How did Kubrick get away with the "nigger cook" line?
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shareTo be completely honest, he'd get away with it TODAY.
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MovieChat Forums > The Shining (1980) Discussion > How did Kubrick get away with the "nigge...
Nor was this the first time the word "nigger" was used in a Kubrick film. Back in 1956, Timothy Carey uttered the words to the black caretaker at the racetrack. A brief (and spoiler free) description of the scene for those who haven't seen the film yet:
The character Nikki Arcane (played by Carey) is part of a scheme to rob a race track cash room. His part in the scheme is to use his skills as a marksman to shoot the leg of one of the racehorses, thus causing a diversion, whilst the rest of the gang robs the cash room. As he pulls up in his spot by the racetrack to do the shooting, a black caretaker comes out of nowhere and starts chatting with Nikki. Nikki, wanting to be rid of him as soon as possible, affects a friendly manner, which the caretaker mistakes as friendship. The caretaker leaves just in time as the horses come down the track, and Nikki readies himself to fire. The black caretaker again returns, this time offering Nikki a lucky horseshoe (for the horse he falsely claimed he was betting on). This time, Nikki acts cold and distant towards the caretaker, needing him to go away as soon as possible to do his work. The caretaker notices this and asks "What's wrong?" Nikki answers, "You're wrong, nigger!" Needless to say, this ends their friendly conversation and the caretaker walks away angrily, throwing the horseshoe to the ground. Not to spoil anything, the "lucky" horseshoe has a direct relevance to Nikki's ultimate fate, and drives home that fact that he was a bad person who got what he deserved.
As with 1980's The Shining, the context made it clear that Kubrick was not endorsing the word. It's also interesting that in both cases the word was used only after an initial veneer of civilized politeness is dispensed with. This raises the interesting question: what exactly were Kubrick's views on race? Kubrick's films are mostly populated by white and male characters. I can only think of five non-white characters in all of Kubrick's work.
1) The Killing (1956)
the aforementioned caretaker played by James Edwards
2) Spartacus (1960)
the gladiator played by Woody Strode
3) Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Lt. Lothar Zogg played by James Earl Jones
4 & 5) The Shining (1980)
Dick Halloran played by Scatman Crothers
Durkin (of Durkin's Garage) played by Tony Burton share
You're forgetting privates Snowball and Eightball from Full Metal Jacket
shareAH YES!!! And even more generous use of the word "nigger", too, as I recall.
Quite a few blacks in that one, all thematically very significant to the plots of the respective movies. Anyway, in all cases Kubrick is commenting upon race, although less sophisticated views might interpret this as Kubrick being "racist", simply because he uses understated irony.
But remember there was no racial bigotry there, they were all equally worthless
shareKubrick disliked non-white humanity just as much as he disliked white humanity. He was a skeptic of the human condition.
I should also say, however, that Kubrick didn't have much of a hand in writing the script of Spartacus. That was likely the work of Dalton Trumbo, who, no doubt, intended the Woody Strode character (and a slave to boot) to represent the black underclass of the United States. Kubrick was brought on by producer/star Kirk Douglas at the last minute, and Douglas tried to bring Kubrick to heel at every turn, leading to intense creative clashes between the two. Another point of friction between Kubrick and Douglas/Trumbo was that Kubrick had a colder, more clinical, and much less political view of the story. Kubrick wanted to explore the abuses of power of BOTH the Roman Empire AND Spartacus and his slave army (based on historical records), whereas the producer/star and screenwriter saw Spartacus as a Christ-like liberation figure. These weren't the politics they were looking for from Kubrick
In Dr. Strangelove, actor James Earl Jones pleaded with Kubrick to make his black character the only member of the bomber crew who questioned whether the bombs should be dropped... but Kubrick would have none of it.
Based upon the evidence, Kubrick likely felt racism was stupid, however he was too cynical and clinical of a film maker to give us a feel-good message all tied up in a nice neat little bow. He makes us work for it. This cool, intellectual, and analytical approach would be deemed unacceptable in today's society. Today, one must disrobe, climb onto the rooftop, and loudly and unambiguously profess these virtuous views to the wide world. Then there's Full Metal Jacket, which has race so much to the fore that I forgot to even mention it... LOL. That is a post for another day. I think this is enough to chew on for one day.
funny how nowadays people try to pretend/act s though saying the N word or C word or any racial slur is basically worse than rape lol
shareThousands of movies have used the N word before and after The Shining.
shareHe didn't get away with anything. He put the words in the mouth of the butler to show us how evil he was so in essence using the word shows the derogatory nature of the person using it. He also bragged about murdering his own children using euphemisms like "corrected".
shareThere is NOTHING wrong with the word NIGGER. It's derived from the Latin word 'niger' which means BLACK. So it's a very fitting description for someone who is black.
"Yes, but, negative connotation, blablabla"....
I don't care, you can call them Oompaloompas instead but after a while that too will have a negative connotation, so yet another word needs to be found. The only thing that will break the vicious circle is them changing their antics.
We weren't all immature idiots when this film was made. Times have changed, sadly. We used to be grown-ups. Frankly, I'm surprised no little pussy has reported this thread.
shareA better question might be how did such a ridiculous post get this many replies?
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