Film's subtle racism and stereotypes.
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ndatmo-1 — 18 years ago(February 10, 2008 02:54 PM)
I actually thought they did a fairly decent job of presenting an even-handed variety of ethnicities in both positive and negative lights.
Black detective/Black thugs/Black attorney/Black helpful concerned neighbor/Black prostitute.
White murderers and abusers/White victims/White witness/White cops and detectives.
Asian crime victim/Asian black market gun seller.
The same with Hispanic characters, medical personnel, bystanders, etc.
As tmontyb said, I'm not sure what the OP was expecting, either. And movies have pretty much always utilized stereotypes and broadly-drawn characters to get an idea across in a short amount of time.
I would agree if all of the bad/good lined up consistently along strictly racial lines, but I think they took some care to 'mix it up' in this case. And as a small point, the white middle-aged blonde blue-eyed professional woman was not a heroic figure at allshe was a psychologically ruined killer who was out of control and suicidal. -
venusebony — 18 years ago(February 10, 2008 09:06 PM)
I co sign with the OP this movie reeks of misandry and racism. Of course the men of colour are depicted as evil and white women are once again placed as victims in the film.It is interesting because white feminists scream and yell when white women are stereotyped in movies. Yet this movie is obviously anti male it is just plain disgusting and cannot be taken seriously.
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ndatmo-1 — 18 years ago(February 11, 2008 12:12 AM)
Would you apply your theory of alleged
misandry
and
racism
to the portrayals of Erica's East Indian fiance, David and the Black detective Mercer and Black neighbor who befriended her in her misery and desperation? Or do you only select the negative or violent characters of color whom you can force fit into your scheme of things?
Your blanket statement that
"Of course the men of colour are depicted as evil and white women are once again placed as victims in the film."
is easily refuted. There was only one white woman victim who later became the worst kind of perpetrator of unreasoned murder. As far as the male charactersI wonder if you have very selective memory or you just didn't see the film. -
rizzo_77 — 18 years ago(February 15, 2008 04:37 PM)
Mercer was the main good guy (outside of Jodie) and one of the few good cops (or at least the one of the few shown actually doing their job with some sort of zeal) and he was "of color."
I also notice that people don't want to piss and moan about the extremely negative view of police officers. I know you all probably think that it is cool and "in the right" to point out that cops are lazy, cruel and don't care like the receptionist in the precint. However, outside of the one or two you see on the news acting like jack-asses, these men and women put their life on the line to help us, and we throw them under the bus repeatedly to serve a story-line. I think that was far far more blantant and so much more negative than any racial undertones this movie protrayed.
And if you have a negative view of cops because one pulled you over going ten over the speed limit because (you think) he had to fill a quota, go whine somewhere else. I'm not interested. The only people who hate cops are those who break the law, and in-turn have multiple run-ins with them. -
babybyrd2000 — 18 years ago(February 15, 2008 08:52 PM)
Pray tell who usually assaults and rapes women they don't know.
It sure isn't women and it's disproportionately not white males.
White males get drunk and shoot their girlfriend.
Street rapists and muggers in cities are nearly always minority.
The stats don't lie.
Since when can we not make movies anymore that offend simply by portraying the obvious. -
pgrimmus — 18 years ago(February 16, 2008 10:58 PM)
"There is nothing racist about this film. This is who commits most of the crime in large urban areas like it or not.
It ain't hillbillies..lol
It was refreshing, so unpolitically correct for a change. Someone fights back."
Refreshing? So this is the first time you've seen a movie with minorities committing crimes and someone fighting back? What country did you come from lol.
"Street rapists and muggers in cities are nearly always minority.
The stats don't lie."
Yeah and the fact that you said that sounds like you're racist. The stats don't lie. -
DameDigbyChickenCaesar — 18 years ago(February 25, 2008 09:25 AM)
"Of course the men of colour are depicted as evil and white women are once again placed as victims in the film."
Yeah, like Howard's character and the man on the train with the kid Evil incarnate!
I've lived in NY all my life. It was a slice of life. This story just happened to be about a white woman victim. Oh, and Foster's boyfriend He wasn't a white man. Then again the whole Asian doctor thingthat could be perceived as sterotypical, lol. And I couldn't help but notice the thing with the Latina caller.
Overall, it's a movie. I found it entertaining. It served its purpose.
"The world was not READY for Big Audio Dynamite!"
R.I.P. Ledgend -
Eightythreeyearoldguy — 14 years ago(August 22, 2011 09:04 AM)
"Of course the men of colour are depicted as evil and white women are once again placed as victims in the film."
Are you sure you saw this movie? Terrence Howard certainly wasn't evil, nor were the other cops "of color". Chloe certainly wasn't white and she was one of the victims.
Life, every now and then, behaves as though it had seen too many bad movies -
NJHateCore — 18 years ago(February 11, 2008 07:49 AM)
I guess you missed the part where the black cop helps her out at the end or the fact her fiance was not white. It's people like you who make any excuse as to why something is racist that have blurred the lines on what is truly racism.
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joseph-rybicki — 18 years ago(February 11, 2008 08:55 AM)
I'm sick of this "learning to use the gun" crap.
I see people every day who buy a gun, get lessons and can shoot and hit what they are aiming at the first try, before anything is learned from the lesson.
Get a clue, guns are not hard to use. -
contractorjohn2003 — 18 years ago(February 11, 2008 09:08 AM)
Hey genius,
The black guys didn't listen to radiohead - they STOLE the mp3 player from the white kid who was listening to radiohead.
And there were no stereotypes in this film, only things you'd normally see in a big city. The black kids on the bus was not over done by any means. Even where I live, black kids on buses make a point of being loud and acting menacingly. -
jdi-6 — 18 years ago(February 12, 2008 10:47 PM)
by - XcardfiendX on Sat Feb 9 2008 22:05:39
- Black guys dont listen to radiohead!
but someone might steal an iPod regardless of what was on it. dude, your comment is hilariousactually more-so a stupid statement.
- Black guys dont listen to radiohead!
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XcardfiendX — 18 years ago(February 13, 2008 03:54 PM)
I was referring to when the detective saw radiohead on the Ipod on the black guys dead body and said "I don't think this is his!"
Genius.
Also, maybe its just me, but I felt as if the makers of this film felt it might be deemed somewhat racist, so they added in random "good" minority characters to try to even it out and make it seem more like "New York." (old black guy on the bus, Jodie's fiance)Also, making Jodie's character not seem racist by having her fiance be non-white. (after all, most of the dudes she kills in the film are minorities.)