’t get away with the jokes I like to make nowadays” - Comedian with millions of loyal fans, during a Netflix special I’m not even saying there aren’t easily offended people out there trying to “cancel” people, cause there sure as hell are, but Twitter mobs can’t do shit to destroy someone’s career 9 times out of 10, and if they’re the ones being so sensitive and easily-offended, why you gotta get offended by them? If you were as bold as you claim to be, you wouldn’t give a damn what they say and ignore them Great video btw
Twitter does have a lot of media influence though, celebrities have had their careers affected due to angry mobs digging up some edgy/bad taste jokes made ten years ago. The problem is people, mainly comedians are being held accountable for their words as if they're supposed to be some sort of role model. I know it's a cliche in certain circles to rag on "outrage culture" but it becomes hard to dismiss when everything you once enjoyed is being scrutinised for being problematic or not up-to-date with modern sensibilities. I'm not offended by easily offended people, they can have at it as much to their hearts content, I'm just not happy with how much clout easily offended people have been given.
I think you are missing the point: powerful people or institutions will always be able to get away. The problem is that ordinary people, not extremely popular multi-millionaires, can and are having their lives destroyed by twitter mobs way too easily over trivial matters.
The best line of all was the one the censors refused to let Brooks put in it. When Sheriff Bart is in the dark and about to get laid she says to him "Is it true what they say about you people being gifted?" ZZIIIPP "It's twoo its TWOO IT'S TWOO"........."Your sucking my arm!" 😂😂😂
The gag wasn't censored. Brooks was persuaded not to include it. Any script aiming to be harshly satirical/boundary pushing, and partly written by Richard Prior, is going to be scrutinised by both the writers (what can we get away with) and the studio (what will earn us the most cash - one of the main thrusts of the video).
"If it came out today, I think it'd be the same... It's still a modern film, and I think it always will be" - Gene Wilder I don't think I've heard a single person actually deconstruct Blazing Saddles at its expense. No one who understands the film seems to regard this film as anything other than what it is. Commentary as comedy. And if people think that the repeated and unapologetic use of the n word in the film is something that wouldn't pass today, watch BlacKkKlansman and movie that came out less than 2 years ago. It's so crystal clear that the use of the word in both isn't to shock or offend the audience, because that's not something the movie is trying to promote. Its at the expense of those who are portrayed as nothing less than bigoted morons. You don't have to even theorize if the film could be received well by a modern audience because it already is. Whether it be through other films with the same obscene content or the simple fact that people still love and enjoy the movie today. Fuck if anything this movie might have been even easier to make nowadays. Also it's odd, I was a big Mel Brooks fan as a kid, growing up on Spaceballs and Men in Tights, but i never got around to watching Blazing Saddles until today actually, after watching this video and its definitely a new favorite. Thanks for getting me to finally get around to watching it.
huh.... that's a good point about the n word because i've seen both movies and i'm sure it's said but i can't recall a specific instance because i guess the movie wasn't trying to be inflammatory about its use? or maybe i'm just super racist and the word is as normal as iunno kitten so it just went past me. ^_^
this was an incredible video. instant subscribe. you've hit on why i always feel so weird whenever people tell me that "you couldn't get away with x today." well thought out, well edited, well spoken. excellent work.
It's like I've been saying over the last few years: people being offended is literally nothing new. The way we receive and interpret information has certainly changed, yes. But the way people feel? That's always gonna happen, just as it has for thousands of years. This new generation isn't "softer" or "more sensitive". You just know how people actually feel halfway across the world much more instantaneously than ever before. The way you perceive others has an actual and potential effect if you voice your opinion online. Surprise, surprise -- not everyone is gonna like what you have to say.
It's like youth crime in the UK. Back around 2010 there was a major stir about youth crime and the beginning of the knife epidemic. The kicker was that youth crime was actually at its lowest around a third of what it was in the 80s. The only thing that had changed was the reporting our mammal brains are wired to think if we hear about something more it's more likely. There's also a level of Juvenoia, every generation thinks it's smarter than the last and wiser than the next. This xkcd strip gives the best example. xkcd.com/1227/
I think the impact of people’s complaints are stronger though. When people are offended they look up the projects advertisers and the advertisers give in to any complaint to avoid bad PR
@@robbiesilverwolf this video literally disproves that. Not only that but there has always been a complaints system. Here in the UK we have Ofcom. There was a storm a while ago about Gavin and Stacey's Christmas special using the word faggot in the song Fairytale of New York, huge media attention over people complaining but do you want to know how many people had sent complaints in out of the whole of the UK at the height of controversy? Five. Thats it. Compared to the 70s if somebody actually said the word shit or if a homosexual was shown that's non existent.
@@MrHidethecheese You just haven't looked this up enough. UK RUclipsr Count Dankula was literally arrested and fined for uploading a joke video of his dog raising it's paw like a Nazi salute. It doesn't matter if it's 5 people or 5,000 people complaining. The point is that even when a relatively small amount of people get offended they have real power to ruin other people's lives. This new phenomenon wasn't possible pre-internet.
@@robbiesilverwolf Yep, people are constantly getting cancelled or banned, but understanding the full scope requires digging beyond what the mainstream tells you, and most people are simply unwilling to do the research. This is a new phenomenon that wasn't as prominent before the creation of the internet. It's especially bad once it starts affecting you in real life. I know of at least half a dozen men who have been falsely accused of sexual assault or rape, and even when it was proven to be a lie the accuser faces no punishment casting doubt on future accusations. A roommate lost his mind screaming at me and moved out because I said arresting people for writing offensive things online like they do in the UK leads to tyranny. On the way out he tried to convince the landlord that I am a white supremacist to get me kicked out. Luckily, all three of us are hispanic and the landlord wasn't a moron.
The last line was perfect. Took me a second to figure out what you were talking about but it tied all the threads you were talking about together in a really insightful way, and I love it when an artist in any medium thinks highly enough of their audience to let them figure things out for themselves. What a fucking script man, you're really good at this. Subbed!
Howdy everybody! Thanks for skyrocketing this one straight into the Algorithm's warm and loving arms. I usually try to reply and engage as many comments as possible but they're kind of getting away from me this time. Thanks a ton for all the engagement, the new subs and the folks nice even to send me a Ko-fi!
one look at late night shows and the youtube trending page shows that sanitized/ politically correct content is definitely in power and should be a concern for artists.
@@RegulatedMilitia I wouldn't call these people artists. Infranaut isn't an artist. He's basically one step away from being those people who do "THE TOP FIVE REASONS X IS Y!!!!" type clickbait.
The SNL thing actually isn't true; I remember watching Conspiracy Theory Rock first on the Saturday TV Funhouse DVD collection. Granted, that's really the only place you can watch it legally and it isn't shown in rebroadcasts on TV, but it is absolutely available from the original creators to this day without having to jump through hoops.
It is amazing that while this is not true of most, you still have people using the usually talking points this video proves wrong in this comment section.
You will legit get fucked up if you played a "take a shot every time you read a comment that regurgitates an exact argument discussed in the video" drinking game
@@thinkwithurdipstick Well the point of his example is that they DID make a movie comparable to Blazing Saddles (almost) today. It wasn't shut down by studios or governments. There weren't riots and nobody got sacked.
Blahblahblah Blah well that’s not how people would go about shutting something down today anyway, at least not in the US. The government isn’t going to interfere and people don’t typically riot here. People use social media and similar avenues to shut stuff down today, they work through social ostracism and make it impossible for you to find work unless you’re someone that’s too big to fail.
@@thinkwithurdipstick Alright, well did that happen with Tropic Thunder? Looks like Robert Downey Jr was actually nominated for an Academy Award for that blackface role and then went on to do a bunch of Avengers movies. It doesn't seem there's been any ostracism or backlash at all. But, it was also 2008 - so not as modern as I thought in the first place
Yes! What a mic drop! It's amazing learning about all the Hays Code censorship that Blazing Saddles was rebelling against and all the executive struggles that Mel Brooks had to fight through. The "Blazing Saddles" of today would be just as button-pushing, deconstructive, and rebellious, but it absolutely wouldn't offend the people the anti-"SJW" crowd thinks it would.
Someone shared this on Reddit and I got to say, I'm impressed. This was a very interesting take and well done; definitely made me rethink the whole "You couldn't make this movie today" which personally I don't agree with. You can make any media you want, as long as you are accepting that it will be critiqued.
If Blazing Saddles was made today, there'd be people making a huge fit about one of the main characters being black. Probably the same people who cry "You couldn't make Blazing Saddles today!"
I wholeheartedly believe the people that are most likely to complain about the film being made today are also the people who would least want it to be made today
After I watch Django, I though what if somebody did a parody of Django as a comedy.Get Dave Chappelle as the in the Jamie Foxx role.Of course it couldn' be done today.
There is a difference between continued white and straight washing and making a non-minority character a minority - I am sorry you don't understand that.
@Paul Tello now here's a dude who doesn't understand the difference between casting a black actor as a fictional fishwoman, and an entire culture of real people that actually existed being portrayed as white when they definitely were not
Splitting hairs with this one, but SNL has pulled at least one other sketch: Sinead O'Connor's 1992 rendition of "War" which ended with her ripping a photo of Pope John Paul II. I believe it was among some of the earliest rumblings of the Catholic Church scandal which came to a head in the early 2000s, but despite being vindicated she's still banned from the show. (note: Not fully naming said scandal because I fear my post being auto-filtered if I do)
SNL not wanting to offend the pope is very much in line with the concept of "media doesn't want to piss off government or big corporations." Organized religion is just one more part of the establishment that media doesn't want to offend.
