POLL: Skids, Mudflap. Racist?

[SMHFConvoy]

I voted yes to racist. The characters come from a mean place. I read this thread and I am SURPRISED that it's okay to laugh at people because they are DIFFERENT.

Look at Skids and Mudflap they look different from the rest of the robotic cast and it's intentional.

[1AZRAEL1]

I voted yes to racist. The characters come from a mean place. I read this thread and I am SURPRISED that it's okay to laugh at people because they are DIFFERENT.

Look at Skids and Mudflap they look different from the rest of the robotic cast and it's intentional.

So your saying we shouldn't be laughing at the Simpsons? Family Guy? Metalocaypse? Brady Bunch? Married With Children? Any other shows that use stereotypes?

I'll pick at Simpsons first. Apu is an Indian that runs a convenience store, nuff said. Comic Book Guy, hes fat, single, big scifi nerd, is that to say that all scifi nerds are fat and single?

Family Guy, has so many stereotypes used throughout the seasons, that I just can't be bothered to type them. I'm sure alot of people here watch it and know what I mean. It got cancelled after season 2 if I'm correct? And they brought it back because people find it funny.

Metalocalypse, sterotypes the metalhead. The creator is a metalhead. I am a metalhead and I find it hilarious. So do alot of people I know who watch it. But I know that there will be some metalhead out there with a pole up his clacker that will find offence in the show.

Brady Bunch is a stereotype on the typical american family of the time it came out. Don't really need to go into it.

Married With Children has Al sitting on the couch most of the time, drinking and watching TV. Plenty of things a stereotype of the typical family life of americans now, or what it is perceived to be.

I can go on about the religous sterotypes used in those shows, but that will open up a big can of worms.

The point I'm trying to make is, there are sterotypes in every facet of life. Someone will always be offended by something.

In my opinion, people just need to sit back and enjoy TV shows, movies, and the like for what they are, fun. Some people are just too uptight.

end rant.

[Dylbot]

Metalocalypse, sterotypes the metalhead. The creator is a metalhead. I am a metalhead and I find it hilarious.
Metalocalypse and Dethklok f.t.w!

[Lithium]

I voted no. I didn't think they were trying to portray the African-American culture. I reckon they were just a couple of try-hards. At the same time, you can say that bringing Jazz into the first movie was racist because of the way he portrayed African-Americans. Just because someone's black, it doesn't mean they talk like rappers. I've never yet met a black person who talks like that. Putting that aside, Jazz is my favorite character because I don't take his personality to be a poke at racism. And, I'm not gonna judge Mudflap's or Skid's personalities to be an act of racism either. I know it isn't.

[GoktimusPrime]

Here's a stereotype that might hit closer to home: is anyone else sick of Americans portraying all Australians as ignorant, backward, bogan crocodile hunters who carry huge knives and yell "CRIKEY!"?? Sure annoys the hell out of me! One of Spider-Man's villains is entirely based around this stereotype... GRRRRR!

Fortunately Outback was never portrayed that way - his racial/cultural stereotyping was done in a more positive manner like Jazz or Blaster; i.e.: portrayed as an equal rather than as an inferior.

[quote=RobzyWell actually I've been saying it in ALL my posts on the subject! It's nothing new![/quote]
Sorry, I meant "now" as in, "Now here's my next point," not as in you've only been saying that now. Stupid written text and it's lack of intonation/inflection!! Grrr! (growling with falling inflection)

Yes... That's why this thread/poll is flawed... how can any of us living in a country and culture so removed from this issue make an informed decision. Many people have just voted "No" - as in "no, I wasn't offended" which (as I've said since the beginning) isn't the point!

The poll question asks if we think that the twins are "horrible racist robots," not if we think that their portrayal itself is racist. Just because they behave in a manner that can be perceived as racially offensive doesn't mean that the characters themselves harbour such prejudice. If anything they came off as being more homophobic when one of them said, "Go cry to your boyfriend." Other than behaving in a stereotypical kind of way I don't recall seeing any evidence that shows that the twins themselves are actually racist.

This is different from say previous Transformers canon where they have viewed factions in the forms of being races and have shown prejudice toward each other, for example in Beast Wars when Rattrap says, "The only thing worse than a stinkin' Predacon is a stinkin' Decepticon." or the many number of times where Autobots and Decepticons have spoken of or about each other in such a manner. In fact, certain points of TF canon argues that the Transformers are not politically, but racially divided. For example, in G1 both Bludgeon and Grimlock argued that the 'good' and 'evil' aspects of being Autobot and Decepticon was intrinsic, and not as others like Optimus Prime, Prowl, Scorponok, Dinobot, movie-Jetfire etc. would argue, an "intensely personal choice." Grimlock once postulated that while Primus had intended on creating one race, he had inadvertantly created two. Bludgeon argued that being evil was "in our oil."

TF canon is conflicting because at times it portrays the morality as a choice but other times portays it as part of their nature. But each time canon portrays it as the latter it's like a form of subtle racism via a hidden curriculum.

It seems to be something that is built into story-telling from a long way back, such as Tolkien (whose stories are based on Old English and Norse literature), mythology from various culture and even religious texts.

I'm not saying that this excuses any of that of course. But yeah, while I can concede that the portrayal of these characters can be racist, I wouldn't agree that the characters themselves are racist, which is how I'd interpreted the poll question but I suspect you meant the former.

[Lithium]

I half-agree with you, Goktimus. However, if you remember Maggie Madsen (played by Rachael Taylor) from TF1, she was Australian but they didn't portray her in that way. She was portrayed as smart, intuitive and persistent. She made us Aussies look good, if you ask me.

[Ironhide63]

I half-agree with you, Goktimus. However, if you remember Maggie Madsen from TF1, she was Australian but they didn't portray her in that way. She was portrayed as smart, intuitive and persistent. She made us Aussies look good, if you ask me.

mmhmmm damn right...wait wait...sorry, thinking of something else. yea, some characters can be portrayed the wrong way, i think the twins were handled awesomely...and if they did it any different, it woulda put a cap on this movie's ass.

[Lithium]

Lol I found the twins annoying but at the same time, they get the job done. *Shrugs* Yes, racism is predominant in America. So lets learn a lesson from the Americans and not make racism predominant here. This shouldn't even be an issue. Skids and Mudflap are just a couple of idiot Autobots. Lets leave it at that.

[Sky Shadow]

Here's a stereotype that might hit closer to home: is anyone else sick of Americans portraying all Australians as ignorant, backward, bogan crocodile hunters who carry huge knives and yell "CRIKEY!"?? Sure annoys the hell out of me! One of Spider-Man's villains is entirely based around this stereotype... GRRRRR!

Do you mean Boomerang, Kangaroo or Ultimate Universe Kraven? (Spider-Man has a Monopoly on bad Australian stereotype villains.)

[SofaMan]

So your saying we shouldn't be laughing at the Simpsons? Family Guy? Metalocaypse? Brady Bunch? Married With Children? Any other shows that use stereotypes?

The key point is not that stereotypes are used, but how they are used.

For example, he whole point about The Simpsons is everyone is a stereotype, and all are portrayed as being equally flawed. No race, profession or subculture is singled out for special derision. By being egalitarian about it, their claim to be mocking stereotypes (rather than buying into them) carries more weight.

Skids and Mudflap do not, in my view, fall into this category.