So he's saying that Radaghast is a racist and horribly politically incorrect portrayal of a mentally handicapped black guy that everyone, including the characters in-universe and even his own people, loathed with a seething passion? Yeah, no. At worst he's going to be a bit too comic reliefy, but he's very much just an old, eccentric wizard who might have a little trouble socializing with people. It won't even be remotely comparable.
Oh... OK, the only folks I've ever heard use that accent are pasty white Cajuns. Sounds like someone seeing what they want to see to me, since I know for a fact pasty White folks also have that accent.
Some very white people like fried chicken and watermelons, too. (Myself included). That doesn't make the racist stereotype less racist.
Never understood where that stereotype came from. I've lived in a few predominantly black neighborhoods and never noticed a higher presence of Chicken and Watermelon eating amongst blacks.
Yeah, that's just a weird one. It's not even as if there's anything wrong with eating those things, so I don't see how it qualifies as derogatory, but for some reason, racists seem to think it is.
Err, what? If someone says something racist, and other people are offended, it's not just the person saying the racist things that are racist, but the people who are offended by it, too? The hell? Course, a lot of people (such as the ones in this thread) confuse racism with stereotyping. There is a difference. One is fueled by hatred or at the very least misunderstanding, the other is simply noticing common traits and associating them with the people possessing those traits. This is one of those things that is closer to the latter than the former. Much the same way that all white people apparently love mayonaise and Homeland, black guys are all hung like horses, and Asians are all mathematical geniuses. Most stereotypes are far from being racist, no matter how much overly sensitive or apologetic some people feel they need to be about anything even close to actual racism.
That isn't even remotely what I'm saying. It isn't even on the same continent as what I'm saying. Of course it's valid to be offended, because what's offensive is the attitude of the racists. The particulars they use in their attacks are just the excuses they make up to justify that attitude. I'm just saying it's odd to me that they'd choose those particulars. But then, racism in general is hard for me to understand, I'm proud to say. Maybe, but I have seen/heard those stereotypes used in racist rhetoric. For instance, during the election I came upon an article about racist "tweets" or something directed against President Obama, and I was bewildered by how many of them mentioned fried chicken and watermelon. It just seemed so bizarre. I guess it just reflects the narrow, rigid minds of the prejudiced. They have a single, simplistic, caricatured image in their minds of what a black person is, and when they see something that profoundly contradicts that stereotype, such as an intelligent, dignified African-American becoming President of the United States, they can't expand their minds enough to encompass or understand it. So they just fall back on their lazy, repetitive stereotypes like a parrot reciting a memorized phrase. It's easier to restate the catchphrases and buzzwords they've been trained to use because it saves them from actually having to think.
The fried chicken shops near me often have more black people in than would be representative of population. I've never in my life seen a black person eat watermelon though. I've always assumed it was to do with savage ancestry stereotyping like "spear-chucker" as a watermelon is an exotic fruit. Imagine McCoy as Jar Jar though. "Nowwwww Hace, the drrrrrroid army..." or whatever.
To add to that, there was a large exodus of black Americans to the north who brought their food with them. In the north, these traditionally southern foods were not anywhere near as popular, so they became associated with the newcomers (i.e., African Americans).
Oddly, the *actual* review that Stuff links to - http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/new-hobbit-film-eye-popping-article-1.1209539 - has no such reference to Sylv or Jar Jar - Stuff's reporter seems to have, well, made shit up. Though I can definitely believe that he'll be crap in it
Why change the habit of a lifetime, eh. Though if they wanted Jar Jar Binks, they should have got Matt Smith in.