@@larkermouse The Catholic Church is a government. South Park could get away with pissing off Scientology, which not even the IRS could. (Operation Snow White)
Chivalry was about looking good, getting rich and gaining/keeping position. It was never honourable - they were keen on waging meaningless wars (to look good/get rich) and genocide (crusades/anyone trying to upset their values). The honour part is a fiction that gained popularity in the Victorian era, and is pretty much an analogue of white-hatted cowboys. Don Quixote was a satire exposing the hypocrisy that chivalry tried to hide - that knights were a bunch of heavily armed thugs that raped and pillaged as much as they could get away with. Polite to princesses and each other? Yes - because someone more powerful protected them. It was essentially a Mexican stand-off. Don Quixote was more of an Unforgiven type of tale - where has beens are found wanting.
I still fail to understand how Steve Martin's character was in fact a jerk. But what I most got out of the movie was knowing how much the national minimum wage was at the time.
Disagree. Rewatched it recently and other than the scene where Steve Martin yells the N word and some topical references, you wouldn’t have to change a thing.
"You couldn't make that joke today!" - a joke told 2-3 years ago, regurgitated by 13 year olds on reddit every day, upvoted with a reply saying "You couldn't make that joke today!"
If anyone can make anything like Blazing Saddles today (or, more likely, 20 or 30 years from now), that person is probably some Jewish soldier in Ukraine. I mean, Mel Brooks is Jewish and a World War II veteran, and I think that adds a lot to his comedy.
WOW! When I first saw the thumbnail I was so worried it was going to be another video complaining about "Political Correctness" but you're one of the few people who actually understand the complicated truth of the matter. Bravo sir, Bravo.
I remember watching a censored version of blazing saddles with my dad and one of his friends and every time the bleeped the N-word my dad’s friend would say it. It was awkward
They shouldn't have censored it, but your dad's friend clearly missed the point of the movie. Everyone in it who says the n-word is an asshole or moron or both.
@@StNick119 I agree that the word is bad and shouldn't it be said, but why is it bad to say it in a completely random context without any malintent? It doesn't sound like the OP's dad's friend wasn't trying to say the word with any racist intent, he was just filling in the line the movie said.
whaat?? but people on the internet are upset, so it MUST be true! ...... and as i typed that, i just realized that all these supposed enlightened individuals who shun big media because they're too smart to be taken in by mainstream ideas and all that mainstream corporate stuff are being driven by the conversation that has persisted because of those mass media corporations. Like, we're supposed to believe the entities that seek to monetize our every internet click are suddenly overly concerned about people's sensibilities? Businesses taking some sort of moral stand are just doing it to drive sales.
And the funny thing is that the big majority of the audience of those things are people who also imagine a hyper sensitive audience. I feel that they watch it to feel better than other people, like "Look at these totally real and not imaginary at all snowflakes!" When they are the only ones watching the fucking thing.
"Imagined" There's that gaslighting I always hear so much about. Just because the target survives doesn't mean Cancel Culture is a myth. You're weeding out the weakminded and leaving the brash assholes that can take the hit.
That's a wonderful comment from a content creator I've loved for years! I'm in the process of publishing my first tabletop game, and think your videos on the philosophy of of TTRPG's was a major influence. Glad you saw my channel and I got to say "thanks" personally!
Matt, It's odd to see your name out in the wild... And I realize now that I didn't really appreciate how content creators, and more "public" figures, have a whole iceberg of identify that rests beneath the surface of their camera-facing personas...
Alogrithm willing and praise be tbh I have no idea how it works - figured it was too late for this vid as the first two days seem pretty important? Ours is not to reason why
@Jim lastname If it's any consolation, this video would be impossible to monetise anyway (as it contains too much copyrighted material). Plus you get like 0.001 cent per view anyhow.
@Jim lastname : I don't see how RUclips makes money off of this if they don't show any ads on it. It's when they show the viewer ads but the creator doesn't get any of the ad money that we have a problem.
We don't need to make this movie again. Just do an anniversary event screening, and watch the crowds' reactions.... like wait, they were doing multiverse 4th wall meta humour in the 70s? AND IT WAS FUNNY????? ...oh yeah and they say a lot of slurs
I'll be watching this later, but I'll toss my usual BS comments in now. There was really only a brief window where Hollywood would let BS happen... in between the collapse of the studio system and the rise of the blockbuster. They had no clue how to make money during these years and took a lot of chances, which they were way less likely to take even a decade later. See also, the PG-13 rating becoming the target rating. The other is our societal taboos are always shifting, so there's no shortage of stuff released today which would be unthinkable back then... and vice versa. Hopefully the video makes similar points.
Kudos to making a different, but still very valid, argument. I have a somewhat similar argument about the demand for "historical accuracy" when they do diverse casting in historical fictions... but the same people get annoyed if similar works feature historically accurate depictions of sexism/racism/etc. as "needing to get over it". Just leave out the non-whites and stop treating white guys as the bad guys... by showing historically accurate representations of their attitudes.
To the last point of your first comment, while I know it's not a mainstream movie or tv show, imagine showing someone from the mid 90s Contrapoints videos about Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists and trying to explain why you were chuckling at a reference to 'mouthfeel' and 'the feminine penis'. Also that it's a 33 min video essay on a super niche topic that's been viewed almost 2 millions times, and also what youtube is, and also that the US had a two term presidency of a black man whose first name was Barack and that Donald Trump is now president. I've def gotten side tracked but jesus... going back to the mid 90's to explain what the future is like would be fucking exhausting. I wonder if that's generally always been the case that anypoint in history will seem bonkers to the people 25 years prior.
@TheKarlOshaughnessy Nobody is unless you are going out to look for people that disagree and protest in which case you're apart of the problem. Just mind you're own business
Outfuckingstanding. Blazing Saddles is, in my opinion, the greatest movie ever made. I grew up on all those bullshit westerns (born 1953) and was already tired of them by 15 or so. For example, my brothers and I used to watch The Big Valley as a comedy rather than a drama. Blazing Saddles is the only movie I've ever seen that made me laugh so hard I fell out of my seat into the aisle. It was the fart scene that did it. It wasn't that it was a fart joke, but rather the lengths to which it was carried, and it was the Slim Pickens performance I was reacting to. I agree with everything you've said about the movie, and the anti "PC" whiners. The fact is that after Kennedy, half my generation got worn out with being spoonfed bullshit with a backhoe. Side note: I never noticed until LITERALLY just now that the abbreviation for the movie is BS, which means that 46 years later, I'm still getting brand new laughs from it. Now THAT is comedy gold.
Yeah - that version of Blazing Saddles exposed the tweeness of mainstream westerns, which doesn't need repeating. But the rest of it points at racism, blatant abuses of power and institutional control of narratives by the establishment - all of which remain in strength and need addressing. Replace the genre killing of twee westerns with another sacred cow and you've got a 'new' Blazing Saddles.
I'm sorry, but the title of the video is correct, as long as the sound is removed from the fart scene, and the little old lady's line, "Up yours, nigger", is blanked out. I'm sorry, you can only say the "n" word in African-American rap videos and songs. We can't allow some Jew to make fun of the word, the attitude, the institution. It's just not right.
@@BTFOOMNY The title of the video is correct, but as pointed out in the video, most of the people recently saying that the film couldn't be made today are using it with a different meaning for a different argument, completely missing who the film is actually making fun of - and that's the group of people this video is covering. With regards to the n word, I don't think it's acceptable at all to use but this is a product of the 70's, and remember that Richard Pryor wrote a lot of the jokes in the film. EDIT: aight somehow I misread your comment. Honestly I wouldn't know how the film is censored today because I own a copy of it, so I've only ever seen it uncensored. I can't really speak on that
@@s-e-e-k-i-n-g There is an episode of Columbo, "How to Dial a Murder". The premise is a behavioral psychologist teaches two dobermans to kill someone holding the telephone when they hear a trigger word. Part of the show he puts on at his clinic is to explain that words only have the power that you let them have. The only reason a small child may say f$ck, is because it gets a wonderful reaction from mom. The only reason for a white person to use the "n" word is to get a rise out of a black person, or everyone listening. Oddly, despite wanting to remove the word from usage, it continues to be used by blacks, between blacks. Sort of self defeating. On the other hand, if everyone's response to the word is to reply, "ignorant dick", the use would die quicker because it doesn't get the reaction everybody is expecting.
BTFOOMNY ... How is your reply relevant to what OP said? And you know, whether you like it or not, words have meanings. They change of course, but not on a whim. When it comes to the n word you can’t just decide it’s not offensive to you, because it’s not gonna change the fact that the racists will still use it that way. Whether you like it or not, the moment you say it freely you associate yourself with racists. 99% of people(mostly white people) who want to use n word freely do so because they want to normalise racism because it always starts this way. We can’t just decide slurs aren’t slurs, only when racism truly disappears will it not matter.
A few years back a local theater had a special showing and Mel Brooks was there for Q&A. Even though I had seen it a dozen times, it was way funnier in a theater sharing laughs with strangers. Great movie, and fantastic video about it!
This one was worth the wait. Great video! This video also reminded me of Lindsay Ellis's video "Mel Brooks, The Producers and the Ethics of Satire about N@zis" which touches on Blazing Saddles a few times and I think makes for a nice companion to this one in exploring the bounds of "acceptable" comedy.
10:40 ok, hold up. A mundane fart joke? We're talking about what is probably the BIGGEST and most outlandish fart joke in cinema history, here. There's nothing 'mundane' about it!
