Does this look like a black man to you?
I can’t take it anymore. If one more person complains about Autobot Jazz being the so-called “black” Transformer, I’m going to scream. Then I’m going on a rampage. A screaming rampage.
Listen people. Robots don’t have race. They don’t even have skin. If Jazz is the “black” Transformer, then it is because YOU have made him so. Let me reiterate. If you saw the Transformers film and you think that Autobot Jazz is “black”, then you are a racist. Let that sink in for a minute…
Can a robotic alien from the planet Cybertron can even be black in the first place? Are there black people on Cybertron? Are there any people on Cybertron? Umm… no. If anything, his race is “robot” or “other”.
So where are we even getting the idea that Jazz is black? What we are actually doing is assigning racial stereotypes to the character based on our preconceived notions of what constitutes “black”. We go to the movies, we see a character who’s first words on film are “what’s up, bitches?” and a little breakdance flair to his movements and we say, “Oh, he MUST be the black one. Those darkies sure love to dance and cuss! Ha Ha!”
Okay, I took that a bit far, but what I’m saying is that black people are more than just the stereotype that the world buys into and imposes upon us and that we impose upon ourselves. It saddens me to see otherwise intelligent black people just accepting the racial profile as-is.
Why does the dancing robot have to be the black robot in our eyes? Is that all that constitutes the black experience? Slang and dancing? By saying that Jazz is black, we are also saying that the other Autobots are not black (i.e. white). Why can’t we look at Optimus Prime and see a strong leader and think, “That Optimus Prime must be the black robot?” Are strength and leadership not “black traits” that we should be looking for?
Shit, why do there even have to be black or white robots to begin with? Why are we imposing a racial debate onto a senseless summer blockbuster? Assigning racial stereotypes based on preconceived notions is a long and fancy way of saying RACISM. If you looked at that movie and your first thoughts about Autobot Jazz was that he was black, then you are a racist. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I’m not judging, because I’m not exempt. We all jumped to the same conclusion and that shows that we all have a long way to go towards breaking racial stereotypes, both externally and internally.
Besides, nitpicking pointless battles like this cheapen the struggle for true equality. We argue on the internet about black robots in films with flimsy plots and we miss that the real fight against racism should be happening on the political and the economic fronts.
Hmmm… well Tweezy, you bring up a valid point about assigning racial identity based on slang talk and dance moves, but I must defend my assumption of the afformentioned Autobot Jazz being black. As a non-1980s Transformers viewer, I went into the theater completely unsure of what to expect. When our homeboy Autobot stepped on the scene, I mistook the voice for that of the gentle giant, Michael Clark Duncan (of Green Mile fame), and therefore mistook the Autobot Jazz character to be black. Upon further IMDB.com research, I discovered that the voice of Autobot Jazz was, in fact, Darius McCrary (of Family Matters fame.) All this being said to say, if the character’s voice actor is black, I will naturally associate the character with being black. I don’t call this being racist, I just call it making a connection with actor and character. But please feel free, as you so often do, to give me counter-examples of times when black characters were portrayed by non-black actors’ voices, or vice-versa, and I may begin to think otherwise.
Good day. I said, Good day!
Bibliography:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0566902/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/
Addendum:
Further research into the old 1980s Transformers cartoon has informed me that the voice of Autobot Jazz in the cartoon was in fact, Benjamin ‘Scatman’ Crothers, who was a black actor. Still, it is not cool that Autobot Jazz was break dancing and such in the movie, I think that was racist. But then again, black people do like to dance. Shucking and jiving is how we got our start, you know.
