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Do Autobots Dream of Electric Blackface?
On its way
to earning more money than you can possibly
imagine, Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen is drawing a small storm of indignation—and
not just because it's
as godawful as every other Michael Bay flick. Apparently
deeming it insufficient to heartlessly screw (for a second time)
the collective memory of a generation of Transformers
toy/cartoon fans, Bay has added crypto-racism to the mix, sending
some critics into fits of righteous, apopleptic
rage.
The movie features two new, controversial autobots named "Skids" and "Mudflap." They shuck and jive in what amounts to an updated-for-the-21st-century Al Jolson routine. They speak in gangsta slang. One sports a golden tooth. Both are excitable and diminutive enough to draw comparisons to chimpanzees. The insensitivity is shocking, shocking, in our fine, post-racial age.
And, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Bay is unapologetic:
Director Michael Bay insists jive-talking twin robots were only meant for laughs.
"It's done in fun," he said. "I don't know if it's stereotypes—they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it."...
"Listen, you're going to have your naysayers on anything," he said. "It's like, is everything going to be Melba toast? It takes all forms and shapes and sizes."
Let us momentarily appreciate two philosophical oddities: film characters that are simultaneously racist and race-less, and critiques of the racial politics of a Michael Bay movie.
Sadly, Reason has covered Michael Bay in the past. Check out Managing Editor Jesse Walker's take on Michael Bay's moral vision here. David Weigel reported on the first Transformers movie and petty copyright enforcement here.
Jeff P|6.26.09 @ 11:56AM|#
I have yet to hear a single geekboy state what desperately needs
saying:
Transformers was never cool. Ever.
It isn't a mythos, it's an ad campaign.
That being said, has anyone demanded apologies from Tyler Perry for
his portrayal of blacks?
|6.26.09 @ 11:59AM|#
"Let me be the first to say this plainly: Michael Bay deserves to be killed," Mr. Turner wrote in a blog entry on June 2. "His blood will replenish the tree of cinematography. A small price to pay to assure quality entertainment for millions."
William|6.26.09 @ 12:03PM|#
This is Ja Ja Binks all over again.
Was he supposed to be the token black guy? I never heard about
that.
Maybe if we keep portraying black people as hyper, illiterate fools
then they will stop acting that way.
ed|6.26.09 @ 12:03PM|#
They speak in gangsta slang. One sports a golden
tooth.
Are such stereotypes racist if they are true? And if they
are true, how can they be stereotypes? Seems to me that a
subculture that has dominated pop music for so long--and has had
such an impact on the culture as a whole--should be fair game for
the satirist.
|6.26.09 @ 12:06PM|#
What's Michael Bay's address and phone number?
Hollywood. 555-555-5555.
Watch out for the FBI.
Fascitis Necrotizante|6.26.09 @ 12:06PM|#
If BET's programming was run by white people, I trust there would be outrage.
Fluffy|6.26.09 @ 12:08PM|#
The question is this: will kids think these characters are
cool?
That's a question that is often missing from these "racial
characteristics in film" discussions.
For example, a lot of people thought that the "amigos" in Happy
Feet were "racist" depictions of Latinos. And they certainly
had stereotpyical Latino characteristics. But they were also
supposed to be cool, funny, brave, witty, and smart.
If you have a character in a movie who is supposed to be admirable,
and the character is a "hood rat with a heart of gold" or
something, how exactly do you depict that character on the
screen?
Some people might argue that this amounts to saying that it's not
anti-Semitism to depict Jews as clever with money, because that's a
positive trait. But I don't think that's the case. Because the
alternative would be to completely edit out of film characters
based on urban minorities, whether they're depicted positively or
not, because someone might think you're playing to stereotypes. Is
it more racist to include characters that have features that could
be considered stereotypes, or to shut those characters out totally
and have all characters be based on suburban whites?
|6.26.09 @ 12:12PM|#
You know what's truly shocking? The we're discussing the merits of a fucking Michael Bay film in the first place.