@@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094 As somebody who had middle school in the 2010s, I can confirm: a large portion of what we learned in history was either downright false or omitting key information. In 5th grade I wax still being told that Columbus proved the Earth was round and this would not be contradicted by another history teacher until 9TH GRADE.
@@offscreen6578 Dude, why did they always tell us a slightly different version every year? I remember being fed the notion that the Civil War wasn't really about slavery, but economics. Slick verbage.
@@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094 omg, I could never put this into words before, but all the way yes! I feel like I didn't really get a good idea of the REAL picture until my college classes.
@@sierrasouthwell9237 It is an issue rarely seriously considered. We should all be more vocal about our concerns for young people. Real education reform isn't even on the table right now.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This video has been MANGLED!
At 23:46, when taling about SNL, there is a very sudden and strange cut. I am working with the very helpful and lovely RUclips staff at the moment to figure this out. Thanks for bearing with me!
Ouch, Hope this video is fixed. Love that SNL Media Sketch.
What a tease! I was curious to hear the only pulled skit of SNL
Is there a link for that snl sketch? I’m having trouble finding it myself and I’d love to see it.
I'm probably paranoid but isn't it interesting that the only one they've ever pulled happens to be the segment RUclips cut from the video?
(When I say RUclips I mean anything they're responsible for, whether that's their staff or their algorithms.)
Awfully curious that it's that specific bit that gets conveniently cut...
“History was not child-friendly” is probably the most accurate description of why people want it hidden away; infantilism becomes the ignorant.
I agree. I'm pretty sure at age 9 I could have comprehended the real reason behind the civil war. There really wasn't the need for the "economics" and "state's rights" bullshit.
@@sierrasouthwell9237
Except that those were actual components for the civil war? Not because whitey just hates the blacks?
@@sierrasouthwell9237 Well see, the problem is that then you could've built up an entire worldview starting from age 9 based on a more correct understanding of the Civil War, which could've led to some much more dangerous places as your views developed into adulthood.
The mantra of "you *think* the Civil War was about states' rights, but *actually* it was about slavery!" serves the interests of racists and neo-Confederates almost as well as "the Civil War was about states' rights!" does, because the "realization" that it was about slavery only comes at the end of the conversation instead of at the beginning where it belongs, which trains people to be satisfied with "arriving at" that "realization" instead of assuming it as a baseline starting premise.
Much like the example in the video: by training people to take "wholesome Westerns" as a starting point and "revisionist Westerns" as an ending point, the culture can still keep most people's views moving somewhere along the spectrum between "wholesome Westerns" and "revisionist Westerns," resulting in a much shallower and more superficial critique than if the "revisionist Westerns" were the uncontroversial cultural consensus from the start.
@@sierrasouthwell9237 And ironically, one of the conclusions one might draw from a deeper critique of the Civil War is that it actually *was* about economics, specifically the economics *of* *slavery* itself, because slavery was an economic model for workforce management, and the South wasn't just full of mean old crazy racist "bad eggs" but also full of rational calculating entrepreneurs, for whom keeping millions of people in chains was just a savvy and profitable business practice.
A scholar from Harvard Business School even wrote a book about this: www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674972094
They always justify burning away knowledge by "thinking about the children."
Super weird to see someone online talking about Blazing Saddles that actually understands Blazing Saddles.
Thanks, I do what I can.
Check out Lindsay Ellis, she also made a great video on Mel Brooks.
ruclips.net/video/62cPPSyoQkE/видео.html
I guess I thought everybody already understood blazing saddles.
The film is mocking old westerns.
Also, water is wet.
I'll admit I didn't understand it, but it might have been because I only ever watched it a college party with a girl who was sitting on my lap. The only thing I remembered was the ending, and so I thought the whole thing was just farce.
Check out Lindsay Elis (dont think i spelled that right)
Apparently when Mel Brooks had they final cut of the movie and showed it the studio executives, they all hated it and were ready to pull the plug. So Brooks rounded up all the studio's ordinary-type office workers and secretaries into an auditorium and showed it to them. They loved it. That convinced the execs to back the film.
The best part of the theme song, was that the singer wasn't informed that he was doing a theme for a comedy. So he did it all in that "wholesome west" style, which added to the hilarity.
According to the Mel brooks commentary he actually had tears in his eyes because he really believed in the hero of the story
I remember Mel Brooks talking about this in the commentary and I'm not buying it. Of *course* Frankie Laine had to know it was a parody. He can't have read the words "He rode a blazing saddle..." and not known that. And he also had to have known that the only way to make it work is to play it *completely straight* and that's how he did it.
But here's the thing, and it's what so many miss about _Blazing Saddles_ and other things that they just see as "edgy" - it's the underlying truth and sincerity of the message, of conquering fear and hate, and uniting across artificial divisions in mutual aid and solidarity. That's the heart of the story, and that's what makes it a great movie. The movie is funny as all get-out - and the hero of the story is really to be believed in.
dwc1964 it’s honestly not that edgy either, “oh they say the n word in it”
So what? Bart probably remembers slavery, it’s just historically accurate in that way, they even show that it hurts Barts feelings to be called that.
What because they can make it funny by showing a sweet looking old lady say “up yours nigger” to Bart trying his best?
They even turn around and say the townspeople are morons for that attitude. I have no earthly idea why people who have seen the movie think “ooohhh those SJW’s would hate this movie” or why some would hate it.
Though according to Mel’s commentary a lot of whites also got mad at him for using the n word, whereas blacks were like “hey good job on using it right” so maybe the movie is just cursed to have people get offended in others behalf
At first it was whites getting offended on behalf of blacks
now the antiSJW’s are getting offended on behalf of SJW’s getting offended on behalf of blacks
And with this video’s ending we might just be getting rational people getting offended on behalf of anti-SJW’s getting offended on behalf of SJW’s getting offended on behalf of blacks.
I wonder if we will get another layer of that going.
@@woodlefoof2 "I have no earthly idea why people who have seen the movie think “ooohhh those SJW’s would hate this movie”"
it's because they don't actually understand what SJWs are mad about. they think "social justice" is just a list of words you're not allowed to say anymore, because their own understanding of inequality is so worthlessly naive that they can't fathom how context and nuance can be the difference between whether something is offensive or not.
@@TheGuindo You win the comments section, couldn't have said it any better
“Hay! Where the white women at?” One of the all time best movie lines.
I like to play chess and screw. Let's play chess. That whole film is full of classic movie lines.
No seriously, Where the white women at?
Slyguy threeonetwonine
I don’t remember that one.
Lol also see this hand how stiff and steddy
Yeah
Well this is my shooting 👋 👋
@@slyguythreeonetwonine3172 lol that line is a parody of that sentiment
Its true! I tried making the next Blazing Saddles the other day. I got a meeting with the BBC asking if theyd be interested in making a film out of my idea, but they gave me the paper back saying "This isnt an original idea, this is just the script of Blazing Saddles". Pisses me off >:(
you were cancelled
ahhh the Black Broadcasting Company..
This is one of my all time favorite jokes lmao
One thing I'd like to add is what Mel Brooks said about this very subject when asked "could you make Blazing Saddles today" when I saw him give a talk after a screening of the film in Boston in Dec 2016, which was that he couldn't then. He, in fact, had to send a cut several iconic scenes -- the only one explicitly named being the fart scene -- from the roll he sent to the screening audiences. He then sent the unedited, uncensored version to cinemas to show themselves. The biggest point people miss when they say "you can't make Blazing Saddles today" is that there was never a time when you could make Blazing Saddles.
Your point about mass media being terrified of offending corporations and government officials is so good it should be a second video. I am sharing this now.
@Paden Conner I don't think you understand. MEDIA companies are afraid of offending corporations and government officials. Individuals organize campaigns against them.
@Paden Conner Ok that makes more sense.
Only certain corporations and government officials though. Dunk on the Orange Man all you like, but one too many Xinnie the Pooh jokes and you're barred from that sweet sweet China money.
@@mariokarter13 perfectly said
@Paden Conner Including our government officials. China is threatening to sanction some American companies over being (rightfully) attacked over Covid-19. The American companies will go to the white house and beg/demand that the anti-China stuff stops so they don't go through with it. Just watch how fast Trump bends the knee, just wait.
"Not only did these cowboys fart - but they did so with ill-intent."
... I literally went back and added that line in at like 2am. Something inspired me, what can I say?
Yes. They fart in your general direction. This can not be overlooked.
if that's not a Beefheart-ism, I don't know what is
@@lauragraves4342 they think your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
@@xmlthegreat then they are right. I'm the minister of funny walks too. My sister joined the spanish inquisition. She shows up when she's least expected.
The bit where they all had their guns drawn on him and he draws a gun on himself really cracked me up
Hold it ! He's not bluffing !
do what he say! do what he say!!
Shouldn't we help the poor man
No that's a shure way to get him killed
Help me help me
Even better, Bart soon explains succinctly how he pulled that crazy stunt off: "Oh Baby, you're so talented, and they're so DUMB!"
AOC.
"In 1958 alone, there were 50 Western TV shows on the air . . . there were FOUR channels. . . "
That sentence alone astounds and vexes me. We have so many channels, IPs, production companies, means of media consumption, fanbases and sub-fanbases today that I can't imagine a market capable of supporting one genre in a similar fashion.
I never really understood why my grandfather watches nothing but old-school westerns. He always said they were popular when he was growing up but I never believed they could be THAT popular.
anime
@@SwanintheSwamp But, there are multiple genres within anime.
You know what they didn't have back then? Home video. They also went outside. Even if they watched a few, they'd be missing most of them.
