POLL: Skids, Mudflap. Racist?

[GoktimusPrime]

I loved Mudflap's little reference to G.I.Joe while he was fighting Devastator.

[Beast_Wars_Superior]

They are playing a racist stereotype, but it doesn't actually bother me. Why? Because the Autobots learned how to talk through the world wide web, and if some of them just happened to pick up a stereotype being shoved down our throats by all the top 40 rappers, who can blame them?

I think as someone mentioned, it's more 'making fun of the stereotype' than 'making fun of the people attached to that stereotype'.

That said, I did find them pretty annoying.

[Tiby]

They are playing a racist stereotype, but it doesn't actually bother me. Why? Because the Autobots learned how to talk through the world wide web, and if some of them just happened to pick up a stereotype being shoved down our throats by all the top 40 rappers, who can blame them?

I think as someone mentioned, it's more 'making fun of the stereotype' than 'making fun of the people attached to that stereotype'.

That said, I did find them pretty annoying.

I agree. Eminem did it, Elvis did it, there are many who have imitated black culture or characteristics for their own benefit, and to public acclaim. I don't think it is racist to take certain (obviously over the top and caricatured) characteristics and use them in a movie. I mean, is Chris Rock guilty of racism when he goes out of his way to caricature blacks? Or Chappell? Or Eddie Murphy?

It's a movie with two funny/annoying/comedic relief characters in it, not a statement about society today.

[Thanatos]

I'm not sure Michael Bay is smart enough to even be able to have that many layers of subtlety.

I think one of the problems is in the voice actors. First you have Skids who's voiced by Tom Kenny, the most quintessential white man on the planet, and then you have Mudflap, who's actually voiced by an African American. That raises some questions.

I don't think they're anything but an amusing look as some of the more silly stereotypes the world holds, rather than a straight up racist comment.

[Beast_Wars_Superior]

I agree. Eminem did it, Elvis did it, there are many who have imitated black culture or characteristics for their own benefit, and to public acclaim. I don't think it is racist to take certain (obviously over the top and caricatured) characteristics and use them in a movie. I mean, is Chris Rock guilty of racism when he goes out of his way to caricature blacks? Or Chappell? Or Eddie Murphy?

It's a movie with two funny/annoying/comedic relief characters in it, not a statement about society today.

I think the best thing to compare it to would be the video clip to P.I.M.P by 50 Cent. If you're going to complain about Skids and Mudflap being monkey-faced (yes, that actual term has been used) stereotypes with gold teeth, take a look/listen at the roundtable of pimps Fiddy selected for the video.

Also, unlike Rock and Chappelle, that video is merely reinforcing those stereotypes, not commenting on or challenging them.

I think another interesting thing to look at is Anthony Anderson in the first film. He was portrayed as an everyday black man, so you could argue that his (extremely stereotyped) character was a racist one. Skids and Mudflap, on the other hand, are alien robots who learned human language/mannerisms from an Internet where this playa/pimp stereotype is glorified and reinforced constantly, by black people no less (rappers especially), on Youtube and other places.

[autobreadticon]

the American - "I'm surrounded by donkeys"

Judith - "that's nasty" after eating snail

[BigPenney]

Although I can see were the people whom said yes are coming from I had to vote no because as other have stated, they appear to be more try-hards or white kids trying to imitate hip-hop culture.
Also when I saw Skids face up-close I recon he looked more like what I would call a stereotype of a redneck or hillbilly.
At least, that’s how it appears to me.

[Tiby]

Everyone I have spoken to through they were rednecks.

In any event, how someone feels is their own decision, not someone else's doing. The US have been so wound up in blaming everyone else for everything, they they have forgotten that feelings are personal and are decisions made by the feeler. People choose to be offended, pure and simple.

Sadly, this PC mentality, like much of the US's worst traits, has made its way here.

[enforcer888]

If anything I thought they were mocking the white rapper 'urban' stereotype. Middle class kids who think the street is cool.

[Gutsman Heavy]

When I saw the twins I though of this:



NOT this: