Don’t forget the rather unfortunate usage of a bunch of people cruising around in the Confederate car all being named “Duke.”
See, there was once a man named David, who was the leader of a wacky little group of goofballs back in the '70s. That li’l jokester even went so far as to get everyone to call him a grand wizard, which is such a zany thing to ask people to do, but people totally did it with a straight face
Anyway, I wonder if it’s a coincidence. Who knows?
He wasn’t a big name here in the Midwest, at least, until he gained national prominence by winning a seat in the Louisiana legislature in '89, thus becoming the face of the pit of foul putrescence at the heart of the GOP. (Anybody who thinks that Republicans turned batshit-evil in 2016 was at least 27 years late.)
Probably more likely the name is a reference to Civil War Confederate General Basil Duke. Or perhaps the name merely is meant to invoke the idea of the Dukes as important, “noble” figures in Hazzard County, or at least more noble than the corrupt Boss Hogg. Or maybe a cigar is just a cigar in this case.
He was leader in 1989. The first episode was in 1979, a decade earlier.
Wikipedia seems to disagree. I believe you may be thinking of when he took political office, not when he started as Grand Wizard of the Idiot Brigade.
European checking in: whats the name of the series?
Dukes of Hazzard.
“Inspired” by / re-done from the B-movie film “Moonrunners”
Starring the legendary James Mitchum! Probably because Mitchum also starred in Thunder Road, which is the grandaddy of all “bootleggers in a fast car” movies, and which was originally written with Elvis Presley in mind for the lead role.
In addition, those shorts are still called daisy dukes (at least by my generation) in honor of Daisy there, laying on the flag.
I still call em Daisy Dukes, though I had no clue where that term came from so thank you
I didn’t realize until my late teens (mid-00s) where the term came from. Still call them that to this day. Never cared to find out if they have a proper term.
Blue jean panties is the proper term.
The Dukes of Hazard
Um…no? It was called The Dukes of Hazzard, you’re way off
No, pretty sure it was “Incest Cousins and Their Hate Crime Car.”
The Friday night lineup in those days was Dukes, followed by The Love Boat, followed by Fantasy Island. I didn’t know it was racist. I thought it was a sort of Robbin Hood story with cool car jumps and a corrupt Sheriff of Nottinghazzard.
I’d say that there was often time some OTHER antagonist, making it “cool guys jump car so that bungling sheriff catches actual bad guys”.
Not in the United States, on Fridays it was Dukes Of Hazard then Incredible Hulk on CBS, while Love Boat and Fantasy Island was Saturdays on ABC.
That’s because that’s all it was.
The racist shit was just a lilly for the southern broadcasters to hang their hat on.
I saw a couple episodes when I was a very small child and I don’t remember anything racist. They were just like running from the cops and solving crimes sometimes right?
It had the southern prid e propaganda of the car being named after a confederate general and the flag plus the whole rebellious thing
But yeah, it was basically Robin Hood set in the south and the characters themselves were not written to be racists.
Pretty much. The only ‘racist’ bit was having the confederate flag on the roof.
I’m pretty sure that there was at least one episode with a “bad guy” that was black, but I don’t think race had anything to do with it. There weren’t too many positive race stories from that show though.
That doesn’t make the show racist.
And calling it General Lee.
That too. It was basically coded racist, but wasnt. Like the opposite of a crypto-fascist or something.
Yep. I made a comment this morning about how not everyone who flies the stars and bars really understands why it’s a hateful symbol with this show as one of the points (there are others I won’t go through). Someone else pointed out that the neighboring Sheriff Little was black and was shown to be a way more competent character (not a good guy, but not a dumb , racist stereotype either) than Roscoe P. Coletrane or Jefferson Davis Hogg. The show literally made fun of the guy who was named for the president of the Confederacy.
That flag should never have been used for the good guys but they were “rebels”. Showing it was supposed to cement that into the people’s minds. It was stupid and short sighted. It also worked to make people feel like if they identified as a good guy rebel they could proudly display that flag.
I watched it a bit growing up and never got racist vibes from it either. The Confederate flag just meant “the south” to me back then. I knew a lot of people with them on various knick knacks and articles of clothing that I never witnessed being racist either. I don’t think people put so much thought into it back then.
These days though, yeah if you’re still flying that flag you’re probably an asshole.
The Confederate flag just meant “the south” to me back then.
