POLL: Skids, Mudflap. Racist?

[Paulbot]

I'm undecided on the Twins, but there are other scenes in the movie where the audience is meant to laugh at people who not only are from minority groups but also, get this, wait for you'll laugh so hard, they also have unusual physical attributes (eg the short border guard and the guy in the deli with bad teeth) . But both films also make fun of big buff white guys too.

I think the film would have been better off with out the lame humour and if the new Transformers, like the Twins and Wheelie were allowed to have characters based on more than their stereotypical voices.

[Vector Sigma 13]

Maybe people forgot this is just a movie and its all pretend? My vote is no.

[Kayyasha]

Voted yes, but at the same time have the urge to start siging 'everyone's a little bit racist'. They were meant to be funny characters and yes, they were horrible stereotypes let's face it; Bay knows how to blow thigs up and not much else.

[RageOnTheRoads]

I'm undecided on the Twins, but there are other scenes in the movie where the audience is meant to laugh at people who not only are from minority groups but also, get this, wait for you'll laugh so hard, they also have unusual physical attributes (eg the short border guard and the guy in the deli with bad teeth) . But both films also make fun of big buff white guys too.

I think the film would have been better off with out the lame humour and if the new Transformers, like the Twins and Wheelie were allowed to have characters based on more than their stereotypical voices.

Well said.

Not sure I found them racist. Annoying prats, defiantly.

Got a lot of cheers in the cinema when Bee clanked their heads together.

[roller]

wah wah Al Jolson is a monster !!


Ha! I love al jolson

[MV75]

So how are they "supposed" to be acting like? White?

Damn supremist predjuced nazis.

[GoktimusPrime]

The racial stereotyping in these movies isn't much better or worse than what we had in the G1 cartoon really. Yes, it's a bit more adult, but it's an M film. Remember that in the G1 'toon we many Transformers who spoke in various accents, one of whom was Outback who spoke in a fake Australian accent (it was a fair attempt tbh, but still noticeably inauthentic).

Speaking in varying accents is nothing new to Transformers... and why shouldn't they? It's not as if they're even human. The movie explains that they learnt English from the world wide web, so they would be able to speak multiple human languages from a variety of different accents and mannerisms. I assume that they pick one that they like and stick with it. Unlike humans, their accents are not a result of their 'upbringing' or external environmental factors - it's been 'artificially' assimilated into their minds.

One interesting thing is comparing the way a Transformer speaks when they're talking in English and when they're speaking Cybertronian. In both movies we see Starscream speaking in both English and Cybertronian; accent and voices sound quite different. I wonder if it's even the same voice actor. I know that Hugo Weaving did record lines for Megatron in English and Cybertronian - although his Cybertronian lines are never used in the movies, we have seen behind-the-scenes video of him recording in Cybertronian (1:43: "Fiznot dibom milligret'desseth tass!").

As for saying things in a way that could be conceived as being socially or culturally insensitive... they're alien robots. It's expected that they're going to commit acts of social faux pas. Ratchet did the same in the first movie with his line about Sam's pheromones (although admittedly that's a lot more clever than Skids and Mudflap's try-hard "gangsta" talk, but one would assume that as a medical officer, Ratchet's intelligence would be somewhat above that of the twins who themselves admit to being illiterate! The only other illiterate Transformers I can think of are the G1 cartoon Dinobots who everyone knows aren't the sharpest tools in the shed ).

[Vector Sigma 13]

The racial stereotyping in these movies isn't much better or worse than what we had in the G1 cartoon really. Yes, it's a bit more adult, but it's an M film. )

Im sure it was advertised as PG here. This made me scratch my head a bit as i was having a severe moral dilemma with my 5 year old son sitting next to me...

Edit : I checked my cinema website and its rated at PG- dont know how they came to that conclusion?

[Gutsman Heavy]

they must have cocked up, it is rated M.

[Vector Sigma 13]

wah wah Al Jolson is a monster !!


Ha! I love al jolson

Sounds like this debate has been going forever...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jolson