Blazing Saddles and Its Horrors - Bethany Hegener - Medium

Blazing Saddles and Its Horrors - Bethany Hegener - Medium

Prim and proper "woke" millennial reviews irreverent comedy classic. (For pete's sake, don't let her watch The Producers.)

"Blazing Saddles is a classic western comedy that makes fun and jokes about literally almost everyone from members of the KKK, African Americans, Native Americans, Chinese, the Irish, women, the LGBTQ community, the Nazi party, Jews, and government officials. It wasn't okay during 1974 and it definitely still isn't okay now. My main question was 'How can people even like this? How is this funny?' I do not know the answer to those questions still, but I do know that many people do in fact still LOVE the classic western comedy. Many claim, including Mel Brooks, that a movie like this could never be made today.

"Mel Brooks is quoted saying 'But never Blazing Saddles, because we have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy. It's okay not to hurt feelings of various tribes and groups. However, it's not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering into the king's ear, always telling the truth about human behavior.' (brb throwing up)...

"Three minutes in the movie and the racist jokes begin. The entire time I was like 'I can't believe he just said that'.

She then proceeds to share "a few out of the many cringy remarks," summing up with, "As you can clearly see through these quotes, this movie was scarring. "

MORE: Bethany reviews The Princess Diaries ("Once again the 'She Cleans Up Nicely' trope swoops in with some rewarding new opportunities for the character."), Grease ("This song occurs right before she sings a horrible virgin shaming song directed at Sandy."), and Friends ("it struck me early on in the series how privileged these characters are. The all white cast indulge in this lifestyle of privilege.").