I'm watching this movie right now on Disney after not having seen it for a long while, and it was the scene where the girls are talking about the different "names" for blacks and they just mentioned the word "n *gger".
WHAT?! This is Disney Channel we're talking here! Not that I'm apalledthat they used the word or anything, I just wouldn't expect Disney to put that through on TV...I honestly don't even think I remember hearing it the last time I saw the movie on Disney.
Am I overreacting? Probably. It was just kind of a shock.
Yup, but most people think that's appropriate for this type of film.
I remember, I used to babysitt this girl and she was African-American (not that it matters, it just goes with my story) anyway, she had this recorded so we watched it.
When her mom came home a few hours later she went, " Mommy? Am I a [N word] " And her mother gave me the dirtiest look. Then I explained how that word was in the movie, and her mom never called me back to babysit her child..so in some ways, it's really not needed.
Yes, I see how the word is certainly appropriate for this type of movie but I was just shocked that they would use it on Disney Channel. In a way I think it's really good that they used it and were so direct with it, but I still think it's kind of un-Disney Channelish. Maybe for DISNEY, not Disney CHANNEL.
It's totally appropriate. It's reality. Not politically correct whitewash, as it were. Words are powerful things, call a spade a spade and let the ugliness that some words convey, and the ugliness in the people the use them, be put out there for all to see.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
It just seems like that because we live in a very politically correct world. Back then, before social media..they showed the nitty gritty and portrayed how the world really was in the most family friendly way they could.
I find it very interesting that everyone is up in arms over the use of "the n-word" but no one has mentioned the use of kefer. That word is probably just as offensive if not moreso in South Africa. It's extremely derogatory and no less offensive than "The n-word".
Yes, but this movie was made for an American audience, so the sting of the word kefer isn't felt as much as the "n-word" Most people over here probably have never heard of the word.
i remember them saying a name but idk if it was the N-word.. maybe. they havent played the movie in a long time but when i last watched it it was really good. I think they usually played the movie during the Maartin Luther King Jr. holiday... along with the Disney movie, Selma Lord Selma ((i think thats what it was called)) i remember they were both good though. A very good message.
Actually the correct spelling is kaffir. And yes, the term is the equivalent of "the n word" in America.
In Nelson Mandela's autobiography, "The Long Walk to Freedom," he sometimes referred to conversations in which a few choice Afrikaners (white South Africans of Dutch descent) spoke to him. When he gave translations of their dialogue (seeing as they spoke Afrikaans), he would use "the n word" as a translation of kaffir.
Nobody calls anybody the "n" word, plus it helps with one of the best scenes where Piper mistakes the two when talking to her father and he almost about to tell Mahree to get out of their house.
Disney Channel was less cheesy seven years ago, too. So that's another reason. ;)
i'm so proud of disney for acctually saying *beep* in this one. the use of this word gets the attention disney wanted. now days i don't think disney would do it again just because they've water downed most of their stuff.
It seems Disney has changed since then, but if you also remember Tru Confessions, that came out around the same time I believe, which was also a powerful movie and hasn't really been played much since it first came out.
Read through the previous posts again - it's mentioned a few times. eta: specifically, read charlieangel's post... I'm not trying to be rude, I just don't find it necessary to mention either word again.
I'm pretty sure they NEVER said ni*ger ... they said NEGRO. Nobody else seems to remember them actually saying that, and I think that would have stuck out to a LOT of people - it's a made-for-tv DISNEY move with a g-rating.
They did use the word, I remember specifically. Cuz Mahree was referring to black people as "Bantu", and Piper said, "Bantu? Is that like *beep* Then Mahree said "No, Bantu just means black. 'Kaffir' would be *beep* which I'd never say. You'd be Bantu in my country, never 'kaffir'. At least not to me." It's amazing that I remember that, lol. But yeah, the word was used at least that one time just to illustrate a point.
Also to the other poster who mentioned Tru Confessions, good point about that movie. I remember thinking it was pretty edgy that they used the word "retard" so many times. Usually Disney (and that includes the Disney Channel) tries to sugarcoat everything, but that movie pulled no punches. I think that's a lot more shocking than the use of the N-word in The Color of Friendship because the word "retard" was used as an insult, while the N-word was only used in the movie to educate people. But then they did say the word "kaffir" a lot, but I guess that's cuz it was made for and by the United States. People here don't generally realize how bad that word is in South Africa, so it was probably considered acceptable.
I'm in Australia and Disney Channel is showing the movie right now, I can confirm the N-word was definately said. I respect Disney for not cutting that scene, the've got guts. However i'd like to add this is not the first time it's been said, there was a reality show called "Bug Juice" where a kid was describing how had it was for him to rock climb. He referred to his supporter by he N-word but in the way of calling him his friend (i.e My " "). He said it so fast that it was easy for disney channel to miss it.
To go off topic of the movie for a moment, but to speak to your closing statements A-L-B, it's the same with the British phrase, "sod off" and it's use in the US. It's ok to use it in the US, but what it means in US English is called an expletive and bleeped to the moon and back on tv and your mouth gets washed with soap (figuratively). But since most Americans have no idea what it means, they find it okay to use.
I just watched the movie the other day. I'm 49, not a kid, and a historian whose concentration is the 20th century interracial cooperation to defeat American segregation. So I'm very sensitive to all the words used to describe people of different ethnicities. She used ALL the words, including Negro AND N****r. And they weren't bleeped out or anything, they were clear as a bell.
I know! I fell out of my bed when I saw that scene and said "No! They didn't! They just did..." The N-word was just said in a children's network. I like how realistic and gritty this got for a Disney Channel movie. Honestly, the Disney Channel movies have been really dumbed down for the last couple of years. We no longer learn about real societal issues such as racism, sexism, or mental illness. The only way for Disney Channel to redeem themselves would be to discuss homophobia in their new movie.