Three things surprise me about this thread:
Larso has contributed to it and he should be arriving at my place with his wife and child in 25 minutes. My wife and I are here with nibblies and drinks out and he will be late.
The same creative team were responsible for Dad's Army and It ain't half hot mum. One was a genteel view of a very dignified England and the other was a brash (perhaps crass) in your face type comedy. A very different tone, indeed.
The differing standard applied to sex jokes, racist jokes and violence. 'Are you being served' parodied sexual preference and still has a rather loyal following. Violence, though not in these shows of course, has become increasingly graphic. Yet the issue of race remains so problematic! That, however, is not to defend something by saying something else is just as bad. As an argument, that infuriates me! But I do think that it remains a valid point. Furthermore, each of the racists in 'It ain't half hot mum' is held up for ridicule as a buffoon. If you ridicule the racist, do you ridicule racism? What about Charlie Chaplin's take on Hitler? Ridiculing something is a powerful critique.
