Why, that is, other than the fact that the UK has been lobotomized by The Great Stupid even more than the U.S. has.
Do you know what was “offensive” in one of my all-time favorite movies without cheating? Think, now…
Time’s up!
It’s this: Admiral Boom, a senile neighbor of the Banks family whose sole purpose in the plot is to set up a running gag showing how the Banks’ and their servants routinely deal with his shooting off a cannon (the house shakes, furniture slides around, things fall off shelves, hilarity reigns), twice refers to “Hottentots.”
The British Board of Film Classification announced that the film was resubmitted for a rating this month in preparation for a theatrical re-release. The Borad reclassified if from “G” to “PG” for discriminatory language, a spokesperson explained. “Mary Poppins (1964) includes two uses of the discriminatory term ‘Hottentots’…While “Mary Poppins” has a historical context, the use of discriminatory language is not condemned, and ultimately exceeds our guidelines for acceptable language. We therefore classified the film PG for discriminatory language.” The term was once used by the British to describe the Khoikhoi and San nomadic tribes in southern Africa—surely you remember them?
At least the U.S. isn’t so far gone…yet. The only reason “Hottentots” was ever used in the last hundred years or so was because the name sounds funny. Duke Ellington wrote a jazz number called “Hottentot,” with the lyrics,
You may believe it or not
When they start getting hot
There is no Hottentot
That’s hotter than that!
I’m pretty sure his audiences didn’t think he was using a racial slur.
When my son Grant was very small, he wanted to watch “Mary Poppins” endlessly (that, and “Babe”) and I watched it with him. I have the thing memorized. The second I heard about this stupid, stupid, decision (“If you leave it to them, they will crochet the world the color of goose shit.”—Jacques Brel), I knew instantly what the political correctness censors found so offensive.
I bet there isn’t a single child who has seen that movie in the last 50 years who knew what “Hottentots” refers to.
Ethics Alarms 
The term was once used by the British to describe the Khoikhoi and San nomadic tribes in southern Africa—surely you remember them?
At least the U.S. isn’t so far gone…yet. The only reason “Hottentots” was ever used in the last hundred years or so was because the name sounds funny.
I think you’re proving their point with these comments.
I think you are hopelessly deluded, with the soul of censor.
Treating “Hottentots” as a racist term in the context of the film is as silly as treating the chimney sweep number as “blackface”—which is essentially the implication of the new rating. Anyone who watched that number and thought “blackface!” would need a psychiatric evaluation.
Treating “Hottentots” as a racist term in the context of the film is as silly as treating the chimney sweep number as “blackface”—which is essentially the implication of the new rating.
it’s not the same.
No it’s not the same.
Anyone who watched that number and thought “blackface!” would need a psychiatric evaluation.
That’s good because no one is saying that.
“No it’s not the same” is nothing, Bob. It’s not fact, it’s not an argument, it’s not reasoning. It’s just obstinacy.
You sure pick some dumb hills to die on…
What, indeed, makes the Hottentots so hot?
ARRRGH! Of course! “What have they got that I ain’t got?” I guess Judy’s classic is also going to be graded as dangerous to young ears.
“Hottentots” is right up there with “Fuzzy Wuzzy” in English colonial lexicon. I seem to recall that the latter term was actually one of respect, at least for Kipling. I’m not so sure about the Hottentots.
So ‘ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at yer ‘ome in the Sudan,
Yer a poor benighted heathen, but a first-class fightin’ man.
We gives you yer certificate, and if you wants it signed,
We’ll be glad to ‘ave a romp with you, whenever you’re inclined.
-From Kipling’s “Barrack Room Ballads.”
Sort of respectful, but also threatening them with death. In my days of collecting gloss-painted toy soldiers, I got some hand-to-hand sets that showed the British empire fighting the Mahdi, fighting the Zulus, fighting the Egyptian rebels, and so on. I remember there was a set that showed a Sudanese warrior with the elaborate Beja hair that created the term Fuzzy-Wuzzy being shot dead by a pistol wielding British Empire NCO (Royal Marine, Highlander, other units, it was up to you), and the little writeup in the catalogue said something to the effect of “Crack! These Fuzzy Wuzzies never learn, do they?” At the time I thought it was cool to be deliberately politically incorrect. Nowadays…eh…
Seriously? Calling BS: “At the time I thought it was cool to be deliberately politically incorrect. Nowadays…eh… ””At the time” there was no such thing as politically correct or incorrect! There were however thin and thick skinned people that later apparently have diminished greatly. Yes there were bigots and racists but what you are describing is neither.
Well, that was something I hadn’t remembered. The last time we discussed Fuzzy Wuzzy, we were singing this little ditty:
“Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy
No, by gosh, he wasn’t, was he?”
jvb
Who the heck would have spent the time to revive this bit of trivia? This is Streisand Effect on full display. Had they not gone looking for racist intonations it would have continued to been dead fruit on the vine – but no, they’ve gone and pumped some juice back into that fruit and revived the word for future generations to redeploy.
They have revived nothing, except their own sense of importance.
Which, as you surmise, is the whole idea.
During the New Guinea campaign of WWII, especially the Kokoda Track, Australian soldiers referred to the Locals as Fuzzy-Wuzzy Angels. This was due to it being those Angels carting in so much in the way of supplies, but more particularly, carting and assisting out so many wounded soldiers.
No doubt there were plenty of racists amongst the ‘Diggers’, but the name was all respect and gratitude.
Many years ago – 70’s – a young female friend who was on a student teaching placement in a Primary School, got all bent out of shape because a teacher called for a little girl to be a beautiful princess and a boy to be a handsome prince. My immediate thought was: “Wow, the world is in a pretty good place if we have time to worry about that!”