Dissecting the Casual Racism of “Airplane!”
Airplane! (1980) is a fun spoof comedy with lots of laughs, right? I watched this film for the first time the other night. I loved it. Then came the racist jokes.

Tom, a Steve Buscemi type with less drive, takes the night shift job at Your Storage in Chicago armed with security monitors, lackluster wit, a late night radio DJ, and his trusty office chair Grace Kelly, but the usually easy gig takes a mysterious turn when one of the regulars, Mrs. Jones, lures an unsuspecting man into her unit - a man that Tom never sees again.
Airplane! (1980) is a fun spoof comedy with lots of laughs, right? I watched this film for the first time the other night. I loved it. Then came the racist jokes.
A successful author’s life is upended when she finds herself on a plantation straight out of the antebellum south.
Court TV shows offer uncritical eyes on the systemic inequalities of the legal world.
Ultra-violent storytelling has never been my thing, but the issues with Scarface go beyond that. The film perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Latinx immigrants and uses gore and misogyny for shock value that never serves any purpose. The whole venture is frustratingly empty, and left me desiring something more.
After his family fled to England after the Vietnam War, Kit returns home to Saigon.
At its heart, it’s a fond tribute to an influential artist and thus one that can speak to everyone’s inner artist, even if it lacks the sincere commentary you may wish to see.