Mrs. Meers might be amusing at some times, but as I've grown, she disturbs me quite a bit because of her dirty work as a white slaver.
And don't get me started on the scenes with all of the kidnapped women tied up, waiting to be shipped off to brothels; I've done some reading into human trafficking and this makes me so uneasy.
That part was supposed to be a bit disturbing. Yes, the show is mainly a comedy, but it does deal with some disturbing issues...mainly white slavery.
shareThe movie had to have a plot and this was about two naive young women (millie and Miss Dorothy) who check into a hotel that is actually a front for a white slavery ring. Miss Dorothy (says she) is an orphan and that`s just what Mrs. Meers is looking for. Millie on the other hand has a big family and wouldn`t dissapear as easily.
It IS a disturbing subject for a musical BUT Millie foiled the villains and set all the girls free in the end so it all came out well for this particular film.
The film is mostly meant to be a takeoff on silent films and also of the 1920`s. Although I agree that human trafficing is a serious subject, it wasn`t as well known (to the public)as it is today. So, in this instance it was really just a plot device.
In silent films of the 20's the idea of "white slavery" (interesting that this is set off from all other forms of slavery), was the "fate worst than death" for innocent young women who dared to leave their homes in search of, GASP, a career in the big city! It is disturbing but it also harkens back to a time when America was still "young and naive".
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.....Naivety may have played a part, but so did racism. The twenties were a time when the fear of outsiders, particularly those who looked different whose culture was unfamiliar, was a national obsession. Most major cities had a China Towns and the print media and expletive film makers were quick to depict these areas as places where tong wars,drug smuggling and, of course, white slavery was out of control and had to be stopped. What little real human trafficking was taking place was necessary dominated by any ethnic group, but appealing to racism sold papers and movie tickets....Also, as the privies poster has noted, there was a sexist element to exaggerating the danger of white slavery. Women had just gotten the right to vote; a real threat to the male dominated establishment, and were leaving their rural and small town homes to live alone and start careers in large cities. Spreading stories about "fates worse then death" seemed to be a way to stem the tide.....Few women were ever really abducted and what the movie was really doing was satirizing the media generated fears and prejudices of the nineteen twenties.
People are just getting dumber, but more opinionated-Ernestine (Silks) in "The Human Stain"
I must say I agree. After such a frothy, fun-filled musical, I was (I must admit) horrified when I saw that scene! Seeing the women tied up and gagged in cages was so not expected!
~I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship~ LMA
a lot of musicals have a dark side to them
South Pacific's "You have to be Taught" about ugly racism
Oklahoma's Laurie's rape nightnmare
Cabaret the abortion
The entire plot of deflowering a Salvation Army captin in Guys and Dolls
You also have to remember that this film was made in the 60s, when standards were changing, so it really was an advance that the white slavery thing was put into the story. Even 10 years before that, it would have been censored out. Sure it's racist by today's standards and wouldn't be done that way, but for the 60s it was simply daring to be a bit realistic about the reason young girls were told scary stories about what might happen to them if they went off on their own.
And remember, the 60s was another time when young girls were leaving home and being independent, so it was kind of a comment on that as well.
Also, cannibalism in Sweeney Todd.
shareI was pretty horrified when I realized that one of my favorite television shows (it was on re-runs after things like Speed Racer when I was in elementary/middle school), when it finally clicked that it was about WWII Germany, and what went on at the Concentration Camps. I was so bothered by it that it took a while to register that the characters in Hogan's Heroes were POWs, not Jews, Gypsies, etc. that were in the Concentration Camps. In fact, after I discovered IMDB, I was rather entertained by the idea that Colonel Klink was portrayed by a Jewish actor (among other German characters).
shareAmusing that "white slavery" is now a fashionable topic once again, it's like the clock has started to run backwards and we'll be living again teepees soon.
shareI can't find the books I read this in, but they noted that "white slavery" actually had more to do with getting the women~of all skin colors~addicted to a type of gin that was referred to sometimes as "white silk". Later, the term seemed to be applied to white women only.
If I can find those volumes (my library is a mess!), I'll type the passages here. Not surprisngly, I haven't found that information on the Net, which is missing a mindboggling amount of information that is available only in books, especially older ones.
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
The contrast between the main plot and sub-plot involving the slavery at the hotel is cleverly done because the sinister contributes to the comedy and vice versa. It also gives it contemporary relevance too because of modern day slavery, or human trafficking as it's called.
An hour isn't an hour but a little bit of eternity in our handsshare
Well, that's kind of the whole point. You're just noticing this now?
shareWell that is your 21st Century reaction.
The truth is, during the early 1920s, the notion of "white slavery" had proved popular in the movies. There is some film around 1919 entitled something-like "Human Traffic" - and it deals with innocent young girls coming to the Big City and then ending up in white slavery.
So the reason it shows up in this movie is because it not only adds a dramatic element that was popular back in the 1920s, it also adds a somewhat ridiculous portrayal of the white slavers (Mrs. Meers embracing all things Chinese and her two buffoons).
"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"