Page 1 of 1 [ 5 posts ] 

MaxE
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,660
Location: Mid-Atlantic US

07 Dec 2014, 12:57 pm

This TV program is popular world-wide so I imagine quite a few here have seen it.

Series 1, Episode 2 bothered me a bit, though. I thought it racist in a rather old-fashioned way. Might be a cultural misunderstanding (US vs. UK).

Did anyone else get this impression?


_________________
My WP story


slenkar
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Apr 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,146
Location: here

07 Dec 2014, 6:30 pm

oh because the Chinese woman was just totally obsessed with chinese tea rituals and teapots

:lol:

I guess that's about as racist as having a chinese character who is obsessed with Kung Fu and Bruce Lee.

Dont bother getting stressed out about it , just laugh at it.



SashaHunter
Hummingbird
Hummingbird

User avatar

Joined: 6 Dec 2014
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 22
Location: Texas

08 Dec 2014, 2:23 am

No, you are not the only one who found it a "bit" racist! I found it that way as well, and many others did too! I think the general consensus is they tried to do a clever flip on how the original stories were a bit racist and just belly flopped into actual slight racism rather than flipping :P Somewhere between the ABSOLUTELY POINTLESS and RACIST swordfight, and the fact that every Chinese character was a criminal and/or a stereotype, this episode squicked a lot of people out.

Here is some of what others have to say on the subject!
The Strange Yellow Squiggle
The Blind Banker and Racism
I Will Not Love You Long Time: Sherlock The Blind Banker
Sherlock and wily orientals
The Blind Banker or The End of a Perfectly Good Moustache

Also, slightly unrelated, but it touches on related themes and is SO GOOD at putting it's finger on exactly why Sherlock was slightly unsettling, even though I enjoyed it, is Neoliberal Holmes.


_________________
Er ist der große Mauerbrecher, der eine stumme Arbeit hat.
He is the great wall breaker, who has a silent work.
-"Ihr vielen unbestürmten Städte/All you undisturbed cities" by Rainer Maria Rilke


Campin_Cat
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2014
Age: 64
Gender: Female
Posts: 25,953
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

08 Dec 2014, 9:29 am

All this "PC" crap is about to drive me t'drink!! I LOVE it, when in old movies / TV shows (or, the setting is "old"), that they say things that are NOT PC----it's actually refreshing, to me!! It's nice to escape to a time when language was more free. I belong to a couple of ethnic groups that used to get slammed, quite often, and I always thought it was funny!! It's good to laugh at oneself, and not take oneself so seriously----and BESIDES, how could a JOKE define ME----or anyone else----as-a-whole???



slenkar
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Apr 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,146
Location: here

08 Dec 2014, 11:40 am

Yeah it's a crazy witch hunt. Stressing out about things like this won't help you in life.

I wouldn't even say racist, maybe stereotypical. It's just a lazy writer.