Quote: David Chapman @ July 22 2008, 11:39 PM BSTWitchdoctors exist and they're generally black and they generally do unbelievably stupid things so it's not racist - it's factual!
I also thought it was what Jewish mums wanted their sons to marry.
But seriosuly it's about extrapolating from a specifc minority to a majority.
Each most people in the BNP are white, but most whites aren't in the BNP.
Quote: Simon Stratton @ July 22 2008, 11:38 PM BSTStereotypes are based in reality
Cheers Griff, that helps.
A little more help pls - is this ladling the exposition on too think? I need to give a character this backstory as it is hinted at throughout the script, (the plot doesn't hang off it, but it does give the character 'depth'):
JOHN: That's it, I've had enough of this. I don't care that you used to be a famous tennis player. I don't care that you lost all your money with a gambling addiction. Give me back my spare key and get out.
Bed is calling...too much exposition or ok? Pls.
Do I have to work the till I don't know how?
You've served at Wimbledon enough times.
I bet you can't make me work a whole day.
You sure you want to do that, it's how you lost your fortune.
I liked a bet.
You gmaboled more than a spring lamb in a Silvan meadow.
Thanks guys, I'm posting off tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Well have some sympathetic black characters who act as foils.
A white whitch doctor could be fun.
At a charity I worked for we collected donations from a Khali temple straight out of Temple of Doom.,
Except the scary looking high priest (and he was very scary), had a very heavy Brummie accent.
"Yam bring oot the virgin scarifice, then we'll all have pot noodles,"
I think cult murders etc are a heavy subject for comedy, and can work but need to be handled with care.
Or have him sell his potions to Yummy Mummies and Wags who don't care if it's Albino foot, so long as it's cheaper than Botox.
For some reason I think your witch doctor idea sounds good, Griffo.
Yes i suppose so, and cliche.
You need to find a way to say this happens, with out saying and they all do it.
Tough innit?
He's brilliant but he's so weird he's beyond being offensive.
I think if the only Black character is an evil foot chopper, you're making a rod for your own back.
It's a great idea, really it is.
How about his mum calls him on his mobile a few times, and she thinks he's actually an accountant?
Aw, Papa Lazarou is ace!
He's not even human, so can't offend anyone.
Quote: Griff @ July 23 2008, 12:21 AM BSTNormally I don't specify race or nationality in a script - I say "policeman" or "alcoholic" or whatever, so the director can cast whoever they want - unless there is a good reason such as the French mimes I had in last year's effort.
Oo, couldn't resist a thread with "racism" in the topic. Anyway.
You've really answered your question with the above. There's nothing inherently racist or offensive with a nutjob character like the one you describe, but there'll always be someone who complains. You can't please "all of the people..." and all that. The only way any racism complaint could have grounding would I suspect be if you identify the character as being from a specific nation or group - in this case Tanzania - without a solid reason. Otherwise you're starting to put your foot in it like Boris did (see: Papua New Guinea).
As others have said, just write it. Put down what you think is funny, and don't pander to others. At the end of the day, no matter what you do someone will read some bizarre unintended meaning or subliminal message into it. F**k 'em. Don't try and appease everyone because you will NEVER succeed; as Frankie noted, your art will fail, and you integrity will be compromised.
Quote: Simon Stratton @ July 22 2008, 11:38 PM BSTA little more help pls - is this ladling the exposition on too think? I need to give a character this backstory as it is hinted at throughout the script, (the plot doesn't hang off it, but it does give the character 'depth'):
JOHN: That's it, I've had enough of this. I don't care that you used to be a famous tennis player. I don't care that you lost all your money with a gambling addiction. Give me back my spare key and get out.
It would be better to post a bit more of the exchange. The trouble in here is that the expostion chunks are a bit paranthetical and a bit of a non sequitur too. A bit like an aside, in stasis, to the audience, before the energy of the last part.
Maybe along the lines that Sooty was suggesting in as much as hiding the exposition in a gag. The main thing is that it should be organic and arise naturally out of the ping pong of the conversation. All story telling is exposition, the gradual revealing to the audience of character and narrative. It's how you dress it up that sets it apart.
(1) Does the witch doctor have to be black? Why can't he be white/Chinese/Russian/Asian? Would be a bit different? "I didn't know there were cannibals in Siberia?" "They're like a frozen food section."
(2) Does the shopkeeper have to be Asian? I think it's lazy for what it's worth. I reckon making them deliberately not Asian so you're not stereotyping. (Though by deliberately not making them Asian is probably just as offensive as making them Asian. </ridiculous middle-class guilt> )
Can't the Russian witch-doctor own the corner shop, trying to make a life for himself in an alien Western culture? I do realise we're talking about two different sitcoms here, btw...
Dan
The view of most minority viewers is why are we shown as uniformly bad, and different?
And what will the people who don't know us or live amongst us think?
If you're coming from a factual background it makes it worse.
Attitudes in TV have changed a lot since the 70s.
An alternative is to turn him into a sitcom monster totally. Mkae him utterly inhuman, evil, and unreal to the extent you can say
"only the BNP would identify with him, and they're racist anyway"
or use subtle hints, maybe he's being hunted on the news by a Black police officer.
Poeple generally preffer ebing patronised to insulted.
Quote: Griff @ July 23 2008, 9:22 AM BSTThis is exactly my problem. Every idea I think of for mitigating the offensiveness of an African witchdoctor character feels even more racist, as if I'm saying that any black people watching can't apply the same critical faculties as everyone else without having to be reassured by additional positive portrayals on screen etc.
I had an English teacher who was crazy about Africa and Africans to the point of being racist in an ugly patronising way (I still know some words of Kisuaheli from my English class!). So what if you make it a white middle-class retired teacher philanthropist trying to absorb even the most questionable parts of a foreign culture. And she is in the Bed & Breakfast because she had to move out of her home after trying to use parts of her husband for a potion, or something.
That allows you to depict really over the top stuff without appearing racist, because it can be explained by the character's confused understanding of cultural practices.
At university I shared a house with a massively racist guy. It was coon this and wog that. He was great, and hugely entertaining to live with.
