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Originally Posted by demonrail666

It isn't imperceptible. I just don't look for a Western to provide a true or even-handed version of history. Nor do I think Ford was remotely interested in providing one. Westerns at that time were full of lazy racial stereotypes. Fuck, Hollywood at that time was full of racial stereotypes. I don't think anyone who loves MDC in 2019 is oblivious to it. They just contextualise it in terms of the time it was made and concentrate on the things that actually made them fall in love with it in the 1st place ... which I'm sure had absolutely nothing to do with its rather cringey representation of Mexicans.

well neither do i (look for even-handed depictions), but it doesn’t mean i’m gonna be impervious to it.

like i said, im not gonna be here like a maoist tribunal to dismiss ford from film history (some people would be very willing to do that on impossible ideological purity grounds)

but at the same time it’s hard to look away and ignore that this is the way racism perpetuates itself, by naturalizing these little atrocities we can now see so clearly.

i mean, this is how the heroes here establish themselves as the alphas in the room. by pushing some mexicans around. this is not incidental or accidental, and it is very difficult to pretend it’s not there.

same as watching “manhattan” in the 2010s instead of the 1980s: it just doesn’t go down the same way.

anyway, i have similar problems with zulu, which is a movie which at one level i absolutely love, and at another level makes me think “wtf” with its depiction of brave, honorable, intelligent... faceless africans, ha haha. but such a good movie. but wtf. but such a good movie... etc.