Aside from the main vampire doing an Irish jig, in what way did they
A) Indicate he was Irish
and
B) Pick on him for being Irish?
A. He said he was Irish
B. They literally made him a blood sucking daemon trying to kill everyone
I should preface this by saying I am not Irish nor black nor brown so take anything I say about race and disparaged people groups with that in mind (read: I have no authority to speak on this).
From my perspective it seemed like the fact that the vampire was Irish was purely a vehicle to make the point that while Irish people have historically been oppressed, there's still a stark difference between life for the Irish in America, and life for black people in America. I think that point was clearly made during the introduction to the vampire when he was being chased by natives who already knew that he was a vampire, but even so the klansmen trusted the vampire over the non-white people and didn't turn him over.
I also don't think they were punching down on Irish people by writing one character as both a vampire and an Irishman. I don't think that fits into any pre-existing stereotypes. I think it would be a slightly different story if he were an alcoholic or something like that. Furthermore, it didn't seem like anything about him being Irish was demonized. He did an Irish jig but to me that seemed like it was just the way that he would've known to dance when he was excited.
I dunno, that's just my thoughts that are probably worth nothing. I thought the entire movie was about the development of American popular music, and how white people would act like leeches (blood suckers) around black culture in order to make money off of them.
I haven't seen the movie, but the Irish were viewed pretty poorly throughout American history, so that might be something that was played up in the movie. Again, I haven't seen it, though, so I don't know for sure.
Seems kinda fucked up, punching down on the Irish like that
Yes, it WAS fucked up. That's how it was back in those days.
There was all kinds of stupid racism back in those days, and "science" (but actually pseudoscience) was used as an excuse for it, like Calvin Candie in Django Unchained going on about skull dimples.
Well, I say "back in those days" but really it's alive and well in the present, too. Have you ever read what modern racists believe? It's still nuts.
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