That's another one on the banned-for-life list.
---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- Subject : Re: [scifinoir2] Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues Date : Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:04:50 -0400 From : Mike Street <streetfor...@gmail.com> To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com I wasn't that jazzed up to see this cause I hated the first film. This makes me never want to see it cause when I saw Star Wars/Jar Jar Banks I was totally outraged. Until we control our own images these type of things will continue to happen. On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 11:36 PM, sincere1906 wrote: > > > Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues > Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues > > By SANDY COHEN > > LOS ANGELES – Harmless comic characters or racist robots? The buzz over the > summer blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" only grew Wednesday > as some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures. > > Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly > brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge > that they can't read. One has a gold tooth. > > As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide > comic relief. But their traits raise the specter of stereotypes most notably > seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from > "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," was criticized as a caricature. > > One fan called the Transformers twins "Jar Jar Bots" in a blog post online. > > Todd Herrold, who watched the movie in New York City, called the characters > "outrageous." > > "It's one thing when robot cars are racial stereotypes," he said, "but the > movie also had a bucktoothed black guy who is briefly in one scene who's > also a stereotype." > > "They're like the fools," said 18-year-old Nicholas Govede, also of New York > City. "The comic relief in a degrading way." > > Not all fans were offended. Twin brothers Jason and William Garcia, 18, who > saw the movie in Miami, said they related to the characters — not their > illiteracy, but their bickering. > > "They were hilarious," Jason said. "Every movie has their standout > character, and I think they were the ones for this movie." > > In Atlanta, Rico Lawson said people were reading too much into the > characters. "It was actually funny," said Lawson, 25, who saw the movie with > his girlfriend in Atlanta. > > That was the aim, director Michael Bay said in an interview. > > "It's done in fun," he said. "I don't know if it's stereotypes — they are > robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the > direction they were taking the characters and we went with it." > > Bay said the twins' parts "were kind of written but not really written, so > the voice actors is when we started to really kind of come up with their > characters." > > Actor Reno Wilson, who is black, voices Mudflap. Tom Kenny, the white actor > behind SpongeBob SquarePants, voices Skids. > > Wilson said Wednesday that he never imagined viewers might consider the > twins to be racial caricatures. When he took the role, he was told that the > alien robots learned about human culture through the Web and that the twins > were "wannabe gangster types." > > "It's an alien who uploaded information from the Internet and put together > the conglomeration and formed this cadence, way of speaking and body > language that was accumulated over X amount of years of information and > that's what came out," the 40-year-old actor said. "If he had uploaded > country music, he would have come out like that." > > It's not fair to assume the characters are black, he said. > > "It could easily be a Transformer that uploaded Kevin Federline data," > Wilson said. "They were just like posers to me." > > Kenny did not respond to an interview request Wednesday. > > "I purely did it for kids," the director said. "Young kids love these > robots, because it makes it more accessible to them." > > Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said they followed Bay's lead > in creating the twins. Still, the characters aren't integral to the story, > and when the action gets serious, they disappear entirely, notes Tasha > Robinson, associate entertainment editor at The Onion. > > "They don't really have any positive effect on the film," she said. "They > only exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how > stupid each other is." > > Hollywood has a track record of using negative stereotypes of black > characters for comic relief, said Todd Boyd, a professor of popular culture > at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, who has > not seen the "Transformers" sequel. > > "There's a history of people getting laughs at the expense of > African-Americans and African-American culture," Boyd said. "These images > are not completely divorced from history even though it's a new movie and > even though they're robots and not humans." > > American cinema also has a tendency to deal with race indirectly, said > Allyson Nadia Field, an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at > the University of California, Los Angeles. > > "There's a persistent dehumanization of African-Americans throughout > Hollywood that displaces issues of race onto non-human entities," said > Field, who also hasn't seen the film. "It's not about skin color or robot > color. It's about how their actions and language are coded racially." > > If these characters weren't animated and instead played by real black > actors, "then you might have to admit that it's racist," Robinson said. "But > stick it into a robot's mouth, and it's just a robot, it's OK." > > But if they're alien robots, she continued, "why do they talk like bad black > stereotypes?" > > Bay brushes off any whiff of controversy. > > "Listen, you're going to have your naysayers on anything," he said. "It's > like is everything going to be melba toast? It takes all forms and shapes > and sizes." > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > My two cents-- I haven't seen the movie. As a person who loved Transformers > as a kid (from Soundwave's menacing voice to Starscreams whiny-ness), I > wasn't all that impressed with the first movie. I didn't dislike it, but > there was too much silliness for me to enjoy it beyond the very nice special > effects. On a note of race, a few things in the first movie made me > "uncomfortable"--the banter between Bernie Mac and the main character (he > calls an elderly black woman a b*tch and she flips him the bird); Anthony > Anderson's character was annoyingly stereotypical, and that whole scene out > of COPS where his overweight friend ends up being tackled into a pool just > seemed over the top. By the time I heard Jazz's voice (which sounded like he > was about to sell me a Colt 45) I decided this was one of those summer > blockbusters where black folks were going to be the butt of jokes, minus the > big black buck Tyrese. Wondering what this movie would have in store, I just > read a review of it two days ago in which a reviewer (white) commented to > look out for the "Amos n Andy" autobots. A friend of mine who is a professor > of black images in media (of all things) saw the movie at a 12:00am showing > last night, and confirmed for me earlier that the Amos n Andy bit was no > exaggeration. What I find interesting here is that Bay both says he is > surprised there's controversy, and then "brushes off" people's concerns. Oh > to be white, male and privileged... > > Sin > > -- ____ Get Social: Facebook: http://facebook.greasyguide.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/streetforce1 My Sites: Now72.com - GreasyGuide.com - HarlemFoodie.com ------------------------------------ Post your SciFiNoir Profile at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo! Groups Links http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQdwk8Yntds