Fascitis Necrotizante|6.26.09 @ 12:13PM|#
Agree with Fluffy, it's what the stereotypes are doing that
matters.
I think for some comparison:
The crows in Dumbo are obviously black stereotypes, but
they're also warm and likable. They befriend the outcast Dumbo and
teach him confidence.
King Louis and the apes in Jungle Book are obviously black
stereotypes, and they sing a little song about how much they want
to be like real, full human beings but they just can't because of
their monkey nature and in the course of playing their wild jazz
song they destroy the human-built temple they occupied.
Ska|6.26.09 @ 12:16PM|#
Because the alternative would be to completely edit out of
film characters based on urban minorities
Or have a black EP or producer.
Not to mention that there are actually urban caucasians (and
Hispanics, and Asians, and Samoans, and .....) that speak and act
this way. It might have started with black people, but they do not
have a monopoly on the hood style (since the freakin'
eighties).
Abdul|6.26.09 @ 12:17PM|#
I was equally offended by the hook-nosed, money-grubbing, scheming Mercedes transformer named "Skinflint." I thought he was too Chinese.
|6.26.09 @ 12:19PM|#
Merits? That word has no meaning in the Bayiverse.
Did you see
Cracked's recent bit on Bay?
Sean Healy|6.26.09 @ 12:20PM|#
Yeah. You know what really gets up my nose? The ways Jews and blacks can make self-deprecating humor and I can't tell the difference between it and racism. What's up with that? It seems like they're making fun of me or something.
|6.26.09 @ 12:22PM|#
Some people might argue that this amounts to saying that
it's not anti-Semitism to depict Jews as clever with money, because
that's a positive trait.
So was the scene with the robot tailors Cohen and Goldberg, in
Woody Allen's "Sleeper," anti-semitic? (I saw that with my father
when it first came out, and I thought he was going to die
laughing.)
|6.26.09 @ 12:23PM|#
I was equally offended by the hook-nosed, money-grubbing,
scheming Mercedes transformer named "Skinflint." I thought he was
too Chinese.
And here I thought he was a Scotsman.
|6.26.09 @ 12:23PM|#
jtuf | June 26, 2009, 12:00pm | #
This is Ja Ja Binks all over again.
this reminded me of the conservative christian furor over jar jar
binks being a "demonic character." I remember one kids parents
caught their progeny humping an inflatable jar jar doll and
concluded satan was perverting their child using star wars
merchandise.
|6.26.09 @ 12:29PM|#
It's just a fucking movie!
I guess, since jive speak is now a taboo, I can't watch "Airplane"
anymore. Jive is not necessarily racial. Barbara Billingsley spoke
it very fluently in the previously mentioned movie.
mark|6.26.09 @ 12:29PM|#
The first movie was racist. In at least two scenes there is an
expletive emitted by an off-screen black voice interrupted by an
explosion. For example:
"What the f---!"
"Motherf---!"
Michael Bay is racist because he portrays black people as cussing
and wild, and somewhat more scared of robots and explosions than
white people. He's racist for expecting his black audience to
respond well to those lines. What's even sadder, though, is that
those lines actually tested well with audiences (or they would not
have been added).
|6.26.09 @ 12:31PM|#
"I remember one kids parents caught their progeny humping an
inflatable jar jar doll"
That's just so full of screwed up, I don't know what to say.
LMFAO
|6.26.09 @ 12:34PM|#
Oh, good. Cracked is apparently piling on: Storyboards from Michael Bay's The Great Gatsby.
Some dude|6.26.09 @ 12:35PM|#
If you look at two Transformers, who "speak in gangsta slang. One sports a golden tooth. Both are excitable and diminutive enough to draw comparisons to chimpanzees." and immediately think "black guy," maybe you should take a second look at your own prejudices.
|6.26.09 @ 12:36PM|#
If the protrayal of these two green and orange robots is racist, what are we to make of the two clearly black Jive Dudes in "Airplane" (the ones that Barbara Billingsley translated for)?
hmm|6.26.09 @ 12:42PM|#
Bumblebee was not a fucking Camero.
