The Twins: Racist?

[Episode29]

Originally Posted by chaseter

I know the hierarchy of film production. Will Smith, Halle Berry, Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones, Denzel Washington, Sidney Poitier, Jamie Foxx etc...control their films. They are huge forces in Hollywood and they are offered tons of scripts and they play the part of whatever they want to. The 'White Man' doesn't make them do anything.

Except finance them.

[chaseter]

Apparently being a 'wise old man' is seen as a stereotypical black trait according to you.................

[bunk]

Originally Posted by Episode29

I would say that the majority of the roles he gets offered are of a specific variety. He's made, for the most part, great choices in choosing the ones which have allowed him to expand them and give them an original voice.

Do me a favour, look at his filmography and tell me that there isn't a very clear trend over the last two decades.

Oh, and stop getting so over emotional about it.

The "clear trend" indicates to me that he enjoys playing certain types of characters. Maybe you've noticed Christian Bale likes playing dark, brooding characters.

Point out in my posts where I've expressed a particular emotion.

[Episode29]

Originally Posted by chaseter

Apparently being a 'wise old man' is seen as a stereotypical black trait according to you.................

Me? No. But it most definitely a popular stereotype within popular entertainment.

[chaseter]

Originally Posted by Episode29

Me? No. But it most definitely a popular stereotype within popular entertainment.

Uh huh, I guess being wise and old is seen as a bad thing Morgan Freeman is setting back his race by decades

[360sculptguy]

(late night soapbox)

Things like this are infuriating to the few because they see the many drift through life and fail to note the significance. It's the underlying point of many who ring the racist bell... much of the racism that exists nowadays is latent. Definition of latent: present but not visible, apparent, or actualized; existing as potential: latent ability. Most white racists nowadays dont drive the general lee and burn crosses in lawns. They just cross the street when a group of black kids come around the corner up ahead of them. Who thought it was racist when Obama was called "articulate" by Joe Biden? There is nothing inherently wrong with the word but that trait sprung to Joe's mind as the exceptional characteristic for that person. Exceptional, ...uncommon, ...anomoulous. Articulate is not a trait foreign to politicians so in what sphere did that trait garner exception? Maybe it was "articulate" ...for his age. Maybe it was "articulate" ...for a black person. Maybe, just maybe, he was "articulate" ...for a ...human. Latent racism is perpetuated by movies, music, comics, comedians, etc., etc., that more often than not boil down characters to the quickest and easiest thing, thinly-veiled stereotypes. Maybe Bay makes big-lipped broad-nosed robots with gold teeth speak hip hop and break dance and maybe the most prominent black comedians portray white with no rhythm a submissive voice and overly correct english while straightening glasses that aren't there. Maybe the majority just want to laugh and not think about racism.

Believing the current state of yourself or your society is as good as it gets is just lazy.

[chaseter]

So Bay and the writers of this are raging racists?

And to the above...I agree.

[xwolverine2]

im not sure i understand what is racist about them....

'street talk' isnt being racist... lol

[SatEL]

The twins are in no way racist, the people saying they are a simply idiots. Its like we cant win with minorities, I bet if there wasnt a robot that was seemingly "black" they would complain that the film was racist for not having a black robot.

Then again what would I know since I am just the evil white man trying to oppress in all ways of life.

[TheVileOne]

The twins are flagrantly racist and stereotypically black. They are basically a minstrel act.

They have no characters to speak of besides evoking black stereotypes.

[Episode29]

People have this weird idea that racism only constitutes aggressively mean-spirited images and stereotypes, when this isn't usually the case.
Yes, Jar Jar, the twins, et al. are intended as "innocent fun", only there to entertain children, and not threatening or utilized as in-your-face for shock value. They are portrayed as "friendly stereotypes", which are also, in the end, hurtful and degrading.

But so was Uncle Tom, Uncle Remus, Little Black Sambo and the crows from Dumbo. They were just fun-loving characters adored by white people and viewed, by white people, as light-hearted interpretations of black behaviour. Song of the South was a beloved Disney film for decades! Only in retrospect are they grossly offensive and out-dated.

Just because these characters aren't screaming the N-word it doesn't mean the very use of them isn't a subtle instillment of racist values within mainstream society. Subliminal messages are powerful things and while you may not be a hateful person (and I severely doubt MOST of you are), these images do significantly warp perceptions. This doesn't begin and end with black culture either. Look at Aladdin's interpretation of middle-eastern culture, or Gremlins representation of the chinese (inspired by an outdated offensive caricature). Even Drag Me To Hell and Gran Torino are, theoretically at least, worth seriously pondering.

