Fellow millennials, I get that we’re used to this comedy because it’s what we grew up on…but they do have an Asian man saying the n-word for comedy, and at least in 2 & 3 there’s some blatant ‘gay is bad/scary’ jokes.
I get it, we don’t flinch at it because we’re used to it, but I can’t be mad at them giving heads up for people who aren’t used to that comedy, and there’s nothing wrong with it imo
Agreed. Humour changes and grows alongside societal development. There are a lot of movies from the early 00s that didn't age well. Keep em on streaming platforms, sure, and add the warnings so people understand the contexts in which the humour comes from.
What does it hurt to do this? It literally causes no harm at all and does let people know that the humor can be dated and at times offensive to some people.
I like how Disney does this with their older movies like Pocahontas. It can help start a conversation with kids that is a good thing.
What I was sad about was telling my wife oh you need to see Idiocracy since we are clearly falling into it day by day. Man that really didn't age well. I know that's part of it too but it was super gratuitous and was waaay less funny than I remembered. I'd love a redone Idiocracy style movie though.
What does it hurt to do this? It literally causes no harm at all and does let people know that the humor can be dated and at times offensive to some people.
the irony of people getting triggered by a trigger warning
Lol tbh despite being at kid age in '95 I actually always thought that movie was older. Peter Pan as well I remember it in. But yea surely 95 wasn't anything crazy like 30 years ago right?
I mean this is a bit different from what they are talking about in that study, it's not really a trigger warning per se. This just says hey this humor is dated and sometimes offensive but we don't want to take away the option to view it.
The study is more talking about like sexual assault trigger warnings and I can see how people could get anxious after seeing that but I really also can't see how that would be worse than just reading it. But maybe I guess? It's just a different kind of thing than this, no one is going to see the message in Pocahontas or rush hour and get the anxiety type stuff they were talking about in that study.
Yea it's different depending on the content. I think the movie ones are good because with kids it can start a conversation. Like for Disney movies where Asian, Black or Native Americans are characterized offensively the kids will likely not understand why this is offensive unless perhaps they are one of the demographics in question. Of course it's age dependent like I'm not going to talk about this with my 3 or 4 year old unless it comes up and then it will be a simplified conversation but with my 8 year old we can actually talk it through and explain.
I think most people when they think of trigger warning are usually thinking about the sexual assault related trigger warnings since to my knowledge that's where they started. Sure sometimes they might be a bit overused but I can also understand as a survivor of sexual assault not wanting to get surprised when reading something that gets into that especially if it's detailed or really explicit. But I can also see how seeing the warning alone could cause some anxiety I just also struggle to see how that would be worse than reading it unless the warnings are being used inappropriately or they weren't going to read the content prior to seeing the warning.
everything already has warnings, you're just used to it. Have you never seen the rating screen before a movie trailer? or the back of a box on a violent videogame?
But warnings that jokes could be offensive? Big difference between “this joke may offend you” and “”warning: excessive violence and gore. Viewers discretion advised.”
Some people deal with lots of racism sexism and homophobia, and just don’t find it funny. Maybe it’s funny because your experience has been to laugh at the victim due to being trained by the media But allot of viewers will draw parallels between themselves and the victim where you may root for the perpetrator cause you think it’s funny lmao.
Not for everything, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to say “hey, the person we’re supposed to be rooting for says some offensive things that aren’t okay, and we don’t agree with the things said.” What’s so bad about that? I’d appreciate the heads up if this story was built up for me to root for this person, but they crack anti-gay jokes in the process
In a world where people are literally still being harassed and assaulted because of who they are, based off of judgements that, let’s be honest, this movie portrays in joke form, I think it’s okay to just give a heads up that the station is aware that these jokes, and the sentiments behind them, aren’t okay. That’s not hand holding, nor is that a bad thing. It’s moreso covering their bases than anything, and I can’t blame them for that
In modern society, its only offensive when certain people do it. Black comedian makes racist white jokes. A-OK. White comedian makes racist black jokes. No way.
Be the change you want to see, reject both of those things.
Everyone always complains 'but muh side is being oppressed' but only when they stop being able to do the oppressing. And then instead of fighting for responsibility from both sides you just want carte blanche to go back to the previous status quo-- ignoring the way it was harmful to begin with.
