Racist movie?
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Kelea7 — 14 years ago(October 17, 2011 12:56 PM)
See, I actually didn't think the portrayal of blacks was racist. Just stereotypical and cliched. That being said I feel the OP's friends frustrations, perhaps if they would have been able to see it in 1991 they would have been elated.
The thing is when it comes to black representation in mainstream media not much has changed since then. Some have argued that as far as opportunites it was better in the 90s because at least there were blacks steadily getting work on television. Why do you think the Cosby Show was such a big deal? It showcased blacks as just people, they didn't have to talk a certain way or dress a certain way or live in the ghetto. It just seems like whenever you get a few blacks in one spot on tv (for ex a neighborhood) it's the same image or the same background over again.
The blacks are never allowed to be bad idea is an exaggeration. I'm seeing more blatant negative portrayal of blacks in 2011 than there has been in years. And if anything it was a response to the constant negative portrayals of blacks in television/movies that came before and were still happening then. At this point many blacks were sidekicks or just put in to say they had diversity and were the first to die.
Blacks almost never (to this day) have good, fleshed out characterization so I'm sure a good, black representation of a "psycho" or "unsavory" character would be welcomed. Of course there are going to be a few complaints especially when the images that are put out consist of blacks being one dimensional (including poor, orvcriminals as the OP's friends state, and now we can add maids back to the mix, and soon to be slaves). There are just so few genuine representations, they are either a "token" or a stereotype. Sometimes they are just thrown in there to appease blacks or gain a black audience and the writers throw a few "black lines" at them to make it authentic.
As for your BET argument, you sound really mad for no reason. For your sake, calm the heck down, first of all. Secondly, I'm not sure of any statistics but I would say television (and Hollywood) is overwhelmingly white, most shows focus on white characters and even if there are others in the cast they find a way to make it about them. Although I think there are people who keep track of Latinos in tv, I did a paper on Latinos/Asians in television and I know for a fact there is an Asian organization that grades the major networks yearly. So there ARE Latino & Asian groups out there trying to get better representation for their folks. There are also Asian/Latino centric channels.
Some Latinos would look silly boycotting black productions seeing that a lot of these tv shows EMPLOY them. For one, since mainstream tv is just now discovering surprise! Blacks can be Latino too, for years black Latinos have played on black productions, yes even as Latinos! The Steve Harvey Show had some firsts I believe with speaking Spanish. Second, black entertainment focuses primarily on blacks sure but those shows tend to have more diversity than you know. If you actually knew of which you speak many black shows/movies have whites, latinos as main participants. Hell just watch some movies with a mainly black cast. Just take CW before it git rid of it's "urban" shows. A few of it's shows (Love Inc, Cuts, One on One etc) had lots of diversity going on.
How can you compare one channel of questionable taste OWNED BY WHITES to all of television? If you can call blacks "having" a few stations on cable (of which NONE are on mainstream tv, and only 1 is on basic cable) racist then it seems the OP's friends are allowed to say what they said. What is one little station to you? WET is NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and every other station on tv. If blacks (and don't get me started on Asians, Latinos, or Natives) eveer get thrown a bone they are supposedly lucky.
Name ONE show featuring one minority group that is on a major network right now? Why aren't there any
dramas
featuring a mainly black or minority cast on television? I can think of one or two EVER and none were given a chance to grow. Hell Hawaaiians can't even get acdecent role on
Hawaii
5-0. You have the audacity to get mad and go off on a tangent, how do you think minorities feel when the genuine representations of blacks are few and far between. Why are you angry? Shouldn't blacks, Latinos and Asians be mad? Most aren't even expecting a lot, just opportunites behind the scenes, to create fleshed out characters, to be seen as human first, not their RACE. You don't know how held back minority actors are by their race, it's frustrating. If you only knew the half. I'm just not seeing why you're so angry when whites have a plethora of entertainment options and an array of good, fleshed out characters as well as negative portrayals. Especially males.
P.S. Let it go? What exactly is there to let go? No really what do you mean?
Also how can it be these days when you just said 1991? That was 20 years ago and we were just coming off of some of the m -
missnyc09 — 13 years ago(December 06, 2012 03:36 PM)
I will never get the retorts of why there aren't channels catering to White people.
In general, a lot of people tend to be dismissive of things they aren't affected by. Which is why arguments like 'why can't there be WET' will continue despite the bevy of White channels.
I agree with your post by the way. Bravo! -
Kelea7 — 13 years ago(December 09, 2012 08:39 PM)
I will never get the retorts of why there aren't channels catering to White people.
Me either! It's like oh no, I'm not the center of attention for two secondsthe horror. They don't see that television is still overwhelmingly white.
In general, a lot of people tend to be dismissive of things they aren't affected by.
Bingo! This is the crux of the issue right here. And they get downright indignant, offended and for some reason threatened at the mere hint that they won't be included or that something could be seen as problematic. Just like the other poster tried to invalidate the experience with their one black "friend" and the story that had nothing to do with anything. So because he has a black friend (who I'm assuming never faced racism
) there is no racism in this movie? In the world? Sigh. I see/hear these comments everywhere.
