I was 11 when Young Frankenstein came out. Frankly, I wasn’t sure whether I’d like it; I worked at not being scared by the opening credit scene. By the end, I thought it was hysterical. To be fair, some of it was (and still is) delightful. For an adolescent boy in the 70s, it had much to like. And Marty Feldman, Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, Madeline Kahn, and Cloris Leachman were solidly funny.
However, I watched it again a few years ago and found it pretty horrifying. We and I have come a long way since 1974 and things which shouldn’t have been funny then are really not funny now. Rape is never a joke.
So, how should we now think of Mel Brooks? Is it fair to think less of him? Is it honorable to think well of him at all? He was the creator of Young Frankenstein; he bears most of the responsibility. All in all, I think it is fair to judge him for it and to think less well of him for it.
But, what of the others? What of the actors in Young Frankenstein? Do modern sensibilities require we disparage Madeline Kahn (who acted the rape-joke) for playing her part? Surely, there might be some mitigating circumstances. We can’t condemn the actor for the actions of the character, even if we can criticize her willingness to take the part. Having taken the part, I can’t blame her for acting it to be fullest of her ability.
And even Mel isn’t irretrievable. Yes, he was fairly uniformly juvenile, but he was mostly free of malice. He laughed “with” more than “at”. By all accounts, his long marriage with Anne Bancroft was joyful and loving. I suspect he took great joy in making her laugh.
Thus, I think the context matters, … some. And I think the intent matters, … some. And I think it is OK to appreciate the wonderful ‘Puttin on the Ritz’ dance number and remember it fondly, and acknowledge the craft of filming the movie in black-and-white. It is fair to take these into consideration. I’ll still cringe in many places, but I’ll allow myself to laugh in others. I’ll let Young Frankenstein be a mixed-bag – not a classic, but not expunged from the archives.
So, I was dismayed by the 2006 photo of Al Franken today, because he is one of the Senators I admire the most. And, the photo looks bad, and may, in fact, be as bad as it looks. But I think it is fair for context and intent to be mitigating factors and deserve our consideration. I think it is fair to be conscious of the fact that the climate is such that Franken can field almost no defense and make almost no excuses.
Consequently, I’ve decided to wait and listen and delay judgement. I’ll wait for other witnesses. Justice is supposed to be blind, but not deaf. It should be blind to ‘who’, but it may listen closely to ‘why’ and ‘how’. Justice bears both a sword of punishment and the scales of drawing distinctions. We shouldn’t throw away the sword, but we shouldn’t discard the scales unused either.