Jazz was always the smooth black guy and he wasn't a cheesey
midlife crisis car(Solstice). He was a Porsche.
|6.26.09 @ 12:47PM|#
"Look, my gang...which I can't talk about because it's super secret is the most important thing to me now, and if you two don't like it, you can just pass the blunt to the nigga on your left."
|6.26.09 @ 12:53PM|#
Hey Warty, how many able-bodied people does it take to screw in
a light bulb?
One.
|6.26.09 @ 12:56PM|#
If I jump on the Michael-Bay-is-a-racist bandwagon, will Bay be run out of Hollywood and not be allowed to make a film again?
|6.26.09 @ 12:57PM|#
Director Michael Bay insists jive-talking twin robots were
only meant for laughs.
That's what they said about the minstrel shows.
And now, in a fearless demonstration of undying allegiance with my
differently pigmented fellow man, I swear a solemn oath that I will
not go see this movie.
Peter|6.26.09 @ 1:00PM|#
They should have used the tailpipe of one of the cars to
resemble a blunt that the two passed back and forth throughout the
movie.
BayFAIL.
|6.26.09 @ 1:01PM|#
how many able-bodied people does it take to screw in a light
bulb?
Barring coercion, it's none of your damn binniss.
alan|6.26.09 @ 1:01PM|#
this reminded me of the conservative christian furor over
jar jar binks being a "demonic character." I remember one kids
parents caught their progeny humping an inflatable jar jar doll and
concluded satan was perverting their child using star wars
merchandise.
LOL. Score one for Satan.
NeonCat|6.26.09 @ 1:02PM|#
The io9 review of T:RotF is very, very funny.
http://io9.com/5301898/michael-bay-finally-made-an-art-movie?skyline=true&s=i
|6.26.09 @ 1:03PM|#
UberHack Bay was just ripping off this:
"That was
nothing compared to the time me and Galactus got caught having a
naked knife fight by The National Enquirer."
|6.26.09 @ 1:05PM|#
how many able-bodied people does it take to screw in a light
bulb?
Is that what the kids are calling it these days? I just can't keep
up.
alan|6.26.09 @ 1:06PM|#
The first movie was racist. In at least two scenes there is
an expletive emitted by an off-screen black voice interrupted by an
explosion. For example:
"What the f---!"
"Motherf---!"
Where is the racism there? Your detector is picking up signals from
out of this planet.
Franklin Harris|6.26.09 @ 1:08PM|#
The only relevant question is, which is the more incompetent
director: Michael Bay or McG?
(Leave Uwe Boll out of this. We already know he's the most
incompetent director since Hal Warren.)
hmm|6.26.09 @ 1:08PM|#
Is it actually racist to point out a commonality? Or is it only
racist to judge based on a commonality? Or is it racist for someone
who is not a part of the commonality to point out the
commonality?
Who cares. It's a movie. You can watch any number of movies aimed
at the black market or at the market as a whole and find the same
fucking stereotypes.
who cares
|6.26.09 @ 1:09PM|#
McG is Orson Welles compared to Bay. I assert that any enjoyment ever felt by anyone at a Bay film was completely unintentional on his part.
Warty|6.26.09 @ 1:12PM|#
``It's me,'' Alan said. ``But Rudy's joking. `Turing' doesn't
really have an umlaut in it.''
``He's going to have an umlaut in him later tonight,'' Rudy said,
looking at Alan in a way that, in retrospect, years later, Lawrence
would understand to have been smoldering.
Jordan|6.26.09 @ 1:14PM|#
Gonna have to disagree with the consensus here. The Rock and
Armageddon kicked ass, Transformers kicked ass, and I will be going
to see the new one this weekend.
On the other hand, Terminator Salvation was a disgrace. Fuck
McG.
|6.26.09 @ 1:15PM|#
Who cares. It's a movie.
That's the point! Movies are more real than reality. If you see
some guy smoking a cigarette outside the 7-eleven, it's just some
guy smoking.