I agree with your post by the way. Bravo!
Thank you! Reading it back now its rife with typos (darn Ipod touch!) and I wasn't sure if anyone could understand what I was trying to say because of the way I worded my argument plus the sarcasm etc. I had forgotten about this post but I'm glad you could decipher it.
Rest in Peace Russell Meansyour legacy and impact will live on. -
ryoko_the_spacepirate1 — 14 years ago(October 17, 2011 10:26 AM)
some of the neighborhood people that were poor were white.And one of the robbers wasn't black.It doesn't stereotype the white people as being all that you described because of the simple fact that its not a common misconception amongst white people (characterwise or irl) to be thought of as ancestral decadent freaks who torture people.For every character from other movies with similar villain that happen to be Caucasian I can name about five or ten white normal people.
Sure there are other movies with similar villains who happen to be white but in those movies how many of the black people are portrayed as the poor or ghetto stereotype or token character?
"I think I liked it better when I thought Sylar ate brains." -
psyclone72 — 14 years ago(October 17, 2011 06:57 PM)
My original point is that those who concluded (only within the first 20 minutes of the film) that it was reflecting poorly on the minorities of the film should have bitten their tongues when witnessing the rest of it, as it turned out, yes Fool was the hero and not simply the "home invader" some are too quick to see. I almost think the movie was set up that way on purpose, to mislead people. The motives were definitely there and goes way beyond race. I guess the ending keeps playing back in my mind, you have mostly all black people surrounding the house owned by white people who lease properties to them at unfair rates with unfair conditions. It really gets to some white people to see that, because it hits a little too close to home, maybe.
At about the same time, a movie came out called Candyman, which featured a supernaturally evil black antagonist who terrorises predominantly white protagonists, set in (if I remember correctly) New Orleans. I had rewatched this movie before with one of these people, shortly before this one, and they didn't say anything about it being racist. I don't think so either, but then I think I'm not as over-sensitive about it as a lot of my other white friends, possibly because I never was racist back in my childhood anyway when a lot of other Australians felt right in their comfort zone seeing the Aboriginal kids needing to line up at the back and be the last to get anything. I was at the back too, but that's because I deserved to be and not because of the colour of my skin.
I guess the whole point I was trying to make is about "anti-racism racism", if you can call it that. We see this in Australia a lot, kissing ass but not actually fixing any problems inherited from the previous centuries. Public apologies, but private same-old. Whites trying too hard to be SO not-racist that then the coin completely flips over and they are quick to sling the R word around the moment someone says something about the way Barack Obama walks. He does swagger and it is cool and no that's not racist because yes it is true. It's hard to attribute that to his complexion, but then GW Bush could never have walked like that and would have collapse to the ground if he tried. I get called racist for that.
What IS actually racist (in my opinion) is to say "Barack Obama can do no wrong and is beyond criticisms" because that's overcompensating the wrongs of history, and that is no solution. It's going from one extreme to another. At the end of the day, everyone should want (the true definition of) equality. That means being hired the same way, but it also means being fired the same way.
I don't want to turn this into a political debate, I'm just trying to make my original point clear. People can go too far the other way, too. I get called a racist for putting this film on. I don't want to watch films with these people anymore, they are idiots.
Anyway, it's what I loved about this movie, for me, it brought that to the surface. -
JohnQuincyPublic — 14 years ago(October 18, 2011 01:11 AM)
"Every generation more insane than the one before it. Started out as a family running a funeral home, selling cheap coffins for expensive prices. Then they got their fingers into real estate, started making a lot of money taking over people's homes. The more money they got, the greedier they got. The greedier they got, the crazier they got." -Grandpa Booker
Lol, almost sounds like a left-wing caricature of European history.
I got news for 'em. There's gonna be hell to pay. 'Cause I ain't Daddy's little boy no more. -
jbaker1-2 — 1 year ago(October 22, 2024 01:53 AM)
There's always a knuckle-dragger who has to try to make everything be about politics.
There are 8.2 billion people in the world. 8.19 billion of them have never heard of and don't give a fuck about Charlie Kirk. Get over it. -
ryoko_the_spacepirate1 — 14 years ago(October 20, 2011 12:13 AM)
I agree with you people are oversensitive about race relations.I think they up and complain about the littlest things and when something does happen worthy of a complaint the effect is lost because complaining is the norm.
When i saw this movie I was younger and I knew the lady landlady was racist but that was barely a factor in the movie for me it was a horror movie.That had a protagonist or antihero from a place I can relate to.It was a scary movie.Don't even get me started on that other movie that movie had me scared to go to the bathroom for years lmao.
I think you living in australia causes you to have a truly unique outlook on it,its an interesting outlook.
"I think I liked it better when I thought Sylar ate brains." -
Kelea7 — 14 years ago(October 17, 2011 01:16 PM)
I wouldn't say this movie is racist but defintely stereotypical and cliched. But I feel your friends frustration. The fact that 20 years later these stereotypes are still in place speaks volumes on the images of blacks that are out there at this point. I personally don't mind this coming from a 20 yr old film especially when the representation is not so bad. Good outweighs the bad plus it's a not-so-serious horror film so I don't expect accuracy.
