it still annoys me the twins were considered racist all the while not realizing the cruel irony of you, yourself projecting 'racist' thoughts onto them

as a big fan of the twins, i was gut-punched when i realized they werent gonna be in dotm due to absolute nonsense

 

...It's considered racist because they are racial stereotypes. Look, I'm black (which shouldn't even have to mention in order for people to listen) and I still find the Twins funny. But part of the reason why people find them offensive is probably a result of Bay's constant use of stereotypes. The Bad Boy movies (despite Smith and Lawrence starring in it), Bobby Bolivia in TF1, the Twins in ROTF, etc. Having a black character acting "hood" or "gangster" in your films isn't necessarily bad. But when most of your black characters are that way, then it becomes a problem. There is a reason Tyler Perry movies are not considered award-winning comedies.

 

when you break it down enough, everything is a stereotype

what was wrong with bobby bolivia? he was a black man that owned his own business & was damn hilarious in his one scene..we miss you bernie!

you can't just toss aside the fact that lawrence & smith were the main stars of bad boys, a film that bay cut his theatrical teeth on with two black protagonists who, up until that point were known as comedians/tv show comedy stars...ballsy...then you have the great tony todd as one of the two true major villians in the rock (he was used again as the voice of the fallen in rotf)

you have bear in armageddon, cuba gooding jr in pearl harbor, dijmon hounsou in the island, don't forget anthony anderson in the first tf was essentially a computer genius that lowkey helped saved the day, epps? plenty of positive stereotypes, etc. on & so fourth...this whole 'bay is a racist' stuff is straight bollocks

 

I never said Bay is racist. Star Wars has racial stereotypes (Watto is probably the worst) but I still enjoy them and I don't think Lucas is a racist. Stereotypes are used because they are easier than actually making a full-fledged character and, let's all admit this, can be funny. However, times change and what was funny then can be view as offensive later. Some of the writers and artists who made the old censored 11 cartoons and others like them were not actual racists but still made them because those racist jokes were considered funny at the time. Now those cartoons can't even be aired on TV. And there are ways you subvert these stereotypes to make good characters like how Bay did with Anthony Anderson's character in TF1. Hell, I think it says something that the Bay's objectively decent to good films (The Rock, The Island, TF1) had very few if any stereotypes in them.

 

I think my favorite human in the whole series had been Epps played by Tyrese. His performance on DOTM was awesome.

 

i hear you & you raise good points & for the record i wasn't calling you a racist, im saying that's usually said about bay & i don't agree with it, so i was talking to 'them' my apologies

 

It's all good man.

 

Someone said in one of the other threads that the Decepticons in this film just act like generic thugs. If you associate that behavior with African Americans then maybe YOU'RE the racist.

 

I knew it would spark complaints, there were in 2009 and now is 2017, everyone is waiting for something to complain about, I don't think they are racist in any way, I loved them.

 

I didn't get any racist vibes from this movie at all

 

Those reviewers have a prejudice against Cybertronians, because they talk like humans. I imagine they want all Transformers to sound like robots. What a bunch of beryllium baloney, or cesium salami!

 

Some people will just turn over every rock and torture logic until they can find something they can call offense.

Not that Hollywood doesn't have some serious issues with race or who gets hired for what sort of role, but this everything is offense distracts from the real problems. There isn't always a distinction made between someone who is just racially insensitive and someone actively pushing an agenda of a group being inferior humans.

 

Soooooo...... according to critics, all transformers have to sound like middle aged white men? fuck that. If humans are diverse, why can't Transformers be?

I really want to do some punching right now.

 

I am. You are, in fact, the first person I have seen (anywhere) to actually bring up this issue.

 

So if a black person like me finds the Twins or whatever Decepticons acting like black stereotypes racist is being racist themselves?

 

Nothing about the twins or the Decepticons is specifically black. They don't mention race at all. If The Twins made comments about white people or the cops or whatever I could see where you're coming from. But they just act like generic thugs that can come from any background.

 

Are you kidding me the twins have; monkey (An insult that's been used against black people for years) faces, gold tooth's, can't read and speak in nothing but slang and swears. Theie clearly meant to be black stereotypes and a number of black people felt that way. It doesn't matter if the don't mention race, you can clear see what there going for with these portrayals just look at Drift whose nothing but a Japanese samurai stereotype himself in these movies.

 

I personally disagree about the Twins. And with Drift, why can't we have a samurai Transformer? Anyways, I think we should leave it at this and not get too deep into political discussion.

 

I mean I did't see that untill someone pointed it out... idk...

 

1) I wouldnt call them monkey faces, just goofy.
2) Black people are not the only people that can have gold teeth you know.
3) I dont think anyone whose ghetto is gonna get much reading done, regardless of race.
Sounds to me like you are projecting your own repressed (?) racism unto these characters.
4) Drift is a Samurai with tons of anger issues (which kinda breaks the stereotype), or are you saying that he should have a dry american accent even though he is a samurai? Why do YOU assume that Samurai=japanese stereotype. Does that mean that anytime you see an actual Samurai, you're gonna walk up to him and call him a japanese stereotype?