You can't? I'd say the market is doing just that. The only difference is that today's mega-genre is "Reality Shows". Nearly every major production channel has them, often several; and they don't seem to be going away any time soon. There are literally *hundreds* of reality shows out there, and it's only in the last five years or so that the production of new ones has started to finally slow down.
Refreshing to see a good take on “cancelation”, and how many people in power get some flak, but are rarely held accountable.
No lie as a kid when watching old shows, with my mum, i thought everyone just had struggling marriges back then lmao the irony
same
how true
jorge, I don't understand your comment, all I ever saw on TV from the 50s & 60s was perfect families and perfect marriages. That didn't change until the 1970s with All in the Family, Good Times and Maude, a trend that continues to this day. But not all, they still show many shows that have perfect non-struggling marriages, even when the protagonists are complete opposites.
I was just always wondering how the logistics of sex worked for this couple. Which I'm sure was not the result the writers of that Hayes code were hoping for.
So basically what drives corporations isn't money, it's a shitload of money!
You're right. And when you're right, you're right. And you, you're always right.
This is a _Spaceballs_ reference, another great film by my second favourite j...film maker.
@Doctor Octagon Not really. Jonas Salk and the scientists who developed insulin released their patents specifically to make sure anyone could get them instead of just some corporation looking to profit.
@Doctor Octagon Same with cure for polio. It's not doctors that decide, it's whatever megacoporation is distributing the drug that decides... You know... The people that didn't at all have a hand in it. Martin Shkreli was a weasel because he had nothing to do with the creation of medicine, just how much he could charge for it. If real doctors had the option to choose how much to charge for medicine, I assure you most would give it away for free, as they got into their career to help people, not rob them.
@Doctor Octagon the free world? Do you know who Jonas Salk was?
Your point about studios/labels offending teenagers but not daring to offend corporations/advertisers is spot on. It's all about one thing: profit.
TBH, in the latest documentary on Mel Brooks says that he couldn't have made Blazing Saddles when he made it.
Not only that, but we even seen that the same people this video is playing devils advocate for is completely bypassing the fact that many of these people tried to boycott Spring Time For Hitler because of the usage of Nazi Imagery regardless of if it was meant to poke fun at that sort of thing or not.
That I feel is the major problem and flaw with the authors point in this argument, he doesn’t understand that the riled up nature of the things around us isn’t caused by people getting angry at the subject matter at hand, but rather the actual usage and content of the dialogue and actions itself. Meaning just having a white person say the N-Word in a modern movie, weather it was a historical or not (Because even Django Unchained got called out by these people as well). It is basically him not understanding the point being made more than anything I believe.
Randy Rhoades He’s ignoring a whole swath of information in this video. The sensitivity is off the charts with everyone on every side. It means we lose important views and takes on hot button issues. Art is supposed to create a dialogue and hold a mirror to society, wether it’s current, dreams or pitfalls.
Whatever the issue, people need to realize that silencing art over something is more caustic than good. We only need to look at history to understand that.
@@RandyLRhoades The "point being made" is exactly what he said it was. That you couldn't make movies like Blazing Saddles today because modern audiences just couldn't handle it, peppered with the usual longing for the "good old days of cinema". That is precisely what people mean when they say this video's title. More to the point, they seem to believe that audiences back then had no issues with offensive content and just took everything in stride, unlike the snowflakes today. It's a complete crock of shit, and the OP of this thread just aids the point by pointing out how Blazing Saddles was offensive to a bunch of people for its time too, as was The Producers. So it's not a modern audience issue. It's not a "today!" issue.
Hell, speaking of Nazi imagery, Jojo Rabbit just came out, a satirical comedy all about Nazis. I'm sure it has its detractors on the basis of "you can't use Nazi imagery!" But obviously, _it was still made today_, and modern audiences love it, so potentially offensive content doesn't stop movies from being made in the modern day like a bunch of morons believe. That goes for Django Unchained as well. You seem to be focusing on the fact that people get offended at all, and not on the fact that the offensive movies in question were made anyway. Nothing is stopping them. So the entire thesis of the people who say things like "You couldn't make Blazing Saddles today (because it's offensive)" is a complete lie. As the video correctly surmises, the real reason Blazing Saddles won't be made today is because the entire point it was making is irrelevant in the modern times.
@@lexc1560 What the hell are you even arguing? Nobody is silencing shit. You wanna talk history? Let me know when people simply getting offended by something has "silenced art". Again, "simply getting offended", not people in power a long ass time ago being offended and thus using their power to actively silence people. Oh hey, just like what the video said! Individuals can't do shit.
I'm starting to think you guys are just arguing a completely different point that the video isn't even about.
Except he is missing the point like I mentioned in my original comment, Blazing Saddles was not made in response to overcensorship of the 1950's (in fact he hyper inflates it a lot by missing out on shows that actually do go against the usual standards he presents of the time, Bonanza certainly didn't follow these premises and neither did shows like The Rifleman, and some shows utilized it to their advantage by utilizing subtext to talk about these issues).
The reason why you couldn't make it today is because the subtext and purpose of the movie (which he is at least correct about) would be lost, why do you think people miss the point of shows like The Boondocks all the time these days and almost always focus on it's copious use of the N Word more than the actual underlying themes of the episodes themselves. They would focus more on the fact that a white person is casually saying the N-Word more than they would be on the reasoning as to why they are using it and the purpose for it, the 1970's were a time when people tried to be edgy because there was a demand for it, and that demand increased after footage of the Vietnam War was shown on TV and people demanded for less sanitized material in entertainment; it's what lead to stuff like Blacksploitation movies and grindhouse movies, Blazing Saddles was admittedly stated by Mel Brooks himself that it was done to cash in on the whole concept of edgy humor which was on the rise in the 1970's, why else was Mel Brooks' later films relatively tame in comparison?
"Don't know, Mongo only pawn in game of life."
Rockin' Gator
Line written by Richard Pryor 👍😅
No one ever talks about Mongo's show-worthy zebu.
That line was written by richard prior
@@richardrobbin2731 the whole character was Richard Pryor's creation. I've seen the deleted scenes of him being tormented by Bart in several sketches, almost a pastiche or homage to Warner Bros and it's Looney Tunes cartoons
It’s amazing a show like The Twilight Zone was able to rise above the limitations of early television codes
I was thinking the same thing! That show first aired only about 7 years or so after that code came into effect, and pretty much every episode was meant to "shock" the audience.
He got away with a lot by making social commentary through science fiction. You could do more with the stories when they didn’t involve real history or people, they weren’t as stringently controlled
Gene Roddenberry did much the same thing with Star Trek.
the algorithm has selected you, do not resist.
But The Hilldebeast said "RESIST~! RESIST~! RESIST~!
Shouldn't it be: "please, do not resist."
Resistance is futile
There is no war in Ba Sing Se
Aivaras Braziulis why would they say please when it is inevitable
The Western Media: This is how westerns should be
Mel Brooks: I'm gonna ruin this genre forever
Infranaut: You couldn't make Blazing Saddles Today!
Quentin Tarantino: Oh yeah? Hold my cock. I mean COC. I mean beer.
That's why I have an alter dedicated to him.
@@Plisken65 Edward Newman. Sir, you are a genius. I have the same sentiment and opinion about that trashy series of so called "entertainment." The bad and sad part is that my entire family, daughters, their spouses, grand kids and others rave about that BS all the time. And I constantly am telling them, "you've been suckered and fooled into a stupid, silly, totally unrealistic and money grabbing environment ..." to no avail.
Actor: *only good at playing cheesy cowboys*
Mel Brooks: "I'm about to end this man's whole career.."
@@frankgonzalez607 god, no wonder they don't listen - you're a dick
Shockingly, long after the Hays Code ended, you still have to have at least one foot on the floor when playing pool or billiards.
Quality comment
Snookered
Unless you're Community
you CANT make blazing saddles today. Everyone would just be like "this is literally a shot for shot remake of blazing saddles???
So you’re saying you would get cancelled by the woke US Copyright Office?
Best line in the whole film is “Forget that shit, here comes Mongo”
Lol forever immortalized in the botchamania intro,too
Mongo only pawn in game of life
"Never mind that sh*t, here comes Mongo!"
Genuine frontier gibberish
Don’t shoot him...you’ll just make him mad.
"There isn't very much room for realism, melencholy, or doubt when every TV show has to cater to hypothetical children."
*eyes the issues with RUclips during and after Coppa, mainly the 'Kids lie so there's no way to reliably verify age' stance that was taken*
Kind of the reverse problem. Here "kid oriented content" is being punished.
I recently watched Blazing Saddles in its entirety, uncut for television for the first time ever.
The first thing I did after finishing it was get on the net and say to a friend "Bullshit, you could totally make a movie like Blazing Saddles today".
It wouldn't be a Western, but you could make a movie with that level of satire, taking shots like it took, today. You'd have to look at who's marginalized today and what sorts of movies and tv we're inundated with. Military propaganda films definitely seem to be the right genre, imo, or maybe police dramas. From that you might be able to determine what sort of minorities the leads ought to be.
But you'd get people complaining about "white men getting villainized."
IMO the big difference is today all the bigots who are against a movie like that being made could rally together in an easier fashion, and also harass whoever is in it.
@@infranaut no one REALLY cares what Nazis say on Twitter though. Not on a studio level.
I think it would be Sorry to Bother You.
SavageGreywolf - I agree. The hardest part would be finding a comic genius like Mel Brooks to make the movie. Brooks is not only obviously a genius, but he has incredible audacity.
