MovieChat Forums > Soul Man (1986) Discussion > I think if this came out in the 40's it ...

I think if this came out in the 40's it would have been a bigger hit


A movie about a person donning blackface was more acceptable back then, then it was in the 80's.

I call movies that are considered 'bad' hated movies.

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And if we were able to send Ted Danson back in 40s too, this movie might be the first "Blackface Blockbuster".

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Erm....what would have been the point of doing it in the 1940s?

The whole point of this film is to poke fun at the inverted racism of 'affirmative action' programmes that take more note of people's race than their innate abilities.

These programmes didn't exist in the 1940s. It would have been more likely that a black man would have 'whited up' in the 40s to get into college - in fact this kind of thing went on in South Africa during apartheid, where black people supposedly used skin bleaching creams in order to pass as white.

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If this movie had been done in the 40's all the black characters would speak like Hollywood butlers and shuck and jive all over the film.

And instead of just contacts, skin dye, and a wig to convey an african american, back in the forties they would've done a lot worse. Like they did when a white actor portrayed asians.

And it would've been in black and white.

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Yes.... in the 1840s.

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I think that in the 2040s when people have finally gotten over themselves this will be known as the comedy classic that it undoubtedly is.

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Could blacks even get admitted to harvard in the 40's?

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I think if this was re released in non Western countries it would be a hit. Though the white girl having a minority fetish and other American cultural. Points may go over their heads. Were just not as sjw infested as you guys are.

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