*SPOILER ALERT* the title of this post is a *SPOILER ALERT*
I love the Three Stooges. I did not see the 2012 remake, nor do I plan on seeing the follow-up to it that was announced a little bit of time ago as being in the works. I actually find the newer movies to be quite disgusting.
On the surface, the Stooges are a Vaudevillian slapstick trio 1/3 rotation that borders on Looney Tunes shenanigans. Scratch not too deep beneath that surface, and you find three strangers in a strange land. They are shorter, squatter, poorer, and more foreign than all they come in contact with. They are Three Blind Mice. The blindness is their lack of acculturation.
This new crew of Stooges strikes me as a troupe of privileged frat-boys donning the mask of othering for shits and a smattering of giggles. It's Black-face. Laughing with, not at. The original Stooges were laughed at. That was their genius. They broke a rule chiseled in stone, and did so successfully. The seeds of that laughter sometimes tickled the audiences sympathy and that audience loved them. It was like a black man turning the word nigger into something positive.
It didn't hurt that the Three Stooges ate ham. They remained tastefully Jewish. Not dress like an Amish, Jewish. They walked the fine line of being palatable.
6'3 Will Sasso as Curley is like a Pilgrim showing up to the original Thanksgiving in a chieftain's headdress. It's an invasion. And it misses the point entirely. So how to hit the point? That is an interesting question. While anti-antisemitism is still very much alive and well, I believe it has progressed from the point of Stoogery.
I'd have to say that a successful ethnicity for a true Three Stooges reboot of today's climate would be Latino. The humor is already in place, just try to not see it in Sabado Gigante. More importantly though, the parallels between today's Latino plight and yesterday's Jewish plight are vastly similar.
The Mexicans are taking over! No. They're doing what no one else wants to do.
The Jews are taking over! What, Hollywood? No one else wanted it. Motion Pictures were looked down upon in those days. It was live acting, or bust.
Two groups of peoples, agreeing to do what little is optioned to them, and excelling at it to boot. Then being demeaned because of said excellence. Lovely, huh? Soitenly.
Plus, Latinos and Jews, the suits would be the same size. One might even say a perfect fit.
