Blazing Saddles is regularly ranked – with good reason – as one of the funniest movies of all time. From IMDB to Rolling Stone, to fan-driven site Ranker, they all agree: Mel Brooks’s 1974 western spoof is one of, if not the, funniest movie ever. Even the onslaught of Cancel Culture hasn’t (yet) managed to topple this comedy great.
Its quotable lines are too many to list, but one is particularly telling in the current cultural climate. Railway gang boss Taggart responds scornfully to the suggestion of sending a team of horses to investigate possible quicksand. “We can’t afford to lose any horses, you dummy!” he scoffs, before adding dryly, “Send over a couple of niggers”.
The barb in the line is as clear as it is funny: the lives of black railroad workers are worth less than even a horse. But is the person who wrote the line a racist, no matter what his intent? Given that it was written by Richard Pryor, that’s a hard argument to sustain.
But that’s exactly what some in the Twitter mob want you to believe. Worse, some writers are bowing cravenly to such a stupid argument.
Social media outrage at fictional books is causing contrite writers to revise their lines post-publication. Critics are ignoring the fact that what fictional characters say and do does not represent the ideologies of the author or publisher.
What’s even worse about this is that writers and publishers are so damned gutless.
Elin Hilderbrand faced backlash on Instagram for a passage in her new summer 2021 book, The Golden Girl. The passage is an exchange between two teenagers, Savannah and Vivi, where they discuss how Vivi will hide in the attic of Savannah’s home without Savannah’s parents knowing.
“You’re suggesting I hide here all summer?” Vivi asks. “Like… like Anne Frank?” she adds. The narrator then says, “This makes them both laugh – but is it really funny, and is Vivi so far off base?”
The passage was criticized through a post on the Instagram page of Little, Brown and Company, Hilderbrand’s publisher. The original post, which has since been deleted, described the passage as “horifically antisemitic,” and demanded an apology from both the publisher and Hilderbrand.
So, one Instagram loser had a hissy-fit and both publisher and writer immediately cave?
Then it’s their own stupid fault.
Some years back, tax-hoovers The Chaser did a comedy skit, The Make-A-Realistic-Wish Foundation. Like much of The Chaser’s work, it wasn’t particularly funny, relying heavily on the “shock” shtick. But, you know, whatever.
But outrage-mongers don’t do whatever. A “backlash” prompted a grovelling apology.
As it happened, at that very time, British comedian Christopher Morris, best known as Denholm Renholm in The I.T. Crowd, was visiting Australia. He expressed disdain for The Chaser’s cowardice. “I wouldn’t have apologised,” he said.
And he was right. If a writer is going to write something, they have to be prepared to stand by it. Backing down and groveling to the mob is the path to censorship.
This was not the only time in the past month that an author has faced backlash for the words of their fictional characters. On Twitter, a user posted a passage from Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue, a popular 2019 romance novel, where a supporting character says: “Well, my UN ambassador fucked up his one job and said something idiotic about Israel, and now I have to call Netanyahu and personally apologize.”
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Cue screeching outrage from the BDS mob, who tweeted – because of course they did – that “mentions of Israel (especially when they’re completely unnecessary as well, such as in books/films/shows) normalize the occupation of Palestine”.
Yes, that’s what these idiots think. Who on earth would apologise to them?
It might be some sign of hope that the “backlash” generated a backlash of its own.
Many in the author community on Twitter – or at least, in the circles in which I move – rebelled against the idea of being held responsible for what their characters say. They were also revolted by the idea of self-censoring their work, just because of some anonymous loser on Instagram.
When Twitter went after Enid Blyton, users fought back for the author who first taught them to love reading.
Don’t apologise – it only encourages the bastards.
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