MovieChat Forums > Lilyhammer (2014) Discussion > Racist and xenophobic show

Racist and xenophobic show

posted 12 years ago by DeutschlandUberAlles
38 replies | jump to latest

This show is racist, xenophobic and presents Americans as being stupid, thuggish buffoons and Arab immigrants as being overly religious, unwilling to integrate into Norwegian culture and having bigoted, conservative attitudes.

Norwegians on the other hand are mostly presented as being intelligent, level-headed and as being hard done by for being expected to put up with all these thuggish, ignorant foreigners that come to live in Norway.

This show seems to take the angle that immigrants are basically a burden on Norwegian society and offer nothing to Norway as a country.

I am British and I can't imagine the BBC making a show like this because it would be considered racist to portray foreigners in that way.

[–] orbit991 11 years ago

DeutschlandUberAlles, British? interesting name for someone from the UK. As far no racism on British TV, just watch the morons on "Top Gear" for a couple episodes and you get some real racism there, plus some real bad advice involving vehicles. As someone from the US I didn't get offended once, so I'm not sure what you are going on about, and Muslims not being quite compatible with progressive European countries? no that never happens.

[–] StarskyandChinaHutch 11 years ago

So what you're saying is it's based on a true story. Okay.

[–] DerrrrDerp 11 years ago

I agree, it's a bit of a mess. Old John is just a bully. I don't see the Norwegians being portrayed as level headed though, they seem to be dense wimps. No one wins here and stereotypes abound. I thought it was cute in the first episode but started hating it in e2. Definitely not for me.

[–] georgegliddy 11 years ago

well ok i just dnt like h8 speches ok????

[–] !!!deleted!!! (41638798) 11 years ago

I knew I'd see this thread if I came on the board after watching season 2.

Here's the thing: This show is a SATIRE. It's a send up. It's ironic. It's making fun of stereotypes not endorsing them. Chaucer did this as far back as "The Canterbury Tales."

It's an age-old way of making fun of the flaws in society and in people. Monty Python did it for the modern age better than anybody in the last 50 years. They were geniuses at poking a stick in the eye of society's flaws.

But this entire concept is lost on most U.S. viewers unless they watch a lot of foreign programming, because Hollywood doesn't do anything as clever as irony--irony doesn't sell. U.S. viewers for the past 35 years or so have been marinated in single dimensional junk where subtext is a dirty word. And now that viewers have been "re-educated" to the point where they are no longer used to dramatic satire, Hollywood does not dare do it--because they probably know the immediate reaction of viewers will be to scream racism or sexism or any other kind of 'ism that's popular.

Hollywood has made its mainstream money on simplistic and straightforward stories that leave nothing to the imagination and don't complicate things by having anti-hero leads.

There are exceptions of course, like "Mad Men" and/or "Boardwalk Empire." But even those shows know who their audiences are they don't push it beyond normal U.S. programming boundaries.

American TV's forte is not satire nor ironic send-up, and Hollywood typically does not do it at all for its general audiences.

Whereas, foreign shows do. Fortunately for Netflix, they've embraced non-American way of presenting characters and situations--these guys are buffoonish stereotypes!

[–] georgegliddy 11 years ago

well such do NOT exuse h8 speches ok? bcos that is ilegal and shoud go 2 jails even....

ok also now u want my tv shows 2b more harder 2 undrstand and 2b more compilc8d? well that makes me vry MAD 2u bcos ur tryng 2 ruin on all my shows bcos that wud b a dum dum dum id so i hope they do'nt ever do it and ruin those show!!!!!! ok?????

[–] gilltee1 10 years ago

Bravo. Well said.

[–] gilltee1 10 years ago

Bravo *slow Gand clap*. Well said.

[–] Planet-38 8 years ago

I am so grateful that I have Netflix. It has given me the opportunity to see shows from various countries which means I get to see variety in the way life is seen and portrayed. Not just the "let's copy what was successful before" that seems to be the norm in my native country (US).

I got rid of cable because it seemed that all I did was spend my time searching for something interesting to watch, and then giving up. Even if I did find something to watch, it was hard to keep track of the characters, because everybody looked the same. Now I can do a search for things like, British comedies, Hindi films, UK, European, etc., and enjoy the world.

Lilyhammer has old people, over weight people, young people, children, ugly people, smart people, black/white/brown/tan people, nice people, attractive people, stupid people, bad people, silly people, naked people in all shapes and sizes, and for various reasons, not just sex. I have no problems telling who is who, because the characters are not some cookie cutter pod people designed to be window dressing and they are interesting in their own right.

"Arguing with idiots is like trying to play chess with a pigeon..."

[–] jejozi 10 years ago

I'm only two episodes in, but so far the natives are anything but intelligent and level headed. You have the motorcycle gang, a bunch of thugs who were ready to lop off someone's finger. The club "manager" is kind of a moron, as is the taxi driver and his assistant. There's also the randy public services guy and the ill tempered cop. The only two that are level headed, so far, are the police chief and Frank's girlfriend.

There's only one American and though he isn't stupid he IS a thug and Arabs are rather overly religious, as it pretty much dominates their lives, and they don't exactly try to assimilate to the culture of the country to which they immigrate.

This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

[–] orriol 10 years ago

man...you're boring. find yourself a girlfriend and don't bust our balls.

[–] lydiagaebe-169-197169 10 years ago

Chill out!

It's Norwegians making fun of themselves with a "cartoon" American gangster thrown in for good measure. Too many people take this show way too seriously.

[–] ian_spurlock 10 years ago

Islamic immigrants generally REFUSE to integrate into the host countries that accept them.

Only an imbecile would dispute that.

That's why, for example, 25% of Muslims in Belgium support Sharia *beep* law.

That's why there are massive, crime-ridden Islamic ghettos in every Western European country.

These facts remain: a large number of Islamic immigrants DESPISE Europe. They DESPISE Europeans. They DESPISE their language. They DESPISE their free speech. They DESPISE their freedom of religion. They DESPISE Europe's tolerance of Jews. They DESPISE any religion other than Islam. And most of all, they DESPISE the European governments that give them free money and allow them to live in their countries even though they hurt the economy and refuse to integrate into society.

Unless Europe closes the lid on unlimited immigration, Belgium and France are going to be indistinguishable from Albania and Kosovo in 40 or so years.

[–] LolasCat 10 years ago

So true. They despise everything, but they love the money and living standards in the West so much they come and live here. Hypocrites.