• boonhet@lemm.ee
    1114·
    9 months ago

    Jokes involving racial stereotypes can be funny and inoffensive if what you’re making fun of IS the stereotypes, not the race. The writers of Airplane! being Jewish themselves, I reckon they knew exactly what they were doing. At least the bearded plane is clearly an example of making fun of the stereotype, not the people.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      161·
      9 months ago

      Soul Plane was a non-stop parody of black stereotypes. Damn that was good.

    • Cihta@lemmy.world
      81·
      9 months ago

      I wish it was so simple. Really it should be. A word can mean any number of things based on context or inflection but now i have to really be careful as to not offend. I feel like that’s a created thing.

      Obviously i say things in a friendly way or in a mean way and I feel like we are just going the “you can’t say that word” route. When it’s not the word, it’s the context.

      As such, yes anyone who finds that picture offensive falls into that group. It was also a great movie. Let’s dissect Spaceballs for racism next!

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
      73·
      9 months ago

      if what you’re making fun of IS the stereotypes, not the race.

      Tell that to my American friends if the N word comes up. Yeah, some things for some people are so wired in as associated with offence or trauma it’s better to steer clear. At least in real life. Public media is weird because it’s kind of to everyone and no one at the same time. I’m glad some films/etc can make fun in ways some find offensive, but I’m glad I’m not the judge of it!

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
    104·
    9 months ago

    how about the topless shot halfway through this PG movie?! it feels like there is a lot of content they would never achieve that rating with today.

    • protistEnglish
      118·
      9 months ago

      Ski Patrol, Police Academy 2, and Airplane the list goes on for 80s movies with a single brief topless shot.

      I’d argue the self-aware humor of Airplane was really calling out stereotypes like the one pictured, and defusing tensions with humor. Now Revenge of the Nerds, there’s a problematic movie.

        • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
          541·
          9 months ago

          Breaking and entering into a sorority, barging into private rooms and house showers/bathrooms, stealing property, and installing hidden cameras in their rooms in order to casually spy on them while they are naked, sleeping, etc. Capturing images of the sorority girls naked, making hundreds of copies of those images, and sharing them with the entire campus to win a school-sponsored competition for a student government seat. Raping a woman while sharing said porn of her and her friends with the entire student body. Said woman then falls in love with her rapist. All played for laughs and zero consequences for any of it. An 80’s hit! Make 3 more sequels of it!

          • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            111·
            9 months ago

            You forgot the scene where one of the nerds wears a mask and pretends to be another person in order to sleep with the hot chick. Definitely not sexual assault!

          • nonailsleft@lemm.ee
            3·
            9 months ago

            Don’t you think they just put that in there to warn us all? That with information technology transforming the world like no-one ever imagined, even the best nerds still aren’t without their flaws. Like Jobs or McAfee

            • Passerby6497@lemmy.worldEnglish
              10·
              9 months ago

              It’s toward the end, he’s wearing like a Darth Vader mask or something and let’s her think he’s her boyfriend while he fucks her. That’s rape.

              • ButtDrugs@lemm.ee
                6·
                9 months ago

                Oh shit yeah I forgot about that part. It’s been probably 10 or 15 years since I’ve seen it. I thought the panty raid and hidden cameras were bad, but damn, that movie did not age well.

    • ikapoz@sh.itjust.works
      561·
      9 months ago

      Frankly a plain topless shot is not in my opinion grounds for anything heavier than a PG rating

      • Crackhappy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        233·
        9 months ago

        Completely agree with you. If a man can show his nipples and it’s fine, why can’t women. It is sexism and misogyny.

    • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      17·
      9 months ago

      I think you can still maintain a PG-13 rating as long as the boobs shown are not directly sexualized and they only appear in one shot or scene.

    • HonkyTonkWoman@lemm.ee
      17·
      9 months ago

      Airplane was released in 1980, before the PG-13 rating existed. I’m not sure how the film would be rated today, but I’d wager it would not hit PG standards without significant edits.

    • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
      121·
      9 months ago

      That preceded the PG-13 rating.

      PG movies back then had more swearing and brief nudity like that scene in airplane was fairly common.

