Trudy Gold
The Genius/Bad Taste of Mel Brooks
Summary
Mel Brooks is a Jewish American actor, comedian, writer, movie director, and producer. He’s also one of the few people who have received an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony, and a Grammy. Trudy Gold explores the history and work of Brooks and discusses what he and some of his critics refer to as his “bad taste.”
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
Look, they all wrote together. They must have influenced each other. I think Woody Allen’s humor is a different kind of humor, although in his early movies it’s slapstick. Woody Allen, again, a very, very controversial character, again, the whole issue of if you don’t approve of someone’s private life, does that stop you appreciating his work? This throws up so many things. Don’t forget that it was Caravaggio who was a murderer, wasn’t it?
We will be dealing with these issues later on. As I said, I think it’s all about context, and it’s also about respect, being respectful of other people.