Transformers: Revenge of the Racial Caricatures

That distinction sounds reasonable enough. Thanks, FalTorPan!

I'm still not going to see the movie, though. I'm just old enough to remember when the Transformers were just a series of toy commercials loosely held together by animated desert backgrounds standing in for plot ... Although I will admit a ridiculous affection for Optimus Prime.

 

I don't have a problem with their accents per se, I have a problem with the characters' demonstrated stupidity. I've worked with kids before, and I guarantee you they will subconsciously make this association: this accent (African-American urban patois) = moron. Funny thing about kids, they don't see all the bs rationalizations we hide behind.

I heard the same "oh, but they aren't human, so it's okay" excuse with Jar Jar, and it didn't hold any water then, either. Whether it's CG or a mask or makeup, it's still an attempt to get away with racist humor by putting an alien face on it.

As for Bay, I think it's pretty clear which side of the political spectrum the guy is on. The Rumselfd analog in the first film was portrayed as brave and competant, while the presidential aide in the new one is a weak, appeasing bureaucrat.

 

actually, Bay's an Obama fan...

 

Really? He's got a funny way of showing it.

 

Yeah, I was surprised how Obama was potrayed in this movie considering Bay liking the guy. I assume this was his way of not showing favortism or something since he had Bush equally or worse in the first film.

As to the so-called racist robots, they were a stereotype, not a caricature. Maybe a slim distinction but still a distinction. I also wonder how many people throwing their arms up would've complained so vehemently had they been given white hick voices and shown as an old beatup pick up truck with a gun rack.

Much like Mater from Cars. Anyone who saw that movie will know who I mean. The tow truck vehicle that was about as redneck as a vehicle can get. As I recall, no one pitched a fit about that. Hello double standards, nice to meet you.

There are a lot of stereotypes in this movie but as always, only the popular "it's racist against blacks" one gets to be spotlighted. Racial equality is what we're striving for in this society yet when a movie does a stereotype of a broad number of people, only one particular stereotype gets singled out. I guess it's okay to be discriminatory so long as you're not doing it against blacks.

 

No, it's not okay, especially if you know or are related to hill folk. But the history of the U.S. is going to put any racist depictions of AAs in the front of the public consciousness. But as a previous poster said, it's not like people didn't complain about the Trade Federation in SW:TPM. Those guys were blatant Foo Man Chu knockoffs.

 

But they weren't white and there was no convienent black stereotype to look for. So my point still stands, if you're making fun of white people, it's okay to be racist. That's my problem. Either you stop getting defensive when it's only your demographic being targeted or you get defensive when it's any demographic being targeted.

I say demographic because it's not limited to skin color. There's sexism and homophobia amongst others that people don't get so nearly up in arms about as often.

 

I didn't care about the black twins (not my race, not my problem) but making the movie an overhyped mess is what bothered me the most.

 

On that aspect, I agree. I liked the movie but did not love it and felt it could have really done with a better script polishing and rewrite (which incidentally might have removed or at least improved the twins involvement) to make for a tighter story that wasn't as much explosions and robots running around.

I knew what I was getting going in so I'm not going to judge the movie on how well it's written, even if it was something you could easily notice. There were far more problems with characterization than these two bots but we have the other thread for that.

 

With far too many Transformers...

 

I thought this was way overblown but you know, they might have some truth in it.

 

I liked the part where the one says, Mesa bombad Gobot.

 

Yes, but he sends in his weasel to shut down the NEST program.


-Chris

 

I wouldn't say they were racist. Definitely done in poor taste though. They are a waste of fucking screen time. I think they get more screen time than Bumblebee and definitely more than Op. That's just ass. Imagine if Jar Jar had more screen time than the Jedi's. Someone needs to shoot Michael Bay before he gets his hands on Thundercats or something.

 

Other that racial stereotypes and caricatures permeate his films.

 

http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2009/06/29/it-could-have-been-worse/

 

that's hysterical.

 

Well, that criticism is fairly valid. He pretty much comes onscreen and yell: "Oy! I'm the flying Jew!"

 

I haven't seen TF2, but I did see Cars, and I don't think it's a double-standard at all. Was Mater portrayed as having sex with his cousin, being incapable of reading, being a gun-nut, a racist, and dumber than a bag of nails? I seem to remember his being portrayed fairly quite positively.

Context is everything.