Addendum Sources Cited:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001079/
i think that the robots were given generalized traits representative of American culture, black and white and everything in between, as Optimus said in the film, they learned language from “the world wide web”, this was purposely done to appeal to an audience that thrives on stereotypes and generalizations of our culture, that simple. I still say nothing is wrong with saying Jazz is the Autobots’ generalized interpretation of America’s hip hop culture, which by all means, is one of the things that black people proudly (in most cases) can say they still have a dominant influence over, from the dance to the language. Just as Ironhide represented the “cowboy” persona to a particular extreme, an aspect of our culture that white people have a dominant influence over. If you look at the actual definition of racism, it is defined as “a belief that inherent differences between human races determine cultural/individual achievement, especially that one race has superiority of another”, so by definition, your argument that applying a stereotype to Jazz is not at all racist. If one said that Jazz was a lesser Autobot than the others BECAUSE of his stereotypical persona of hip hop culture, then THAT would be racist.
I do agree with the point that there are more important things to discuss, such as Dafur and the chances of Obama winning the primaries for the democratic presidential election and such. So let’s attack those issues proactively, Transformers was a great movie and I’m going to see it again on Friday, but along with the quote of the day, this is the 4th Transformers post in less than a week (even though this one is used as a basis to make more valid social commentary). Next week all black all the time! Lol.
AJ
Applying a stereotype is the key element of racism. Without the broad generalizations that make up stereotypes there can be no -isms at all (e.g. racism, sexism, classism, etc.) So a racially based stereotype is still like Diet Racism™.
Independent of robots, we have to be careful about the precedents that we set and what we are willing to accept. We can’t be okay with one stereotype just because it’s flattering, because the next one might not be so.
Dont usually respond. But I must congratultate you guys on a great conversation topic. Good read. I agree with both of you to an extent. I enjoyed the read.
Can I wait for the Transformers to come out on DVD before I give my opinion?
Yeah, you have a point but its natural for people to associate a character to themselves, hence Jazz is Black. We all know its a fictional character played by a black person and that fuels our acceptance. It’s the same for me and my peeps when we used to watch DBZ, we associated piccolo being a “brotha” We had those that argue he’s not even played by a black person and those that felt He’s as Black as your gonna get. I feel its a Catch-22 because people need to relate when theres nothing in common. Good post.
First up, thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. You all raise very valid points (Piccolo, FTW!). I sincerely mean that.
I’m not arguing that it’s wrong for people make associations with a character to make the character more relate-able. I’m saying that I think it’s messed up that we always make a bee-line to the stereotype when making such an association. So far, most of the commenters on this article have been black, how many of you can breakdance? How many of you have ever introduced yourself to a stranger by saying, “What’s up bitches?” I’m willing to guess none. Yet that’s the conclusion we all drew about the black experience.
No one was watching that movie thought that Optimus was black because he didn’t fit our happy little stereotype of the dancing, jiving negro. If just one person had associated Optimus’s traits of bravery and leadership with a strong black man, I’d shut the hell up right now. But no one did.
In most cases, the film-maker defines the race of the characters for us because they are humans and are thusly cast. Here we are dealing with a completely different species and we’re still imposing our black vs white stereotypes on them. This is occurring independent of skin color. Sure the stereotype was there, but we didn’t have to bite. But we did, hook, line and sinker, we just accept the generalization as truth. If anything, this is illustrative of what I perceive to be a problem.
People have been looking for the problem in the wrong place. Instead of snarkily remarking about Hollywood killing the black man again, we should be taking a moment to examine what we define as black and what we accept as black on a personal level.
I’m not done with this and am in the process of writing an article (without robots) that better explains the point I’m trying to make. So stay tuned.
I never really gave it much thought until now and even so, I will say that “if” Jazz was intended to be black like some people have thought, most of my friends missed it. As did I. The whole lingo, the breakdancing moves and such I simply equated to the jargon the Autobots “picked up” from the good ol’ World Wide Web without any references to race.
However, I see where some may be coming from. I would be quick to point out though that the argument can be made that Jazz could have also been part of the “white culture” who like to use slang that they hear in hip hop songs and speech emulated from their “hip” friends. Jazz could have been an Autobot that simply happened to stumble upon the various styles of ebonicdom that just so happens to be identified with “some” of the black youth of today. Making him not black or white or any other race for that matter, but an Autobot that tapped into that culture along with the speech associated with that culture.
