Does no one remember Djimon Hounsou in The Island? If Bay is making it a point to use his movies to advance racist ideals, he is doing a very poor job.
Holy shit how did i forgot him. Well i don't think there was anything wrong with him either. Great actor btw, has a great performance in his latest movie (Blood diamond)
Does no one remember Djimon Hounsou in The Island? If Bay is making it a point to use his movies to advance racist ideals, he is doing a very poor job.
I wanna say Forest Whitaker in ghost dog, but he's a hitman, so it would be kinda weird i don't know.
But yeah. However there are sterotypes obviously, but those exist for anyone, but i guess it's more ponounced on black characters, and more acceptable on white people.
I have a problem with that though, check chappelle show, season 3, the episode with the pixes for the white, the japanese, the black, the mexican...and everybody was cool with it, everybody but this black chick who said the black stereotype was worse than the others, and that bothered me soo much, the problem i see nowadays is that, black people think stereotypes for them should cease to exist completely but the others could stay because they are alright :lol
However, i must say i find myself pretty much as an observer of this whole racial problem in the U.S because over here where i live, it just...well it isn't the same.
comedy is not the only thing black characters are there for. but micheal bay makes action comedy. so basically all of the characters in his movies are comedic or action oriented.
Does he have a thing with Italian people too? Since Transformers 2 was equally "offensive" to Italians with the mafia stereotype as it was to black people.
But every movie/show is like that. Might as well be angry at Hollywood.
I'm Hispanic and I never, ever lapse into Spanish (I only really use Spanish when talking to some family). I've known English since I was three though.
Transformers was pretty much the only Bay movie I didn't absolutely hate sitting through. Pretty good actually, but it did still have black people acting KERAZZZYYY. He even managed to have a cooning ass robot (who TBH I did like), which I didn't even think was possible.
It's more than a coincidence with this guy and I'm not seeing things. Is it really that hard for him to have black characters that aren't complete cartoons?
Oh man that is one movie trend that annoys me so much. I guess they "lapse" back into Spanish to prove their ethnicity but it's always so stupid. Heck the one soldier in the beginning of the first Transformers does the same. When picked on and antagonized he get all fast-talkin' Mexican on his bros.
I don't see any probs with black people in his movies, sure the "Black guy got killed" in transformers but that's about it, and as if black guys can't die in movies now, because it's racist...
I don't know how things have gone in his previous films but Transformers 1 was pretty... overt. Not one Black person was anything but a goofy characature on screen to be laughed at. Ok, I think there was a black military officer who was a normal human being, but that's about it. Granted the whole movie was pretty stupid.
My idea of a good Transformers movie would be if all the annoying human and robot characters were killed in the first 15 minutes and the rest of the movie was just one long explosion-filled robot shoot-out.
Also, you see way more terrible racial stereotypes in the music industry than in the movie industry nowadays.
I never realized it outside of Jazz, but thinking back, you're probably right :lol Hollywood has come a long way over the decades but it's still full of shit.
I think the reason why a lot of people don't perceive the horrible horrible use of stereotypes in hollywood films is because they are unfamiliar with classic hollywood. Early hollywood films used the same stereotypes we see today, but they were done in a much more horrendous way. But without having seen the origin of these stereotypes, it can be easy to miss the toned down modern versions.
Eaten By A Grue said:
Now it is in the news on yahoo's frontpage. People are goddamn too sensitive these days.
It has nothing to do with sensitivity. I can sit through Birth of A Nation without shedding a tear. But that doesn't mean I appreciate seeing my race represented on film as illiterate, loud, uncultured fools. Pop culture has a direct impact on societal perceptions. I may be able to avoid Bay's films and other stupid hollywood blockbusters, but I still have to deal with people on a day to day basis who have grown up watching jive talking Negros in the movies and on TV.
I'm not going to defend michael bay because he is retarded and his movies are worse. I refuse to watch transformers 2. And it would not surprise me to learn that the man is a huge bigot, though I have no information indicating such.
BUT, I definitely don't believe that a stupid stereotype character is necessarily making a statement that "all people of ____ ethnicity/race act like this character." I think that a lot of offense is taken as if a dumb character makes such a statement, when it doesn't necessarily. Just because a latino or hispanic character breaks off into spanish when he's excited doesn't mean the movie is saying all similar people act that way. That is a totally absurd conclusion to draw. Just using that as an example.
I also don't buy the "well it's wrong because of XXX history." Like some of the early resident evil 5 trailer/teaser imagery. People were offended because it reminded them of real life atrocities from US history. Well who cares? Get past it. Obviously no statement was being made as to how great times used to be or anything like that. I just can't understand why many of these things are considered to be wrong by so many people.
I would also like to say that before this thread, the idea that jar jar binks was some sort of racial caricature had never even occurred to me. I've never heard anybody say that either. I think that is a case of people projecting a little bit. He is incredibly annoying, but basically all comic relief ever is horrible.
"As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide comic relief. But their traits raise the specter of stereotypes most notably seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace," was criticized as a caricature."
Also...the Voice of Spongebob was one of them :lol
If Bay is making it a point to use his movies to advance racist ideals, he is doing a very poor job.
