Post by Maolsheachlann on Jun 22, 2017 12:30:26 GMT
Do any other members of this forum enjoy Carry On movies?
I'm a big fan (though it's a long time since I saw one), and have been since at least my early twenties.
They tend to be hated by every ideological camp, for these reasons:
1) Leftists hate them because they're sexist (although their presentation of both sexes is far from flattering), because they're "racist" (although they take the mickey out of the Brits more than anyone else), and because of other politically incorrect material.
2) More conservatively-minded people hate them because of the level of sexual innuendo and other forms of rudeness (though this is obviously very mild by today's standards).
3) Cultured people hate them because they are so utterly lowbrow.
4) Not really consistent with the rest of the list (don't you hate that?), but people from America and anywhere other than the UK and Ireland tend to be completely unaware of their existence.
And yet...I like them. I like their sheer vulgarity; vulgar as in plebeian, not rude. I like their Britishness. I like their irreverence, which was never vicious irreverence. And I think the wordplay was sometimes utterly ingenious.
It should be said that I'm talking about the middle stretch of Carry Ons, the ones scripted by Talbot Rothwell. The early black and white ones are quite lame, and the last few entries in the series are bad beyond belief. But the great ones are Carry on Dick (Dick Turpin), Carry On At Your Convenience (set in a toilet factory, and spoofing British industrial relations on the time), Carry On Screaming (a brilliant send-up of Hammer horrors), Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (the Scarlet Pimpernel), Carry On Abroad (package holidays), Carry on Girls (a beauty content), Carry on Up the Khyber (the Raj-- with its famous finale, the dining room scene where the colonial administration continue to placidly eat their dinner while the Residency around them is being destroyed by Indian rebels) and Carry On Henry (Henry the Eighth-- "a great man with his chopper").
I'm anticipating this thread will sink like the Titanic. Or maybe, after admitting to liking some modern church architecture AND Carry On Films, I might be deposed and expelled from the forum!
I'm a big fan (though it's a long time since I saw one), and have been since at least my early twenties.
They tend to be hated by every ideological camp, for these reasons:
1) Leftists hate them because they're sexist (although their presentation of both sexes is far from flattering), because they're "racist" (although they take the mickey out of the Brits more than anyone else), and because of other politically incorrect material.
2) More conservatively-minded people hate them because of the level of sexual innuendo and other forms of rudeness (though this is obviously very mild by today's standards).
3) Cultured people hate them because they are so utterly lowbrow.
4) Not really consistent with the rest of the list (don't you hate that?), but people from America and anywhere other than the UK and Ireland tend to be completely unaware of their existence.
And yet...I like them. I like their sheer vulgarity; vulgar as in plebeian, not rude. I like their Britishness. I like their irreverence, which was never vicious irreverence. And I think the wordplay was sometimes utterly ingenious.
It should be said that I'm talking about the middle stretch of Carry Ons, the ones scripted by Talbot Rothwell. The early black and white ones are quite lame, and the last few entries in the series are bad beyond belief. But the great ones are Carry on Dick (Dick Turpin), Carry On At Your Convenience (set in a toilet factory, and spoofing British industrial relations on the time), Carry On Screaming (a brilliant send-up of Hammer horrors), Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (the Scarlet Pimpernel), Carry On Abroad (package holidays), Carry on Girls (a beauty content), Carry on Up the Khyber (the Raj-- with its famous finale, the dining room scene where the colonial administration continue to placidly eat their dinner while the Residency around them is being destroyed by Indian rebels) and Carry On Henry (Henry the Eighth-- "a great man with his chopper").
I'm anticipating this thread will sink like the Titanic. Or maybe, after admitting to liking some modern church architecture AND Carry On Films, I might be deposed and expelled from the forum!
