Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: Happy Talk racist? | |
| Posted by: andyboy 02:48 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Happy Talk racist? - Chromolume 01:31 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| Personally, I find "You've got to be taught / To be afraid / OF PEOPLE WHO'S EYES / ARE ODDLY MADE" pretty cringeworthy. Yes, Cable is without a doubt arguing AGAINST racism -- but with (yikes) a pretty racist attitude in that phrase... | |
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| I was sure the lyric is “ugly made” | |
| Posted by: jeffef 01:18 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Happy Talk racist? - andyboy 02:48 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| I just listened to the original Broadway cast recording. And it’s still a cringeworthy lyric but I’ll bet it was written to be cringeworthy on purpose. | |
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| "Oddly-made eyes" IS cringeworthy.... | |
| Posted by: portenopete 05:42 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Happy Talk racist? - andyboy 02:48 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| ....in the best possible way. The harshness of the phrase succinctly communicates the pain in Cable's heart. Much as he wishes it wasn't so, he harbours these prejudices and judgements in him. As we all do, especially those of us brought up in a time where they were casually thrown around, often without any conscious malice. It's one of the brilliant aspects of R&H's show (and Micheneer's original book) to have an admitted racist as your heroine. And to cast Broadway's sweetheart in the role. The audience would have identified very closely to Nellie's predicament and probably shared the same misgivings and, hopefully, would have left the theatre questioning the lessons they'd been carefully taught. |
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| re: "Oddly-made eyes" IS cringeworthy.... | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 01:12 pm EST 02/21/19 | |
| In reply to: "Oddly-made eyes" IS cringeworthy.... - portenopete 05:42 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| "The harshness of the phrase succinctly communicates the pain in Cable's heart. Much as he wishes it wasn't so, he harbours these prejudices and judgements in him. As we all do, especially those of us brought up in a time where they were casually thrown around, often without any conscious malice. It's one of the brilliant aspects of R&H's show (and Micheneer's original book) to have an admitted racist as your heroine. And to cast Broadway's sweetheart in the role. The audience would have identified very closely to Nellie's predicament and probably shared the same misgivings and, hopefully, would have left the theatre questioning the lessons they'd been carefully taught." Very intelligently and eloquently expressed. |
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| re: Happy Talk racist? | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 02:58 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Happy Talk racist? - andyboy 02:48 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| *****Personally, I find "You've got to be taught / To be afraid / OF PEOPLE WHO'S EYES / ARE ODDLY MADE" pretty cringeworthy. Yes, Cable is without a doubt arguing AGAINST racism -- but with (yikes) a pretty racist attitude in that phrase...***** That never occurred to me! But now that you've brought it up, I would say one could easily interpret that phrase as Cable making the point that white racists think Asian people have eyes that are "oddly made" -- not that he himself would ever use that term. |
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| re: Happy Talk racist? | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 05:37 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Happy Talk racist? - Michael_Portantiere 02:58 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| I've always read the entire lyric of "Carefully Taught" as Cable generalizing (correctly, I think) from his own upbringing to the universal. He isn't singing about any particular group, neither as the subjects of the racism nor as the objects of it; he's singing that ***everybody*** does this. So the "oddly made" bit isn't a slur on any particular ethnic group's eyes; it could be Asian people thinking European people's eyes are "oddly made." It doesn't matter. The point is that fear of "the other" is universal. | |
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| re: Happy Talk racist? | |
| Posted by: andyboy 03:04 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Happy Talk racist? - Michael_Portantiere 02:58 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| And that thought never occurred to ME, haha. But yes, you could! I feel slightly better about that now. | |
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| re: Happy Talk racist? | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:33 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Happy Talk racist? - andyboy 03:04 pm EST 02/20/19 | |
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| :-) | |
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