      Stuff like that is why PG-13 came about. American parents didn’t like it when their children saw two frames of boobs in a movie.

  • KISSmyOS@feddit.de
    82·
    9 months ago

    As a German, this is one of the few movies where the dubbed version is just as good as the original, in parts even better.
    Especially the part where they’re speaking Jive, which is “translated” into a thick Bavarian dialect, including subtitles saying something completely different:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEkI0cH_rK4

    And for some reason, they translated the movie’s title to “Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug” (The Incredible Journey on a Crazy Airplane).

  • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    541·
    9 months ago

    It really is. 44 year old movie and all of the jokes still land. Gen Z kids will especially appreciate the white flight attendant speaking in Jive to the black passengers.

  • dukatos@lemm.ee
    541·
    9 months ago

    - Would you like something to read?

    - Do you have anything light?

    - How about this leaflet, “Famous Jewish Sports Legends?”

    • 4am@lemm.ee
      23·
      9 months ago

      I mean, the producers (David and Jerry Zucker) are Jewish themselves, so these jokes in Airplane are self-deprecating

      EDIT: “were” to “are”; AFAIK the Zuckers are still with us 😅

  • Adalast@lemmy.world
    501·
    9 months ago

    God I love this movie. True irreverent humor that I don’t want to know if people contained about. Nude breasts that perfectly fit the MPAA PG nudity guidelines of “brief and non-sexual”. So many quotable one-liners. The sight gags were on point and perfectly timed. I WISH movies like this could be made. Scary Movie, Not Another Teen Movie, and all the other parody movies are great, but do not hold a candle to the Airplane! movies.

      • DragonAce@lemmy.world
        11·
        9 months ago

        “It’s true what they say, cops and women don’t mix. It’s like eating a spoonful of Drano; sure it’ll clean you out, but it’ll leave you hollow inside”

        I loved the Naked Gun movies.

        The Hot Shots movies were funny too.

    • stinerman [Ohio]@midwest.socialEnglish
      20·
      9 months ago

      I don’t (and I’m not Jewish), but I can see how it might.

      The way I see it, if it was a joke to poke fun and it was good-natured, it shouldn’t be offensive. I mean the Zucker brothers who were writers on the movie are themselves Jewish, so they thought it was hilarious. All that being said, I don’t get to speak for Jews as to what they find offensive.

      • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
        25·
        9 months ago

        I’m just curious because I’m Jewish and I don’t know of any Jews who would find this offensive.

        If the plane was rubbing its hands together and yelling “oy vey shut it down” I’d probably hear a dog whistle somewhere. Still wouldn’t get offended tho. I’d just know they’re a special type of moron.

    • underisk@lemmy.ml
      82·
      9 months ago

      It might offend some overly sensitive Israelis or Zionists but they are not representatives for all Jews.

      • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
        16·
        9 months ago

        I’m not sure you’ve met a real Israeli in your life if you genuinely think this would be offensive to them.

        • underisk@lemmy.ml
          61·
          9 months ago

          Are you Israeli? I ask because you only took the parts of my comment you wanted then got mad at me about it. Or maybe all Israelis are “overly sensitive”

    • niktemadur@lemmy.world
      3·
      9 months ago

      The directors (Zucker brothers) are themselves Jewish. Any cancel culture reaction would as silly as the fake-controversy over Speedy Gonzalez, everyone in Mexico who heard about it were scratching their heads in puzzlement, how some white people who got hold of a bullhorn puffed themselves up like a peacock in heat virtuous “white savior who knows better than us” gatekeeping.

    • neptune@dmv.socialEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      Maybe if it were an ad for an airline.

      I can’t really imagine why people would think so, in context if the movie.

  • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.mlEnglish
    146·
    9 months ago

    People have gotten less sensitive over time, we just don’t laugh at someone saying the n word or making light of sexual assault any more. I grew up on the dark web and the things people say/do nowadays blows even some of the worst stuff I seen there out of the water. Society is maturing, not regressing. Ignore the whingings of hack comedians who still think squinty Asian eyes and bad accents are the pinnacle of humor.