Social Class and The Blues Brothers

[@clybournstreet9628]

Elwood did NOT mindlessly run a red light, he went through a yellow light and was falsely accused of running a red light. The movie makes it a point to show this.

[@georgehenderson7783]

The light was yellow, sir.

[@kipkak80]

yeah but ur supposed to stop if you still can when the light is yellow

[@vincentanguoni8938]

Aside from everything else it's one of the greatest comedy movies of all time!!!

[@PrestonK_Productions]

Music in the movie represents hope. The fact that the first scene at the prison has absolutely no music, while the final scene at the prison in full of music, making even the guards smile, is probably one of the most victorious scenes in movie history.

[@reythejediladyviajakku6078]

I also thinks that this makes a statement that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, music is for everyone and that goes for any genre. Whatever makes you wanna go karaoke in the car is your music to enjoy

[@Cytrusowy_Lunatyk]

Really great video essay ! My dad and I have watched The Blues Brothers million times, and I never noticed this deeper social class commentary.

[@Adam-lv8sz]

I'm not trying to call you or your father a liar. But if you were to watch blues brothers 1 million times from birth it would take you 252.87 years to complete this..... go ahead and google that.

[@fastfordman1965]

My favorite movie. Inspired me t become a musician. Good social outlook on the movie. “We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.” - Donald Duck Dunn

[@luigiaiden2501]

The Blues Brothers is my favorite movie all time man!! B)

[@martijndekok]

4:14 Small correction. Elwood did not go through red , buy yellow/orange. Maybe that's only shown in the Extended Version. Another show of the injustice in the American "class system".

[@philjones1013]

"The light was yellow sir."

[@m.p.jallan2172]

I liked this film a lot gorwing and and still do, but now im old the political messages are very clear, who it paints as the enemy is very clear. i used to just think it was a funny movie about car chases and music, but now i can see why the hollywood types love it even more deeply.

[@CinematicChaosReviews]

This was an amazing video! I never thought of this idea while watching the Blues Brothers of bringing everyone together. But may I suggest something on editing, it's very small but I think around 1:42 when you start talking you should kinda fade the background audio so that it's easier to hear you. Besides that very small suggestion I have, this was really awesome! Love it!

[@douglasaraujo9763]

What a great analysis of this absolutely beautiful film

[@rugby4528]

That was a great video. Good work. One of my favorite movies.

[@ryanc154]

He actually ran a yellow light didn't he? it plays back as well to show it was yellow as he went past it.

[@TheRageng]

Blues Brothers is my favourite movie. Great video!

[@jaggedstarrPI]

The film is an A+
The analysis: C-
It's just a great comedy and musical. I'll happily leave the "class struggle" stuff in Poli Sci 101 or Intro to TV and Film.
;-)

[@mj.yasser8857]

I like your analyses so much that I would love to give you a like, but i don't want to ruin that 69 likes

[@sclh]

"Though an army surrounding two unarmed men is much funnier than the things we've seen in the news recently"
Damn

[@vincentanguoni8938]

Let it go!!

[@MrAlpinab7]

ohh man, that was some deep sh*& which i must say i did not understand, but i just watch them 2 movies for good music and fun.

[@thedoctor2871]

This essay should have thousands of likes.

[@robert4123]

It seems this has been said in the comments _4:15_ the light was yellow, Healy sir

[@hilltops2]

Brilliant essay! Bravo. The late Siskel and Ebert would be jealous.

[@jacktowers7533]

I always lose it at the tank
That's where I just go, fuck this has nothing to with the law they just hate them

[@brandonkock]

The light was yellow sir!

[@josephwalls8917]

Great essay. Love the film and the points you made!

[@alexwest2573]

I love the the scene where they give the guy there address 1060 west Addison and they show up to Wrigley field

[@raqsasim]

A follow-up video would be amazing! I really would love to hear your current opinions you allude to, esp. as there's a bunch of people who miss everything you're saying -- a theme that I got in some small part when I first watched this movie as a kid in the 1980s, myself.
I'd specifically note one disagreement with your analysis -- Law Enforcement is also not well depicted, by the end of the movie. The Brothers, thru their music, do reach out -- but they reject that offer with not just force, but "Unnecessary Violence". And the story punishes them for that.
So many wonderful layers in this film!

[@jacobvicary-lovegrove4066]

Please upload more I would love to see more video essays from you I loved your insights into the blues brothers and the class divisions and know that you have the potential to be bigger than you think you could ever be.

[@themmeferal]

Holy shit this is gold

[@danielpucher3367]

Well this message got way more important this week...

[@ayeflippum]

The light was yellow, sir.

[@tinaeden8317]

Thank you, Pat Healy!

[@Anus88]

just watched the movie.
i was really enjoying this analysis!
thank you!

[@pierrepence9876]

We'll tahk ta Baab!

