Annotated 15-7
Here we explore Rachel and her motives a little more deeply and end up with a more nuanced vision of the Sisterhood, too. Was it ultimately a vehicle for Scarlett’s tyranny? Yyyeah, pretty much… but it had a lot of associated traditions and institutions that were originally founded with an eye toward the public good, and many of those had not been bent too far from their original purpose.
So it’s possible for Rachel to be proud of the work she did there even as she acknowledges that Mother– sorry, SCARLETT– led the Sisterhood as a whole to commit OTHER acts for which the populace would want revenge.
Bottom line: you can only be intelligent and be a person of faith if you’re willing to accept contradictions (and I’d define “person of faith” as anyone who believes firmly in any large, abstract moral or cosmological structure). Again, shit’s complicated.
And for that reason, Gravedust’s pointed questions are somewhat justified. Rachel herself won’t ultimately end up repeating Scarlett’s excesses, but some of her sisters, well…
Let me be the first to say,
“Up yours, n—-r!”
That was lost in translation… or at least I very much hope so.
It’s the line from “Blazing Saddles” that is about to be delivered in the scene the screenshot is from.
Mel Brooks’ ‘Blazing Saddles’ is about the stupidity of prejudice and racial discrimination, packaged in a parody of old Westerns. Because the film uses a variety of racial epithets liberally, many mistakenly think it’s about insulting minorities. It’s actually about the ignorance of those who use those terms, and who mistakenly believe stereotypes are facts.
An politician has black Bart named the new sheriff of Rock Ridge, on the theory that appointing him to a town full of whites will cause them all to move. The town can then be bought by the politician, who will then sell the land at a profit for a new railroad.
The townspeople initially hate Bart as expected. In the scene above, Bart is casually walking through town on his first morning, attempting to build a relationship with folks. He greet an old lady with the same line Rachel delivers in the last panel. I’m quoting the old lady’s response.
Despite their reactions, Bart defeats a series attempts to displace the townsfolk and wins them over. Even the old lady eventually sneaks a fresh pie into his office through the back window and apologizes for her earlier insult (although she does ask that he not tell anyone about the pie).
I posted the quote on the theory that most people were familiar with the film. It turns 50 this year, and is one of the American Film Institutes top 25 comedies (along with Brooks’ ‘Young Frankenstein’, a parody of the Boris Karloff classics). I wouldn’t watch Saddles with the kids in the room, and Brooks himself doubts it could be made today, but I strongly recommend it. You won’t find a discussion of race (or any other subject) wrapped in a funnier movie.
Hah. Hadn’t even noticed the screenshot.
I did watch that movie about 30 years ago, so I didn’t make the connection.
If anyone plans to watch it, see it either on DVD, TCM, or some other network / feed where it isn’t edited, bleeped, or censored. There is no value in watching it on a standard cable network that’s removed all the epithets. It won’t offend anyone (well, not many) but it removes the entire point of the movie. Besides, if they bleep the language, they’ve probably bleeped the bawdy jokes and song, and a couple of the sight gags too.
Any time anyone writes “for sake”, my brain interprets “sake” as in “Japanese rice wine”. So now I’m picturing the sisterhood gathered for brunch over sake….
…
That was supposed to be “for (something’s) sake”, but with arrow brackets. Would it have killed you guys to have invested in a WYSIWYG editor?