Is this in itself a racist comment ? Why is the colour of the womans skin relevant to whether her eating of a banana is appalling or not ? If one of the other women had been eating the banana would it have been less appalling ? Are we not just getting too PC for our own good here and tying ourselves in knots ? Incidentally I think the whole woman eating a banana image is overdone and shows a lack of taste, but each to their own.
In its association with the banana boat insults often used in days of old, I'd say, racist because its been made that way rather than racist in the context of the movie. In that respect. Its no more or less racist than the German eating sausage or Oriental eating chinese. But yes we are too PC, aiming to rid the world of insults about looks or attitude is like trying to stop the sea
No it isn't. As everyone knows, black people have been subjected to racial abuse and discrimination for decades, or rather centuries, and one of the forms this has taken involved bananas as a symbol. Of course there is nothing wrong with anyone, black or white, eating a banana. The point here is that the film-maker, when devising a set of stereotypes for the dinner scene in their film, has chosen to portray the only black person present linked with the only banana. It was created 30 years ago, and would not be made in that way today - thank goodness.
The banana boat connection went way over my head but I see where you are coming from now. I only saw the rather obvious sexual connotations.
Bananas as we all know are in fact irrefutable proof of the creation of the Universe by an all seeing and all powerful God Hope this helps :biggrin:
I find it incredible there is sufficient residual umbrage to be dredged out of a momentary clip spotted in a rubbish, almost globally ignored and rightly overlooked film made in 1969 (44 years ago!) to keep this thread running.
Cheers El T. Was a little worried that parochial stereotyping, in jest, was about to become taboo. I'm sure at the Northern Monkey meet (assuming we get a venue sorted - thanks to Nik for the efforts so far) such stereotypes will abound, and all in the best possible taste (curly wigs and taches welcome).
Everyone would have KFC or a Big Mac, yuck. But as Pete said, it would not be made in that way today. I rewatched OHMSS recently and quite enjoyed it as a period piece, particularly the scenes set in the Alps.
Seems even mentioning PC concerns in the context of a James Bond film is absurd. JB is a totally non PC character - that's sort of the point of him. Having said that, it is interesting that the black girl doesn't come from a recognizable country. She's just black. Nothing in this respect has changed. I can't tell by looking at someone if they come from Namibia or Nigeria. I have no education at all in this area. There's a bit of a dearth of good TV programmes trying to explain Africa. They are only ever about aid, AIDS or animals.
