MovieChat Forums > The Lost Weekend Discussion > Blatant Racism?

Blatant Racism?

posted 14 years ago by lschwartz106
32 replies | jump to latest

As good a film as this is, every time I view it there appears to be racist overtones. Whether or not it is intentional I'm not sure. But here are my examples:

1. The Washroom scene when Don is patroziing to the attendant, whose demeanor and bevavior rivals the stereotype of Steppin' Fetchett. "Would you shine my shoes?" I'm not saying that there weren't black bathroom atttendants when this film was released, but did he have to be portrayed in such a demeaning way?

2. When Birnum wakes up in the alcoholic ward of the hospital, the first shot we see is a black man incoherently mumbling to himself who looks like he's in the throes of some type of paranoid dimentia.

Any thoughts?

[–] Holden27 14 years ago

Yeah, you're over-sensitive.

1. I didn't find anything patronizing about Don's behaviour towards the attendant and he only asked him to wipe his shoes so that he could examine the stolen (woman's!) purse unnoticed. The character of the attendant was only being helpful, since he earned his living with tips.

2. Yet almost all of the patients are white. Does this mean that the movie is actually subtly suggesting the Caucasian race is a race of lowlife drunks? Plz ... Relax and don't watch Gran Torino because you'll flip out. ;)

P.S. Schwarz is black in German.

[–] Etruscan_Shores 14 years ago

"Relax and don't watch Gran Torino"

Always good advice.

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Martha? Rubbing alcohol for you?

[–] mallenorg 14 years ago

Excellent points. Wilder, well before other filmmakers, but along with John Huston and others, used black artists in "normal people" roles accorded the humanity he tends to give all his characters. The working black guy in the washroom of pj clarke's, the alcoholic black guy in the ward with the white alchies. Huston, in his documentary about WW2 soldiers with what was then known as "battle fatigue," showed black soldiers being helped with that stigma along with the white soldiers. Remember, this was 1945.

[–] dave1031 14 years ago

This movie was before MLK, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Obama. Those were the days when Blacks depicted as servants, porters, washroom attendants, cotton pickers, and every other low paying, demeaning job, there was to be had back then, were filled by this particular group of Americans. And, back then, that's what the type of work the majority of blacks in this country did. It was the norm. It's like the Latinos of today. They were happy to have a job. Any job. Period. If this film as made today, of course you couldn't have a black man polishing the white guys shoes in a film. Of course there is black men working as Mens room attendants in Las Vegas doing just that, handing them towels, or mouthwash, etc. And they seem happy to do it. It might be sterotypical, but it's all in the eye of the beholder. If you want to take the racist route, go right ahead. I see it as a guy just trying to get by in this life, because that's the career path he took, instead of working hard, educating himself, and bettering himself, he ended up where he is. Doesn't matter what color they are, or their ethnicity. It just happens to minorities that are in the majority. If that's racism to you, then you are just ignoring the facts, and the numbers. Maybe it's more Politically Correct to some to take the "racism" route.

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[–] greg05230 14 years ago

It's a depiction of society in the 1800's. That's the way life was then, unfortunately. There wasn't any political correctness then. Fortunately society has changed, and will continue to evolve.

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[–] lukeneave 14 years ago

It's an old film!

[–] RoddmannW 14 years ago

The real question is - Why are you singling out this film?

You'll find far more egregious examples of blatant racism in nearly every other Hollywood film of the period. Dalton Trumbo once said that Hollywood had made "tarts of the Negro's daughters, crap shooters of his sons, obsequious Uncle Toms of his fathers, superstitious and grotesque crones of his mothers, strutting peacocks of his successful men, psalm-singing mountebanks of his priests, and Barnum and Bailey side-shows of his religion." That pretty much sums it up.

Terrorism is the war of the poor, war the terrorism of the rich - Peter Ustinov

[–] marktayloruk (2502) 2 years ago

All more interesting to watch than ordinary people. And a lot of priests regardless of colour fit that description.

[–] joshman_brohan 14 years ago

who cares. racism isnt a problem. liberals like you, however, are. stop trying to pinpoint everything 'racist' in every little thing. seriously...who the hell cares. get a life. blacks don't need you sticking up for them. just stop ruining s***.

[–] guy_in_west_houston 14 years ago

The movie would have been just fine without those two scenes. But if the character of Don Birnam had been Black, you'd be crying that Blacks are portrayed as alcoholics. You cry baby liberals need to stop playing with a race card up your sleeve. You are your own oppressor - it's pathetic.

[–] ck1-5 14 years ago

I don't like the anti-animal message that the movie sends out by way of the leopard coat, either. And what about that slutty chick named Gloria? Are they trying to say that all white women are sluts?

[–] SammyTerry 14 years ago

How is that racism? I expect you think that people who don't like gays are "homophobic". Relax, dude!
"I don't care if he's been rogering the Duke of York with a prize winning leek!

[–] RobbieCalifornia 13 years ago

The movie was made in 1945! Times have changed! "Blatant racism" when he asks the shoe-shine guy to shine his shoes? Oooo, a black man portrayed as an alcoholic - What the hell!

[–] nu_riot 13 years ago

"I expect you think that people who don't like gays are "homophobic"."

Uhh...

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[–] sth78 13 years ago

I think you are too sensitive. This was 1945, way before Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. There really was racial segregation back then, and this movie is just being realistic about it.

As for no. 2, it could just be a coincidence. There are black alcoholics, too.