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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/05/matt-lucas-little-britain-black-up-society-empathetic
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| Matt Lucas has confirmed it: little Britain isn’t so small-minded now | Matt Lucas has confirmed it: little Britain isn’t so small-minded now |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| Matt Lucas has said that he would not play a black person if he were to do Little Britain again. Surely a white guy saying he would not black up shouldn’t be news in this day and age? But it’s those last five words that matter – in this day and age. Because things move on. As a society, our values, what is acceptable to laugh and point at – they change. | Matt Lucas has said that he would not play a black person if he were to do Little Britain again. Surely a white guy saying he would not black up shouldn’t be news in this day and age? But it’s those last five words that matter – in this day and age. Because things move on. As a society, our values, what is acceptable to laugh and point at – they change. |
| Little Britain was hugely popular, and bits of it were really funny, but some of it did make me feel uncomfortable at the time. Not in a hugely huffy way, but at what looked like naff, obvious, depressing sexism. I just didn’t think it was “hilair” to see white men dressing up as women to mock them as being fat, old or ugly. Thankfully, we have a society and media set up pretty well to do that already (phew) so we really didn’t need being called “Bubbles” to add to our self-loathing. How can we make it funnier? Ooh. What if one us blacks up? Nice one! Hang on … or pretends to be a young Thai woman who has had to marry some creepy old white British man for economic reasons. My how we laughed. | Little Britain was hugely popular, and bits of it were really funny, but some of it did make me feel uncomfortable at the time. Not in a hugely huffy way, but at what looked like naff, obvious, depressing sexism. I just didn’t think it was “hilair” to see white men dressing up as women to mock them as being fat, old or ugly. Thankfully, we have a society and media set up pretty well to do that already (phew) so we really didn’t need being called “Bubbles” to add to our self-loathing. How can we make it funnier? Ooh. What if one us blacks up? Nice one! Hang on … or pretends to be a young Thai woman who has had to marry some creepy old white British man for economic reasons. My how we laughed. |
| Lucas shouldn’t beat himself up too much. Little Britain was a product of its time | Lucas shouldn’t beat himself up too much. Little Britain was a product of its time |
| Except lots of us did. David Walliams and Matt Lucas are very funny, talented performers and it was primetime viewing. The show had a profound effect on culture and the zeitgeist. The character Vicky Pollard made it okay to laugh at “chavs” and contributed to the pervasive, aggressive, negative social view about young girls “getting preggers for a council flat”. | Except lots of us did. David Walliams and Matt Lucas are very funny, talented performers and it was primetime viewing. The show had a profound effect on culture and the zeitgeist. The character Vicky Pollard made it okay to laugh at “chavs” and contributed to the pervasive, aggressive, negative social view about young girls “getting preggers for a council flat”. |
| But despite its problems, I’m glad it was on air. It’s the kind of sketch show that every broadcaster is chasing unsuccessfully at the moment and that is partly because of the “day and age” we are in. Social media has changed everything. People who were offended by Little Britain had no outlet for their outrage save writing to Points of View or the Radio Times. Now, you can vent freely on Twitter and get a hashtag campaign going to close something down before the credits roll. I doubt Little Britain would have been commissioned now – and that’s a shame. | But despite its problems, I’m glad it was on air. It’s the kind of sketch show that every broadcaster is chasing unsuccessfully at the moment and that is partly because of the “day and age” we are in. Social media has changed everything. People who were offended by Little Britain had no outlet for their outrage save writing to Points of View or the Radio Times. Now, you can vent freely on Twitter and get a hashtag campaign going to close something down before the credits roll. I doubt Little Britain would have been commissioned now – and that’s a shame. |
