What’s Aged the Worst?
Blackface; homophobia; racial language, context qualified; lost impact of nudity; E.F. Hutton reference; World Trade Center line; Santa salmon
In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:21Read transcript
- Blackface is the first explicit choice.
- The film’s pervasive homophobia is identified.
- Racist language is described as jarring but effective in exposing the Dukes’ worldview, including the charged use of both an older racial term and a slur.
- The historical impact of Curtis’s nudity is difficult to communicate decades later.
- The E.F. Hutton silence gag depends on a now-obscure advertisement reference.
- The World Trade Center kill-or-be-killed line has become dark in retrospect and is reportedly cut from some television versions.
- The Santa depiction caused childhood distrust; the salmon beard remains revolting.