People have gotten used to Blazing Saddles over the decades, but I remember when it came out and it was considered VERY “naughty”. I was just a kid at the time, and I didn’t know much about the movie, but most adults DEFINITELY considered Blazing Saddles to be a bad influence on kids and VERY controversial. We see it as genius NOW, but back then it was considered (by many) to be “lowbrow”, in poor taste, and scandalous.
"You just can't make these kinds of jokes today!" - says the comedian with a crowd of thousands, while being taped for a special that will be seen by millions
Victim mentality, it's pretty ironic coming from them
It's the Trump effect. Say it's bad to like something and people will like it more. It's always happened. Banned books, games, albums, etc.
What reality do you live in lol
People didn't complain about their brand of humor before
@@kloa4219 we live in an era of instantaneous online communication so its easier for people to voice there opinions on various stuff. I guarantee you the complaints people are making now were similar if not the same back then
@@SH-mt2xo No one immediately called the manager over those jokes before. Ads weren't removed and PayPal/banks weren't canceled.
If you can't laugh at anything else in the movie, you have to laugh at the governor's office scene. Mel Brooks dealt the perfect satire of crooked and clueless politicians. Anyone can appreciate the relevance of that.
I was thinking this the other day. He literally has his secretary dressed and ready for sex all day and doesn’t hide it or make her change. It’s so blatant and brilliant
"We've gotta protect our phony-baloney jobs!" is one of my favorite movie lines ever.
I remember the deleted scene where the mayor entered the fake town and one of his staff mentioned that the townsfolk were dummies and the mayor responds, "Why do you think they voted for me?" 🤣
Honestly it was more true to say “you couldn’t make Blazing Saddles” in the year it was actually made
So the phrase was correct from day one?
@Despiser Despised not even close to the truth of the matter
@@swirvinbirds1971 well with the speech codes and safe spaces in the modern sense are being written by Progressives. As they have taken over the job of Head Moral Busybody from the Religious Christian Right. Don't worry though a new religious right will eventually takeover Europe. However, it won't be Christian.
@@IdleDrifterYou showed 0 regression with progressives...
One thing I often try to remind folks as well, about the movie: consider when the movie came out; mere years beforehand, the Civil Rights Movement was in effect, culminating in the Civil Rights Act. It may not seem like a big deal today, but it was still very, *very* fresh in peoples' minds then, and the nation was still struggling with a culture that was progressing toward reflecting all of that. Blazing Saddles *couldn't* be made today, because the issues that were "hot-button" at the time...no longer are, no matter what many folks want to insist.
It was about so much more than "offending everybody" ; sensibilities change. Hell, you can get away with shit today that you wouldn't be caught *dead* getting away with back then. As I even mentioned on Facebook...do you think *anyone* outside of a traveling circus might've hired Johnny Knoxville back in the day? Highly, highly doubtful. Very different time with very different standards.
In my film studies class, we had a discussion on Westerns and watched "StageCoach." In that Westerns discussion, I posted a link to this. The teacher decided she is going to study more into this era of Western and the old age of sitcoms after watching your video. You even taught a professor of film a few things. This is still one of my favorite video essays.
Wow, thanks!
“Not only do these cowboys fart, they fart with I’ll intent”
“they did so with ill intent”
@@allyli1718 damn autocorrect. I assume that’s what changed their “ill” to “I’ll”.
“A whole hen house of bad eggs” lmao
That shot of those two dudes holding the old woman and the guy just mercilessly punching her stomach had me dying the first time I saw this movie.
You couldn't make this video last week. :P
And we'll see if I can make it this week!
Fuck me, six hours late to the joke.
nah bro he did tho
@4 & 20 Black Birds - 'Blazing Cushions' with a royal family all called Johnson?
4 & 20 Black Birds did just copy and paste your comment to every post lmao
You couldnt make Django unchained today
that movie ends with the hero torturing an old black man! hashtagcanceldjango
@Django Fett God forbid a movie about slavery with an ex-slave as the protagonist featured white guys as the baddies.
and you definitely wouldn't want to.
Brian Kenney Yeah because it’s already been made
He gunned down white people. Of course you could make it today and it would be considered high art.
My good friend and I use to spend time together watching old western shows and movies every chance we had. Now he is about 50 years old and lives in a not so great area. We would work on cars together and take breaks from the summer heat to relax and watch westerns. On occasion we would take a break to go buy a cold beer for each of us a few blocks away and one day we did a simple u turn heading back and we were immediately lit up. Now my friend (Afro-America) was driving the vehicle and and I (Caucasian) was in the passenger seat. We were pulled over immediately. 2 cops got out guns drawn yelling "hands up! Hands where I can see them", one cop standing on each side of the car. You'd think we had just robbed the liquor store or were in a felony stop! All over a simple U-turn. Profiling and double standards based on skin color should never happen! I advise whomever reads this to keep this in mind when u see any minority appearing to over react when dealing with police. Can you even imagine having police draw guns (not even tasers) GUNS over a simple traffic violation?!? It made me so physically ill it took all my will to keep myself from going off on em knowing that'd escalate the situation by speaking up to question their immediate aggression and I'm not an aggressive or argumentative person. Even WORSE is that my buddy seemed conditioned to this behavior from police. It simultaneously opened my eyes and broke my heart.
Good comment
Blazing Saddles: *Exists*
Wholesome Westerns: that wasn't very cash money of you
Wholesome westerns: exists
Blazing saddles: *imma bout to end this man's whole career.*
Hmm,,, I don’t know, ya still see reruns today of several. 60 years later.
BS: Never mind that shit! Here comes Mongo!
If Blazing Saddles was made today, it would be Team America: World Police
Or Django Unchained. Or Pineapple Express. Not that either of those movies are of the same caliber, but the idea that we've become too "politically correct" is just nonsense.
Or Sorry to Bother You (not really in terms of genre but in terms of themes and the satire present within it_
@@ravenfrancis1476 no idea how I forgot this or Get Out.
"AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!"
@zang bazzanga are you like an echo-bot or something?? because that's exactly what the OP said.
You can't make Blazing Saddles today. They'd take one look at the script and say "This is Blazing Saddles, it's already a movie."
Okay, funny story:
As a kid in the eighties my first exposure to Blazing Saddles was my dad taping it off commercial broadcast television in Central California where local stations came out of Sacramento. I remember seeing several scenes with extra footage (like Mel Brooks as governor showing up at the end: “Governor, these people are dummies!” “I know that, how do you think I got elected?” And Mongo being defeated several times) and certain swear words being either silenced or replaced.
My point is, in the scene where Cleveland Little as sherif greets the old white lady and says good morning to her, she responds, “Outta mah way, n-word!” On TV, that is. But I could tell the dialogue didn’t match her lips. I didn’t find out until years later when I bought the movie on VHS that what she actually said was: “Up yours, n-word!”
The fucking television broadcast back then censored “up yours” and replaced it with “out of my way” (because it was deemed too offensive for TV audiences) but left in the n-word at the end of the line (because that was apparently okay).😳🙄🤯
Cleavon Little, not Cleveland.
That is insane.
Despiser Despised what’s the n-word?
Cesar Hernandez I think I remember reading that RUclips was censoring the biiiig baaaad *N WORD* in comments now
@Despiser Despised hope i dont get banned, but he ment Noob
Airplane did the same thing for the Disaster genre, as I understand it.
Mostly the Airport movies but still
Making chris brown look like a wavy demon is the best way to present him.
"ONE* in the hand is worth TWO* in the bush"
brb, killing myself for being king idiot, moron supreme, who somehow spent 100 hours researching and editing this video only to make the stupidest and easiest-to-fix mistake in the world in the opening 20 seconds
Infranaut pin that comment so the world remembers your shame.
@@infranaut That's just how it be mang. Spend forever on a video, go over it multiple times to make sure its good and then release it after what feels like forever. Only to realize you made a spelling error or stupid mistake after its too late. OOF. Happens to me all the time.
Infranaut
In a way it lends to the point.
Such sayings are repeated so much the words don’t even have to be said properly to recognise it and what it’s saying.
Silver linings I guess? or should I say lining silvers.
Get two birds stoned with one bush
It's so weird that 'revisionist western' refers to the style that ditched the false wholesomeness.
Yea, it would be like a bunch of assholes telling the Greeks and Romans their stories about God's were just myths. Nobody likes those assholes.
@@slyguythreeonetwonine3172 More like, someone takes all of the rape and murder out of the greco-roman myths and calls them "safe for primetime", and then someone later goes and puts it all back in, but the restored myths are called "revisionist".
Revisionist when used properly refers to a correction of the historical record when it is either overly narrow or in some way inaccurate.
For example any narratives of the civil war that portray the war as an effort to preserve slavery and white supremacy would be revisionist. As prior to that the official historical account downplayed the role of slavery and white supremacy.
The negative connotations of the phrase originates from Chudds who hijacked the phrase in order to white wash (pun intended) their racist and bigoted views and make them seem less heinous. Do not let them get away with this.
@@c182SkylaneRG Exactly.
@@blixer8384 Unfortunately, I'm afraid they already have. The political negative is all I hear when I hear someone say "revisionist", as I never heard or saw the word used, prior to that.
The suffix "ist" tends to imply "one who believes in _______" as though there are multiple valid points of view. Bapt"ist"s believe in the power of baptism, or did, originally. Marx"ist"s believe in the vision of Karl Marx, etc.
"Revision" of what most would consider documented factual events is also widely viewed as being motivated by a political agenda, rather than an honest conviction and thorough research, regardless of the actual motivation in most cases.
