By now, I’m sure you’ve all either seen Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen, or heard about it. I thought it was as good as the 1st Transformers movie, but not as great as people hyped it up to be. I mean, the special effects are top notch, but the storyline wasn’t the best in my opinion. I didn’t come here to write a review, however. I’m here to talk about the two robots that were pretty much acting like coons half of the movie, Skids and Mudflap of the Autobots.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t anything bad enough to protest the studio over, but I do think the stereotypical foolishness they threw in there was totally unnecessary and deserves all the negative attention it’s been getting. These two Transformers are illiterate simpletons that speak like ignorant rappers, and one of them actually has a gold tooth. When they showed that thing onscreen, I think I actually said “I’m gonna kick Michael Bay’s ass” out loud in the theater.
I can’t lie though, some of the things these two said and did was funny. However, the rest was just shucking and jiving. Overall, I’m too not upset about it. Still, you kind of have to call attention to these things, because if no one does, we’ll just see more of it from Hollywood.
So yeah, Michael Bay, I’m not going to slap the sh*t out you for this. If I ever do see you in the streets and wind up slapping you, it will be to see if the incident turns into one of your trademark sequences where the background does a corny panoramic scroll around you, while you stand there holding your face in recovery from my Five Fingers of Bitchslap. A few explosions may also occur in the background, just for the Hell of it. You will feel right at home!
Okay I thought I was the only one that thought them two were Sambo-ish. But I did chuckle at some of their trash talk. But I was taken aback when another autobot said Punk Ass Decepticon! I died laughing at that.
I just read that Skid is voiced by the same man who does the voice of Spongebob *faints*
I was watching the movie and thinking, “Is all this cursing necessary?” Then all of a sudden my son (who is 16 and no prude) tapped me and said, “This movie has alot of unnecessary cursing!” I cracked up! Some of their lines were funny but, just shucking and jiving!
I have to disagree with the whole, “we have to say something or it’ll just keep happening” rationale, because we had the exact same controversy ten years ago when Star Wars Episode I came out. But the movie still made Scrooge McDuck paper, all was forgiven for as the studio was concerned. It’s the same scenario here. The movie’s already breaking box office records, and will probably make just as much as the last film. We’re already past the point where a boycott of the film would be effective (as the studio’s already making plans for a third film), not that I’d care about a damn boycott anyway. The 60s are over.
A lot of this is black folk’s subconscious realization that we aren’t doing enough economically. We’ve got plenty of rich black people, but very few who are truly “wealthy”. If more and more of use were in positions standing toe-to-toe with the people who own all these multi-national banks and corporations, we wouldn’t give two shits about how two robots are portrayed in an action movie based on some damn toys.
well said Leon… summed it up right.
so is it worth seeing? or should i boycott??
i was gonna take tha kids…
@ Diamond Girl, it made like $60 million on the 1st day, so boycotting it won’t really make a difference LOL. It was good, but how old are your kids? I wouldn’t take young kids because of the language.
@ MZ, thanks.
@ Kayode Kendall, you make a great point as far as stereotypes wouldn’t matter if we were at that level economically. I don’t 100% agree with the part where you sort of alluded that boycotts can’t be effective anymore, but I do agree that if economic status weren’t a concern, no one would give much of a shit.
@ TLUV, It’s funny that even the kid noticed it was a bit much!
@ Caress Lepore, I was cracking up too at that “Punk ass Decepticon” line, too! When you think about it though, Spongebob is a bunch of metaphors for sex, too. He’s a sponge. He resides in Bikini Bottom. Mr. Crab. All that stuff…LOL
I agree with pretty much everything you said. The cooning in this one was far worse than in the first movie. I mean, if that is what he perceives Hip-hop culture and Black culture is, then he’s got some problems. Whatever the case, humorous dialogue is one thing, but delivering it in the way he did is another matter. That said:
“That hurt!”
“It’s supposed to hurt, it’s an ass kickin’.”
GUUUUTTY shit.
All the advancements we make in *any* industry are undermined by coonery such as Flava of Love (actually, all of Vh1′s coon shows), and “Oscar-worthy” films such as Soul Plane. Yes, white people have their equivalents, but we still have a long way to go to gain equality in terms of public images. Certain shows/artists and entertainers aren’t helping the cause. So it’s really not a surprise when I see negative stereotypes because we still perpetuate the cycle.
We should boycott BET and Vh1..if we don’t demand and produce better images from our own community, how can we expect an “outsider” to do the same?
btw, Transformers isn’t my thing so I won’t comment on the movie. Pelham 123 and Drag Me to Hell were good though.
To me, Skidz and Mudflap seemed like two white boys trying to act black, you know like K-Fed and B-Rad (Malibu’s Most Wanted don’t be hatin..lol).