If you see a guy smoking outside a 7-eleven in a movie, it's a
paradigm of the innate self-destructive urge which drives
civilizations to rise and fall.
If you see a robot in a movie with a gold tooth and enormous ummm,
feet, it's a stereotype.
|6.26.09 @ 1:16PM|#
The Soup, on VH1's "Black History Month":
http://www.fastclips.com/videos/tevAD0em6lUs
MNG|6.26.09 @ 1:18PM|#
The movie looks so terrible, like Terminator Salvation took a
shit and that shit was this movie...
What a shame, I fucking love the Transformers...
|6.26.09 @ 1:18PM|#
If Micheal Bay executive produced haikus:
shitty Micheal Bay
shitty movies, shitty shit
shit shit shit shit shit
|6.26.09 @ 1:20PM|#
Ska,
They haven't picked it up yet. I mailed it to them and everything!
I wonder if I'll get a hat tip?
alan|6.26.09 @ 1:22PM|#
``It's me,'' Alan said. ``But Rudy's joking. `Turing'
doesn't really have an umlaut in it.''
``He's going to have an umlaut in him later tonight,'' Rudy said,
looking at Alan in a way that, in retrospect, years later, Lawrence
would understand to have been smoldering.
Even though I got the Cryptonomicon reference, with my name in
there, my butt cheeks still winced.
hmm|6.26.09 @ 1:23PM|#
Just wait until they introduce the female autobots.
Does that mean the transformers are more like spartans. That could
indicate a huge gay robot scene in the third movie.
Peter|6.26.09 @ 1:24PM|#
Ska,
They haven't picked it up yet. I mailed it to them and everything!
I wonder if I'll get a hat tip?
Did I miss something?
|6.26.09 @ 1:26PM|#
MNG,
I immediately went to write, "But what about.." and realized I was
drawing a complete blank.
The Angry Optimist|6.26.09 @ 1:26PM|#
Transformers, by definition, will be better than the POS that
was Star Trek.
Sad to say, but apparently its Bay>Abrams. At least in this
limited case.
wingnutx|6.26.09 @ 1:26PM|#
Where's the outrage over Sam Raimi's depiction of Gypsies in
"Drag Me To Hell"?
Wait, I forgot that it doesn't matter as long as your movie is six
kinds of awesome. Never mind.
wingnutx|6.26.09 @ 1:29PM|#
I'm very much looking forward to the release of "9" in
September.
The short
film that it is based on was great.
MNG|6.26.09 @ 1:29PM|#
SF
I don't know how you feel about Star Trek, but it suddenly seems
Oscar-worthy in comparison to some of these turkeys.
|6.26.09 @ 1:30PM|#
Bay sucks ass. I just looked at the list of films that he
directed. I liked some of The Island, and I'm willing to
believe that Playboy Video Centerfold: Kerri Kendall was
good. That's it.
Sucks!
|6.26.09 @ 1:32PM|#
Sug, you're just on the wrong feminist sites. The less-rabid zeldalily.com (run by a friend of mine- true story!) picked up the BK ad story a few days ago.
hmm|6.26.09 @ 1:34PM|#
The recent Star Trek movie was the first in the series without a
moral theme. Just another shooting, karate, big boom movie in
space.
Epic fail.
The camera shine or star thingies or whatever the fuck they are
were annoying as hell as well.
Ska|6.26.09 @ 1:36PM|#
What's the fun then, Dagny? The commentors are too sensible to truly enjoy. Now let's hear from people who are offended by a rubber tit vending machine.
|6.26.09 @ 1:39PM|#
The less-rabid
What's the point of reading feminists with a sense of humor? I want
foaming-at-the-mouth inchoate rage that only my girls at
Feministing can provide. Nothing else does it for me at this
point.
Well, nothing but you, my snow princess.
|6.26.09 @ 1:40PM|#
Ska, the commenters there don't always exercise such restraint. It's my belief that 7 inches is just not enough to offend anyone.
JB|6.26.09 @ 1:41PM|#
I love the indignation.