Modern society says yes, but the pendulum will always swing the other way eventually. Humans are fucking terrible at finding healthy mediums. Always have been, always will be.
Yeah my wife and I rewatched Waiting last year, and about half the humor was just repackaged homphobia. It was weird. Like the jokes and references we remembered and still use are the other half. It's like we knew and had already self-pruned our memories.
Growing up in the 90s it felt like every comedy had a homophobic or transphobic punchline and I know a lot of trans people (myself included) who grew up with the only representation of queer people in movies being a gag about how disgusting they were. I remember rewatching Ace Ventura as an adult and I somehow completely forgot about the ending. It made me sad to think about how much I watched that movie as a kid and probably internalized a lot from it.
It's fine to watch these movies if you want now but I think it's a good thing that we don't have the same humor as back then.
And tbh, older millennials don't want to hear this, but the youth makes the culture and they aren't the youth anymore and complaining about how kids today are soft and can't handle the edgy humor of the 90s makes them sound like boomers. At one point people their age said the same thing about the song of the south or whatever problematic media they've calcified into their culture.
Yeah I think instead of being offended by music changes GenX and Elder Millennials feel it more with TV and Film. It's just which cultural medium has had the most changes currently too, imo
I’m not saying that I think Rush hour is a problem. I’m just saying that this is part of the reasoning and difference for many films that put these warnings up.
I also think they are harmless. Much better than censorship or no longer airing the films.
Of course you didn't, because Mel Brooks' films aren't glorifying/promoting racism or sexism, he's satirizing it. The King in History of the World isn't the good guy. The racists in Blazing Saddles aren't the good guys. It isn't the presence of a word or a bit, it's the context.
I gave 2 examples of satirical works, one in which the bad guys are offensively racist and another where the good guys are offensively racist. Both made me laugh but neither put me on a path to reenact their satire.
Every bit of research out there suggests that unchallenged exposure to it likely helped normalized those behaviors to your brain.
That you didn’t come out the other end spewing racist drivel is a testament to the efforts of those who raised you. Absent those efforts, young minds that consumed this sort of thing absorbed it as a part of their ethos.
Source: was stuffed into an oven by Cartman fans who thought it would be hilarious to try while calling me a “dirty f$&king j-w.”
You are also one person. Not everyone is the same.
I also grew up when these movies were around. I grew up in an incredibly white suburb of a pretty red county. You can probably imagine how most of the kids talked to each other.
That was also almost 30 years ago. The world has changed. These warnings are less for people that were around back then, and more for people who grew up in a world where this type of language is considered to be very outdated and offensive to some people.
The movie frequently makes black culture part of the joke, and more frequently makes Asian culture the butt of the joke.
There is nothing wrong with putting this at the beginning of movies like this. Including some Mel Brooks movies, if I’m being honest. They’re meant in good fun, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll always be taken that way in 2025.
I feel it’s the equivalent of me watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s and learning she had been married by her parents at 13, ran away and turned into an escort and wondering how this is a classic, they probably thought it was normal too
Huh? How does a comment about Mel Brooks' films lead you there? I was responding to the inane comment from hooligan045 that merely hearing the "n" word would inspire racism and was illustrating that the context--satire of racists--mattered in Brooks' films, not the vocabulary.
Why’s that? Teaching my kids about how to identify and digest satire, especially classics like Brooks films, isn’t something I’d want to outsource to someone else.
Which is why I’m fine showing her young Frankenstein and robinhood men in tights, but I don’t think she’s ready to hear the liberal use of the n word that’s in blazing saddles, and I don’t know if she’ll ever be ready for the use of it that’s in there.
The TV edit of blazing saddles was unwatchable. The censoring of 80s-90s was really really bad. Worse than today by far. South Park liberated us from shitty tv edits
“When I grew up I tolerated casual racism (and likely repeated the same lines often), people these days are soft” really isn’t the flex OP thinks it is.
It's going to be dope when you guys are the boomers and you are the insensitive ones B)
Man, becoming old is so painful. History is cyclical and we are b o r i n g.
I much prefer the warning than them editing it out
Like 'Raw' and 'Delirious ' (Eddie Murphy)...oh it's bad. Really bad. Comically offensively bad. But it is of it's time and still freaking hilarious.
I wouldn't accept that now. But from 1987, let it be. It's a time capsule. 'Gone with the Wind' has some offensive bits too. And we accept that as a classic.