I actually applaud this movie for having a black hero and attempting to portray black life in a horror movie. For me I can overlook some of these things because I like it of course and it did something that isn't even done today, having a black character, a black CHILD at that carry a movie.
I'm not sure how that would be racist towards white people. Not flattering, but not racist or even stereotypical.
Rest in Peace Nick Ashford, you will live on through your musical legacy -
Zalophus — 14 years ago(October 22, 2011 01:44 PM)
I know your point is about being racist to whites, but I can't help myself. Next time your friends say something that stupid, ask them if they really believe that there are no ghettos in real life. I mean, if it was out of place I could see it being racist, but the plot of the movie was about people living in a ghetto who were losing their homes to this family, and so they were making a last ditch effort to either get revenge or get money to save themselves.
If they were a group of white guys and there was a token black guy who happened to be the only one who stole anything or knew how to hot wire cars then that would be a bit racist. But otherwise they were just using what actually existed and still exists today, albeit a little over dramatic in certain areas. -
radah1982 — 14 years ago(October 23, 2011 09:58 PM)
Actually the Movie isn't racist at all, in fact it's actually full of subliminal Judeo-Christian themes. Brandon aka "PointDexter" or "fool," is actually portrayed as a Black Christ-like Savior freeing the poor and needy in this movie. It begins with a prophecy he must fulfill like that of Christian scripture, indicating he is "The One." He is centered between two thieves even tho he himself is not like the thieves, as Christ was centered between two criminals. One important point in the movie, when he must jump through the window and fall in the pool, symbolizing baptism, in which he did the impossible and only he could pass that way, the girl Alice couldn't go through the water, only him. The others were set free another way, just as Christ went only one way. He "Brandon" talked with his grandfather and brought money to heal his mother, as Christ arose with power and went to the Father. He then returned to the house to gather up everyone, as Christ shall come back and gathers his people. He liberates the people under the stairs, who represent the dead rising and returning to the land of the living in the second coming. In the very end you'll actually see a large Cross in the yard before the credits start rolling, proving the hidden Christian motifs of this film. Maybe next time you watch it you'll see the obvious. Wes Craven made it also clear to point out the boys age of 13 years, being the age of Bar Mitzvah, very symbolic. The movies prophecy says he becomes a man, and 13 is adult-hood in Judaism.
If you notice the people under the stairs, were all boys and each one a son who in someway were transgressors of the rule "see, speak and hear no evil" aka "The Law of Moses." The parents were not really their parents, just overseer like Pharisees. And like Pharisees they were hypocrites using the Law to destroy the boys (sons). This movie is way to deep for me to break down bit by bit, just know the Black boy is being portrayed in a honorable fashion. -
psyclone72 — 14 years ago(October 24, 2011 12:11 AM)
This is kind of what I'm talking about, people going too far in the opposite direction. It's like a rubber band waiting to snap back again. My original point is, if we're going in any direction at all, I say look at how whites are portrayed here. I'm not a racist for putting a disc into a DVD player, I've figured that much out so far, but to say Fool is like Jesus Christ might be overdoing it a little, too.
Different people are going to see different things happening. What I saw in the first part of the film were people who could be any of us, regardless of skin colour. Rent comes first, before the life of your own mother, that could be any of us in that situation. All you need to be is poor and you can have green skin with purple polka dots for all anyone cares. Other people I was around chose to see these people actively looking for an excuse for some burglary, just itching for it, almost joyed to find an opportunity for it. Maybe it's somewhat true, because by the time those 3 arrive outside the house, the motive seems to be about how rich they could possibly get and the boy's mother becomes almost secondary by that point. Different people are going to read into this in a different way, some are never going to even try to empathise with these characters, and will cheer for "Daddy" as he protects his home.
The real problem is less obvious than all of this but I regret bringing it up now because it's really way too complex. People's mentalities these days seem to be like a band-aid over the surface and trying desperately to sweep the loose ends back under the rug before any of the tourists see what is really going on. It's to the point where certain people can't even just be in a certain situation, otherwise I'm the racist one for pressing the play button on the machine for the story to be told. They say "look at how those blacks are portrayed" and not even face the honesty and situation, for the story to be told, whatever direction it will take. The tokenism and overcompensations on the surface do nothing but make things more difficult to resolve, because the finger can always conveniently be pointed to the tokens we have in place and conveniently disregard the vast majority of others swept clean under the rug. -
Kevin_90 — 14 years ago(November 25, 2011 05:08 PM)
OP please shut the hell up. I am so sick of this crap.
If the film has no black people in it, the movie is racist!
If the film portrays a poor black person, the movie is racist!
If the film has a black man/women for the villein, the movie is racist!
If the movie contains a black person using slang, the movie is racist!
If the movie contains a black individual who is dumb or uneducated, the movie is racist!
If a black person dies first in a horror movie, the movie is racist!
If any of the above mentioned characters are white, nobody thinks anything of it.
This is the mentality of our oversensitive "politically correct" society. It's a f'ing joke! You know what? You're f'ing racist for thinking this way you self-righteous sissy. The world would be a better place without bleeding heart liberal pansies like yourself.