MovieChat Forums > Stepin Fetchit Discussion > Why did he mumble his lines?

Why did he mumble his lines?

posted 4 years ago by greenbudgie (2355)
9 replies | jump to latest

I hadn't heard of this actor until now. Then I watched him in 'Charlie Chan In Egypt. I took an immediate dislike to his character Snowshoes. What is he doing mumbling his lines? And why do we have to have a black character from the Deep South in a story set in Egypt?

I checked any other mysteries he was in to avoid seeing him in future. I came across only one movie that fitted that bill. 'Miracle In Harlem' (1948) with it's unusual poster. Unusual because all the people on it are black. So I watched a clip from the movie. Stepin Fetchit is on the entire clip. I started laughing at his character who is dressed in an oversized check jacket. He isn't mumbling his lines. He is surrounded by fellow blacks in a story for them.

Then I read a very interesting biography of him on IMDb. One sentence really caught my attention in particular. In it explained how Stepin Fetchit would mumble his lines if he didn't like that part of the dialogue.

It's strange how you can take an instant dislike to a person and then by reading about them you find yourself trying to understand their motives at least. Black defiance.

[–] OnanTheBarbarian (11952) a year ago

He's a walking caricature and very offensive to black folks now.

I've heard of him of course but never seen in him in a movie.

Here's a clip. Yeah, very annoying and he mumbles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvaD2Hbl3dk

[–] JFZ (1459) a year ago

offensive how? Black folks today speak just as stupidly or worse.

[–] OnanTheBarbarian (11952) a year ago

White folks, black folks, a lot of stupid talk all around.

But this guy has a rep as a lampoon of an ignorant black man.

[–] strntz (12224) a year ago

We don't all speak as stupidly or worse, but I think you know that.

And if we are to generalize, then we can say that there are plenty of white folks who can't put coherent sentences together either.

[–] JFZ (1459) a year ago

Just as there were normal speaking blacks during his time too. Whocares about outliers.

[–] Ismailov (160) 2 months ago

Because just speaking "stupidly" isn't what makes Stepin Fetchit infamous. It's because his characters are seen as having perpetuated stereotypes of black people as lazy, foolish individuals at a time when the status of black representation in cinema sucked pretty bad.

Similarly, it's entirely possible to have a black woman character who does domestic chores without having her be a "mammy" caricature.

[–] strntz (12224) 2 months ago

You are absolutely correct, but I try very hard not to judge people of the past by our beliefs today, regardless of just how inhumanely our people were represented (and treated) in the 20th century. They were a product of their times.

My grandmother's favorite character was Mammy in Gone With the Wind because she was the most moral and level headed character in that film, and that Rhett had said that Mammy was one person whose respect he would love to have.

Sure, Mammy was a caricature, but that's the way things were in the 1930s.

[–] Ismailov (160) 2 months ago

Yeah I agree. Even though Mammy was a caricature, she was still someone the audience could look up to and admire, and Hattie McDaniel did as good a job "elevating" the character beyond mere caricature as was possible given the script.

As far as I know Stepin Fetchit had no real dramatic parts, and his characters weren't meant to have particularly redeeming qualities (at least among white audiences who just saw them as lazy dummies), so his output has aged far worse.

[–] liscarkat (18367) a year ago

The mumbling wasn't "defiance". It was his signature shtick, part of his act.