And when he was in the movie and is subsequently killed, I didn’t see a black Autobot dying, I simply saw one of the good soldiers killed in action. Nuff said and nicely done post.
I think it is a valid argument to say that Jazz was “the black robot” or at least intentionally portrayed as a black character.
First: his name was Jazz, a name for a popular style of music in Black American culture.
Second, the intention was almost definately to give each robot human characteristics, from fluid movement, to personality, even unto reason. Why wouldn’t race be included? Race (whether we like it or not) plays a very big part in how humans interact with each other.
Perception is relevant but, I believe this is more about what the producers were trying to relay. The film industry relies heavily upon stereotypes and formulas to make movie experiences believable.
I am a Black American. I do not greet people by saying “What’s up, bitches?” nor do I breakdance (anymore ;-). But, I can tell you first hand that people have expected things like that from me before they knew me.
~Rell
PS: Would you even be suprised if they refered to Jazz as “the black robot” when they were in the beginnning stages of production?
I’m sorry but come on. Plenty of transformers are stereotypes. Both G1 and Movie Ironhide take the western stereotype and beat it to death with a stick. Jazz is “the black guy” if that’s the way you want to put it. His personality is modeled of the stereotype that exists. It’s a well known and accepted fact. The same goes for G1 Jazz and apparently for Animated Jazz. And in IDW, Jazz makes a hologram of a human to interact with people. Guess, what he’s black. It doesn’t make you racist to point out that Jazz is based off a fairly well known black stereotype. There is literally no way of getting round this. They also have female transformers but no one every seems to complain about the idea of robots having genders anymore, cause they dealt with it. Transformers have genders, and a lot of them have their personalities based off of one stereotype or another. And why is it negative that Jazz has his personality based off that stereotype exactly? It’s an ok one, mildly entertaining.
Please grow up, as that’s a rather silly attitude to take.
I don’t mean to offend with the last comment, but I really have no tolerance for this kind of thing. I hope never to look at myself and think racist. I also hope never to look at myself and think I’ve gone this pc. Both of which are equally unappealing to me. This isn’t about being racist or not being racist. It’s about worrying that you’ll offend a handful of overly sensitive people. Who are going to get offended by something anyway.
Again, no offence intended just something I can’t stand
Let me get this straight, you’re pissed because people associate a fictional character based heavily on African-american stereotypes with African-americans? Hmmmm, I think that you have way too much free time on your hands. Here’s an idea, go to work, collect a paycheck, live your life the way you choose and stop being concerned with what other people think. If you have enough free time on your hands to complain and be pissed that people think Jazz is black, then you have enough time to do something a little more constructive. That being said, I’ve wasted enough of my time reading and responding to this thread, I’m gonna go pay my mortgage and have sex with a woman, peace!
I wasn’t too much offended by the sterotype.
I know that the entertainment industry uses ALL SORTS of sterotypes, as I said in my last post.
I was more offended by the fact that in a lot of movies, they tend to kill off the black character, good or bad, early on in an action segment. Other characters don’t die, or are killed after a good strong fight.
It’s not always this way, but it happens so often that I don’t have to look for it…I just find myself saying, “Dang, they did it again.”
First up, thanks to Gwolf, et al, for reading the article and sharing your thoughts on the subject. Big ups especially to DeathStryker for getting off of the subject and making his attack personal… he’s a dick.
If I may take a moment to defend my point, it seems that the most recent comments prove my point exactly. It seems as though the attitude of many readers is that the stereotype has existed for this long, why change it? I argue that a complacent attitude toward a black stereotype is the tip of the iceberg that is complacency toward the advancement of black people.
