MovieChat Forums > Super Fly (1972) Discussion > Use of the word N****r

Use of the word N****r

posted 11 years ago by Lootrock
6 replies | jump to latest

I'm a young black man in this modern age and I, as many blacks do, use the word "n****a" somewhat often if I'm talking to other blacks. In this age, that word can have many different meanings depending on the context, though rarely is it used in the traditional fashion; as in, completely derogatory and with the meaning of someone being black and of lower standing because of being black. In this film however, I noticed that 80-85% of its usage IS in the traditional sense. No different meaning or intentionality than if a white person had used it and in fact, when one of the cops said it when talking to Freddie it barely phased me because it really didn't seem any different when Eddie or Scatter used it. I understand that currently many non-blacks still think that blacks use this word in this way but it's not the case. My question to blacks out there who grew up around this time: Is this just the way the word was used by everybody, black or not around this time? If so, when did the meaning begin to change/soften? If not, then why was it used this way in this film?

[–] Sparky48 10 years ago

Lootrock,

I was about 12 when this movie came out, so I feel that I am qualified to comment.

Traditionally, the N-word has been used internally by blacks toward each other, but it's not used in the same context as when whites use it toward blacks. I always agreed with Dick Gregory that when the N-word is used internally by blacks it is satire of what whites say, and I think this movie is a prime example. (When watching this movie, particularly scenes with Scatter, Eddie and the militant who confronts Priest at the bar, note how it is used as parody.)

During the 70s, the late Richard Pryor used always used the N-word to refer to black people. In 1976, one of his albums was even titled "Bicentennial N---". However, upon returning from a trip to Africa during the early 80s, he said that he was so struck by what he saw in the motherland and by the African culture that he had realized that he was wrong to use the N-word to refer to blacks here in America and vowed never to use the word again. I really do believe that he was instrumental in changing the attitude toward the use of the n-word by blacks.

[–] Lootrock 9 years ago

Thanks for responding.

I rarely come across people using it in some sort of form of parody. I didn't get that sense in this film at all. It seemed much more serious than that.

@ Mandingo609: First, random question: are you from Jersey? Second, who are you speaking of?

[–] Mandingo609 9 years ago

What I'm tripping on is, why is some Caucasian person pretending to be black is so interested in what black folks call each other, while the Caucasians themselves have so many issues of their own to be concerned about.

[–] FilmKoala 9 years ago

What does this have to do with anything?

[–] Mandingo609 9 years ago

If you're black, then I'm a crime fighter that dresses in a bat suit and fight crime in Gotham City on the weekend's.

[–] Yinky 8 years ago

I watched it with subtitles because my hearing sux. When black people say it, the subtitles use the version that ends with A. When the cop says it, it ends with ER.