Revenge of the Fallen The Twins: Racist?

[craigdbfan]

We all know when someone acts like that, a lot of people's thought is, "why are they acting black?" Let's not sugarcoat the thing, man. It is acting black in a lot of people's minds....no need to deconstruct it.

Well that just shows a bigger problem within the mentality of most people if they associate the Twins with black people.

 

[Angry Sentinel]

After he saw the movie, I told my friend (who is African American) about this idea about the twins are racist.

...he had no idea what I was talking about and didn't find the twins offensive in any way.

Exactly, This reminds me of a scene from a movie... I believe it was In Too Deep. Laurence Fishburnes character was called into an interview to be an undercover cop. The detective interviewing him asked him how he would respond to the word N**ger. Fishburne calmly responded... "Only a N**ger would respond to that word".(or something like that)...

There was nothing racist about them. They were just completely horrible characters who wasted screentime and ILM time.

Again.. EXACTLY. It is more insulting to relate the two horrible characters to ONLY black people. That would be like me saying Scottish people should have been offended by Jar-Jar Binks

 

[terry78]

Exactly, This reminds me of a scene from a movie... I believe it was In Too Deep. Laurence Fishburnes character was called into an interview to be an undercover cop. The detective interviewing him asked him how he would respond to the word N**ger. Fishburne calmly responded... "Only a N**ger would respond to that word".(or something like that)...

Again.. EXACTLY. It is more insulting to relate the two horrible characters to ONLY black people. That would be like me saying Scottish people should have been offended by Jar-Jar Binks

Actually Scottish people should be insulted by Scrooge McDuck, but his work ethic and business sense make him a positive stereotype. Bless me bagpipes.

 

[Wally West]

I sort of got the impression they were like rednecks who wanted to act like gangsters, but it's not much of a stretch to think it might have been offensive to some.

Either way they both should have ended up on the cutting room floor. It's almost like Bay intentially wanted not just one, but two Jar Jar type characters just to get under fanboys skins as straight up retaliation for all the haters.

 

[The Guard]

Somehow I don't think millions and millions of dollars of Transformer rendering would have ever ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

[BlackLantern]

I sort of got the impression they were like rednecks who wanted to act like gangsters, but it's not much of a stretch to think it might have been offensive to some.

Either way they both should have ended up on the cutting room floor. It's almost like Bay intentially wanted not just one, but two Jar Jar type characters just to get under fanboys skins as straight up retaliation for all the haters.

I wouldn't doubt it...prior to the first film, hackers tried to crack both his work and personal computers and he even got protested at an old office of his

 

[terry78]

Michael Bay is in on the joke. As much of a *****ebag dullard he may appear to be, he's not an idiot. He knows what the geek community thinks of him, and revels in making them out to be bigger society outcasts than they already are by making people think, "see, these people are more insane than me."

 

[chaseter]

Michael Bay is a d-bag but I don't think he is trying to make other people out to be bigger idiots than himself through his film work.

 

[BlackLantern]

I think his thought proccess is "If you are taking my films that serious, Im going to make a joke at your expense"

 

[Wally West]

Somehow I don't think millions and millions of dollars of Transformer rendering would have ever ended up on the cutting room floor.

Yeah, you're right. after all the CGI and effects $$$ it would have been a shame for them to throw away all that money spent, and at that point it's not realistic at all for them to do that...but you know what -I still think they should have ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

[Crook]

This is such a sad statement. The stereotype isn't associated with a certain race. If it is, then that is racist to think that way because you associate those negative things with a certain race.

It is a stereotype but not only black people act that way. Idiotic gangsters are in every race.

Well that just shows a bigger problem within the mentality of most people if they associate the Twins with black people.

I love how carefully ya'll are treading the waters here, in spite of the glaring truth. Reminds me of white people that behave extra cautious when in a neighborhood surrounded by a bunch of minorities.

Terry, a black guy, said it best...

We all know when someone acts like that, a lot of people's thought is, "why are they acting black?" Let's not sugarcoat the thing, man. It is acting black in a lot of people's minds....no need to deconstruct it.