When you look at a black stereotype, (I mean really look) you can see what white people think about blacks:
1) black people are jive talking, dancing fools. While you may or may not have a problem with that because you may or may not think it’s cool to be entertaining. You may think it’s cool to sound hood and that’s okay. You’re allowed to feel that way… I just don’t agree.
2) black people serve no real purpose. Everyone else in the film serves a purpose on the team… whether it be medical, weapons, scouting or leadership. Jazz is the black dude, there to serve no other person. To a white person writing a script, Jazz is like the affirmative action Transformer.
3) black people are expendable… I shouldn’t even have to explain that one.
At the end of the day, it’s just one character a movie about robots blowing shit up and I’m just a dude with a blog who might be wrong. I’m just sharing my thoughts on the subject and welcoming you to do the same. (Just try not to be a dick about, thanks.)
It’s not about whether it’s good or bad, it’s about worrying that a tiny handful of overly sensitive people are going to be offended. And those people will be offended regardless. If I was offended every time I saw an irish character in an american show I’d have put my head through the wall. But I realise it’s just a character that’s developed and people don’t view us that way anymore. Just as I’m sure your average together black guy can look at Jazz and realize it is just the stereotype and that people don’t actually think he’s going to introduce himself by saying “What’s cracking little bitches”.
I reiterate. Jazz is black. Arcee’s a girl. Ironhide is a cowboy. Prime’s a marine. Bumblebee’s a hormonal teenager.
But I realize it’s just a character that’s developed and people don’t view us that way anymore. Just as I’m sure your average together black guy can look at Jazz and realize it is just the stereotype and that people don’t actually think he’s going to introduce himself by saying “What’s cracking little bitches”.
Ummm…I guess you’d be surprised that people perpetuate these stereotypes because they DO think that way about a certain race or people.
Personally, I know a dirty old Irish man that loves to drink and I know some Black people that greet their friends with a saying not too far off from the one above.
People still think that Asians can’t drive, the Irish are drunks, Mexicans are lazy and have lots of babies, Italians ARE the Mob, Whites can’t dance, Blacks are an entertaining group of ignorant urbanites, cowboys have no butts, girls can’t throw, etc…
All of these stereotypes have some degree of truth to them…and a large group of people believe them. That’s the nature of a stereotype.
If nobody thought that way about a particular people anymore…It’d be senseless to build a character that way.
The tiny handful of overly sensitive people are probably just the “handful” of people that are “sensitive” enough to see what’s really going on.
How they should react to the stereotypes is a whole new topic.
well…think about it…who’s voicing him?
Well okay I’m looking at it this way. The guy who played him is black, the original Jazz was played by a black guy too. However thats not the issue we should be looking at. Its the fact that a Transformer died…shit happens. Even if it was the only one played by a black guy or the so called ‘black Transformer’ He’s not the only so called. ‘black Transformer.’ If you’ll recall in the original series Blaster (The autobot version of the Decepticon Soundwave) was also played by a black man.
My point being SHADDAP STOP BITCHING ABOUT SHIT THATS ALREADY HAPPENED. I love caps so emotionally driven.
Although I was greatly saddened about one of my fav Transformers biting the dirt. The real thing though is the fact that the allspark is gone, and now the Transformers will continue to die out because of the war and they’ll eventually go extinct.
“Here’s an idea, go to work, collect a paycheck, live your life the way you choose and stop being concerned with what other people think. If you have enough free time on your hands to complain and be pissed that people think Jazz is black, then you have enough time to do something a little more constructive. That being said, I’ve wasted enough of my time reading and responding to this thread, I’m gonna go pay my mortgage and have sex with a woman, peace!”
LMAO!!!!
I don’t agree with people outright saying “Oh Jazz is the black guy”. Anyone could have played his voice part, black or not.
Jazz was known to like earth culture. Back in the 80’s, it was more of a rock culture.
Today the hip hop culture is pretty well known and adopted by a lot of younger folks. Since this is a movie, it only makes sense to try and cater to that crowd.
