Dark of the Moon Teaser now online

[Shockwave]

I also hate teasers for that same reason and to get the thread completely rerailed, the most disappointing thing to me was... no Shockwave. Seriously? He's supposed to be the main villain and nothing? Listen Bay: I've got a fever and the only cure is more Shockwave.

[Dominic]

Gomess,

You complaints might be unique to the UK. if people are offended by Skids and Mudflap, it says more about their perceptions of blacks than it does about Bay's This caused some uncomfortable reflection on my part.

I *really* hope Bay avoids the Cold War as neither he, Kurtzman, nor Orci have the maturity to write about it.

This reminds me of the (entirely justified) protests against Shyamalan's Airbender movie. I'd love to believe that he "just hired the best actors for the part", but that's blatantly untrue, because ethnicity is a HUGE part of the source material. You might think it's racist for me to say "No, it does not matter as much if a *white* character's ethnicity is changed", but that's pretty flipping petty. Double standards do exist; no, it's not ok for white folks to say the N Word, etc. etc. and things like that won't change until mainstream fiction puts less focus on the ethnicity of non-white characters, and more is put on that of white ones, until they're balanced. Probably not gonna happen in our lifetimes. =3

Part of being a good actor for a role is looking the part. Community Center Theatre is limited in who it can task for a role. But, if you are making a professional movie, get an actor who looks the part. If they made the kid white, people would have complained about that. Making the kid black would have led to other complaints. It makes sense for the actor to be Asian.

Racial bean-counting justifies John Byrne's habit of making his characters as white and male as he can get away with. It is quicker, easier, and limits the compaints he needs to listen.

[Gomess]

You complaints might be unique to the UK.

Well, that's entirely possible, but did you go to see TF2 in Watts, or Queens...? I don't mean to be facetious, but it's more likely that my complaints are unique to poor black neighbourhoods.

I can't tell if you agree with me on Airbender, but you get my point that Aang's ethnicity is far more a part of his character than Peter Parker's? Peter is white because heroes were white then. Aang is Asian because presenting Asian culture in a way palatable for western audiences is part of Airbender's whole remit. The difference is that the latter was clearly a *conscious* decision.

[Shockwave]

I went to see ROTF opening day with three other friends. We all got the same impression so I don't think it's limited to that. And I'm in a fairly mixed city in California. I think what happens here is we've all encountered people that have actually sounded like that, BUT when you see the stereotype on screen like that it's hard not to look at it as stereotyping the ethnicity especially if you only see such behavior in real life come from that ethnicity.

[Gomess]

Thanks, my point is just that; just because something is an unfortunate stereotype in real life doesn't make it ok for big-time directors to showcase it in their mindless action shlock.... especially for laughs.

[Dominic]

I honestly did not hear the sorts of complaints you guys are mentioning in person. And, as I said above, a black friend of mine made a powerful arguement on the side of Skids and Mudflap not being racist. (I still hate the characters mind you.)

I can't tell if you agree with me on Airbender, but you get my point that Aang's ethnicity is far more a part of his character than Peter Parker's? Peter is white because heroes were white then. Aang is Asian because presenting Asian culture in a way palatable for western audiences is part of Airbender's whole remit. The difference is that the latter was clearly a *conscious* decision.

My point is that Spiderman's skin color is as much a recognizable and defining part of the character as is the costume. Yes, characters can change over time. But, changes for the sake of pandering are best avoided.

[Onslaught Six]

Spider-Man does not have to be white. Peter Parker has to be white.

In theory there could be a movie about some black dude becoming Spider-Man and as long as his name isn't Peter Parker, I'm cool with that.