The stereotype being depicted in the film, no matter how stupid and rudimentary it is, has roots within the black culture. The ghetto lifestyle will forever be associated with that. It does not matter if nowadays black people aren't the only ones that could act and talk this way. They are the exception, not the rule. As Terry said, stop sugarcoating it. It's not like the entire black race is being slandered through ghetto archetypes, any more than rednecks are a detriment to the white race.

 

[The Black Goo]

It's controversy like this that gets people into the theaters. More people hear "Oh, there is two racist robots in the new Transformer movie!" Other people think, really? I have to see this to believe it. And it helps that the previous movie was a commercial success.

Grant it I don't think they (Skids and Mudflap) should have had as much screentime as they did and that I was hoping Devastator was going munch on Skids? But I thought they were funny, especially when they were bagging on Leo, who I thought was more annoying than they were.

The "We don't really do much reading," line doesn't sound racist to me AT ALL. To me it implies that they'd rather be fighting or playing video games, generally having fun. I have seen posts were people say "We don't read" That's NOT what they say at all. They can read, but it's not fun for them, not to mention that those cybertronian glyphs are much older then they are. That's like people trying to read a human language millions of years old. Can you read cave paintings or Egyptian hieroglyphs? I can't, at least not without training.

 

[The Black Goo]

*edit* double post.

 

[chaseter]

I love how carefully ya'll are treading the waters here, in spite of the glaring truth. Reminds me of white people that behave extra cautious when in a neighborhood surrounded by a bunch of minorities.

Terry, a black guy, said it best...


The stereotype being depicted in the film, no matter how stupid and rudimentary it is, has roots within the black culture. The ghetto lifestyle will forever be associated with that. It does not matter if nowadays black people aren't the only ones that could act and talk this way. They are the exception, not the rule. As Terry said, stop sugarcoating it. It's not like the entire black race is being slandered through ghetto archetypes, any more than rednecks are a detriment to the white race.

It will only forever continued to be associated with black culture because of people with your mindset. So, I guess black people started the gold tooth illiteracy craze in America?

If you want to continue to live with decade old stereotypes then that is cool. Crook, moving forward past racism

 

[The Guard]

The gold tooth illiteracy craze.

Heh.

 

[craigdbfan]

I love how carefully ya'll are treading the waters here, in spite of the glaring truth. Reminds me of white people that behave extra cautious when in a neighborhood surrounded by a bunch of minorities.

And your starting to tread water that is sounding offensive. I see you have a fascination with labels and hasty generalizations.

Are you seriously implying that we are advocates of racism somehow for not giving the Twins all this undeserved attention that has been brought up by the most cynical of cynics in the movie blogosphere?

I'll call out racism when I see it but the Twins are nothing more than dumb caricatures. Also you don't seem to throw Tom Kenny or Reno Wilson into the fire yet they are the two voice actors who came up with the Twins personalties while voice recording.

Bay is the only one receiving the blame when he never forced the actors to give them a particular voice. I bet you if they decided to give them a ghetto Latino/Asian etc accent people wouldn't of made such a big deal.

This discussion wouldn't of even gone on for this long. The stench of hypocrisy is amazing here.

If anything I'm more surprised that folks aren't mentioning the black butcher at Simmons delicatessen. Now that is offensive.

 

[Crook]

It will only forever continued to be associated with black culture because of people with your mindset. So, I guess black people started the gold tooth illiteracy craze in America?

If you want to continue to live with decade old stereotypes then that is cool. Crook, moving forward past racism

It's funny you're so adamant that there is no racial association here. The slang speak and gold tooth have in some time or another been associated with the black race. And yes, even illiteracy, or in a wider spectrum, lack of education. This is part of the stigma stemmed from the ghetto lifestyle and its inhabitants. If you've been living under a rock, I suppose this is new information. Otherwise you are blatantly being dismissive of such connotations in order to maintain a neutral position amongst all parties. I guess that's admirable in principle, but it's also willfully ignorant.