Growing up around the same time, this was how I interpreted it as well. I didn’t give a shit about the flag, but I never got the racist connotation from anyone around me at the time. It was just something that Southern people liked, just as you said.
Southern people just like symbols of slavery. What’s wrong with celebrating symbols of slavery? It’s how I was raised. I don’t need to consider how descendants of slaves feel about seeing the battle flag of slavers celebrated. People who murdered hundreds of thousands of people so they could continue owning black people just used it as a symbol of institutional hate, what’s so wrong with that?
Well ill give ya credit you thought about what it historically represents, but you are still missing the reason why it was/is so prominent. Southerners are ignorant as shit, I mean this is the most neutral why possible. They got fucked over by the old southern aristocracy and are still being fucked over just now its the new oligarchy. For someone to right a wrong they must be aware that a wrong needs to be righted, and frankly speaking most southerners are ill equipped for such a task.
Also I really hope ya dont go round making accusations like that, bring attention to the problem gently. The worst theyll do is not listen, but if ya go in looking for a fight they are guaranteed not to listen. I made such a mistake with my kin out in Little Rock.
On the flip side, it was just kind-a ok to be racist at that time. I can remember serious discussion on whether a black man could be smart enough to play quarterback in the NFL.
When I was a kid the show turned me off at first because the characters accents. Every adult in real life around me that had a country accent was an asshole that was mean to me for no reason.
That’s why I can’t watch Letterkenny. I could get the same experience any Tuesday night at the Legion around here.
I got into a heated argument (preschool) about whether the car jumped or flew. My dumbass neighbors (my age and younger) contended that it flew. Their mother backed them up. I bet they turned out really fucked up with a parent who was willing to lie to them and distort reality rather than hit them with a dose of reality. I was super mad about it. And now look at me: I’m an atheist who believes in Leftwing politics, so I’d say that on the spectrum from reality to fucked, I turned out pretty ok. Hate to think how they must see the world today.
fly
to move through the air using wings. to be carried through the air by the wind or any other force or agency:“Any other force or agency” such as a car’s momentum
jump
to spring clear of the ground or other support by a sudden muscular effort; leap:“muscular effort” cars don’t make muscular effort.
Looks like flew was technically more accurate
Flew off a cliff and flew into the sky have very different connotations.
Were there ever any non-white people on the show they could have been racist towards?
Yes, and they were always treated as equals. It was rare for them to be on the show though.
This site counted and “The conclusion was that with 19 black characters over seven seasons, Dukes of Hazzard had a higher black-character-to-episode ratio than Seinfeld or Friends.”
That makes sense, it’s not like NYC is very diverse or anything.
No I had no idea either, I’m Canadian and we didn’t really learn American history. It was just a show to me, but learning what I know as an adult, I’m gobsmacked this existed.
Man… gotta say, I’m really glad I got to enjoy these old skool shows.
Pssst… I’m Latino, this show didn’t offend me then and it doesn’t offend me now.
Ummmm thighs 😋
I wish I was born in a time when people could just enjoy shit.
It seems like mindless TV with action, some good old boys and some eye candy, set in the south.
People make out it is some sort of factually wrong documentary.
lemmy just hates people who humiliate cops on a daily basis i would guess
People make out it is some sort of factually wrong documentary
Say what you will about stupid people, but I have to tell you this: I’ve had more than a few people tell me they did not wear seat belts because “the Dukes never wore seat belts”
I am not even fucking kidding about this. It’s not just about people today treating this TV show like it was a depiction of reality, it’s about people at the time doing the exact same thing.
As I’ve seen it said many times on Lemmy for many nostalgia moments and am also quite surprised no one said to to you yet (they probably got tired of repeating it…), people yearning for the good old times are the privileged white patriarchy class.
Be ashamed, be very ashamed. Tsk. Tsk.
People are nostalgic the world over, not just in America. So all of the undertones of political issues that you’re layering on here isn’t inherent to the human feeling of nostalgia. Now The Dukes of Hazzard is problematic for a great many reasons as this post highlights. So it’s totally fair to call that out. But it’s also totally fair to remember being a kid and liking a show where guys break the rules with fast cars. It doesn’t mean that he’s a bigot that wants to drag us all back to the '70s.
I say, as long as you’re self aware and this feeling in nostalgia doesn’t push you in the direction of Trump or Andrew Tate, then go for it.