I mean everyone obviously knows that there are 0 people with dark
skin pigment who actually speak in slang.
|6.26.09 @ 1:41PM|#
MNG,
I did enjoy Star Trek. I'm not a huge fan of the series
itself as a work of science fiction, so the movie worked for me on
a semi-mindless entertainment level.
I've not seen The Hangover but I have a soft spot for that
sort of humor.
|6.26.09 @ 1:42PM|#
It's my belief that 7 inches is just not enough to offend
anyone.
Depends on velocity and target.
|6.26.09 @ 1:44PM|#
MNG | June 26, 2009, 1:35pm | #
I thought the Hangover was just OK.
srsly?! I hate that type of movie and I laughed my ass off.
|6.26.09 @ 1:44PM|#
2 things...
1. Best article title ever.
2. If inner city blacks are offended by their stereotype being made
into the butt of jokes in, perhaps they should stop speaking like
morons.
The Angry Optimist|6.26.09 @ 1:45PM|#
y'know, there were so many incredulous moments and coincidences
and so much cheesy acting in Star Trek that I am baffled at the
positive reviews it received from non-fans. I say that as a fan who
hated it for a multitude of other reasons, but for the non-fans:
Nero can travel back in time, and instead of warning about the
event that kills his planet, he goes on a useless revenge killing
spree?
Does that make sense to anybody?
|6.26.09 @ 1:48PM|#
TAO,
Not to defend the movie, but...
It does show the sort of dangerously powerful emotions that Vulcans
struggle to suppress.
Also, kudos on yesterday. You didn't trip my spoof alarm at all. I
was a bit distracted yesterday, but I won't try and use that as an
excuse.
wingnutx|6.26.09 @ 1:52PM|#
Feministing had a thread on the BK ad the other day.
http://www.feministing.com/archives/016310.html
The Angry Optimist|6.26.09 @ 1:54PM|#
SugarFree - thanks, man! I never tried a spoof previously (err,
other than the one of LW that got me banned), so I was pleased with
the results :D.
See, though, even with the Vulcans, you've got ueber-stoic Sarek
saying "embrace your emotions".
The only saving grace is that the new Trek is, by definition, not
canon, so thank Galt for small favors.
Naga Sadow|6.26.09 @ 1:58PM|#
Dammit TAO!!! You're missing the big picture! Uhura and Spock!!! Uhura and Spock!!!
MNG|6.26.09 @ 2:01PM|#
I thought the most implausible thing was Kirk getting elevated to acting Captain during the movie...
|6.26.09 @ 2:14PM|#
The Climate Change Climate Change
The number of skeptics is swelling everywhere.
The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma
Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree
with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007
climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first
woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her
retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly"
of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental
physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs
man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history."
Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it
as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by
Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society
revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and
Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open
letter.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597505076157449.html
|6.26.09 @ 2:15PM|#
Sharp eye, wingnutx!
How did I miss that? Maybe I occasionally blackout when I read
them. I do wake up in strange places all the time, but I thought
that was just the drugs.
Maybe I post over there while in a fugue state. Maybe I'm
SarahMC! [shudder]
Fluffy|6.26.09 @ 2:15PM|#
I thought the most implausible thing was Kirk getting
elevated to acting Captain during the movie...
Well, I gave them a pass on that one by pretending that the entire
new crew of the Enterprise was made up of cadets plus a couple of
Academy instructors, so at least one of the cadets had to end up in
the chain of command.
It was MUCH, MUCH more implausible that Kirk would be sent to down
to the ice planet in a pod and would land right next to where Spock
just happened to be hanging out.
|6.26.09 @ 2:17PM|#
Sure. We give aircraft carriers to Naval Academy cadets all of the time. Shit, we give them whole fleets sometimes, just as a lark.
Medic001|6.26.09 @ 2:19PM|#
And White Chicks wasn't offensive? Lets gets some perspective
here folks. If it had been any Black Director, people would be
slapping him on the back, and he'd be off to the BET awards.
