Blazing Saddles Analysis

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Nick Ray ENGL 102- Dr. Milam April 19, 2013 Parody of Western Genre Blazing Saddles, a Mel Brooks’ film, is a parody of the western genre. The main purpose of this film is to make fun of the western genre. Mel Brooks is known for his satire in films and other genres. Blazing Saddles, in some opinions, is one of the funniest films made by Brooks. Many of the film’s ideas and problems are common of westerns, but Brooks puts a switch in Blazing Saddles. Brooks’ writes Blazing Saddles to parody the western through, caricature, satire of racism and stereotype reversal. Caricature throughout Blazing Saddles is very prominent. The most known and looked upon is the black sheriff, Bart. This is a very unique characteristic of a western. In majority…show more content…
Bart being a sheriff is an example of stereotype reversal because usually the sheriff of a western is a white man. Look no further than Blazing Saddles for a wonderful spoof of all the outworn cowboy hokum. Ah, but all the same, what would a Western be without morally challenged townsfolk, saloon brawls, and men in black and white hats vying for fashion supremacy? Throw them together and you've got a Western (Siva) A common western always has a cowboy, townsfolk, saloon brawls. Blazing Saddles townsfolk are white, but they are stupid. In most western’s the townsfolk are pretty smart and know what is going on. The saloon brawl that happens is usually between multiple people, but in Blazing Saddles there is only one man, Mongol, who fights all of them. Another example of stereotype reversal is when the white people, in the beginning, are on the railroad and ask the black people to sing a song like they do in the fields. However, the black people sing like white people would, and the white people are jumping and dancing around like black people would have. The Indians speaking Yiddish is ironic and a little bit of stereotype reversal. Since Yiddish language is speaking by Jews, and the Indians are speaking it, this is comical. This is comical because they were both driven out of their homeland, and were a part of genocide. Brooks uses stereotype reversal to show that people should not always assume something is what it should be and have an open mind towards
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