I have no problem with Jazz taking interest in the hip hop culture, even though I am far far from that. To me, it makes me feel like this is the Jazz from 20 years ago as he adopted mannerisms from the original.
As someone said on a Transformers forum.. “Jazz has been waiting 20 years to say ‘Bitches’”.
I agree.
I wouldn’t care if jazz WAS black….I love him all the same
I see alot of valid points here, but I also see some exaggerations. The movie was based on an 80’s cartoon, in the 80’s is when they started trying to merge cultures in the media. Instead of Black show or white shows, they tried to include different races, personalities, cultures, to appeal to a larger audience. Im sure the write named him Jazz and made him hip and with a black actors voice because he WANTED him to be accepted as black. Racism is defined as thining that one race is more superior than the other, I dont think that Jazz is treated differently or has a diminishing role, or is disliked, because of his characters personality. True I know alot of black people that cannot breakdance, yet I know alot of white or hispanic that can, but this was a dance that was invented the same time as hip hop which was created by african american culture. When I saw the movie I didnt think who was white black, etc. I just felt they had personalities, the hip one, the soldier, the cowboy, the leader ( and for the record I did think of Optimus Prime as a black person, he had a strong but calm voice like Mufasa in Lion King, but I really didnt put enough effort into distinguishing) and then bumble bee had a disablilty but just as equally respected as everyone else, I think it was more to appeal to EVERY type of person than to divide and stereotype the characters. They even have Sam as the nerd and megatron as the bully, they have everything! If jazz wasnt portrayed as black Im sure that there would be an arguement about that too! You cant please everyone. And yes I agree there are more important and more sensitive issues to discuss than this.
Wow! You guys are really passionate and alot of you guys made some excellent points, on both sides. My opinion will look at this from the viewpoint of Michael Bay. The one thing live action movies based off of fictional stories with previous history try to accomplish is being logical. In addition to being logical the movie will also try to appeal to the fan boys and girls watching. Since alien robots came to a civilization that is very unfamiliar to them, they would have to “absorb” the culture of that civilization to function better in that society (That’s why they transform into vehicles to adapt to our society). Prime explains how they learned fluent english, by scanning the world wide web. Everything that is American culture is on the internet, so it makes sense that all of the Autobots would scan what they think is common American culture. They are aliens so they don’t no anything about earth. So as far as Jazz knows everyone on earth talks exactly as he did in the movie.
The was my first part. My second part is going to focus on the basic structure of American stories be it fictional or realistic. Now days any American story that has a team will have atleast one black character. Usually the cast is human so it isn’t hard to tell that a black character is black. However in the case of Transformers you can’t tell what their “race” is supposed to be. So if Jazz acted like all the other Autobots, but he had a black voice, you still wouldn’t be able to tell that he is supposed to be black. The only way for the creators to get that fact to the audience is to have Jazz portray common black stereotypes. They’re not trying to be racist they’re just trying to let the audience know that they didn’t forget about us (african americans).
tweezy Sep 7th, 2007 at 7:32 am
“When you look at a black stereotype, (I mean really look) you can see what white people think about blacks:”
This statement alone is racist in itself and also makes you a hypocrite in my opinion, you are just a little better about smoothing it over so most people won’t notice. You are in the minds of every white person on the planet? wow, that’s impressive…must be something close to god like then aren’t you?
Ignorance is a human trait not white, black, or whatever color you may be and everyone is capable of that.
The fact that jazz died has nothing to do with “the black being killed” or stereotypes or anything. It has to do with the 80s movie.
In 80s movie
Jazz lives, Ratchet and Ironhide are brutally and unceremoniously killed by Megatron. Optimus dies as well. Megatron (technically) lives.
In 2007 movie
Ratchet and Ironhide live, while Jazz is the one that gets his ass kicked in. Megatron dies. Optimus lives.
