Transformers: Revenge of the Racial Caricatures

[Bob The Skutter]

i didn't think they were racial stereotypes anymore than i thought Jazz was. it's not like they're BLACK and talking like it. one's green and one's red. they sound more like redneck hicks.

I agree with this. My problem with Mudflap and Skids was not the "racial stereotyping", it's that they were ugly, annoying characters. They were like Gremlins on ecstasy or something.

To be fair, they get one very cool/heroic scene, but it doesn't quite wash away the bad taste of the rest of their presence in the film.

I quite liked them, but yeah, they did remind me of Gremlins.

 

[Cky]

I would have said they sounded more like rednecks than the sterotyped black person. Nobody complained about Jazz in the first film.

And we're forgetting the fundamental flaw in this arguement - THEY ARE ROBOTS. Not to mention they studied Earth's languages through the World Wide Web. I'm surprised none of them talked in lulz.

The fact that he was an alien never stopped the Jar Jar complaints.

Because Jar Jar was a cunt.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I would have said they sounded more like rednecks than the sterotyped black person. Nobody complained about Jazz in the first film.

And we're forgetting the fundamental flaw in this arguement - THEY ARE ROBOTS. Not to mention they studied Earth's languages through the World Wide Web. I'm surprised none of them talked in lulz.

The fact that he was an alien never stopped the Jar Jar complaints.

Because Jar Jar was a cunt.

But was he a black cunt, or just a cunt?

 

[Cky]

Just a cunt Bob, just a cunt.

 

[Mark de Vries]

I think that people who want to see racism in two unimportant movie characters should find something better to do with their time.

Besides, is it okay if they were based on rednecks and not if they were based on black people? Still stereotyping...

 

[captcalhoun]

i did like the bit where Bumblebee picked them up and smacked them together...

and
"that hurt!"
"it was supposed to! it was an ass whuppin'!"

 

[Harvey]

I think that people who want to see racism in two unimportant movie characters should find something better to do with their time.

Besides, is it okay if they were based on rednecks and not if they were based on black people? Still stereotyping...

Did somebody say that was okay while I wasn't looking?

Honestly, I'd care more about this if the movie was by a different director, wasn't based on a toy line of all things, and hadn't been so thoroughly trashed by the critics.

 

[barnaclelapse]

i didn't think they were racial stereotypes anymore than i thought Jazz was. it's not like they're BLACK and talking like it. one's green and one's red. they sound more like redneck hicks.

Seriously. I know entirely too many white people who act like they do.

 

[DontFeedPhil]

Is it true that the hand-wringing POTUS in the film is named Obama?

Obama is the president in the film, yes. But he's not hand-wringing. In fact we never see him at all. He's only mentioned once: in one line that says he's being moved to a secure location. That's it.

Thats not true. We do indeed see Obama. But only in the backround on tv and it was just news footage of him. So he was actually on screen..

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I would have said they sounded more like rednecks than the sterotyped black person. Nobody complained about Jazz in the first film.

And we're forgetting the fundamental flaw in this arguement - THEY ARE ROBOTS. Not to mention they studied Earth's languages through the World Wide Web. I'm surprised none of them talked in lulz.

The fact that he was an alien never stopped the Jar Jar complaints.

And yet the heads of the Trade Federation got a pass.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I would have said they sounded more like rednecks than the sterotyped black person. Nobody complained about Jazz in the first film.

And we're forgetting the fundamental flaw in this arguement - THEY ARE ROBOTS. Not to mention they studied Earth's languages through the World Wide Web. I'm surprised none of them talked in lulz.

The fact that he was an alien never stopped the Jar Jar complaints.

And yet the heads of the Trade Federation got a pass.

Is it cos they aint black?

 

[davejames]

Besides, is it okay if they were based on rednecks and not if they were based on black people? Still stereotyping...

No offense, but I've never understood this argument. Considering their much more tragic history in this country, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that we SHOULD be a lot more sensitive to them over other groups.

I always have to cringe everytime I hear some white dude complain about how rough we have it in this country.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Besides, is it okay if they were based on rednecks and not if they were based on black people? Still stereotyping...

No offense, but I've never understood this argument. Considering their much more tragic history in this country, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that we SHOULD be a lot more sensitive to them over other groups.

I always have to cringe everytime I hear some white dude complain about how rough we have it in this country.

Why? treating people special because of their race is still discriminatory.

 

[captcalhoun]

I would have said they sounded more like rednecks than the sterotyped black person. Nobody complained about Jazz in the first film.

And we're forgetting the fundamental flaw in this arguement - THEY ARE ROBOTS. Not to mention they studied Earth's languages through the World Wide Web. I'm surprised none of them talked in lulz.

The fact that he was an alien never stopped the Jar Jar complaints.

And yet the heads of the Trade Federation got a pass.

your memory is faulty. i remember people bitching that they were Japanese racist stereotype thingies.

 

[TheArsenal]

your memory is faulty. i remember people bitching that they were Japanese racist stereotype thingies.

And along the same lines, Watto was criticized, by the majority for being a Jewish merchant stereotype, although some saw him as a slight on Arabs.

 

[captcalhoun]

oh, yeah, that too. with his avarice and big nose and cod Yiddish accent. oy vey, etc.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

The fact that he was an alien never stopped the Jar Jar complaints.

And yet the heads of the Trade Federation got a pass.

your memory is faulty. i remember people bitching that they were Japanese racist stereotype thingies.

Yeah I remember that too.

 

[FordSVT]

Many of the Transformers in the original cartoon and comic fit various cultural stereotypes.

Jazz and Blaster have always sounded like urban blacks. Blaster spends most of his time break-dancing ffs. I never heard anyone complain about it until Michael Bay made his little movie.

People on the Internet can go fuck their sensitive little selves, quite frankly.

Have any, I don't know... BLACK people weighed in on this or is this a bunch of guilty white hand wringing over nothing again? Serious question.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Many of the Transformers in the original cartoon and comic fit various cultural stereotypes.

Jazz and Blaster have always sounded like urban blacks. Blaster spends most of his time break-dancing ffs. I never heard anyone complain about it until Michael Bay made his little movie.

Really? Jazz was voiced by one of the greatest legends of all time, Scatman Crothers. There is a reason why he sounded like an urban black...because he was voiced by an urban black man.

I don't know about Blaster and Buster Jones, but Buster has played some black characters as well.

Plus, you know BOTH OF THEIR HISTORY FIT WITH THEIR VOICES.

 

[davejames]

Besides, is it okay if they were based on rednecks and not if they were based on black people? Still stereotyping...

No offense, but I've never understood this argument. Considering their much more tragic history in this country, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that we SHOULD be a lot more sensitive to them over other groups.

I always have to cringe everytime I hear some white dude complain about how rough we have it in this country.

Why? treating people special because of their race is still discriminatory.

Maybe on a purely technical level, but we're not a bunch of robots here. To act like discrimination against whites is no different than discrimination against blacks greatly diminishes what their culture went through in this country (and the effect it continues to have on current generations).

I just find it strange how eager some are to brush that history aside, and pretend we're all magically on the same level playing field now where the past doesn't matter.