Transformers Deux: Revenge of the Stereotypes + The Princess & Frog…OH NOES!!!

Skids & Mudflap, I have no clue which is which, ask an 11 year old.

 

Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues  <—Here’s an article on the twin robots.

I know its a little late, and no one has been talking about the newest Transformers flick like I expected.  But I guess that could be because the film wasn’t what anyone expected. I know I was hoping to be blown away by the robots, Megan Fox, and the plot.  Megan was hot as usual, but not extra hot like I hoped.  The plot was a little weak and felt lightly held together.  The robots however, were funny, and probably the best part.  (I still love you Megan, but the robots are something we must discuss)  However, some people got upset.  Someone is always going to get upset over something, right?

So, what’s wrong with the robots?  They are insult to BLACK PEOPLE!!! That’s what!!!!  LOL, well, to some black people I guess.  Not me, but then again I’m devoted to being considered as an individual human being, not a color, so I no longer classify myself according to race.  Anyway, some people, white and black are upset, claiming that the twin robots, Skids and Mudflap, are caricatures of black people.

So are they?  When Jar-Jar Binks debuted in Star Wars a lot of people said the same thing about him as well.  Well?  What is it?  Are these characters just comic relief? Or are they something more sinister?  Duh Duh Duhhhhh……

Comic relief, that’s all they are.  In the case of Jar Jar, terribly annoying comic distress that should have never been created, regardless of anything, as the character just takes away from Star Wars period.  Skids and Mudflap are at least funny.  I laughed, but I don’t agree that they are negative stereotypes of black people.  First of all they are all alien robots, so if they have race then it makes more sense to categorize them by make and model than by the skin color of a species they are not related to.  Still, one of my guy friends admitted that he envisioned ALL the robots as being black, including Optimus Prime.  Not for any particular reason, he just did.  That’s fine, I think as people when we see talking objects we do ascribe some human physical characteristics to them.  Look at Beauty and the Beast and the talking furniture and stuff.  Even though they were objects we still saw their human forms somehow through that.  

Still I don’t see the twins as stereotypes.  Why?  First of all why is it that speaking with poor grammar, ignorance,  and making crude jokes is automatically associated with blackness and seen as a black type?  There are plenty of people White, Latino, Asian that speak with the same mannerisms and patterns as Mudflap and Skids.  So I am offended that people assume a connection between these characters actions and any one group of people.  Similarly with the word Nigger.  Nigger in the dictionary means ignorant.  Yes, there are negative historical connotations between this word and those of African descent in this country.  However, in order to move forward we should  stop giving the word power by no longer seeing it as associated with Black.  Rather it should only be associated with its first intended meaning, ignorance.  And that is how I feel about that word.  I have friends that use the word in front of me, white friends and black friends who use it amongst each other.  Does it bother me?  No.  Because, yes I have ancestors who were African and ancestors who were slaves, but am I or them ignorant?  No, so why should the word affect me?  It doesn’t because I don’t associate it with myself or anyone I consider my own.  Really, the sad part, the offensive part of all these things, the derogatory terms and stereotypes, is not within themselves.  It’s in the fact that we still associate them with a specific group of people and assume that they represent in some way a part of that group’s culture.  We need to realize that there are Mudflaps and Skids of all colors in real life.  That using slang and listening to Hip-hop music is not something that only & all Black people do, and these characters if human could look like anyone.  Same with the word Nigger.  It means ignorant.  There are ignorant people of all shades and backgrounds.  Hey, in a sense we are all ignorant in some way, as none of us know everything.

Also Optimus said in the first Transformers that they learned our language and Culture through the World Wide Web.  It looks to me like Mudflap and Skids took extra lessons on Kevin Federline not Black people. 

On a similar note, Disney’s new animated feature to come out later this year, The Princess & the Frog is stirring some controversy.  Disney thought it would be a good move to release a film with the first African-American princess during the term of America’s first African-American President.  (Ugh I hate the term African-American…and Black neither are accurate, more on that another day) They assumed African-Americans would rally behind the film especially during this time.  Well some people are upset and not showing the support Disney assumed.  

