Return to Website

The Charlie Chan Family Message Board

Welcome to our Message Board. Please feel free to post your thoughts, questions, or information.

The Charlie Chan Family Message Board
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
I'm enjoying both Charlie Chan DVD set releases...

...but some of the 'extras' on the discs discussing the political correctness aspects of the series are marring. Why can't people simply enjoy the series for what it was? As a youngster watching some of the movies on television in the 1970's, it NEVER crossed my mind that the series 'stereotyped' Asian characters for ill. Why do people have to find a negative slant to something so positive? Chan was - and is - a great character with tremendous values. I can understand someone wincing over characters like Stepin Fetchit but it's sad that we have to reflect on movies of old with the 'values' of 2006. If I subconsciously interpreted any stereotyping as a youngster of Asian movie characters as a result of this series, it would be that these folks were wise, smart and very polite.....seems pretty positive to me...

Re: I'm enjoying both Charlie Chan DVD set releases...

Dear John,
I think you stated the situation as well as I have heard anyone relate it. We are living in a time when it seems that most anything that was enjoyed or cherished by previous generations is called into question - if not held up to ridicule - under the politically correct standards of today's "enlightened" gaze. It is a shame, I believe, that so many otherwise intelligent individuals or groups willingly blot out or rewrite history to suit thier political desires.

If one views Charlie Chan with an open mind to the conditions and accepted "norms" of the era from which these stories and films arose, it would hopefully become apparent that the charater(s) and situations were actually groundbreaking. I firmly believe that Charlie Chan did much to help the American public, if not that on a worldwide scale, gain a sympathy, if not also a better understanding, of Chinese and other Asians.

The question of Stepin Fetchit can be a troubling one, and, I will admit that the character gives Yours Truly pasuse, as well. However, there is so much historical "baggage" (much of it of a fairly recent vintage) that admittedly clouds the real picture. Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry) was, I believe, one of the first, if not THE first African American millionaire. He was honored by none other than the NAACP for his lifetime achievement, and, I recall as a youngster, seeing Muhammad Ali show him off as one of his entourage as he sang his praises on "Wide World of Sports." In his time, Steppin Fetchit was undoubtedly considered very amusing, perhaps to many black persons as well.

We all know how hard it was for persons of color to make it in Hollywood back in the 1930s, and Stepin Fetchit did what all entrepreneurs did and do today - give the public what it wants. How many of today's ators will be criticised by future generations for the "stereotypes" that they portray on the screen? Similar criticism has been leveled at Mantan Moremald's portrayal of Birmingham Brown in the later Charlie Chan films, but I would humbly suggest that those critical might try to view his as well as Stepin Fetchit's performances through more HISTORICALLY correct eyes. Also, it should, perhaps, be noted that there are similarly portrayed charaters throughout the Chan series who were not minorities. (I call to mind such characters as Baxter the butler from "Charlie Chan's Secret," Al Hogan, the animal trainer in "Charlie Chan in Honolulu," and others.

In the end, we are all "blinded" by our inability to gaze into the past with true clarity. However, with a little effort, this is possible, and, as a result, we may all learn something from our parents, grandparents, and other ancestors...

Sincerely,
Rush Glick

Re: Re: I'm enjoying both Charlie Chan DVD set releases...

Rush, thanks for the nice comments. I also salute YOUR perspective; it was well written and I agree with everything you stated. I was familiar with much of what you wrote about Fetchit. I personally don't mind his character all that much; I was stating that it's easy to see why people today COULD be uncomfortable with his character. What I DON'T understand is why ANYBODY would be uncomfortable with Chan's character. Aside from the fact that his role was played by non-Asians, his persona offered nothing but a positive role model.

I wrote a review a few years ago on Amazon.com about the movie 'Holiday Inn' which features a performance with Bing Crosby and others in 'blackface.' Many are quick to hyper-criticize this and deem it reflective of a 'more racist' period of time. Ironically, the entire song is a positive song towards Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation of blacks during the Civil War. It makes fun of nobody and is uplifing. Ironically, I look at the entertainment of today (rap music, gansta rap, MTV, etc.) and which can one honestly say is more demeaning? From my perspective, it's certainly not Bing Crosby...

Re: Re: I'm enjoying both Charlie Chan DVD set releases...

Rush,
Your post reminded me of a story I read about Butterfly McQueen complaining to Hattie McDaniel about the way McQueen's character (Prissy) was portrayed in the movie, Gone with the Wind.

McDaniel told her to knock it off.

She, McDaniel, had had to clean houses herself when she was getting started as an actress and it a perfectly respecable way of making a living.

Sure beat the way some women had to resort to to survive.

Virginina

Re: I'm enjoying both Charlie Chan DVD set releases...

I don't have a problem with Stepin Fetchit in CC in Egypt. I find him funny and likeable, even endearing. Frankly, his function in that movie was "comic relief" and he did very well in that function. Other actors of various races had the same function in different CC movies, with varying degrees of success. An example I don't like so well is John Henry Allen as Streamline in CC at the Race Track. He doesn't seem funny to me (though that was his function in the movie).

Re: Re: I'm enjoying both Charlie Chan DVD set releases...

It's too bad that today's society can be a bit too politically correct.

It's that type of "concern" that kept many an "Our Gang/Little Rascals" short from being re-released or broadcast/seen since their original debut in the 1930's, including one Our Gang short from 1930 featuring Stepin Fetchit himself (Fetchit being the "responsible adult" in that one short? Now that's FUNNY! Not racism or stereotyping. :D).

Thankfully, in the last decade, all of those shorts have since been released by Cabin Fever/Hallmark and now Chan's films will, God willing be released in their entirety (8 and counting for Fox, 6 so far for MGM).

Re: Re: I'm enjoying both Charlie Chan DVD set releases...

I, too, enjoy the Stepin Fetchit character. He is supposed to look "foolish" and cowardly but he was the only one who was really making any sense. He kept warning Tom and Charlie about the dangers in the tomb and look what happens--Tom gets shot 3 times (or was it 4?). So much for bravery.

Only the foolhearted would not pay heed to the Egpytian 'ghosts' that pervaded that scary archeological dig. Remember the Egyptian who drops dead in the beginning by merely gazing into the tomb.
No wonder Stepin was nervous and acared--anybody with any sense would be too.

I agree with your take on Streamline--that was a much more degrading role perpetuating a negative sterotype.