Thus, the use of the word "revisionist" has come to mean "the fake version that 'they' want you to believe so that you'll buy into their agenda", regardless of how it began, and it's best to avoid the word, entirely, if you want what you say to be taken seriously.
Someone else in the comments said this and I believe it bears repeating; "it's literally trendy to be offensive to an imagined hyper-sensitive audience"
Imagined. That's rich.
Also, any reaction can count as "offended/triggered", including but not limited to:
"You're not funny."
"That's factually incorrect."
"What does that even mean."
*Not viewing it in the first place because it's unfunny, based on inaccuracies, and/or confusing to the point of lacking meaning.*
It's easy for what you say to be "funny" when literally any reaction from a third party, real or imagined, that isn't *meant* to find what you said funny was, apparently, the intended source of comedy rather than the words themselves being funny.
@@davidinvenio3094 And accurate.
It’s not imagined at all. The idea of the public being hyper sensitive is an absolute real one.
The thing is that too many people are trying to categorize the people being offended as all being like minded, when in reality it doesn’t matter.
Don't forget to do it RIGHT. Why this really does work is we see the idiots either get humbled or punished for being racists.
Every other "edgy" shit out there is like a rape of a choir boy during mass.
"Not only did these cowboys fart, but they did so with ill intent" I love your script man. Plus the second half of the video breaking down the actual power relationships in media was excellent (and the ripple effect on Gervais was killing me). And holy crap that Schoolhouse Rock parody by SNL is unbelievably good I need to go find it.
“People are too sensitive these days” says the people who got a movie about the declining mental health of Ronald Reagan cancelled before it was even made.
DAMN I forgot about that one
Which one is that? I’m new and I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Devil's Advocate www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/278172-will-ferrell-drops-out-of-film-on-reagans-alzheimers%3famp
And that’s exactly why this wouldn’t be made lol. Your comment only reinforces the phrase.
My girlfriend shares Reagan's birthday & my birthday shares his death day...our child is either going to be the new Reagan or the anti Reagan....
I almost didn’t click this because I’m sick of the phrase, even though I adore the movie but I learned so much and you summed up my feelings for the movie without really knowing them.
Thanks so much man
If I hear this argument I conversely reply with "You couldn't make Moonlight, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, Lady Bird, Sorry to Bother You or The Farewell etc. back in the day. "
We shouldn't have made them today either
@@elias_xp95 bad take tbh
@@elias_xp95 why not?
@@elias_xp95 cannot wait to learn the unironic reason each of these movies was problematic/degenerate depending on which flavor of insufferable you are
Lmao, you guys got trolled so hard.
“Man, you just can’t get away with the jokes I like to make nowadays” - Comedian with millions of loyal fans, during a Netflix special
I’m not even saying there aren’t easily offended people out there trying to “cancel” people, cause there sure as hell are, but Twitter mobs can’t do shit to destroy someone’s career 9 times out of 10, and if they’re the ones being so sensitive and easily-offended, why you gotta get offended by them? If you were as bold as you claim to be, you wouldn’t give a damn what they say and ignore them
Great video btw
The real snowflakes are the people who complain about snowflakes, and can't wrap their head around people's right to be offended or have feelings.
Twitter does have a lot of media influence though, celebrities have had their careers affected due to angry mobs digging up some edgy/bad taste jokes made ten years ago.
The problem is people, mainly comedians are being held accountable for their words as if they're supposed to be some sort of role model. I know it's a cliche in certain circles to rag on "outrage culture" but it becomes hard to dismiss when everything you once enjoyed is being scrutinised for being problematic or not up-to-date with modern sensibilities. I'm not offended by easily offended people, they can have at it as much to their hearts content, I'm just not happy with how much clout easily offended people have been given.
@@james5995 This is all to do with private companies, not the government. What possible solution could there be for this?
I think you are missing the point: powerful people or institutions will always be able to get away. The problem is that ordinary people, not extremely popular multi-millionaires, can and are having their lives destroyed by twitter mobs way too easily over trivial matters.
"Twitter mobs aren't THAT bad, they only successfully destroy people sometimes!"
The best line of all was the one the censors refused to let Brooks put in it.
When Sheriff Bart is in the dark and about to get laid she says to him "Is it true what they say about you people being gifted?"
ZZIIIPP
"It's twoo its TWOO IT'S TWOO"........."Your sucking my arm!" 😂😂😂
😆😆
The gag wasn't censored. Brooks was persuaded not to include it.
Any script aiming to be harshly satirical/boundary pushing, and partly written by Richard Prior, is going to be scrutinised by both the writers (what can we get away with) and the studio (what will earn us the most cash - one of the main thrusts of the video).
I wish they left that in.
"If it came out today, I think it'd be the same... It's still a modern film, and I think it always will be" - Gene Wilder
I don't think I've heard a single person actually deconstruct Blazing Saddles at its expense. No one who understands the film seems to regard this film as anything other than what it is. Commentary as comedy. And if people think that the repeated and unapologetic use of the n word in the film is something that wouldn't pass today, watch BlacKkKlansman and movie that came out less than 2 years ago. It's so crystal clear that the use of the word in both isn't to shock or offend the audience, because that's not something the movie is trying to promote. Its at the expense of those who are portrayed as nothing less than bigoted morons. You don't have to even theorize if the film could be received well by a modern audience because it already is. Whether it be through other films with the same obscene content or the simple fact that people still love and enjoy the movie today. Fuck if anything this movie might have been even easier to make nowadays.
Also it's odd, I was a big Mel Brooks fan as a kid, growing up on Spaceballs and Men in Tights, but i never got around to watching Blazing Saddles until today actually, after watching this video and its definitely a new favorite. Thanks for getting me to finally get around to watching it.
I assume you also haven't missed Young Frankenstein and The Producers.
and here is me can quote the entire movie.
huh.... that's a good point about the n word because i've seen both movies and i'm sure it's said but i can't recall a specific instance because i guess the movie wasn't trying to be inflammatory about its use? or maybe i'm just super racist and the word is as normal as iunno kitten so it just went past me. ^_^
Bingo! If the film couldn't be made today, then it couldn't be popular today.
Lol Django unchained used more N words
this was an incredible video. instant subscribe. you've hit on why i always feel so weird whenever people tell me that "you couldn't get away with x today." well thought out, well edited, well spoken. excellent work.
Thanks! Any shares/etc help!
I mean, D'Jango Unchained is basically Blazing Saddles if Mel Brookes took himself too seriously.
This comment needs more likes.
Great movie, too.
Nah. That was not satire.
It's like I've been saying over the last few years: people being offended is literally nothing new. The way we receive and interpret information has certainly changed, yes. But the way people feel? That's always gonna happen, just as it has for thousands of years. This new generation isn't "softer" or "more sensitive". You just know how people actually feel halfway across the world much more instantaneously than ever before. The way you perceive others has an actual and potential effect if you voice your opinion online. Surprise, surprise -- not everyone is gonna like what you have to say.
It's like youth crime in the UK.
Back around 2010 there was a major stir about youth crime and the beginning of the knife epidemic.
The kicker was that youth crime was actually at its lowest around a third of what it was in the 80s.
The only thing that had changed was the reporting our mammal brains are wired to think if we hear about something more it's more likely.
There's also a level of Juvenoia, every generation thinks it's smarter than the last and wiser than the next.
This xkcd strip gives the best example.
xkcd.com/1227/
I think the impact of people’s complaints are stronger though. When people are offended they look up the projects advertisers and the advertisers give in to any complaint to avoid bad PR
@@robbiesilverwolf this video literally disproves that.
Not only that but there has always been a complaints system.
Here in the UK we have Ofcom.
There was a storm a while ago about Gavin and Stacey's Christmas special using the word faggot in the song Fairytale of New York, huge media attention over people complaining but do you want to know how many people had sent complaints in out of the whole of the UK at the height of controversy?
Five. Thats it.
Compared to the 70s if somebody actually said the word shit or if a homosexual was shown that's non existent.
@@MrHidethecheese You just haven't looked this up enough. UK RUclipsr Count Dankula was literally arrested and fined for uploading a joke video of his dog raising it's paw like a Nazi salute. It doesn't matter if it's 5 people or 5,000 people complaining. The point is that even when a relatively small amount of people get offended they have real power to ruin other people's lives. This new phenomenon wasn't possible pre-internet.
@@robbiesilverwolf Yep, people are constantly getting cancelled or banned, but understanding the full scope requires digging beyond what the mainstream tells you, and most people are simply unwilling to do the research. This is a new phenomenon that wasn't as prominent before the creation of the internet. It's especially bad once it starts affecting you in real life. I know of at least half a dozen men who have been falsely accused of sexual assault or rape, and even when it was proven to be a lie the accuser faces no punishment casting doubt on future accusations. A roommate lost his mind screaming at me and moved out because I said arresting people for writing offensive things online like they do in the UK leads to tyranny. On the way out he tried to convince the landlord that I am a white supremacist to get me kicked out. Luckily, all three of us are hispanic and the landlord wasn't a moron.
The last line was perfect. Took me a second to figure out what you were talking about but it tied all the threads you were talking about together in a really insightful way, and I love it when an artist in any medium thinks highly enough of their audience to let them figure things out for themselves. What a fucking script man, you're really good at this. Subbed!
Howdy everybody!
Thanks for skyrocketing this one straight into the Algorithm's warm and loving arms. I usually try to reply and engage as many comments as possible but they're kind of getting away from me this time. Thanks a ton for all the engagement, the new subs and the folks nice even to send me a Ko-fi!
