Interesting point Glidd, but for that matter can you tell a Bulgarian from a Romanian, just be looking? Or even a Celt from a sassenach?
I'm afraid it's a good deal worse than that. Bananas as shorthand racist abuse are not connected just with banana boats, but with monkeys liking bananas; the racist abuser implies that black people are, or are like, monkeys. That is what the film-makers of this film have bought into and portrayed. None of the other nationalities or foods shown have any such connotations. And that is why it is totally outrageous and unaccceptable. Did that go over your head too?
For me its not so much a banana boat reference, but a banana / monkey reference, something still shamefully directed towards black football players to this day. Had it been a pineapple it would have been fine, but the banana is absolutely disgraceful.
No. Reinterpreting the past using the standards of today is pretty pointless. The film accurately records the commonly held beliefs of the time, which doesn't doesn't make them right then or today. We now have hate crime, soon we will have thought crime. I don't do football.
We already do have thought crime. Try googling 'extremist fundamentalist thinking' and see how quickly you get a knock on the door and an orange jump suit ;-)
No. But I can tell an Italian from a Dane, or an American from anyone. I can't really tell a Welshman from an Englishman either. But I can tell a Brit from a Frenchie, a lot of the time. Thing is, in Africa, we are talking massive distances of thousands of miles (so like telling a Scot from a Sicilian) but we still sort of lump them in together. Do people from Uganda look like those from Botswana? I have no idea.
And I thought it was outrageous because James Bond appears to be wearing a dress, and some of the guests start eating before everyone has been served - that's just wrong. Must go - being attacked by someone brandishing a passionfruit.....
There is even someone who has the appearance of a woman, but might be a transsexual or transvestite, who is oriental in appearance, but might be of another or mixed ethnic origin, eating a rice based dish. Outrageous.
Okay, the reason why I posted the clip was because of the banana. If you look at the scene, its full of sterotypes, which has already been discussed. The English woman is eating roast dinner, the American eating chicken, the Indian eating rice, i think there's a German in there eating sausage at one point. The film maker/writer is implying, rather strongly I may add, that these are all the national/traditional dishes for each ethnicity. They are therefore implying that the tradional fruit for the black woman is a banana, and is therefore implying she's a monkey. The scene isnt about oral sex in the slightest.
for starters, the table was laid appallingly, the wine was not decanted appropriately, the cutlery layout was disasterous and a few of the girls werent 10's. i also suspect that 007 had not passed his chlamydia onto at least 3 of them, particularly the skank who is making cum to bed eyes at him, and im certain that one of the waiters was beneath the table checking Bonds particulars.
the trailer is like a blue stratos advert...i wonder if they used a green screen for some of the skiing scenes?? nothing is quite as british as a bond trailer voiced over by with a pseudo yank accent...can you imagine how desperately sexy he must have looked in the scene where he drops his kilt whilst still wearing his long argyle socks and frilly shirt...a look like influenced the new romantic movement of the 80's...fast forward to 1.53 and laugh your head off as you witness what can only be described as a shop window dummy duct taped to a pair of skis..its so obviously fake as to be comical. James Bond 007: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Official Trailer - YouTube
You seem to be the one implying she's a monkey. A bit of general knowledge:- In many banana growing Carribbean, South American and African countries, much of the staple diet is/was based on the plantain - a type of banana. Therefore the treatment of all women in the scene is identical. This thread may therefore say more about you, than it does about the filmakers.
I can't see that banana = monkey. You want a black girl as one of the women, what stereotypical food should she be eating? I suppose a mango may have been better but how many people had seen or eaten a mango in 1969? Cassava ditto.
I hate to appear to be cozying up to a moderator <ugh, authority bah> but have people been overdosing on stupid pills? It's really terribly simple. There was a racial stereotyping culture in existence when OHMSS was made. One of the stereotypes was the awful OOH, OOH, Monkey Want a Banana? thing. Matt spotted a more gentle, but still painful, example of the stereotype in the film. Funnily enough, the last time I watched this movie, I spotted the same thing. Last year's racial streotyping is this year's hate crime so I get why Matt decided to flag it up. Everyone on board yet?
I still don't get this. Bond films are sexist and full of stereotypes, so what's the issue? Flagging up one scene in one film just because it might be interpreted as being derogatory towards black people, why? You can reasonably flag up the whole franchise on those grounds, unless it is meaner, say, to ill-consider negroes than it is Koreans (who crop up in some other Bond). Plus it was made 45 years ago. Incidentally, I'm having a bit of a problem with Moby Dick as I just can't identify with the anti-whale ethos that prevailed when it was written.