Get over it and move on.
Doc
Tyler Durden|6.26.09 @ 2:24PM|#
Maybe I'm SarahMC! [shudder]
Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make
myself feel better. Take some responsibility!
|6.26.09 @ 2:26PM|#
"how many able-bodied people does it take to screw in a light
bulb?"
At least two, but neither one needs to be all that able
bodied.
Oh, and the light bulb has to be really, really big in order for
two or more people to screw in it.
|6.26.09 @ 2:29PM|#
Tyler Durden
Well, I do occasionally splice in very pornographic things to this
board that upsets people...
|6.26.09 @ 2:30PM|#
now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the
U.N.
Anyone who disagrees with AGW is not a "real scientist" therefore
all real scientists agree with AGW. Learn it, live it, love it.
Tyler Durden|6.26.09 @ 2:32PM|#
Last night SarahMC told me:
"My God. I haven't been fucked like that since grade school."
I just smiled and removed my yellow plastic gloves...
|6.26.09 @ 2:35PM|#
"My God. I haven't been fucked like that since grade
school."
The original line, that they cut was: "I want to have your
abortion."
PC|6.26.09 @ 2:38PM|#
Gee and let me watch any black made movie or series with their airheaded effeminate white boy character. Almost every single one has one.
|6.26.09 @ 2:42PM|#
"I mean everyone obviously knows that there are 0 people with
dark skin pigment who actually speak in slang."
I heard a fascinating conversation on my commute home last evening.
Two black women were comparing Chicago niggers and Minneapolis
niggers (their words). They said where as Minneapolis niggers are
all mamma's boys, Chicago niggers are all a bunch of criminals
(everyone of them according to one of the woman).
The girl who made the remark about the Chi boys was asked why she
thought that and she said that she'd been a Minneapolis nigger her
entire life and so she saw how the Chicago niggers behaved when
they came to Minneapolis. It was a fascinating discussion.
Oh, and one of the girls was pregnat (and being healthy about it)
and she added that her mother had eight kids but since she'd once
had twins, she'd only been pregnant seven times. Bothe girls
laughed at the thought of someone being pregnant "only" seven
times.
Peter|6.26.09 @ 2:51PM|#
she'd only been pregnant seven times. Bothe girls laughed at
the thought of someone being pregnant "only" seven
times.
I wonder if the reason minorities reproduce so much is because of
some subliminal messaging they received about how this was the only
way to overtake the oppressive white race. I need to listen to
MLK's speeches again...
|6.26.09 @ 2:55PM|#
"I wonder if the reason minorities reproduce so much is because
of some subliminal messaging they received about how this was the
only way to overtake the oppressive white race. I need to listen to
MLK's speeches again..."
I worked with a Latino man who shared that philosophy. He had
several kids via several women. But my friend Leroy takes the cake.
Seventeen kids! Seventeen! All by at least a dozen woman. Doesn't
pay a dime of child support either. that's where you and I come in.
But on the whole, he's a really great guy.
|6.26.09 @ 3:07PM|#
Generally it's a net positive for poor people, and a cost for the rich. The welfare state reinforces this.
Peter|6.26.09 @ 3:09PM|#
Doesn't pay a dime of child support either...But on the
whole, he's a really great guy.
Did that really just happen?
fecundity is inversely correlated with wealth
I'll give you that, but when was the last time a white woman took a
white guy on Maury or whatever to get the test results about her
baby-daddy? There are poor white people out there too...
Harpoon|6.26.09 @ 3:19PM|#
Racial insensitivity is problem with an easy solution. Quit being so fucking sensitive.
|6.26.09 @ 3:19PM|#
I won't make any Con Air comments in this thread, considering the sincere and heartfelt opinions of many commenters here. But you know how I feel.
Rich|6.26.09 @ 3:37PM|#
> Movies are more real than reality.
That's why Broadway musicals about Broadway musicals are so
poignant.
Peter|6.26.09 @ 3:57PM|#
That's why Broadway musicals about Broadway musicals are so
poignant.