Eat shit, SJW.
one look at late night shows and the youtube trending page shows that sanitized/ politically correct content is definitely in power and should be a concern for artists.
@@RegulatedMilitia I wouldn't call these people artists. Infranaut isn't an artist. He's basically one step away from being those people who do "THE TOP FIVE REASONS X IS Y!!!!" type clickbait.
Sorry you were upset by the video! Maybe take an internet break a while, man?
Jim Acosta? Really?
holy shit, i had no idea about that snl sketch, that's too perfect. this is a really good video.
@Jim lastname it's rare that a tv bit like that would make it far enough to be aired once w/o the manufacturing consent kind of censorship kicking in.
The SNL thing actually isn't true; I remember watching Conspiracy Theory Rock first on the Saturday TV Funhouse DVD collection. Granted, that's really the only place you can watch it legally and it isn't shown in rebroadcasts on TV, but it is absolutely available from the original creators to this day without having to jump through hoops.
It is amazing that while this is not true of most, you still have people using the usually talking points this video proves wrong in this comment section.
You will legit get fucked up if you played a "take a shot every time you read a comment that regurgitates an exact argument discussed in the video" drinking game
ruclips.net/video/kI6ioPSKUgQ/видео.html
Well… you really can’t make the movie today, because Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder are dead. May they Rest In Peace.
I suppose the closest thing to it recently might be Tropic Thunder.
And RDJ is still catching shit for his role in that, so maybe people have a point when they say “you couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today”
@@thinkwithurdipstick Well the point of his example is that they DID make a movie comparable to Blazing Saddles (almost) today. It wasn't shut down by studios or governments. There weren't riots and nobody got sacked.
Blahblahblah Blah well that’s not how people would go about shutting something down today anyway, at least not in the US. The government isn’t going to interfere and people don’t typically riot here. People use social media and similar avenues to shut stuff down today, they work through social ostracism and make it impossible for you to find work unless you’re someone that’s too big to fail.
@@thinkwithurdipstick Alright, well did that happen with Tropic Thunder? Looks like Robert Downey Jr was actually nominated for an Academy Award for that blackface role and then went on to do a bunch of Avengers movies. It doesn't seem there's been any ostracism or backlash at all. But, it was also 2008 - so not as modern as I thought in the first place
@@thinkwithurdipstick oh yeah, I remember how "cancel culture" kept RDJ out of being iron man or being in any avengers movies ???
Holy shit. The final line of this video I’m with the “who would really complain about this” sent chills down my spine. Really great points
Yes! What a mic drop!
It's amazing learning about all the Hays Code censorship that Blazing Saddles was rebelling against and all the executive struggles that Mel Brooks had to fight through. The "Blazing Saddles" of today would be just as button-pushing, deconstructive, and rebellious, but it absolutely wouldn't offend the people the anti-"SJW" crowd thinks it would.
@14:35 "Damnit, Jim! I'm a doctor not a cavalry soldier!"
I bet a Blazing Saddles of modern Hollywood would be a hit.
And Ricky Gervais could headline it too.
team america
Starcraftgamer97 no he couldn't
@@Starcraftgamer97 and make it so unfunny it'll somehow sour the original.
Yeah like the 2016 Ghostbusters 🙄
Someone shared this on Reddit and I got to say, I'm impressed. This was a very interesting take and well done; definitely made me rethink the whole "You couldn't make this movie today" which personally I don't agree with. You can make any media you want, as long as you are accepting that it will be critiqued.
Thanks!
If Blazing Saddles was made today, there'd be people making a huge fit about one of the main characters being black. Probably the same people who cry "You couldn't make Blazing Saddles today!"
I wholeheartedly believe the people that are most likely to complain about the film being made today are also the people who would least want it to be made today
"WHy MeRMAid WomaN bLacK?" -The YCMBST crowd upon Halle Bailey being cast as Ariel.
After I watch Django, I though what if somebody did a parody of Django as a comedy.Get Dave Chappelle as the in the Jamie Foxx role.Of course it couldn' be done today.
There is a difference between continued white and straight washing and making a non-minority character a minority - I am sorry you don't understand that.
@Paul Tello
now here's a dude who doesn't understand the difference between casting a black actor as a fictional fishwoman, and an entire culture of real people that actually existed being portrayed as white when they definitely were not
Splitting hairs with this one, but SNL has pulled at least one other sketch: Sinead O'Connor's 1992 rendition of "War" which ended with her ripping a photo of Pope John Paul II. I believe it was among some of the earliest rumblings of the Catholic Church scandal which came to a head in the early 2000s, but despite being vindicated she's still banned from the show.
(note: Not fully naming said scandal because I fear my post being auto-filtered if I do)
My memory may be fuzzy, butI was pretty that was one of the show's two music-performance interludes, not a "sketch" per se, yes?
SNL not wanting to offend the pope is very much in line with the concept of "media doesn't want to piss off government or big corporations." Organized religion is just one more part of the establishment that media doesn't want to offend.
@@larkermouse The Catholic Church is a government. South Park could get away with pissing off Scientology, which not even the IRS could. (Operation Snow White)
@@larkermouse I know this comment is a year old, but I just want to say that the catholic church is a big corporation.
this sounds like what don quixote did to the chivalric romance. almost to the tea. except don quixote was admittedly pretty progressive for the time.
This is a new perspective on Man of La Mancha for me, and I applaud it.
and how is blazing saddles not progressist ?
Don Quixote was literally centuries ahead of its time. Pretty insane in the history of any art
Chivalry was about looking good, getting rich and gaining/keeping position. It was never honourable - they were keen on waging meaningless wars (to look good/get rich) and genocide (crusades/anyone trying to upset their values).
The honour part is a fiction that gained popularity in the Victorian era, and is pretty much an analogue of white-hatted cowboys.
Don Quixote was a satire exposing the hypocrisy that chivalry tried to hide - that knights were a bunch of heavily armed thugs that raped and pillaged as much as they could get away with.
Polite to princesses and each other?
Yes - because someone more powerful protected them. It was essentially a Mexican stand-off.
Don Quixote was more of an Unforgiven type of tale - where has beens are found wanting.
I’ve been lucky enough to have never heard the “couldn’t be made today” trope so I learned a ton from every part of this video.
I personally think The Jerk is another movie that fits this criteria.
I still fail to understand how Steve Martin's character was in fact a jerk. But what I most got out of the movie was knowing how much the national minimum wage was at the time.
"His friend is literally Hitler" would make a fantastic alternate title or subtitle
@@KingRandor82 An older use of the word, jerk was basically equal to jobber, boy, or essentially, a politely mean way to say "average schmo".
I love that movie!
Disagree. Rewatched it recently and other than the scene where Steve Martin yells the N word and some topical references, you wouldn’t have to change a thing.
"You couldn't make that joke today!" - a joke told 2-3 years ago, regurgitated by 13 year olds on reddit every day, upvoted with a reply saying "You couldn't make that joke today!"
ZX Spectrum nice Adam pic
Reddit isn't exactly a standard
fits considering redditors are fucking retards
this is my favorite dude soup quote
@@bronghusphidalski522 This is coming from the YT community, where we're all fucking retards as well
If anyone can make anything like Blazing Saddles today (or, more likely, 20 or 30 years from now), that person is probably some Jewish soldier in Ukraine.
I mean, Mel Brooks is Jewish and a World War II veteran, and I think that adds a lot to his comedy.
10:46 - "...a fart joke..." - and it was the greatest fart joke ever committed to film!
I have seen Blazing Saddles only once. When I was about 11. Apart from the "Morons" scene that is the only one I still remember.
More beans mr.taggart??? Hahahahahaha..fuckin love it
the first one on a movie too iirc
WOW! When I first saw the thumbnail I was so worried it was going to be another video complaining about "Political Correctness" but you're one of the few people who actually understand the complicated truth of the matter. Bravo sir, Bravo.
Ha, yeah, I went for the clickbait-y title. It apparently worked judging by the number of "Yeah I agree you couldn't make it today!" comments
You couldn't make blazing saddles today. People would see it and go "hey, this is just blazing saddles!"
"I'm a soldier, not a doctor!"
Really missed out on tagging this video "McCoy"
I remember watching a censored version of blazing saddles with my dad and one of his friends and every time the bleeped the N-word my dad’s friend would say it. It was awkward
Not only is that racist but annoying
They shouldn't have censored it, but your dad's friend clearly missed the point of the movie. Everyone in it who says the n-word is an asshole or moron or both.
@@StNick119 or making fun of themselves. Like in the Welcoming the Sheriff scene.
@@StNick119 I agree that the word is bad and shouldn't it be said, but why is it bad to say it in a completely random context without any malintent? It doesn't sound like the OP's dad's friend wasn't trying to say the word with any racist intent, he was just filling in the line the movie said.
If only black people could learn not to be "N"s
Blazing Saddles turned the Wholesome west into the wild west, and I greatly appreciate that
"Smells like you boys had enough" is the most sweetly poignant line ever in film.
downloading this before it gets removed again lol
It's literally trendy to be offensive to an imagined hyper sensitive audience.
whaat?? but people on the internet are upset, so it MUST be true! ...... and as i typed that, i just realized that all these supposed enlightened individuals who shun big media because they're too smart to be taken in by mainstream ideas and all that mainstream corporate stuff are being driven by the conversation that has persisted because of those mass media corporations. Like, we're supposed to believe the entities that seek to monetize our every internet click are suddenly overly concerned about people's sensibilities? Businesses taking some sort of moral stand are just doing it to drive sales.
