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Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Wednesday Evening OT
I posit that The Three Stooges are incredibly underestimated in their socio-political satire. In an era when Hollywood was buckling under pressure not to insult the new regime in Germany, the Stooges put out You Nazty Spy!, a blatant slap in the N@zis' face - pre-dating Chaplin's The Great Dictator by months.
And they later put out an even more pointed, bitter, insulting, and ridiculing sequel, I'll Never Heil Again (including a sort-of nod to Chaplin's dance with the globe scene in The Great Dictator).
For everyday USians who just needed slapstick and wackiness, and not Chaplin's High Art, the Three Stooges probably did more for growing anti-N@zi sentiment in the US than Charlie C. (though I'm sure cinephiles gushed over Chaplin, even as the French sighed 'ahh, but vee avait our cinematic saviour, Jair-ee Loo-wee!').
Sometimes the lowbrow assault works best for rallying the masses.
Anyway, that's my rant. Talk amongst thineselves.
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