It all started with names.  The princess was originally named Maddy short for the French name Madeleine because the film is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the 1920s.  People complained and called the name racially insensitive, that it was too close to “Mammy” a character made famous by Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind, who is considered a stereotype.  Plus the new princess was originally a maid, and this all together was seen as giving African-American’s a second class place in society.  Personally I liked Maddy more than Tiana, the name they have now, Tiana sounds more like what people would assume to be a “Black” name than Maddy.  I have a friend named Maddy, she’s one of the cutest girls I’ve ever known.  Maybe that’s why I liked it, because the associations I have in my head are different and positive.  (Again we need to stop associating certain things together.) I can see people getting upset over the Princess being a maid originally.  Then again, Cinderella and Snow White were both housekeepers/maids in their films.  So its not like she would have been the only Princess to have lower class beginnings.  In fact it’s actually a frequently used theme through out literature: that the nobility/royalty of the hero/heroine is able to shine through their perceived social status (as in you know there is something special about them) & they are eventually given their rightful place at the head of society.  The bible uses it in the stories of King Saul and King David, Shakespeare used it in many of his plays like A Winter’s tale for instance.  Other Disney princesses had humble beginnings as well.  Belle is just an inventor’s daughter for example and Mulan are not initially royalty.  So assuming Disney was going to have this new princess rise to the top in the end, her beginnings don’t bother me.  Our country is built on rags to riches stories.  Personally I feel more connection to characters who start out at the bottom, being anointed by something higher, either God or a fairy godmother, they are chosen to rise and be successful.  That’s who I am.  I girl at the bottom who wants to reach the top.  So I like stories like Cinderella & Beauty and the Beast.  I think a lot of people can connect to that feeling.  So the maid thing was no biggie to me.

Another name change was the title of the film from The Frog Princess to The Princess & the Frog.  Some people were offended by the first AA princess being Froggy I guess.  Still, it makes sense they changed it.  I think the original tale is called The Princess & the Frog, but since Tiana turns into a frog herself in the movie Disney at first changed the words around.  She still turns into a frog so she’s still a frog princess regardless.

Now there’s a problem with Prince Naveen.  First off let me say this:  When I saw the trailer I thought Prince Naveen was Creole.  Meaning a person descendant of French and/or Spanish settlers, Native American, and African peoples.  Plus he’s voiced by a Brazilian actor, Bruno Campos.  However, Angela Bronner Helm from the website Black Voices said this: “…Disney obviously doesn’t think a black man is worthy of the title of prince. I guess Sasha and Malia and all the other little black girls out there should just shut up and be thankful to have something! Little black boys will have to wait another 20 years.”  Wait, so Prince Naveen is not Black or even part?  How, and did Disney say this?  Because he doesn’t look white to me.  I like the way he looks, because, well let me be honest…because unlike Princess Tiana he looks like me.  Yeah, its all good that Disney is putting out a Princess of African descent.  Sweet.  But, uh I don’t look like her.  And still the only princess I look like most is Jasmine.  So when I saw Prince Naveen I thought “Hey! This is cool not only are they making a Black princess, but they made her prince represent another shade of Black too!! Finally they see we aren’t all brown.”  There’s nothing wrong with brown, my sister is brown, my mom is brown.  I am not, I’m tan or olive.  My grandma is olive, her brother has blue eyes, and one of her cousins has sandy blonde hair.  Yep.  Black people come in all colors including blonde hair and blue eyed folks.  Some of them even lied and passed for white back in the day, hey I would too if it saved my life.  Heres a photo of Prince Naveen and one of myself, white… I don’t think so:

 

 

Me, little black me.

