Accusations of black racial stereotypes in Transformers 2
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, one of the summer’s biggest movies, is garnering controversy over two minor Autobot characters, Mudflap and Skids. Moviegoers and reviewers note the pair speak in broken English, bicker constantly and allege they reinforce negative stereotypes of African Americans. Director Michael Bay maintains the characters were developed by voice actors Reno Williams (who is black and voiced Mudflap) and Tom Kenny (who is white and voiced Skids).
In AP Entertainment writer Sandy Cohen’s story, Bay defends the characters by saying their speech, behavior and cadence are the result of learning of American culture through the Web. Bay describes them as “wannabe gangster types.”
Wilson says if the characters had learned of American culture through country music, they would have country accents and speech. “It’s not fair to assume the characters are black,” Wilson said in Cohen’s article. Kenny did not respond to Cohen’s interview request.
Are the character’s a futuristic Amos ‘n’ Andy, bringing negative stereotypical portrayals of African Americans upon the film’s predominantly young audience? Could the characters be perceived as social commentary on negative aspects of U.S. hip hop culture? Do you buy Bay’s story of how the characters’ personas were developed?
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Here is what my colleague, film critic Joe Williams had to say on this…
Joe’s Movie Lounge
“Transformers 2″ drops da bomb on da box office
06.25.2009 2:21 pm
“Transformers 2″ drops da bomb on da box office
By Joe Williams
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The gadget action flick “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” earned $60 million in its first day of release Wednesday, a new record for a mid-week opening, topping “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” in 2007. It was the second biggest one-day haul for any movie ever, trailing only the Friday opening of “The Dark Knight” in 2008.
I’m not surprised. This technically impressive sequel ups the ante of the very lucrative first “Transformers”–it’s longer, louder and less concerned about niceties like plot and character.
If you don’t count Megan Fox’s physique as a speaking part, the characters who are generating the most discussion are Skids and Mudflap, two “Autobots” that are getting blasted by critics (like me) as racist stereotypes, akin to Jar Jar Binks. They smack each other around, say they come from “da hood” and admit they can’t read. One of them has a gold front tooth.
Director Michael Bay is deflecting the criticism, saying that they are merely robots. (”I did it for the kids,” he said.) But that’s nonsense. The appeal of all the robots in the movie is that they talk and behave like humans. They have personalities. In the case of Skids and Mudflap, they have the personalities of bug-eyed comic-relief sidekicks in minstrel shows.
The closer you look at “Revenge of the Fallen,” the creepier it gets. One ostensibly heroic Autobot calls a wounded, surrendering adversary a “punk ass bitch” before executing him. (Although it’s hard to tell the shape-shifting robots apart, I think he is the same character who later rallies the troops by invoking the battle cry of post 9/11 America: “Let’s roll!”)
This is one of the few action films that mention the name of an actual U.S. president–in this case, Pres. Obama. So it’s noteworthy that Obama’s personal envoy on the battlefield is a weaselly bureaucrat who tries to stop the fighting (but is tricked into jumping out of an airplane to save his own miserable hide).
Bay goes out of his way to identify the aircraft carrier in the battle sequences as the U.S.S. John C. Stennis–twice. The Stennis is the huge, state-of-the-art vessel where Bay had the premier screening of his “Pearl Harbor.” (I was there.) In the interviews for that movie, star Ben Affleck noted that Stennis, a former senator from Mississippi, had been a racist who opposed anti-lynching laws and school desegregation. “But people can change,” Affleck said.
Just like robots, right?
You can follow Joe’s take on film at http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/joes-movie-lounge/
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As an African American male I did find those images offensive because as Bill GJ said, “It struck a chord with me.” Unfortunately, there are too many of us still portraying those stereotypes. I could be angry at Micheal Bay, but I’m not. That is because as John C so elequently pointed out, there is an overwhelming amount of emphasis put on the negative aspects of the black community from within and without. If there weren’t people who still showed that type of behavior, even they (Micheal Bay team) would think it obsurd to display it. I could discuss the pressure of the music industry to promote that type of behavior, but what’s the point. We are responsible for ourselves. I do take issue with the overwhelming amount of negative images in the media as opposed to the positive aspects, but every “race” exists as a dichotomy. You have the negative and positive aspects. I wouldn’t want African Americans to pretend that we are all Bill Cosbys and Ben Carsons anymore than we are all 50 cent or EZ E. I know those images do not represent me personally, but it makes it harder for me to be taken seriously. All I look for is a balance of images that portray the true diversity of people within the black community. I do believe that they characters were deliberately inconsiderate, but they will not make me or break me. The true wieght of this country’s soul was measured when they elected a black man as president (not going to go into the biracial thing, because there isn’t a white person reading this who would consider the president white if he was obama the street sweeper). John C, I agree that hip hop is wholly unoriginal and a sink hole for innovation and creativity, but it was not always the case. When it first started, it was raw and new and unchained in it’s artistic integrity, but it became a business and when corporations get involved, the part of it that was pure was lost. There is a lot of good Hip Hop out there, but you have to dig. Unfortunately, it is being dominated by the cast offs who haven’t the faintest idea what makes art, much like Micheal Bay. He can entertain you, but uplift you, he will not.
BTW, LOVED THE MOVIE.
Hey Dougie
Here’s a clue, if you talk like a Black person maybe black people need to stop talking that way! then we wont know if your black or white just a person. simple solution even people with an average IQ of 79 could understand that. thats not me I have a IQ of 80. I’m sorry I took your insult away.
I’m just saying.
Ummmm…they aren’t black stereotypes…they are autobots who learned their language through the internet.
Only blacks are allowed to respond this- Are you friggin kidding? Get off your high horse. You make me sick. Do you see the Italians complain about all the ”mob” movies and how its stereotypes the Italian way of life when in fact, most Italians were working citizens? Or how about the leprechaun on the Lucky Charms box; are the Irish in the streets over this? Its just as stupid. Or how come on all the tv commercials, for whatever bank, the bank owner is an old white guy with grey hair, every single one of them. What is your deal and who do you think you are? I have to hand it to Darryl for posting such a stupid article that draws in the revenue.
yeah its really hard to comment as there is no audio to listen but vmware training can effect such sort of controversies
Who gives a crap? If it is a good movie, then watch it. All the PC BS is ridiculous. Are Blacks really so insecure that they have to look for attacks on their race in every thing? Well, it probably isn’t Blacks in general that are “offended”. It likely is the Black activist croud that makes money from these types of issues that is taking “offence”.
Think,
We went and saw this movie last night. I was not offended in the least. I thought these two characters were hilarious! Over all the movie was not bad. Not as good as Star Trek, but not bad.
Was not Michael Jackson the ultimate transformer?
Are you serious….is he really trying to say that “Let’s Roll” was taking from 9/11? I would have to hear the whole context…To my knowledge the autobots have always said lets roll, or roll out…they are afterall vehicle robots with wheels….wheels roll… right?? Last time I checked they did.
Darryl Swint - So did you see the movie yet?