How dare you bring reason and nuance to the conversation? You damn centrist! It’s you and people like you that embolden the right in their shenanigans! Only by not tolerating this intolerant symbolism can we rid ourselves of these fascist cults!
Or so the story goes…
It was lovely then. I miss not giving a shit about words.
We gave a shit back then too, they just were different words that we cared about.
Apart from the confederate flag itself, this show was pretty much anarchist. They spent every episode humiliating the cops and breaking any righteous law they could. The show treated the flag as set dressing.
They also came from a family that canonically resisted the Union during the civil war. And there’s very few black people in the show whatsoever. So.
I know the hate symbol has always been a hate symbol, but if there’s any show where you could say “it was a product of its time” (the 70’s, btw) I think it’s this one.
There’s a whole episode of The Cleveland Show (as in Cleveland Brown, the black character from Family Guy) where Cleveland gets upset at his neighbor friend for flying a Confederate flag on his house and finally tries to get rid of it. When he fails, he confronts the hick neighbor and calls him a racist. The neighbor doesn’t understand why Cleveland is upset and when Cleveland points to the flag the neighbor says, “What, my Dukes of Hazard flag?”
Cleveland immediately realizes he approached the problem from the completely wrong angle and drops the matter indefinitely. They continue to be friends.
100% agreed.
I was never into it or pretty much anything country-related, being an Airwolf, Mission Impossible (the reboot), and MacGuyver kinda kid, but Dad liked it, and explained it to me pretty much the way you did.
I was like 3 when airwolf went off the air, but the theme song still pops into my head occasionally. That show was awesome.
Just for you, what is easily the best cover of this theme.
Excellent, thank you! I might have to look into where that is streaming
“Someday, the mountain might get’ em, but the law never will.”
Back in those times, people didn’t really knew what it meant, so it got used as a “regular rebel flag”, then white supremacists claimed they just flying it for “heritage” and “rebel” reasons…
Plus the black people that do appear in the show are always equals to the Hazard Boys. They never depict the Hazard Boys being anything but accepting of everyone except Boss Hog and his law dawgs.
And they were always wary of going into the next country because their sheriff actually had his shit together and would bring the pain to the Duke boys. That sheriff happens to be black.
Right? If anything, they’re mocking the southern, rich, white, fat cat, stereotype.
Sure, and the context of “that time” was yet another Southern Grievance over the checks notes
Civil Rights Act and continued victories against bigotry in the decade leading to Dukes.
Including police officers enforcing laws like desegregation of schools.
Fun Exercise Btw:
Pick a southern county, look up what years the private schools in the area were founded.
Oh, so this wasn’t a wholesome series about a cute couple that wanted to destroy every car that has racist symbols painted on the roof? Bcs they were really good at it. And destroying the cars as well.
Just imagining it with your miserable world view. There’s zero incest in the show, and zero hate crimes. Other than the flag and name of the car, there’s nothing racist about it at all, and that flag wasn’t perceived as a racist symbol back then, as illogical as that may seem. When black people do appear in the show, which admittedly is rare, they’re always equals to the Duke boys. The show is just good fun. If there’s any theme to it at all, it’s that it’s cool to make money with moonshine, and flaunt the law, while making fools of law enforcement.
Bro you cant just tell OP hes a retard with a hive mentality.
To add, the bad guy is a rich guy trying to exploit people for profit or to get revenge for those that have wronged him.
I guess you have quite the imagination.
its like that because the show is literally just the movie “moonrunners”.
the car is called the general lee because the car in moonrunners is called traveler, the historical general lee’s horse.
moonrunners is a crazy movie, btw, and the first few seasons of the dukes of hazard are good too.
I really want a new movie with one of the moments being a the general lee with proper stars and bars being paint job used to destroy a confederate statue, maybe have the new duke brothers inherit the car and use it do some good knowing how angry them having the car makes confederate sympathisers
Honestly, just making them good people and having them help and hang out with minorities would be more than enough. So they should definitely add that shit in destroy a statue with it while a minority is in the car with them.
Edit: and you dont even really have to change Boss Hog he pretty much fits.
Conservatives are known for repurposing symbols to fit their narrative. So, let’s take the Confederate battle flag and repurpose it into an Anarchist symbol.
General Lee is just a badass name for a car to drive fast around while you run your moonshine because fuck the police.
Well to be fair I was a kid and didn’t watch it - didn’t care.