Reality cubed.
|6.26.09 @ 4:18PM|#
But on the whole, he's a really great guy.
I'm having a hard time imagining someone so otherwise outstanding
that their personal fabulousness outweighs avoiding responsibility
for their children and sticking their hand in my pocket to finance
their hobby of banging skanks without a rubber.
|6.26.09 @ 4:45PM|#
banging skanks without a rubber.
This demonstrates empathy. If he said, "I ain't
stickin' my pecker in there without it's bein' impenetrably sealed
against whatever it is you got!" she might feel bad about
herself.
|6.26.09 @ 4:59PM|#
"I'm having a hard time imagining someone so otherwise
outstanding that their personal fabulousness outweighs avoiding
responsibility for their children and sticking their hand in my
pocket to finance their hobby of banging skanks without a
rubber."
Well for one thing, he's a great story teller. He does babysit some
of his kids when needed. He doesn't hit them and they're all well
behaved. He works full time, pays his taxes and if you need a ride
to the airport he'll give you one. He just doesn't pay child
support, that's all. Who could cover that for seventeen kids?
His only crime is that he knocked up women seventeen times. At
least the ones we know about.
|6.26.09 @ 4:59PM|#
"banging skanks without a rubber."
Not a skank in the bunch. Hot chick like Leroy.
|6.26.09 @ 5:51PM|#
EA Palin, its all about values. In my book, a man who fathers a
child has voluntarily taken on a heavy, heavy responsibility.
Blowing it off with no more than occasional babysitting is a
massive dereliction of duty.
Being an otherwise OK guy (has a job, will drop you off at the
airport) doesn't make up for it.
|6.27.09 @ 12:31AM|#
see also: other than his unnatural fondness for young boys, he was the bestest pop star ever.
|6.27.09 @ 5:55AM|#
Al Jolson wasn't a racist. I don't give a shit about this movie, but get your entertainment history straight. Really research what Jolsen's blackface was all about before you compare him to this dribble.
Art-P.O.G.|6.27.09 @ 7:35AM|#
Has no one read Ego Trip's Big Book Of Racism? I consider it the authoritative tome on the subject.
I, Kahn O\'Clast|6.27.09 @ 1:48PM|#
It is simply distracting to have aliens or robots speak in contemporary stereotypes. Witness the separatists/merchants in the Phantom Menace sounding Asian (and jar jar a pseudo-jamaica-rasta (ears for dreads) and that freaking Howard Cosel voice for the announcer of the race (changed on the DVD releases I think).... It's simply annoying.
alan|6.27.09 @ 4:37PM|#
and jar jar a pseudo-jamaica-rasta
I personally didn't see the Jamaican connection when I watched the
movie but after it was pointed out, it seemed obvious. Jar-jar was
so fucking annoying that considering it an insult was warranted.
Whereas, in Happy Feet, the amigos didn't raise any eyebrows on any
one who isn't a thumbsucker by nature.
|6.28.09 @ 1:54PM|#
Just saw the movie last night. I'm not usually impressed by
claims of racism in these things, but a few additional facts:
- The robots involved don't just talk in "urban" (cough cough)
slang, they do so in ridiculous jivey pimp voices
- One has a gold tooth
- They're both the "ape-like" transformers. They clamber across
larger transformers, they have big-ass forearms. They're basically
chimps.
- The two are shown as goddamn idiots who are constantly fighting
each other, calling each other pussies, etc.
- The creme de la creme? They are both illiterate. Seriously. It's
a plot point.
So, yeah there you go. Robominstrelry.
Brett Stevens|6.29.09 @ 2:35AM|#
From a historian's point of view, "diversity" (multiculturalism)
always fails.
We don't need Jar-Jar Binks and these idiot transformers to tell us
that in such a pejorative fashion.
Art-P.O.G.|6.29.09 @ 3:12AM|#
Robominstrelry.
Well done, DeepOmega.
Brett Stevens (can I call you BS?), I'm sure many of us are
familiar with your hobby horse.
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