Race- Privilege, Relations, Racism, etc.

Not knowing basically anything about the movie, that sounds like Sumerian mythology/The Epic Of Gilgamesh. That said, I'm pretty sure at least some South American mythologies if not a lot all over the world (ancestor worship is similar, ne?) use that idea.

Cross-cultural similarities, particularly between ones so widely removed, are fascinating.

edited 12th Jun '18 12:51:32 PM by TroperOnAStickV2

Yeah, Worships to the ancestors is quite a rule in all cultures for all that I know.

Also, I found some complains about how Coco used Latino Is Brown as a rule instead of showing the Mexican diversity...but I am not really annoyed because, well, the movie isnt set in a small town? People rarely are diverse in small towns.

Wasn't the movie about singing lions made by the same company though?

edited 12th Jun '18 1:01:01 PM by MorningStar1337

And even this doesn't fly as an excuse or anything, because the Mandarin, as he exists in the comics right now? Is a terrorist who plots against the PRC and usually requires the assistance of Chinese superhero teams for Iron Man to get at him.

You could easily adapt any number of Iron Man stories that feature him aligning with the PRC to stop the Mandarin who, as a reactionary terrorist, is exactly the kind of villain China's Communist government would be cool with putting on the screen.

Have him team up with the Radioactive man.

Have some thoughts, but wondering if this discussion in the Film/Diversity thread or else that other OTC one about media influencing politics.

And to reiterate, someone who calls refers to people as Chinks is consciously racist. And even if they aren't, it doesn't make it any better.

I mean, we are talking about Race in Media. Is still on-topic.

Given that we are here sharing personal dates, I am latino/hispanic but I am also of direct Andean descent, and with that, I mean that my dad come from the Andes.

Is curious realizing that you are from two different ethnic groups for a single family side, even if my mother had being a white woman, I could still call myself racially Quechua and Hispanic (mainly because Hispanic is mostly a cultural division rather than just physical).

That and that it proves the weirdness of race as a concept. Quechua people arent really genetically different from Natives from the coast (natives from the jungle are a different question), their "look" is different less because genes-said-so and more because living in a montain all your life makes you look quite "harder".

edited 12th Jun '18 2:44:57 PM by KazuyaProta

For the record I wasn’t actually defending my great aunts conduct.

Thing is given the circumstances she really did think she was being complimentary.

She and my uncle were at a restaurant in the 80s. After the meal was over she said to the waiters “oh I love you chinks. You’re so cool.” Or something along those lines. Either way my uncle was horrified the entire time.

So....yeah. As bizarre as it sounds she really was the kind of person who thought that it was possible to use those slurs as a compliment.

That’s what made it so surreal.

edited 12th Jun '18 2:59:10 PM by LordYAM

I know that feeling, old people doing stupid stuff believing it being harmless.

Is still racist. You can love your family (especially old people from a different time, younger ones are a different story) despite them being bigoted, but you must acknowledge that they are bigoted.

Example? My grandpas are pretty sexist, my paternal grandpawas opossed to giving superior education (post high school) to his daughters ,despite having the means to do it, to my aunts.

Now. My aunts dont resent him for that and still love him, and so, I still love him, he is my grandpa, my papito (little daddy), taita and more affective words for grandpa.

He is still bigoted. My younger female cousins are unnafected because he dont are for how his sons educate theirs (that is basically a rule in Peru), but he is still bigoted.

edited 12th Jun '18 3:19:17 PM by KazuyaProta

Something I am wondering about after watching American TV series: Is there a stereotype of (usually young, but not children ir teenagers) black men who are somewhat immature and stupid, in a "funny" fashion? I notice that it seems to be a common character type.

Uncle Tom Foolery

edited 12th Jun '18 3:25:34 PM by CharlesPhipps

Black men are stereotyped as stupid, period.

It's something that's actually annoyed me because, while I'll never claim to be especially observant about that sort of thing, it did eventually sink in that a lot of black characters in movies and TV shows were obnoxious loudmouths See anything with Chris Tucker, or action movies with Will Smith, as a couple of off the cuff examples. From what little I saw (and assuming I'm remembering the right movie) of Not Another Teen Movie, there was a black character whose job it was, literally, to be that kind of character.

edited 12th Jun '18 4:16:59 PM by sgamer82

Reminds me. One of the first times when I was put-off from something in media was Gus being shown as scared of ghosts in Psych, coupled with being a Butt-Monkey in general.

But are Black characters disproportionally portrayed as "stupid"? I can also think of many American comedy shows with stupid main characters. The Simpsons, Futurama, Seth Mac Farlane's shows, pretty much any sitcom (The Big Bang Theory, Friends, Two and a Half Men), pretty much any family sitcom (due to bumbling dads), etc. Though there are more white characters than black characters, which is why I'm asking about the proportions.

In fact, I had the impression that the main character is usually stupid (because they need to get into trouble) and white, while one of his (oh, and the main character is usually male too) friends is black and possibly nerdy. Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, Fairly Oddparents.

I think the issue is more "white characters have can any personality, but black characters usually just stupid loudmouths".

Gus at least shows intelligence a great deal and is more of a straight man to Sean's tomfoolery

Well, that wasn't the issue that was brought up, though I find it arguable that black characters have less variety than white characters in American media. To me, it seems that "stupid people" comedy is popular in America, meanwhile there are less black characters than white characters, and so black characters in such comedy shows end up skewing the number of "black stupid characters" in American media up.

Which isn't to say that "black people are stupid" isn't a stereotype.

I'm not from the US, nor I've been consuming much American mass media recently besides (a few) movies, so this is mostly guesswork.

edited 12th Jun '18 5:16:39 PM by Victin

It's one of my major complaints about STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and THE LAST JEDI.

Finn isn't Jar Jar levels of incompetent but he's Threepio. His character consists of going, "We're doomed!" Running around, getting abused, and being occasionally useful. Not exactly what I expected from a guy raised to be a soldier from birth.

He's also not allowed to date the white woman he crushes on because she needs to crush on a school shooting Emo Goth Kid who murdered her friend.

edited 12th Jun '18 5:28:38 PM by CharlesPhipps

Remind me what the problem was with Jar Jar again?

In general or racially?

Jar Jar is a very dumb comedic character in a movie most of us would take seriously. C 3 PO is a source of comic relief but his comic relief underscores the danger they're in.

To clarify, there was often a thing with Ethnic Scrappy characters in old movies, especially ones played by Stepin Fetchit and Mantan Moreland, where they would be shown as comically scared of ghosts (depending on the movie either real ones or more often a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax), and Gus having antics while being scared of ghosts seemed way too close to stereotype to me.

Racially.

Basically, a black man playing a complete You No Take Candle buffoon.

Wasn't his accent/speech mannerism an offensive take on African-Caribbeans, or am I mixing things up?