| You’ve probably worked out that I’m a pretty left, right-on feminist type but I am also a great believer in good sharp comedy, and satire – which by definition is the comic exposure and criticism of people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in political or topical spheres. Satire is synonymous with mockery, derision, scorn and caricature which is code for someone being the butt of the joke and get a good kicking. At a time when politics and society are so divided, we need strong, sharp satire to capture the absurdity on all sides – left and right, remain and leave, old and young. You need to cause some offence to execute good satire. | You’ve probably worked out that I’m a pretty left, right-on feminist type but I am also a great believer in good sharp comedy, and satire – which by definition is the comic exposure and criticism of people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in political or topical spheres. Satire is synonymous with mockery, derision, scorn and caricature which is code for someone being the butt of the joke and get a good kicking. At a time when politics and society are so divided, we need strong, sharp satire to capture the absurdity on all sides – left and right, remain and leave, old and young. You need to cause some offence to execute good satire. |
| There is a real danger of groupthink in comedy, an industry where most of the proponents tend to share leftwing views. There were very few rightwing comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer and I didn’t hear a single pro-Brexit joke. This is the largest arts festival in the country, indeed the world, so shouldn’t it reflect that? The closest I got was fellow comic, Conservative party member and old friend (sorry, Laura Pidcock) Geoff Norcott who voted to leave. He told me “The EU is like a boyband. It’s going to split up at some point. Why not be the first out and have a decent solo career. Why not be Robbie Williams?” | There is a real danger of groupthink in comedy, an industry where most of the proponents tend to share leftwing views. There were very few rightwing comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer and I didn’t hear a single pro-Brexit joke. This is the largest arts festival in the country, indeed the world, so shouldn’t it reflect that? The closest I got was fellow comic, Conservative party member and old friend (sorry, Laura Pidcock) Geoff Norcott who voted to leave. He told me “The EU is like a boyband. It’s going to split up at some point. Why not be the first out and have a decent solo career. Why not be Robbie Williams?” |
| I would not play black person in remade Little Britain, says Matt Lucas | I would not play black person in remade Little Britain, says Matt Lucas |
| Lucas shouldn’t beat himself up too much. Little Britain was a product of its time – pretty cruel, misogynistic and a bit racist. His programme just reflected that. It reminded me of Mickey Rooney’s performance of Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. At the time, he received rave reviews for his bucktoothed, Japanese “yellow face” caricature, but as the decades passed, it became more cringe-worthy and embarrassing. In 2008, Rooney said he was heartbroken about the response, and if he had known people would have been so offended, he wouldn’t have done it. | Lucas shouldn’t beat himself up too much. Little Britain was a product of its time – pretty cruel, misogynistic and a bit racist. His programme just reflected that. It reminded me of Mickey Rooney’s performance of Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. At the time, he received rave reviews for his bucktoothed, Japanese “yellow face” caricature, but as the decades passed, it became more cringe-worthy and embarrassing. In 2008, Rooney said he was heartbroken about the response, and if he had known people would have been so offended, he wouldn’t have done it. |
| But it’s all about how things feel “in this day and age”. I’m glad we feel more empathy and don’t think it’s a massive laugh to black-up or drag-up to mock women as fat, ugly and stupid or make fun of LGBTQ people. Social empathy has improved. I’m glad in artistic terms, that Vicky Pollard’s story was retold and she morphed from the lazy, lying, skiving chav we all laughed at into Katie – the desperate young mother struggling on benefits in I, Daniel Blake who moved us to tears. It wasn’t quite so big on the lols, but I can live with that. | But it’s all about how things feel “in this day and age”. I’m glad we feel more empathy and don’t think it’s a massive laugh to black-up or drag-up to mock women as fat, ugly and stupid or make fun of LGBTQ people. Social empathy has improved. I’m glad in artistic terms, that Vicky Pollard’s story was retold and she morphed from the lazy, lying, skiving chav we all laughed at into Katie – the desperate young mother struggling on benefits in I, Daniel Blake who moved us to tears. It wasn’t quite so big on the lols, but I can live with that. |
| • Ayesha Hazarika is a political commentator and comedian, and former adviser to Ed Miliband | • Ayesha Hazarika is a political commentator and comedian, and former adviser to Ed Miliband |
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