 

P. Naveen & P. Tiana, I don't see anyone white in this picture

 

 

 

So yeah, I disagree that Naveen is White, I guess I’m biased but I think he looks great.  Oooh we’re even kinda smiling the same too with all our teeth out.  I think its unfair for anyone to assume that all Black people can be represented by one shade of brown.  I will never look like Tiana, Prince Naveen looks like me.  So what, would I not be seen as Black by the world?  I doubt it, I don’t think anyone is going to say I’m white.  Also there are black men who look like Naveen.  My friend Brian Tyson looks like him, and he’s loves being black more than anyone I know and his preferred shade of woman?  Chocolate.  I’d love to hear what he would say if someone told him he was white.

But even if Disney comes out and says:  Prince Naveen is White, then what exactly is bad about that?  Are we really going to sit here and say that it suddenly means we don’t think Black men are good enough?  You’re kidding me right?  How often in film and media have there been pairings of Black men and White women?  A lot more than Black Women with White men.  You can count the times you’ve seen that.  Let’s see, there’s the film Something New and the new Star Trek film, oh and Guess Who with Ashton Kutcher.  Yes I’m sure there are others, but more often in media and in real life you see Black men with White women than Black Women with White Men.  Its still so rare in media and life that I’ve have black girls and white guys ask for my advice on it.  A girl friend of mine flat out asked me “How do you get a white guy to like you?  I would date one, but it seems so few men period think black women are attractive.”  I was upset when she said this.  Its like black women are viewed as lesser than and undesirable even by black men.  I know this is getting less so as time goes forward, that the standard of beauty is getting wider and wider.  However, still there’s this idea held by both groups (white & black) that Black women prefer Black men.  It makes it difficult for either party to cross the line.  Also its annoying when no one is too suprised to see a Black man and White women, but if I’m with a white guy I get harrassed.  Not fair.  The most outrageous time this happened I was out with a guy I liked, who was white, and some guys questioned me saying how could I do this to black men?  I simply turned to the bar pointed out a black guy and white girl and said “The same way that guy is doing it to black women, so ask him first.”  I date whoever I find attractive.  If you’re cute and nice, that’s all I need to start getting to know you, ask anyone.  

Also are we suddenly against interracial relationships?  Can only Blacks love Blacks?  I just don’t see the problem with Naveen if he is White, still I don’t agree that he is.

One of the last critisisms I found comes from William Blackburn “…story is set in New Orleans, the setting of one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community”  he felt the choice of this setting was insensitive according to wikipedia.  WTF?  So now only Black people live in New Orleans.  The whole situation was tragic for everyone, black and white, who lived there.  Luckily this story is set in 1920 and not 2005.  So we can see some of New Orleans’ rich history even if it is in cartoon form. How much more should or can Disney change about this movie?  How much are people going to ask them to apologize for?  What sorta movie do people want to see?  Two chocolate colored people, not in New Orleans, with names like Jai’breon and Shontecia? Although I doubt in 1920 those names even existed.  Everyone back then had old people names like Arthur and Mildred, you can look on SSA.com its true.  Black people are not all brown, they have boring old names like Mildred too, some were chambermaids in the homes of rich whites in the 1920 because unfortunately there were less opportunites for us then, my great-grandparents where share croppers in Mississippi, so to me if they had kept Princess Tiana, Princess Maddy the Chambermaid it would have been ok.  If they wanted to change the story then I think they should have picked a real life affluent black family’s story from the 1920s to pull from and shown contrast to the typical struggle of blacks we see typically.  I guess you could argue that Disney could have remade a different fairy tale where no one turns in to an animal, and filled in the princess with brown ink, and the kingdom would be difficult to place like the Kingdoms in Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella, a kingdom somewhere far away and distant and non-existent.  I think Disney trying to be uber sensitive instead of telling a story may make this movie suck, and take any magic and joy out of it.  Also Naveen is not White!!!!!! If anything his name sounds Middle-Eastern like the actor Naveen Andrews from LOST…aka the best show ever to exist.