The Left are becoming increasingly unbearable.
They are constantly on the prowl for things to be offended about.
Now “woke” leftists are going after one classic film for a nauseating reason.
Leftists are always looking for grievances to fuel their outrage.
Without grievances, the Left lose all their (unearned) claims of moral superiority and righteousness.
Their search for grievances causes them to dig through the past in order to find offense.
Movies, television shows, plays, and books that were considered progressive five minutes ago are now racist and retrograde.
The latest example is the 1983 comedy classic Trading Places.
According to The Economist, one of many outlets that has veered wildly to the left, the film must be called out for its bigotry.
“Trading Places” is a Janus-faced contradiction, reaching backwards to old prejudices yet in other ways modern. It is still very funny, but not funny enough https://t.co/vAtvYgydph
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 7, 2022
One of the main gripes is the use of stereotypes, ignoring the fact that the film is a comedy, a genre that has always been rife with caricatures going in every direction.
The Economist wrote:
“As the heroes don disguises to gull the Dukes’ henchman, Mr Aykroyd’s character needlessly blacks up; he then engages in some nauseating badinage with Mr Murphy, himself doing a grisly impersonation of an exchange student from Cameroon.”
Ironically, Aykroyd recently spoke out in favor of cancel culture in comedy; now he is being “canceled” for a comedic performance from 39 years ago.
And if the Economist critic is deeply offended by Eddie Murphy pretending to be a Cameroonian exchange student, one hopes he does not revisit Coming to America.
The Economist continued:
“That is the nadir, but there are lots of cringe-inducing moments: racial stereotyping, explicit and vicious racism that is presented as reprehensible but played for laughs, casual homophobia, a caricature Irishman and gratuitous nudity.”
Leftists are the insufferable scolds that they have characterized the Right as being.
The “woke” have turned free speech into a right-wing issue.
Some old-school liberals like comedian Bill Maher have come to this realization, but too many are still deep inside their left-wing bubble.
Leftists claim to be about free expression, yet they’re having a fit over a “caricature Irishman” and “gratuitous nudity” in a comedy from nearly four decades ago.
The Economist added:
“Trading Places is lovingly remembered by lots of viewers now in middle age (perhaps the white, male sort in particular). Any who watched it again over the holidays may have been jarred, even shamed, by attitudes and language that they once blithely tolerated. The film is still very funny, but not funny enough. It is hard today to recommend it in good conscience. And yet revisiting it is also a reminder that flawed artworks, like flawed people, can have extenuating features, nuance can coexist with crassness and forward-thinking jostle with the retrograde kind.”
For all of their moral preening, the progressives of today will be harshly judged by the progressives of tomorrow.
They will balk at the lack of “trans inclusion” or “climate justice” or any other imagined grievance.
