Now I’m someone who rarely feelings offended by anything, I
joke about being offended but really I don’t care that much I feel like my time
should be put into something else, like cookie eating. But sometimes I forget
that not all my friends feel the same way like I do about the movies that I
watch and read the books that I read. No one likes having that one friend force
you to leave a money because they were hurt by something a character said or
how they acted, so when I told a friend to watch West Bank Story thinking they
would like it, I got an earful about how I could find such a movie really
racist and offensive to people of the Middle East, and how my teacher should
watch what he shows so it doesn’t hurt people’s feelings (Please Don’t Leeper).
Now this friend of mine, is no way related to any cultures people in the movie,
but said that it offended her a lot seems to be wrong. Should people get
offended by movies that aren’t really geared to their culture? Also should
people get offended by comedies that are joking about an issues? I mean my
favorite movie of all time, Tropic
Thunder is not a movie someone should see if they don’t fully understand
most jokes, does black face, yet in that kind of movie it works.
So did anyone else get hurt by West Bank Story? Do I need to
get a new friend or help my friend understand that the movie was meant to do
that? I don’t know…
I almost blogged about this myself. I think it just depends on how the person feels about making light of an issue. I've heard ironically racist jokes directed at black people that I found genuinely funny but my parents found offensive.
ReplyDeleteI think that even though West Bank story sort of makes light of a conflict that costs people's lives, it also has the effect of humanizing the people on both sides. There are no villains in this movie, just neighbors who hate each other for petty reasons, which I don't think is so far off from what's going on in real life. And it also caricaturizes the cultures, but not in a demeaning way.
You probably can't change you friend's opinion, but I say let them feel how they feel as long as they can at least understand that the movie wasn't INTENDED to insult anyone.