People need to stop being stupid. You cant tell if someone or something is “supposed” to be that without making stereotypical assumptions about that character or person. Jazz was DELIBERATELY made to have an overly exaggerated african american stereotype. Just like Ironhide was made to be the “cowboy”, Ratchet the “Scientist”, bumblebee the “loner” and Optimus the “hero”. According to the movie they got their earth personalities from studying the web, so Jazz CHOSE to act that way because he knew it was stereotypical.
If you dont like they killed Jazz, deal with it. He’s my fav transformer and STARSCREAM DIDNT DIE.
@steve:
The connections you draw are hardly analogous.
Buying into the assumption that Jazz’s stereotypical behavior is indicative of his race, is buying into the assumption that the people of that race all act a certain way. This is racist thinking. Likewise if one were to assume that Ironhide is white because he acts like a cowboy, then one is saying that only white people can be cowboys and is (again) thinking in a racist manner, because black people can be cowboys and white people can be urban.
For the record I’m a Native American woman. I Here are some observations I’ve made and my opinions.
Jazz is so much more than a racial slurr, in fact he can be considered an empowering figure if viewed with adiquite knowlege of the character’s history. (note, please forgive my terrible spelling).
In the comic books, novels and ninety percent of the fanfictions you’ll find, Jazz is described as a skilled adaptor. A person who posseses a love of learning, and a passion for the dream of understanding between all sentient life.
Most importantly, he is second in command! Optimus Prime’s most trusted and valued warrior, and he always has been. In the very first Transformer episode ever, Prime constantly refered to Jazz as such. Trusting him to lead the others into their first Earth bound battle with the Decepticons.
If anything he would be a positive “black character”. IF robots could be considered any race.
Wheelie, a character from the original cartoon movie, who was voiced by a white man (Frank Welker), did some blatent break dancing in that film. If you don’t believe me, it was the scene on Junkion right after Hotrod says the imortally stupid line “Ba weep gra na, weep niddy bung!”
This character also displayed a gift for creating rymes and song lyrics.
Back to the 2007 film. Bumblebee, voiced by an English white man (not even an American), played some lyrics from a rap song titled ‘Second to None’ to express himself when Optimus formely introduced him.
He also often used a quote from the orginal Star Trek “Message from Starfleet Captain.” Lt. Uhara’s famous line, I trust I need’t remind anyone what race she was.
Did anyone else catch these, or were they too subtle to make anyones blood boil? Did anyone notice but disregard it, perhaps, because you were considering them “white” characters? I’m just saying that predjustice is a two way street and we must constantly be watching ourselves, so that we do not become hypocrites.
Jazz has always been one of my favorites, I relate to his love of music. I never thought of it as “a black trate”. My father used to (and still does) blast music at all hours of the night. In the original cartoon so did Jazz. I thought it was a guy thing, does that make me sexist? No, I don’t think men are inferior because they may, or may not, like loud music. It was simply a misconception on my part due to my lack of exposser.
In the past I have experianced true racism and acidental insults. I went to a dance, one white kid suggested I stay away from the bar, refering to the sterotype that all Natives are drunks. Another kid asked me if it would rain if I danced with him. Also that night a black friend of mine innocently asked if I ever smoked a peace pipe. My black friend wasn’t being racist like the other two jerks. It was simply a case of no one had ever taught him otherwise. My point being, please don’t brand everyone a racist like that. They may not mean any harm and this is how accidents happen.
In any event, what say we all relax and just let our kids enjoy the giant alien robots? Together no less. I wish it could be that way.
You’re retarded.
Do your research before yo talk about something.
First off, I will be the first to say that even as a fan of the 80s Transformers I found it a bit disappointing and stereotypical that ‘Jazz’ and ‘Blaster’ the ‘ghetto blaster’ radio announcer-were black (voiced by black folk too, son.