However, black stereotyping is the most problematic within the US, due to relatively recent (in the long term) history and modern day quasi-segregation, troubling criminal profiling habits and poverty (Katrina, anyone?). My God, the south is still something of a nightmare in terms of still lingering resentments. As much as white folks would love to move past this and get on with it, we're still a long ways away from solving the racial tensions and moving past our subtle widespread media saturating the culture with images which simply things for our own comfort. Ultimately it's going to take new generations to help erase these conflicts, but it's gonna take a long time.

[Mantis Rapture]

Originally Posted by SatEL

The twins are in no way racist, the people saying they are a simply idiots.

No, my friend, you are the idiot. If you can't see how the characterization (characterization?!?! In a Bay film?!?!) of these two retards was racist, then i have no hope for you in life.

The Twins actually made my jaw drop a few times throughout the film. Somebody who was part of the production, somewhere down the line, must have seen these guys and told Bay they were the worst things they'ld ever seen. Someone MUST have.

And Bay just threw them in anyway.

[Nivek]

Jesus, Devin throws some Chum in the water and all the fishies get riles up. Pathetic.

Considering the ignored posts I see all over this thread, I'm sure no one is contributing anything really meaningful.

[craigdbfan]

Exactly.

I'm not sure why my entire Pre-Reconstruction class is being recited on a Transformers thread in SHH. Its ridiculous and thats why sometimes having discussions like these end up throwing everyone into preachy lessons on history which some have already learned in school.

For the entire time until I first saw this come up in an article by Collider I thought "The Twins" were just made into goofy characters that were more of a parody on rednecks.

For those who are aware of CHUD, Devin is the most vile and repulsive of writers. He is constantly getting into squabbles with film websites and being a drunk dunce.

The fact that such a person saw these characters and compared them to African Americans speaks volumes about him and the validity of his entire argument.

[Nivek]

I can understand you didn't like the movie. I can even vaugly understand bashing it for months, seeing it, then ripping it apart from what you seen. Well, not really, but still...

This racist non-argument about two robot characters? It just makes the basher-haters using it as a "another reason why this film ******* sucks" banner look more stupid.

If Devin and Jar Jar are in the same sentence, you know the topic at hand is loaded with two dripping handfuls of "Duhhh".

I totally see this thread devolving throughout the day. It's from some reviewer looking to attract attention to his review, not anything of substance.

[PyroChamber]

You know, maybe this thread should be closed for today and then re-opened sometime tomorrow.

That way after some of us (if not all, or at least those of us who haven't seen it already) have seen the movie, then we can all have our own opinions about how the Twins were portrayed.

[Nivek]

Nah, the doggie door has a moron stuck in it, no need to nail it shut now.

[Jake Cassidy]

Originally Posted by PyroChamber

You know, maybe this thread should be closed for today and then re-opened sometime tomorrow.

That way after some of us (if not all, or at least those of us who haven't seen it already) have seen the movie, then we can all have our on opinions about how the Twins were portrayed.

But, that would make sense. You've been here long enough to know better.

[Jake Cassidy]

Originally Posted by Nivek

Nah, the doggie door has a moron stuck in it, no need to nail it shut now.

Can I put a nail in the head of the moron stuck in the doggie door?

That'd be fun.

[PyroChamber]

Originally Posted by Jake Cassidy

But, that would make sense. You've been here long enough to know better.

Oh right, I forgot

[gkokujin]

Originally Posted by chaseter

Look at the president, an African American.

...see this **** right here....

typical.


anyway Episode29 let it go. you're trying to explain calculus to someone who thinks algebra is all there is.

[CelticPredator]

So....Obama isnt black? What?

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Originally Posted by chaseter

Who wouldn't want to be Tyrese or Will Smith? Every movie has dumpy sidekicks like Martin Lawrence and Anthony Anderson. Martin and Will were rich in Bad Boys and Anthony Anderson was a genius and Tyrese is a military hero...don't see the point.

Movies like Friday are racist but it is meant to be funny and satirical.

Exactly, its not like represents black people as dumb, downtrodden, etc. Will Smith was a ladies man in the bad boys movies, is that racist? Anthony Anderson was a genius in TF who was 'the only person in the world who can crack this code.' He was the smartest guy in the movie.

I just done get the complaints, honestly.

[Wiseman]

Originally Posted by bunk

Can we do this without insulting great actors?

Morgan Freeman is discusting, having sex with his 17 year old granddaughter when he was 62, ugh

[bunk]

Originally Posted by Wiseman

Morgan Freeman is discusting, having sex with his 17 year old granddaughter when he was 62, ugh

I didn't say he was a great person; I don't know the guy. If you can show me how an alleged affair with his granddaughter is related to this notion of his career being completely manipulated by whites in Hollywood, then I will consider it relevant.