MovieChat Forums > The Shining (1980) Discussion > How did Kubrick get away with the "nigge...

How did Kubrick get away with the "nigger cook" line?


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Social media where he could have been crucified and SJWs to hammer in the nails did not exist at the time.

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On the contrary, American media at the time had the common sense to use ethnic slurs in a negative context. No need to be offended by slurs if it's clear that the person who's saying it is an asshole who we're supposed to be rooting against. It's why nobody was offended back then. People who made TV shows and movies were smart enough to know how to use this type of offensive content without upsetting anyone.

Today, media tosses out offensive context as cool, funny or ironic and then plays the victim of SJWs when called out on it. Then adds fuel to the fire by referring to the people being slurred as snowflakes when they complain about it.

BTW, one of the biggest proponents against the N-word was ironically Richard Pryor. He realized how harmful it was to trivialize it and said he'd never use it again. He'd be insulted by people like you as an SJW, too.

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'People like me' how, exactly?

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People like you? The whole "SJWs are snowflakes/PC is killing comedy/everyone's a sensitive snowflake" anti-SJW crowd--that's who. You guys always love to pull out the "if this thing from back in the day came out today, the SJWs would tear it apart" card. Ironically, I could say the same thing, but in reverse. I could say that if the brilliant Richard Pryor had come out today with his famous refusal to use the N-word, you'd all be calling him an SJW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hULhZqhw9yU

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Hmm. I had forgotten what I read about your posts elsewhere. Looks like they were right. Bye.

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[deleted]

good job,
ignoring a voice not congratulating you on your faux openmindedness,
you are the ones you hate

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bang on mr. Deleted

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You sound like you’re in a cult. Run away. Your brain could recover someday if you run away.

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That's not true though is it? Well maybe sometimes, but not in most cases. As you said the importance of context matters, the line was delivered by an unfavourable figure but that simply doesn't matter these days. Social media outrage mobs aren't fussed about context, especially of the historical kind. There are plenty of BBC shows which have had complaints over diversity when it wouldn't be historically accurate of that time period.

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Exactly. Look at The Simpsons. Something that was progressive in the 80s/90s is “taboo” now. The SJWs don’t care about nuance or context. Their rules are hard and fast. But there’s always their defenders to motte and bailey their insufferable, puerile behavior and ideals.

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Nigger is used a lot in movies. Definitely more in the past, but you can still see it in movies today, especially in Tarantino films. I think it was already a pretty bad term in the 80's so it's to show that the waiter isn't nearly as nice as he initially seemed

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I don't see the problem with it. It's said by the villain against a good man who is trying to rescue a family, so of course he would have contempt for him.

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I always saw it as him being from a much older time period where that word was more commonly accepted.

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I'm from the Philippines and had a professor who called black people that word not knowing it's taboo. She assumed it was ok bec black people call themselves that.

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I can absolutely understand how she would think that.

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Grady was considered to be an antagonist, he's not someone we are supposed to root for, we are not supposed to condone the "n---er cook" line. That's how he got away with it.

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Because it’s a movie. The word is said thousands of times a day. It’s silly to think that even though art imitates life we should limit a film makers expression about such a trivial thing.

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I read the novel years ago and seem to recall this section of dialogue being the same in the book, racial slurs and all.

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Also Delbert Grady was a ghost from the 1920's, it makes sense because that kind of language was socially acceptable back then.

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absolutely right, the only right answer here in this thread full of dummies

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Yes and geez it's almost as if Grady is supposed to be a bad guy, someone of low moral character who we are not supposed to sympathize with. PC SJW's are really really stupid.

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Back then it wasn't a big deal to hear it. I remember even hearing the N word several times on All In The Family, The Jeffersons and Good Times.

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And Sanford and Son

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That one too.

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It was a big deal at that time too which is why it was used so much in CERTAIN sitcoms. A point was being made.