However,
If you think for a second, jazz is a complex and deeply-rooted form of music and is a part of our history noone can take from us. The fact that they chose to create a ’soul borther’ robot called Jazz is alot more powerful than you think.
Also, think of all the black kids who woke up every Saturday to watch cartoons. The fact that we were represented positively was a bonus. Jazz was second in command, and if you knew Transformers, you’d know that after all of the old Transformers got obliterated (to make room for the next generation after the movie) he amoun( and bumblebee) survived.
All this while Bill Cosby had the only black cartoon on TV about a bunch of kids hanging out in a junkyard talkin’ about ‘make do with what you got’
Back to the movie,
Yeah, I was offended that once again, that the ‘black guy’ got killed. To go even further, Jazz showed no second-in-command skills and was the smallest transformer-Bumblebee has always been the smallest.
I equate this to the lessening of a blacck character in terms of size.
Paranoid?
Keep an eye out for baby or kids commercials; the black child is always the smallest.
In the film Jazz came off as ghetto and unconvincing. They should have cast him better, something tasteful.
Still, I don’t have a problem with a black stereotype if it’s balanced by a positive character-found in the USAF Tech Sergeant Epps-mind you Bernie Mac’ Bobby B and computer geek Glen Whitmann filled in the all too prevalent role of comic relief.
People really need to stop throwing the word racism around. It’s being applied to to many situations and is losing its power. Most people who use it do NOT know how and when to apply the term and yes, I’m laking about black folk too.
.
So Quad, what you’re saying is that it’s okay to stereotype people, so long as it’s balanced out later. By further extrapolation, one could conclude that it’s okay to spit in your eye so long as I make sure to wipe it clean later. That’s just a, frankly, simple way of thinking.
A stereotype is passive-aggressive racism. It may not hurt/attack you directly, but it still is dangerous in the wrong hands. Trust me, I know about the dilution of the term racism, but I’ve gotta call a spade a spade. This isn’t an all out full-frontal racist attack, but it’s a sneaky one. Racial stereotypes are analogous to that person everyone knows who says slick shit all of the time, but never comes outright and confronts you. It’s cowardly.
You say yourself that it’s offensive and even go on to cite other stereotypes, but then in the next breath, you gloss over it by citing shucking and jiving Bernie Mack and Anthony “I’m a walking joke” Anderson?!? Come on.
Good argument.
There is along history of the black guy being the comic relief. If a movie’s saggin’ throw in a funny off-the-wall negro to spice thangs up. Jar Jar Binks was Step n’ Fetchit in space and don’t even get me started with that Flavor Flav-ass guy in Total Recall.
When it comes to mainstream Hollywood drivel, we unfortunately can’t expect much. Black folk also get so blinded by the fact that we’re getting shat on that we neglect to notice what light women and other people of colour are cast in. Nine times out of ten an Asian speaks with an accent and is angry. The Mexican is crazy and the woman is sexualized. So in this case, I was satisfied that:
1. There wee three black characters in the movie.
2. One of them was a computer genius
3. One was more respectable and heroic
Think of the little black kid watching this movie. What’s going to go through his mind? We weren’t this lucky when we were 8. It’s going to take a long time before we start seeing more balance with black characters, but we need to appreciate the growth accomplished thus far.
See? That’s exactly why we have these stereotypes.
That’s exactly why black people don’t get more respect in mainstream media. Because we don’t expect more and more is not expected of us. We expect to be marginalized and reduced to two dimensional characters who don’t develop and only serve as scenery or comedic devices. This, of course, is a deeper issue that extends beyond the realm of fantasy film-making. But the point is, we have not because we ask not.
Yeah, we’ve come a long way but we’ve also got a long way to go. This isn’t the promised land. We’re still in the wilderness. And to accept that things are good enough the way they are is… well, a bit shortsighted.
I can see that your intentions are in the right place and I appreciate your opinions, but my question to you is this: If things don’t get better now, when will they?