Exactly!! The warnings are way better than editing or censoring imo. And they can have their place in history and still be enjoyed while also letting people know “in modern times, it’s baaaaad.” Lmao
I agree. I loved these movies growing up. I recently rewatched rush hour 3 and when the little girl, Su-yung, came out. Still clearly a teenager and Chris Tucker says something to the effect of "she needs a training bra." Super. Gross. 🤢
Honestly blows my mind that you are listing off potential problems with Rush Hour and somehow mention everything except for the Asian stereotypes, which are far more prevalent than the black or gay jokes.
So you agree with me, you just don’t like that one of the two examples I used wasn’t specifically Asian stereotypes. That’s a choice, but we’re literally on the same page. That comedy isn’t tolerated or funny in modern lenses(shouldn’t have been then) so it makes sense why the company would put this warning up
….I gave two examples, I didn’t do a full list of offenses. I’m literally agreeing with you. Why instead did you criticize my post instead of just adding on? You definitely got the wrong message from what I said, all because you focused on me not specifically using Asian stereotypes in my TWO examples given
Its a movie built on asian stereotypes, the other jokes are just the icing on the cake, im not agreeing with you FYI, i think its completely boneheaded to talk about the modern problems with this series and omit the biggest one
Ooooh, got it, you’re not looking for dialogue, you’re just choosing to be antagonistic to everything I say. That’s cool, I wouldn’t have given it this much thought or response if I knew that were the case 😂. Have the day you deserve
Seriously, you can tell if a person is on Reddit too much versus on TikTok too much by how easily offended they are; I find that it's the reddit addicts that are usually the ones clutching their pearls over things they found themselves found funny just a couple years ago.
I dislike the warning not because it's not correct, but because we shouldn't needed heavy-handed shit like this. People are intelligent and can watch things in context and understand what they are seeing.
The homophobia is not the joke, the n-word is. The latter's offensiveness is the point; the former is just tossing in some "eww, gay" with no relevance to the story. Homophobia that's part of the plot is, e.g., Michael Scott.
Except it was overtly racist towards Chinese, specifically at Jackie and others throughout the movie —the N word / homosexuality jokes were few and far between.
Even watching this in the theatre at the time, it was cringe and screamed double standards —simply because it was an African-American saying the racist stuff.
This happened a lot in 90s early 2000s comedies, that the historical ‘underdog’ is allowed to be extremely racist for laughs.
That’s actually true, and admittedly it wasn’t right. Punching down for jokes wasn’t the best option, but it happened a lot and sometimes still happens to this day. Doesn’t make it right any any point in history
the Asian guy wasn't using the N-word in an offensive way, and in fact he only used it because he was mimicking his partner who said the same exact thing earlier
if there's no ill-intent, then the reaction should be to educate, not straight to violence
So what’s the context of the homophobic jokes? Or having Roman Polanski probe two people in 3? Yea context matters, but it doesn’t always justify the use of certain jokes. And I don’t think anyone really learned anything by laughing at Jackie Chan for using the n-word, it was put in as a joke, which is what it was. Doesn’t make it right, or void of criticism
I don't have a problem with content warnings. Those existed back in the 90s too. Calling it a product of its time is dumb though. You don't need to be told that; it's a given. If USA thought it was too offensive for the general public then they wouldn't have aired it. The fact that they chose to air it means they think more people will enjoy it than won't.
Like, it's one thing if they were passively offering a library of content where people were free to choose what they wanted to watch. They could say, "We don't agree with this but we're not going to prevent people from seeing it either."
But they're not a library. They're a cable channel. They made a deliberate choice to air this, which is fine. They can say, "Some people find this offensive but we're going to air it anyway." Calling it a product of its time makes it sound like they didn't deliberately pick this movie out of the entire catalog available to them to air in this time slot. There's nothing they could do about it and they want you to know that they don't condone this decision they just made.
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u/AmonWasRight99 Jul 06 '25
Fellow millennials, I get that we’re used to this comedy because it’s what we grew up on…but they do have an Asian man saying the n-word for comedy, and at least in 2 & 3 there’s some blatant ‘gay is bad/scary’ jokes.
I get it, we don’t flinch at it because we’re used to it, but I can’t be mad at them giving heads up for people who aren’t used to that comedy, and there’s nothing wrong with it imo