And the funny thing is that the big majority of the audience of those things are people who also imagine a hyper sensitive audience. I feel that they watch it to feel better than other people, like "Look at these totally real and not imaginary at all snowflakes!" When they are the only ones watching the fucking thing.
"Imagined"
There's that gaslighting I always hear so much about. Just because the target survives doesn't mean Cancel Culture is a myth. You're weeding out the weakminded and leaving the brash assholes that can take the hit.
@@mariokarter13 Cancel culture *is* a myth though.
@@ambskater97 nah
Noam Chomsky would love this video.
That's a wonderful comment from a content creator I've loved for years! I'm in the process of publishing my first tabletop game, and think your videos on the philosophy of of TTRPG's was a major influence. Glad you saw my channel and I got to say "thanks" personally!
All commies should hang.
Matt, It's odd to see your name out in the wild... And I realize now that I didn't really appreciate how content creators, and more "public" figures, have a whole iceberg of identify that rests beneath the surface of their camera-facing personas...
John Smith Incel
@@JohnSmith-1066 why?
Got a feeling this one's gonna get algorithm'd.
Alogrithm willing and praise be
tbh I have no idea how it works - figured it was too late for this vid as the first two days seem pretty important? Ours is not to reason why
the algorithm just tuned me into this, so there ya go
@Jim lastname If it's any consolation, this video would be impossible to monetise anyway (as it contains too much copyrighted material). Plus you get like 0.001 cent per view anyhow.
Probably happening now, this isn't a topic or RUclipsr I've searched for before but it was near the top of my recommendations.
Congratulations?
@Jim lastname : I don't see how RUclips makes money off of this if they don't show any ads on it. It's when they show the viewer ads but the creator doesn't get any of the ad money that we have a problem.
We don't need to make this movie again. Just do an anniversary event screening, and watch the crowds' reactions.... like wait, they were doing multiverse 4th wall meta humour in the 70s? AND IT WAS FUNNY????? ...oh yeah and they say a lot of slurs
That "bad egg" reprisal at the end got me subscribed. Good job, man.
I'll be watching this later, but I'll toss my usual BS comments in now.
There was really only a brief window where Hollywood would let BS happen... in between the collapse of the studio system and the rise of the blockbuster. They had no clue how to make money during these years and took a lot of chances, which they were way less likely to take even a decade later. See also, the PG-13 rating becoming the target rating.
The other is our societal taboos are always shifting, so there's no shortage of stuff released today which would be unthinkable back then... and vice versa.
Hopefully the video makes similar points.
Kudos to making a different, but still very valid, argument.
I have a somewhat similar argument about the demand for "historical accuracy" when they do diverse casting in historical fictions... but the same people get annoyed if similar works feature historically accurate depictions of sexism/racism/etc. as "needing to get over it". Just leave out the non-whites and stop treating white guys as the bad guys... by showing historically accurate representations of their attitudes.
To the last point of your first comment, while I know it's not a mainstream movie or tv show, imagine showing someone from the mid 90s Contrapoints videos about Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists and trying to explain why you were chuckling at a reference to 'mouthfeel' and 'the feminine penis'. Also that it's a 33 min video essay on a super niche topic that's been viewed almost 2 millions times, and also what youtube is, and also that the US had a two term presidency of a black man whose first name was Barack and that Donald Trump is now president.
I've def gotten side tracked but jesus... going back to the mid 90's to explain what the future is like would be fucking exhausting. I wonder if that's generally always been the case that anypoint in history will seem bonkers to the people 25 years prior.
@@JohnCWannamaker Obama isn't black, you racist. Or are you saying that any drop of black blood makes the baby a Negro?
@@oz_jones You're a dumbass.
Started apprehensive, saved to favorites by the middle, subscribed by the end.
Really fantastic work!
JoJo Rabbit would like to disagree... It's not a 1:1, but shows how satire can also still seriously critique contemporary culture
I dont think you watched the video
You didn’t watch the video did you?
Well you couldn't make JoJo Rabbit today. It was released a few months ago
Jojo Rabbit is absolutely fuck all like Blazing Saddles
@TheKarlOshaughnessy Nobody is unless you are going out to look for people that disagree and protest in which case you're apart of the problem. Just mind you're own business
Outfuckingstanding. Blazing Saddles is, in my opinion, the greatest movie ever made. I grew up on all those bullshit westerns (born 1953) and was already tired of them by 15 or so. For example, my brothers and I used to watch The Big Valley as a comedy rather than a drama. Blazing Saddles is the only movie I've ever seen that made me laugh so hard I fell out of my seat into the aisle. It was the fart scene that did it. It wasn't that it was a fart joke, but rather the lengths to which it was carried, and it was the Slim Pickens performance I was reacting to. I agree with everything you've said about the movie, and the anti "PC" whiners. The fact is that after Kennedy, half my generation got worn out with being spoonfed bullshit with a backhoe. Side note: I never noticed until LITERALLY just now that the abbreviation for the movie is BS, which means that 46 years later, I'm still getting brand new laughs from it. Now THAT is comedy gold.
Amazing video, hits the nail right on the head, especially the very end. The difference between punching down and punching up.
Somebody's gonna have to go back and get a whole shitload of dimes.
This is such a wonderful and well thought out video that I'm making a comment so the algorithm will boost it further.
Praise algorithm and thank you kindly
“Why would you want to make blazing saddles today”
Ricky Gervais has something to say.
Yeah - that version of Blazing Saddles exposed the tweeness of mainstream westerns, which doesn't need repeating.
But the rest of it points at racism, blatant abuses of power and institutional control of narratives by the establishment - all of which remain in strength and need addressing.
Replace the genre killing of twee westerns with another sacred cow and you've got a 'new' Blazing Saddles.
YES. THANK YOU. I immediately clicked this. Been so fed up with hearing this quote from a specific group of people
Thanks!
I'm sorry, but the title of the video is correct, as long as the sound is removed from the fart scene, and the little old lady's line, "Up yours, nigger", is blanked out.
I'm sorry, you can only say the "n" word in African-American rap videos and songs. We can't allow some Jew to make fun of the word, the attitude, the institution. It's just not right.
@@BTFOOMNY The title of the video is correct, but as pointed out in the video, most of the people recently saying that the film couldn't be made today are using it with a different meaning for a different argument, completely missing who the film is actually making fun of - and that's the group of people this video is covering. With regards to the n word, I don't think it's acceptable at all to use but this is a product of the 70's, and remember that Richard Pryor wrote a lot of the jokes in the film. EDIT: aight somehow I misread your comment. Honestly I wouldn't know how the film is censored today because I own a copy of it, so I've only ever seen it uncensored. I can't really speak on that
@@s-e-e-k-i-n-g There is an episode of Columbo, "How to Dial a Murder". The premise is a behavioral psychologist teaches two dobermans to kill someone holding the telephone when they hear a trigger word. Part of the show he puts on at his clinic is to explain that words only have the power that you let them have. The only reason a small child may say f$ck, is because it gets a wonderful reaction from mom. The only reason for a white person to use the "n" word is to get a rise out of a black person, or everyone listening. Oddly, despite wanting to remove the word from usage, it continues to be used by blacks, between blacks. Sort of self defeating. On the other hand, if everyone's response to the word is to reply, "ignorant dick", the use would die quicker because it doesn't get the reaction everybody is expecting.
BTFOOMNY ... How is your reply relevant to what OP said? And you know, whether you like it or not, words have meanings. They change of course, but not on a whim. When it comes to the n word you can’t just decide it’s not offensive to you, because it’s not gonna change the fact that the racists will still use it that way. Whether you like it or not, the moment you say it freely you associate yourself with racists. 99% of people(mostly white people) who want to use n word freely do so because they want to normalise racism because it always starts this way. We can’t just decide slurs aren’t slurs, only when racism truly disappears will it not matter.
Ludicrously well made, and a lot of fresh points to consider.
Thank you. I well and truly filled up my entire storage space with clips for this one
A few years back a local theater had a special showing and Mel Brooks was there for Q&A.
Even though I had seen it a dozen times, it was way funnier in a theater sharing laughs with strangers.
Great movie, and fantastic video about it!
This one was worth the wait. Great video! This video also reminded me of Lindsay Ellis's video "Mel Brooks, The Producers and the Ethics of Satire about N@zis" which touches on Blazing Saddles a few times and I think makes for a nice companion to this one in exploring the bounds of "acceptable" comedy.
Thank you that's a very sweet comparison! I know it's a bit similar, but I COULD NOT resist using that Mel Brooks mall punk song she also did
@valcaron That's literally the title of the video, look it up.
19:40
Now I want to see an entire Ricky Gervais comedy special through this filter.
10:40 ok, hold up. A mundane fart joke? We're talking about what is probably the BIGGEST and most outlandish fart joke in cinema history, here. There's nothing 'mundane' about it!
It's interesting that history wasn't seen as child friendly these days it's not adult friendly .
Pretty sure Kids are still protected from history at school.
@@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094 As somebody who had middle school in the 2010s, I can confirm: a large portion of what we learned in history was either downright false or omitting key information. In 5th grade I wax still being told that Columbus proved the Earth was round and this would not be contradicted by another history teacher until 9TH GRADE.
@@offscreen6578 Dude, why did they always tell us a slightly different version every year? I remember being fed the notion that the Civil War wasn't really about slavery, but economics. Slick verbage.
@@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094 omg, I could never put this into words before, but all the way yes!
I feel like I didn't really get a good idea of the REAL picture until my college classes.
@@sierrasouthwell9237 It is an issue rarely seriously considered. We should all be more vocal about our concerns for young people. Real education reform isn't even on the table right now.