Mike,
to go further with what Sin just wrote, like i said, i watched the movie and
totally enjoyed it. it was a good 2 1/2 hours of pure escapism. the
anthropomorphism that i talked about earlier never crossed into my mind. i
have seen movies that poked fun at white people too. 'Delta Farce' was
hilarious to me. making fun of 'rednecks'. 'Superbad' making fun of white
geeks. stoner movie 'Pineapple Express (which i thought sucked, but a few
funny lines)' poked fun at stoner white guys. 'step brothers' poking fun at
white people. remember how we all laughed at Ricky Bobby? we see all types
picked at, so yes, sometimes you have to look pass the obvious. now, before
Sin jumps on me, i am not making an apology 4 the characters, but i do believe
the people are looking too hard at something. john turturo (who is in the
movie) even makes fun of his self when she pulls off his pants and have on a S7
jock strap. we (the people in the
theater) howled at that scene!
but again, just my opinion.
Fate.
--- On Thu, 6/25/09, sincere1906 <sincere1...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: sincere1906 <sincere1...@gmail.com>
Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009, 11:44 AM
Mike,
And as you can guess, there is already uproar over the mere mention of racism
or at the least racial insensitivity and stereotyping. The game usually works
like this: black people (or other people who have faced oppression) point out
they find something degrading in a film, tv show, etc. The maker of the film
balks, asserting with righteous indignation that it's absolutely nonsense. With
an air of white privilege he/she will assert they have no bias, and then turn
the tables on those who are pointing out the perceived racial slight.
Most of America, ever eager to dismiss black or "other" grievances, will
usually chime in. Those complaining about racial insensitivity will be told to
"get over it." They'll be told it's all in their heads and that *they* are the
racist ones being preoccupied with race. A few famous black apologists will be
rolled out to say the black community should be worried about kids with low
hanging pants (the scourge of the afrotocracy! ) or the like instead of a mere
movie. Some will even come forth and say, "sure it's a stereotype-- but it's
also true, so that makes it alright!" Oh and the Bill Cosby acolytes will
naturally blame the rappers--who it seems invented a time machine, went back
two centuries, and created all known black stereotypes- -forcing unwilling
white masses to adopt them.
So the powerful media mogul/company will be cast as the victim, and the usually
oppressed grouping and the few vocal advocates will then be cast as the
villains--trying to ruin everyone's fun. It's the old "switcheroo" --and its
quite old.
In 1906 when black new yorkers complained about the Bronx Zoo putting an
African "pygmy" in a cage and displaying him as a type of ape, major NY papers
dismissed them as overly sensitive complainers. When Birth of a Nation hit the
screens and was decried by black advocates as racism, they were also told they
were just overreacting. Woodrow Wilson said he didn't understand the uproar
over the film, and that the only thing regretable about it was that it was all
"true."
And this theme has rolled on and on and on--from Vaudeville minstrels right
down to our present day "jive-talking" and "gold-toothed" autobots. Sometimes,
as in the case of Don Imus or Michael Richards, the complainers get a minor or
temporary victory--but they must also endure alot of scorn, being cast as
"troublemakers" or "not having a sense of humor," etc.
There are two powerful forces at play here--both the usual white dismissal of
black or "other" concerns as not really consequential but instead part of some
emotional reaction; and secondly the persistent view of black culture/people as
the entertaining figures in the white imagination.
Of note, it's never always that cut-n-dry of course--as the first person who I
heard call these two figures "Amos n Andy offensive stereotypes, " was a white
movie reviewer. More power to him...
Sin / Black Galactus
--- In scifino...@yahoogro ups.com, Mike Street <streetforce1@ ...> wrote:
>
> 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< 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
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
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