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Joe90
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19 Nov 2020, 12:01 pm

I've seen a lot of American movies where if a family had a butler he was often a white British male with a snobby attitude and no sense of humour. I'm not saying it offends me, because it doesn't, but how come people in general don't get offended by this but get offended by something like Apu from the Simpsons? (Which doesn't offend me either).

Also I've often seen villains in American movies being British. And nobody is bothered by this? How come?


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19 Nov 2020, 12:09 pm

Joe90 wrote:
I've seen a lot of American movies where if a family had a butler he was often a white British male with a snobby attitude and no sense of humour. I'm not saying it offends me, because it doesn't, but how come people in general don't get offended by this but get offended by something like Apu from the Simpsons? (Which doesn't offend me either).
It is likely due to the fact that most (if not all) of those "snobby British butlers" were more intelligent, more educated, and generally more aware of what was really going on around them than their American employers.
Joe90 wrote:
Also I've often seen villains in American movies being British...
Because you will also often see villains in American movies being played by actors who are African, Middle-Eastern, Asian, Mexican, Columbian, Russian, Chinese, and even American.

What ... are you expecting villains to never be British?

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19 Nov 2020, 8:48 pm

I would love to see a British set movie, where a British rich family has an American butler, that is a total "yankee".



Joe90
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19 Nov 2020, 9:12 pm

It just seems that if there was a black butler, or a villain, in a movie of white people, it would be controversial. But if the butler or villain is British, or any other white ethnicity, nobody is bothered by it.

It's like in the Simpsons, Apu is offensive because it is stereotyping Indian people, but Groundskeeper Willie is stereotyping Scottish people and nobody is offended.


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ironpony
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19 Nov 2020, 10:13 pm

Would someone like Khan from Kind of the Hill be considered offensive? He seems more intelligent than the white characters in the show, so would be offensive therefore?



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27 Nov 2020, 5:18 pm

ironpony wrote:
I would love to see a British set movie, where a British rich family has an American butler, that is a total "yankee".


That would be hilarious. :lol:


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27 Nov 2020, 5:33 pm

Because that trope appeals to Americans when hiring a butler so it's a reflection of something that occurs in real life.


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