No one is denying that the characters represented were highly generalized and a tad demeaning towards a certain subculture. But the reason why we the audience can identify it, is because we all know exactly what's being reflected. There is a huge difference between recognizing stereotypes and propagating them. It baffles me that you cannot discern between the two positions.

And your starting to tread water that is sounding offensive. I see you have a fascination with labels and hasty generalizations.

Are you seriously implying that we are advocates of racism somehow for not giving the Twins all this undeserved attention that has been brought up by the most cynical of cynics in the movie blogosphere?

I'll call out racism when I see it but the Twins are nothing more than dumb caricatures. Also you don't seem to throw Tom Kenny or Reno Wilson into the fire yet they are the two voice actors who came up with the Twins personalties while voice recording.

Bay is the only one receiving the blame when he never forced the actors to give them a particular voice. I bet you if they decided to give them a ghetto Latino/Asian etc accent people wouldn't of made such a big deal.

This discussion wouldn't of even gone on for this long. The stench of hypocrisy is amazing here.

If anything I'm more surprised that folks aren't mentioning the black butcher at Simmons delicatessen. Now that is offensive.

What in the world are you blabbering about?

I never once implied there was any hint of racism, be it in the film or by the posters here. In fact I've plainly stated THREE times in this very thread that all this was is a stupid attempt at creating caricatures, albeit ones based on stereotypes. Nothing more.

 

[craigdbfan]

What in the world are you blabbering about?

I never once implied there was any hint of racism, be it in the film or by the posters here. In fact I've plainly stated THREE times in this very thread that all this was is a stupid attempt at creating caricatures, albeit ones based on stereotypes. Nothing more.

Yet you used a racial analogy to explain how we were being "dodgy" like white people in a neighborhood full of minorities.

Anyway this entire "Twins" controversy is getting old. They aren't even worth discussing to this extent.

 

[Crook]

Yet you used a racial analogy to explain how we were being "dodgy" like white people in a neighborhood full of minorities.

And yet, that has nothing to do with what I've written in the past 3 posts. Besides, it was a joke (did you completely miss the smiley?). What I said wasn't remotely racist.

Anyway this entire "Twins" controversy is getting old. They aren't even worth discussing to this extent.

Then don't go in the thread.

 

[MadVillainy]

http://my.spill.com/profiles/blog/show?id=947994:BlogPost:1412893

listen from 19:30 -41:00

this audio podcast gives a LONG point of view on why the twins are not racist, but ignorant.
Even though I disagree with some of there points, tthere view is layed out nicely and there not just crying racist and not expanding on their view at all

 

[craigdbfan]

And yet, that has nothing to do with what I've written in the past 3 posts. Besides, it was a joke (did you completely miss the smiley?). What I said wasn't remotely racist.

Sure it wasn't.

Then don't go in the thread.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[GhostPoet]

I'll be honest...I DID like them in the Devastator scene when they were busting him up a little.

 

[Marvin]

ugh, i can't believe the words of a few have taken this idea so far, even at school some people who haven't seen the film has said, that they think the very idea of robots acting like black people is just a bad idea so they won't watch the film (and there white)

the transformer series is about applying stereo typical character traits onto toys so that kids can relate to and or choose one character over another without just liking the colour red more then blue

people acting like this is new and then acting like it's offensive is...kinda dumb

beast wars for example(the series that actually had good writing) have a more then one character that took on a stereo type and then on top of that was played up for their comedic opportunities

a character such as Inferno, who was damaged during his "birth" acted like the animal he took the form of
at the same time that could be taken as dumb and culture specific

[YT]RBvT48o8D5M&feature=fvw[/YT]

 

[ClintF]

I, like most on here am tired of hearing everyone get on their soapbox to protest anything they can find in the world. Someone hit the nail on the head in here by saying that if you think of african americans when you see the twins' moronic non-educated behavior the YOU are the racist by implying all african americans are "stupid". Again the bottom line is that only non-educated illiterate morons should be offended by the twins.

 

[Crook]

The association to african-americans isn't because of the illiteracy, it's the slang speak and behavior normally attributed to ghetto folk, whom are predominantly black. The robots just happened to not read (though this is arguable in context of the scene).