[@ServiceInstaller]

Lost me at the cops paralleling some sort of imagined oppression against blacks in modern society. Stats just don't support it. Sorry to burst your victim complex narrative bubble.

[@ArmyofLove]

Just enjoy the film for its crazy script

[@mbuonaguro102]

This is so relevant today

[@flytooo570]

Thank you 👍🏼

[@Medes06]

best movie ever

[@markrossow6303]

Excellent.

[@markrossow6303]

My 2nd favorite movie, only behind "Star Wars",
which is a 1977 movie with no CGI; "Only Han Shot".
"A Princess Bride" is #3
after that, Kurosawa, like "Stray Dog" or "The Bad Sleep Well"...

[@curtisy57]

Great commentary other than the victim identification of the Blues Brothers-which was not “forced upon them- that has dominated the American cultural landscape

[@vincentanguoni8938]

Butch Cassidy. Ending

[@biljanadojcinovic457]

DA VAM OLAKSAM
OVAJ FILM JE LICNA KARTA RS A DEA KOJA JOS VAZI

[@katherinehunter9526]

Pretty good break down.
But what about the 4 female archetypes that play a large part into their own missions as well as affecting the Brothers mission in very different ways.
You left out the
The Crone/Matriarch, the Virgin Bride, the Wife/Mother and the Easy single woman/Whore.
They all played different archetypical roles in the lives and on this mission from God.
There are several dynamic feminine statements that were being touched on here!
What about when Jake and Elwood are finally face to face with the disgruntled fiance who has been hunting them the entire movie?
After Jake sweet talks with a million excuses about why he left her at the alter and then finally, drops his sunglasses and EyE Fu*ks her, making her melt, they kiss and boom Jake drops her into the sewage he'd just been redeemed from and off they go.
The girl at the gas station who ends up at the side of tre road hoping Elwood would appear. The typical good country Wife at the bar.
The Nun!
So I'm sorry you either missed them completely or perhaps you've intentionally left them out.
Why? I don't know!
Either way I hope you have something to contribute now that you've been made aware of your gross oversight.
Peace
🇨🇦😎🐈

[@woodsplitter3274]

Don't forget about Ms. Matt "guitar" Murphy or

[@msubasic64]

Tell me more

[@giuseppecappelluti3626]

The interesting thing is that The Blues Brothers is absolutely colourblind. Being Black or White doesn’t matter much: they are mixed everywhere, and race appears only from time to time (the Illinois Nazis, the comment of Aretha Franklin about “your white friends”)

[@einvermont1907]

I respectfully disagree. I think it is a celebration of black culture. If you are blind to something, you cannot see it or appreciate its beauty. And along side all the problems mentioned in this commentary and the comedy, there is a incredible beauty.

[@giuseppecappelluti3626]

@@einvermont1907 I am actually not talking about culture, but about being “white” and “black” in the film.
The policemen can be both black and white, the Blues Brothers’ spiritual father is black, the band itself has both black and white members. Only the Nazis are white only.
At the end of the day, you’ll not even notice who is black and who is white. Anyway, you won’t find it relevant.

[@ArmyofLove]

You're reading too much into class

[@biljanadojcinovic457]

KOLIKO OVAKVOH U ES A DEU IMA ?
NESRECNIKA SA " BED LAK "
KOLKO OCES
A DOG JE BAJDENA SAMO CE DA SE MNOZE
MA SVE JE SVUDA USTO SAMO JE DJAVO UZNEPRADOVO TEHNOLOGIJU NAD ZIVOTOM JE ODABRAO
OVAJ STARI FILM ZA MENE JE SVAKI PUT NOV .I TEK SNOMLJEN
JET RALNOST STAGNIRA A LAZ SE POKRECE
EEE TO JE BED LAK.

[@OxieBoy]

That's excellent! But please turn down the movie sound when you're talking - that is barely understandable for guys like me who are not born english-speakers

[@Kim-Pat]

I'll keep that in mind when I do another one of these - thanks!

[@woodsplitter3274]

Using Critical Race Theory to examine the BB? Interesting.

[@vincentanguoni8938]

Wtf???

[@woodsplitter3274]

@@vincentanguoni8938 Yup. Examining a text (in this case a film) and its components and how it relates to race

[@1USACitizen192]

The police didnt cause the damage...the blues brothers did.

[@Kuudere-Kun]

I'd prefer an all female remake of this to Ghostbusters. This is an example of a film that had some great often overlooked social commentary, but is tainted by ti's treatment of women.

