MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Should this show come with a disclaimer?

Should this show come with a disclaimer?


The dynamic between Ricky and Lucy is abusive at times. He treats her as a child, giving her an allowance to live on.

She is dependant on him financially, which is a form of slavery.

He yells at her, sometimes in a foreign tongue.

Maybe the disclaimer could say "This show is of an era before women's liberation and the comedy presented is not always funny by today's standards of gender equality."

reply

No, it shouldn't come with a disclaimer, because there aren't any idiot MRAs trying to claim it as "the good old days." The very reason why older movies and TV shows are getting disclaimer'ed is because of that--lunatic fringers and disinformation trolls going back to these older IPs and trying to claim them as "history" or claiming that they represented a time when life was better before Civil Rights, women's lib, etc.

reply

If you think life in the 1950s bore any meaningful resemblance to what you see on "I Love Lucy", you are living in a delusion. Life has never been perfect at any time. It is nowhere near perfect now, even in the time of "Civil Rights, women's lib, etc." In the 1950s, although society was imperfect, life was better in many ways. Not having been around yourself to experience it first-hand, you receive your impression of what the 1950s were like from ignorant, biased, exaggerated accounts you hear from others who were also not there themselves. Even if you were there yourself, and life was not better for you personally, that doesn't mean it wasn't generally better for most people, compared to today.

reply

What on earth did anything that you said have to do with what I said?

I said that the reason why so many things are being disclaimered now is that TROLLS are taking old shows and movies and trying them to push their agendas. For example, MRAs might take a show like Married with Children--which was clearly a farce--and claim that it showed how men had the freedom to sexually objectify and insult women "before" political correctness.

The next thing you know, a new generation of viewers are posting misogynistic memes all over Reddit and social media from MWC glorifying it as a show that condoned sexism. Other people who hear about the show wrongly think MWC is legitimately "sexist" because of the MRA trolls and complain about it on social media. To buffer the show against complaints, the distributor then has to put a disclaimer saying in so many words, "Look, this is an old show with outdated sexist humor."

reply

No, because fragile little snowflakes like yourself who get triggered easily shouldn't be pandered to.

reply

0P: you're an idiot. Case closed.

reply

We can retire the term "snowflake." It's now 2021.

reply

No. If someone wants to call you a snowflake, they have every right to do so.

reply

I don’t think I’m going to

reply

It's 2022 and I think it's back. 🤣

reply

Ah, now I see-you're satirizing a member of the woke cult.

reply

🤢

reply

I never watched this show before but what you described sounded to me like white privilege and women being oppressed. Does this show currently air on a certain network? Please let me know so I can write to them to take this racist garbage off the air.

reply

Check with your imaginary "Professor" first. 🙄

reply

Don't need to. He rather us not watch any of these old TV shows. He hates them all

reply

Shut up, you’ve already admitted you’re a troll

reply

Don't worry about millsey72, he already admitted to me he was trolling. He's trying to make woke culture look crazy (and believe me it doesn't need any help from him).

reply

More like pretty girl marries hot Cuban for his money.

reply

You are very strange...🙄

reply

Wow. Can you believe all this, Gubbio? This board has been invaded by trolls and morons.

reply

I recognize some of the names from the General Discussion Board. Hence, my comments.

reply

Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do!!!

reply

it was pretty progressive for it's time.

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball avoided racial jokes and humor based on physical handicaps or mental disabilities in "I Love Lucy." This was still the era of racial segregation.

They decided that the show would maintain "basic good taste." Since this was the era when people with disabilities could openly be denied employment and/or public education, not making fun of people with disabilities was also a big deal.

Lucy was the only cast member allowed to poke fun at Desi's accent, being his real wife.

Admittedly their idea of gender/gender roles on camera is meh but considering how limited tv viewing was back then, I think most of us would have preferred this to leave it to beaver.

reply

Was Lucy the only character allowed to poke fun at Desi's accent?

I'm not a huge fan of ILL, but I recall in the "Grape Stomping" episode when the characters are in Italy, Ricky returns to his hotel room looking for Lucy and finds Ethel there. Ethel is reluctant to tell Ricky that Lucy has gone to a grape vineyard to prepare for her movie role. Ricky become frustrated with Ethel's stalling and says something like, "Did she (Lucy) go around suckin' up lawcal coolor?!" Ethel repeats the phrase just as Ricky says it, as if she can't understand it, and says,"No, I don't think so." When Ricky demands an explanation Ethel admits that's what Lucy has done.

In another episode, Fred is babysitting Little Ricky and they're playing catch, practicing baseball swings in the living room. Little Ricky says something like, "I'll be another Joe 'Maggio!" Fred comments, "You sound more like your father every day." When Ricky comes in a few minutes later and Fred shows him what he taught Little Ricky, Ricky proudly says, "He'll be another Joe Maggio!"

And there's another episode where Fred is angry with Ricky (I don't recall why) and calls him "You Cuban mushmouth!"

Of course, Ethel isn't really making fun of Ricky's accent, and I guess one can argue Fred isn't, but the show is using it as an ongoing source of humor.

reply