Racist Characters in Otherwise OK shows

[Satchmo Distel]

Gupte in Only When I Laugh

Manuel in Fawlty Towers

The Simpsons: this is kinda hard because you could say they are parodying racism, but, for example, Akira, Apu: https://www.salon.com/2017/07/28/the...-style-racism/

[G-Man]

Surely Manuel was parody of existing prejudices in Britain. If the intent was to caricature Spaniards, he'd not have come from one of Europe's most cultured cities.

[San Bernardhinault]

I think you might be overestimating 1970s Britain's knowledge of the difference between Spanish cities.

[lackedpunch]

The entire cast of characters in "Mind Your Language"!

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The episodes of the simpsons where they go overseas are usually pretty problematic.

[Fussbudget]

The entire cast of characters in "Mind Your Language"!

"...in otherwise OK shows"

[lackedpunch]

"...in otherwise OK shows"

Sorry. Didn't read the full thread title properly!

[G-Man]

I think you might be overestimating 1970s Britain's knowledge of the difference between Spanish cities.

I think I'm rather pegging John Cleese and Connie Booth's knowledge of the difference between Spanish cities. The general British public thought The Germans episode was hilarious because Krauts. The general British public is an idiot, as we know well from the circulation figures of daily newspapers, Thatcher's three election victories, the re-election of Pigfucker, and Brexit. But it seems clear to me that Manuel was not conceived as a racist construct but, in part, as a satirical commentary on the hubristric ignorance of that British public.

[Satchmo Distel]

But he can function a racist character contrary to the writers' intentions, not just because the audience is racist but because the plot requires him to do some stuff that seems dumb rather than just resulting from not knowing the language. I'd agree, however, that Cleese, Booth and Sachs do give him some depth and sympathy as an innocent victim of bullying and exploitation.

[Benjm]

From It Ain't Half Hot Mum to Two Broke Girls, the 'otherwise okay' requirement is clearly thinning the field out here.

[3 Colours Red]

South Park's depiction of the Chinese. And Canadians. And (insert any other country here).

[Patrick Thistle]

South Park also had a black kid move to the school. He was called Token.

[Satchmo Distel]

From It Ain't Half Hot Mum to Two Broke Girls, the 'otherwise okay' requirement is clearly thinning the field out here.

It is essential though because racism was so rife in crap comedy that there is nothing to debate so it just becomes a list of shit, whereas alleged racism in Fawlty Towers is an important cultural topic about a series that sometimes attains the status of great art.

[Patrick Thistle]

Yes that's exactly the joke.

The kid didn't do anything IIRC, the jokes was having a literally Token black person in the show.

[Satchmo Distel]

I don't mind open interpretations of the meaning of the OP, but the intent I meant is that a portrayal can have racist consequences regardless of the authors' intentions or the multiple possible readings of the character's purpose. Archie Bunker and Basil Fawlty are both in very good shows, and Bunker's creator is a fully credentialed anti-racist and leftie, but you can still see how many audience members would be laughing with the character not at him. This was definitely the case with Bunker's inspiration in the UK, Alf Garnett.

[G-Man]

So basically it's the Springsteen-and-"Born In The USA" type of discussion you're after.

[Satchmo Distel]

Yes, but the added complication is how does the author react when he/she realizes how the character is being received?

[G-Man]

In the case of Fawlty Towers we have no indication really, do we? Back then, the potential racism was not really an issue -- and if racism on TV was in focus, then presumably it was on stuff like Love Thy Neighbour. Cleese & Booth would probably refer to satirical license. It is interesting that Andrew Sachs, as a Jew (or son of one) growing up in Nazi Germany, would have known prejudice and racism. He once said of the charges of his portrayal being racist: "If it's insulting to the Spanish, what is Basil to the British?"

I don't think that Manuel is offensive towards foreigners, and it might even be problematic to speak on behalf of the supposedly prejudiced-against parties. Spanish TV screened Fawlty Towers and simply turned Manuel into an Italian. They got the joke. Similarly, the "Germans" episode is very popular in Germany exactly because the Germans get the joke.