POLL: Skids, Mudflap. Racist?

[GoktimusPrime]

I had to poke around for a bit, but the official Australian site for this movie shows that it's rated M.

[SilverDragon]

I think one could call Skids and Mudflap more tryhards than anything else. That may be why they act the way they did.

Also, I don't think they'd be THAT negative, given that Mudflap punched his way out of Devastator. In my view, if he really was supposed to be a racist stereotype, he'd be crapping himself and having to be rescued by Bumblebee.

[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.

[Robzy]

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 bit different when African-Americans make fun of African-Americans. The difference here is that the people behind this film are mostly white men! That's when you're walking on egg shells IMO.

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.

Yes, as I've already mentioned in this thread, this particular character (as well as Bernie Mac's and his character's family in TF1) were criticized too when the first movie came out (as were the "spanish" characters in the film, if anyone remembers correctly).

I think this is one of the reasons why it's an issue now... simply because Michael Bay has a track record of including these types of characters solely for the purpose of generating cheap laughs. The inevitable question is... is he doing it consistently on purpose because he's racist, or accidentally because he's culturally insensitive?

[JuzMel]

Can we hear the voices of some black people pls?

I don't have a problem with Mudflap and Skids only that they were pretty irritating in the movie and I also didn't like their insect like bulging eyes.

[Sky Shadow]

I read the following article yesterday, and thought the first comic legend on the page was interesting in relation to this topic. How far the US has come (or hasn't come) in thirty-nine years:

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources...-revealed-213/