MovieChat Forums > The Wonder Years (2021) Discussion > They should have eased into the “black i...

They should have eased into the “black issues”

posted 3 years ago by [deleted]
11 replies | jump to latest

I’m all for this show exploring the racial issues of the 1960s, but they jump right in with comments about being taught how to talk to a police office, an older sister who is a black panther and the narrator saying that his white school teacher giving extra attention to the black students may have been racism.

I’ve heard comments that people switched it off. The purpose of a family sitcom is to entertain. Let education be weaved in, but not the focal point.

It would have been good for the first episode to be raceless so that everyone can see themselves in the characters to an extent.

This wasn't smart writing.

Then throwing in the death of MLK to finish the episode? Lame. The original used the death of Winnie's brother in Vietnam for emotional gravitas, this was kind of a lazy rework.

[–] unsanesarah (249) 3 years ago

Why use a subtle paintbrush when you can just throw buckets of paint at a thing, right? It's like all pretense of creativity has been abandoned for outright lecturing.

[–] liscarkat (19385) 3 years ago

Jerry Seinfeld's motto for his show was "No hugging, no learning", and he had one of the greatest sitcoms ever. Pure entertainment without messages, teachable moments, and maudlin emotion is a legitimate and important art form, but it's harder to do.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

He ended up revealing he was Jewish on Seinfeld. So he broke his own rule.

[–] Keelai (36065) 3 years ago

Which episode did he reveal that?

[–] Keelai (36065) 3 years ago

They're living in Alabama! Nothing subtle about racism in that state.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Did you watch it?

[–] Kowalski (78708) 3 years ago

🤔

[–] Keelai (36065) 3 years ago

Alabama was considered among the most racist states during the 60s with Montgomery and Birmingham considered two of the most racist cities.

[–] nufsaid16 (689) 3 years ago

Exactly----so there was no way in hell a black family living in that city in that era could have avoided racism if they wanted to. That was the reality and part of life back then. Whining about a show simply because it deals every now and then with racism in a time and place where blatant racism is known to have existed is really stupid---these trolls are only complaining about it because they don't want to deal with it. They don't have to watch it then---end of story.

[–] McQualude (4231) 3 years ago

Showrunners today have no subtlety.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7355) 3 years ago

I like that they dove right in. A pilot often has to be exciting and action-filled from the get-go so that people stay tuned in, so I'd say it's fine intelligence wise.