That word has been unacceptable for decades. My mother was born and raised in West Virginia in the 40's and 50's and she was taught NEVER to use that word. In the early 60's she moved to New York where I was born and raised and I was taught NEVER to use that word. In fact anyone else I knew was taught the same.

The fact that it's thrown around nowadays and added to lyrics of songs by a certain element of the very people who it degrades is absolutely mind blowing!

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I just meant that it was no big deal on those sitcoms, because it did make a point. I never used that word as a kid and found it very interesting when I was a teen and it was used on those sitcoms. I was old enough to understand that it was used to tell a story and wasn't there to shock the audience and that is why it wasn't a big deal to hear it on a movie or a show. I also remember a storyline on Mary Hartman Mary Hartman where these white supremecists come into Fernwood and convince Mary and her friends that they are doing good in the town. They used the N word quite often. Finally they convince the town that the janitor at the plant did something horrible and after a string of terrible events the hate group burns the man alive in his house. The N word is used as the two white supremecists watch the house burn. It is a chilling moment of television that I will never get out of my mind.

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I didn't watch Mary Hartman Mary Hartman. It sounds heavy.

In any production whether in the past or nowadays the word has been used if it's being used by a bigot in the story line. The same applies to anti-semitic phrases or other racial slurs. If the story is about bigots, they'll be used, of course.

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Mary Hartman Mary Hartman was on in the 70's and was way ahead of its time. They tackled subjects that were quite controversial and are rarely seen even in today's television. It was on 5 days a weeks and they could really get into the meat of their storylines that ranged from wife beating, STD's, bigotry and homosexual marriage. It was quite a show for sure.

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I've heard of it but I've never seen it and really knew nothing about it. I vaguely remember seeing commercials for it.

I wonder if it would still be good today or do you think it's dated at this point?

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It is definitely a 70's show. The look, the feel and the content is pure 70's nostalgia. It also plays like a soap opera, so they really take their time with the stories. It was wildly popular when I was a kid. Many stations would play it at 11 pm and the show beat the hell out of many local news programs throughout the country. In my area the show played at 7pm. I was lucky I was 13 at the time. If it was on late night, I would have only been able to watch it during vacations, Friday nights and in the summer. My favorite episode was when Mary makes chicken soup for the coach. He is sick with a cold and is taking way too much cold medicine. Later Mary and the coaches wife talk in the other room, and during that time the coach passes out in the chicken soup and drowns. You have to see it to believe it.

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That's hysterical! 🤣

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My mom, who would have been in her early-mid 20's when that episode aired still references that chicken soup drowning scene!

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I recently got done with a conversation with someone who insisted that it was OK for someone to use that word if you were black because it was a "term of endearment" which is grossly offensive and racist in every sense of the word. It boggles my mind how so many people are so incredibly ignorant in this day and age.

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I agree 100%. Someone not only has to be incredibly ignorant but, IMO, also self-hating, in order to throw around a slur as a "term of endearment".

I don't hear any other group slinging such nasty words at each other (my group included), it's not something people who respect themselves normally do!

Of course we know it's not everyone who does this or condones this but their voices are drowned out 😢

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I know it's a very small minority, I tend to associate myself with people who have more respect for both themselves and the people around them, it's just a small group of people who I feel are truly that ignorant. It represents a time in our past that we are not proud of and we are never going to progress as a society if we are going to continually make excuses and have such low self esteem.

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The waiter himself is, in 1980, from "another time" (the 1920's) and perhaps felt more comfortable using the word.

But this: when the waiter says that line, and HOW he says it(with racist contempt) takes him all the way from "polite servanthood" to pure villainy. He's an EVIL influence on Jack. Certainly his lines about "correcting" his children(axing them to death) points that way, too -- but his "N" word reference takes him all the way to villainy.

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‘But this: when the waiter says that line, and HOW he says it(with racist contempt) takes him all the way from "polite servanthood" to pure villainy. He's an EVIL influence on Jack. Certainly his lines about "correcting" his children(axing them to death) points that way, too -- but his "N" word reference takes him all the way to villainy.’

Very well put.

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