this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2024
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As a non American, the confederate flag on the roof always seemed strange to me, to put it lightly
Looks like them racist boys are at it again
It’s just a symbol of their heritage. Of white supremacy.
I was too young back then.
In hindsight, this show was a terrible idea.
Glorification of the Confederates and the protagonists called "the good old boys" would be instantaneously shut down and called out today for the racist white supremacist idea that it is.
To be fair, virtually everything more than 20 years old is some flavor of "problematic" today.
Not really. Those that aren't are still appreciated today still. Like the Golden Girls or Fresh Prince.
You know an episode of Golden Girls was pulled from Hulu for blackface right? Or the jokes about Dorothy's rape (there are several of those)?
Or "Wham, Bam, Thank You Mammy" , Maurgerite in general or having the same actor play different characters with different ethnicities that are broadly the same general color (for example Mr. Tanaka and Dr. Chang played by the same actor so apparently the show can't tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese people?), racist jokes about Chinese food, things Sophia had to say about Cubans, Puerto Ricans and Arabs, Rose in a Native American headdress, Rose pretending to be an exchange student, Blanche defending the Confederate flag... Yeah, there's a lot problematic about Golden Girls and a lot of it was about race.
I suspect I could spit out a similar list of examples for Fresh Prince if I dug down on it, though it probably would be less about race and more about sex or disability or weight or sexual orientation or some other demographic line that was a common well for comedy back then that is a problematic -ism or -phobia now.
The shows antagonists were a wealthy business man turned politician who wielded the corrupt police force to feed his own power and oppress the common folk. And while his nickname was Boss Hogg, the villain's canon name was Jefferson Davis Hogg. Pretty literally calling the cops confederate pigs.
Definitely a lot of problematic elements to the show, but there's some good there too. And I'm sure it influenced a ton of car action sequences for decades.
Yes the show itself outside some very visible totems like the car unfortunately, didn't really touch on issues of bigotry and racism. Had it just been about a back woods moonshining family in an unmarked car harassing the corrupt governor and police. There wouldn't be a lot of uproar. Hell it might be embraced.
Oh FFS, if you were young then you also remember All in the Family and The Jeffersons, shows that were in-your-face anti-racist. Prime time was hardly in a mood for racist bullshit.
What if I said the show was racist because it showed white, country people as wide-eyed, stupid hicks? How ridiculous does that sound?
As opposed to the white country heroes of the show who were always the most clever, compassionate, capable, ethical? I’d say that’s a bad take
Pretty ridiculous, considering you’d be comparing making classist jokes with the glorification of a nation founded to maintain the enslavement of black people.
In the 70s in the south people knew what that flag meant, just like they know what it means now.
A good point. "All in the Family" was based on a British show called "Till Death Us Do Part". That show featured a main character called Alf Garnett who was very racist and sexist. He was intended to mock the reactionary working class conservatives of the time but people dismissed the show as being in favour of the things that the character came out with because they couldn't understand the satire.
He's called Archie Bunker in the States and a lot of older Americans (Boomers and Xers mostly) love him because he shares their views. They don't get that that's a bad thing and he's shown to be wrong and backward on the show.
I may be giving too much but I think some writers tried to steer public opinion lessen hatred using characters like Archie as a tool. If you pay attention over the course of the series while he never becomes good a lot of the hate lessened and he'll admit people or things he hated were ok.
I.e. the racists become emotionally attached to him, so when Archie "learns" they will. (In theory)
I do think that was the intent. All in the Family was progressive show for the time.
The same type of people that thought The Colbert Show was serious.
Except that they are now seen as affirmation of the racism nowadays. They miss the point entirely.
'redneck dumbass' isn't a race, though.
The name of the car leaves little room for interpretation.
True, and yet, at the same time: The show's main antagonist was named Jefferson Davis Hogg. There's no way the choice of a Confederate General for the car (the show's non-human protagonist) and the Confederate President for the antagonist was an accident, I just have no idea what they were trying to say there.
They really should have gone that last extra mile and painted flames on it and called it the General Sherman.
Maybe go with a Ford muscle car with the Ford blue. Can't help on the asymmetrical flag, though.
What's the name of the car?
Edit: Nevermind. Looked at the picture again and I'm guessing it's called General Lee.
Correct!
It means absolutely nothing to non seppos mate
Funny, since I'm not a seppo. I just had a high school education in eastern europe.
What is a seppo?
aussie slang for american. seppo = septic tank = yank
edit: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/seppo
That seems a lot more than "mildly" derogatory.
Are we "seppos" because we are septic tanks, or are we supposedly inclined to have septic tanks?
Because I'll lightly disagree with one of those, only because most people I've met and places I've lived have used public sewage systems.
Edit: nevermind, read further on the definition page. It's a rhyming thing (kind of?) and we're full of shit. I'm on board with that.
As a Yank, I have to say I find 'seppo' highly entertaining, and at least somewhat accurate for many of my countrymen. A lot of your slang is funny as all get out, and some of your music is pretty good too.
Fucken great slang for us honestly. I'm not even mad with the sewage we spew all over the world.
right? I like it for us. its accurate and it's fun to say.