[@Kim-Pat]

I agree 1000% - in general I wanted to review it in a way that was completely constructive (just in the interests of fighting the overwhelming cynicism that tends to plague the world of film 'criticism' on youtube) so I focused on its more progressive themes on class and race, but a lot of those themes come directly at the expense of women, especially Aretha Franklin and Carrie Fisher's characters. Even the scenes in Bob's Country Bunker focus on 'Stand By Your Man', a song that basically represents American patriarchy,

[@zephyr5802]

I will be honest and say I don’t think this movie should be remade. In my honest opinion I don’t think remakes do anything to benefit anyone other than to get old fans of the original to return and be saddened upon seeing the way the movie has been altered from its original state, and bring in new fans who don’t understand or know of the original and thus are denied the opportunity of truly experiencing the original movie.
For example, you reference the remake of the Ghostbusters, which I believe and ,Amy film critics and just about anybody who has watched the original movie would say it’s a very good movie. Currently, according to rotten tomatoes the original Ghostbusters movie (1984) has a score of 97%. The Ghostbusters released in 2016 has a score of 74%. And to me, while I found portions of the movie to be entertaining as the cast was well picked, I didn’t really find the newest Ghostbusters did anything that really made its mark in my mind. It just ended up being “just another movie” not because I hold anything against the themes presented by it, but because it just didn’t do anything that warranted it to be that good.
And while I do agree that the way female characters are treated in the Blues Brothers is entirely unacceptable in this modern era of movie making, you must remember the time when The Blues Brothers was created and the roles and themes present during that culture. No matter how hard anyone tries no one can undo the past, and no matter how bad or ugly it might be, our past mistakes offer crucial lessons in righting wrongs and learning from our mistakes, without them we will simply continue to make the same mistakes.
I think remakes should be avoided at all cost, to me they just end up doing more damage than any good or simply don’t do anything at all. And while I can’t quite put into words what I want to say, I certainly agree another movie in the same vein as The Blues Brothers could be made, that could address and possibly correct some of the missteps the original Blues Brothers made considering its treatment of women and patriarchal culture.
In the end I don’t quite know what could be done to address this particular misstep in The Blues Brothers plot, I’m not usually the type of person that would make the kind of argument that I have just made. But I feel particularly strongly that remakes often don’t quite live up to what they were expected, to me I find it much better to do something that is your own and not piggyback off of past works via remakes or in any other form.
I apologize for any inconsistencies in my typing or grammar, I hav been typing on a touch screen with a mind of its own.

[@Kuudere-Kun]

@@zephyr5802 Without Remakes we wouldn't have most of the Art and Literature people today value.

[@michaelotterbeck9290]

This is a CLASSIC not only should it not be made, the “sequel” to this John would be rolling in his grave,should never have been made

[@raqsasim]

@@Kuudere-Kun I wish a lot more people realized this. Most of the pre-18th century art was created directly from existing works, and "good" and "original" aren't automatically parallel.

[@justmeeagainn]

Has anyone told you this is a comedy? No? Ok allow me to be the first. This movie is funny. People of your age have no sense of funny. You need to deconstruct and analyze everything. But, once upon a time, people went to the movies and laughed at something called comedy. I know it’s hard to believe these days, especially after you’ve had all humor indoctrinated out of you by your woke parents and teachers, but trust me on this, it’s true. Comedy. Funny.
Nothing today felt better than downvoting this video.

[@paulpeterson4216]

Let me suggest that you watch Blazing Saddles and then go on telling everybody that any movie that is a comedy is inherently void of social commentary. The fact that you're too blinded by your own old age and prejudices to comprehend what the essayist is saying does not make him wrong, it makes you ignorant.

[@internetbodhi1009]

There's a deep irony here... But I'm just gonna let it simmer, because deconstructing it ruins the joke...
Get back to me when you figure it out.

[@sxeuyts]

It's not so much a movie about social class as in reality the Nazis thought the exact same thing such as with the Jews. I'd say it's actually just More a movie about music that brings everyone together rather than seperating everyone into social classes just to divide when we're all human . Plus I've watched this movie so many times since I was 7 so using socialism as a way to advocate it isn't going in the right direction. Even in the second movie it's obvious it's not about class as both movies push views against socialism such as with the Russians in the second movie like with the Nazis in the first... Hmmmhmm by the way has to do with the state hense why they were trying to save the place they were raised.. from taxes .. so if anything this movie isn't anything about socialism or class .

[@__-vb3ht]

He actually points out that he means class not as economic class but as in social class, closely related to race. The Blues Brothers having white skin but being "culturally black" is being used to draw attention to how those two groups are being treated differently by the police. And that's not really dividing humans further, since those injustices already exist. Pointing them out is meant to fight them not prop them up. So the argument he makes is actually not really about socialism. That and the Nazis were not socialist at all, calling themselves that was only a PR stunt to gain votes from gullible workers. Their actions spoke a different language

[@davecrowson448]

Dude, if you saw this video as pushing socialism, I’d recommend laying off the Koolaid.

[@sxeuyts]

@@davecrowson448 where I come from we don't have koolaid only mountain dew and arepa ..