The twins were forced and ended up lacking any actual comedic impact. They were lame and dumb. I don't care about the stereotype issue, I just want them gone. Put them in the background were they should have been and allow more interesting bots to stand out.

 

:agree

I'd be fine with that as well.

To be brutally honest...I really have no idea why people are getting so worked up over this whole issue. What exactly is "racist" about these characters...can someone please define what actually makes them "racist stereotypes"? At no point, either during the movie or afterward, did I feel offended in regards to the twins characters. To me they were just, well, characters. So what... if you have uneven facial features, gold teeth, and overall wacky mannerisms, are you some kind of horrible person? If I walked down a street and saw some guy with a crooked looking face and a big gold tooth hanging out, should I yell at him for being a bad influence on other people. Get real folks! The only people offended by so-called "stereotypes" are just insecure perfectionists. You can't even define what's "racist" about the twins characters without sounding like a racist yourself.

To be brutally honest...I really have no idea why people are getting so worked up over this whole issue. What exactly is "racist" about these characters...can someone please define what actually makes them "racist stereotypes"? At no point, either during the movie or afterward, did I feel offended in regards to the twins characters. To me they were just, well, characters. So what... if you have uneven facial features, gold teeth, and overall wacky mannerisms, are you some kind of horrible person? If I walked down a street and saw some guy with a crooked looking face and a big gold tooth hanging out, should I yell at him for being a bad influence on other people. Get real folks! The only people offended by so-called "stereotypes" are just insecure perfectionists. You can't even define what's "racist" about the twins characters without sounding like a racist yourself.

 

I agree that I wasn't offended by the twins in the movie, other than the fact that they're the twin Jaja Binks of the Transformers world... but then again I'm not part of the group being offended. In the same way that I (white English) wouldn't be personally offended if someone used a highly offensive racist remark about the Chinese towards me. If you're not part of that ethnic/racial group it's very hard to understand the amount of pain that they go through.

 

Having an English accent, I tend to find a lot of the fake English people in US television shows offensive... seriously, NO ONE HERE SPEAKS LIKE THAT!!

 

Having done a little research on the subject though, I was a little bemused to find that both skid-marks and mud-people were old abusive terms form black people. :wtf That & the referance to Skids and Mudflap being proud they can't read did at least make me think twice.

 

http://www.complex.com/blogs/2009/06/23/is...-fallen-racist/

To be brutally honest...I really have no idea why people are getting so worked up over this whole issue. What exactly is "racist" about these characters...can someone please define what actually makes them "racist stereotypes"? At no point, either during the movie or afterward, did I feel offended in regards to the twins characters. To me they were just, well, characters. So what... if you have uneven facial features, gold teeth, and overall wacky mannerisms, are you some kind of horrible person? If I walked down a street and saw some guy with a crooked looking face and a big gold tooth hanging out, should I yell at him for being a bad influence on other people. Get real folks! The only people offended by so-called "stereotypes" are just insecure perfectionists. You can't even define what's "racist" about the twins characters without sounding like a racist yourself.

 

I agree that I wasn't offended by the twins in the movie, other than the fact that they're the twin Jaja Binks of the Transformers world... but then again I'm not part of the group being offended. In the same way that I (white English) wouldn't be personally offended if someone used a highly offensive racist remark about the Chinese towards me. If you're not part of that ethnic/racial group it's very hard to understand the amount of pain that they go through.

 

Having an English accent, I tend to find a lot of the fake English people in US television shows offensive... seriously, NO ONE HERE SPEAKS LIKE THAT!!

 

Having done a little research on the subject though, I was a little bemused to find that both skid-marks and mud-people were old abusive terms form black people. :wtf That & the referance to Skids and Mudflap being proud they can't read did at least make me think twice.

 

http://www.complex.com/blogs/2009/06/23/is...-fallen-racist/

 

 

I think the fact that it made people think twice about it is the only real reason this is an issue at all. Like I said though, they seemed to me to come across as some lame white kids from suburbia trying to act all hard and gangsta that bothered me. Might as WELL have had Eminem voice them at THAT point 9_9

To be brutally honest...I really have no idea why people are getting so worked up over this whole issue. What exactly is "racist" about these characters...can someone please define what actually makes them "racist stereotypes"? At no point, either during the movie or afterward, did I feel offended in regards to the twins characters. To me they were just, well, characters. So what... if you have uneven facial features, gold teeth, and overall wacky mannerisms, are you some kind of horrible person? If I walked down a street and saw some guy with a crooked looking face and a big gold tooth hanging out, should I yell at him for being a bad influence on other people. Get real folks! The only people offended by so-called "stereotypes" are just insecure perfectionists. You can't even define what's "racist" about the twins characters without sounding like a racist yourself.

 

I agree that I wasn't offended by the twins in the movie, other than the fact that they're the twin Jaja Binks of the Transformers world... but then again I'm not part of the group being offended. In the same way that I (white English) wouldn't be personally offended if someone used a highly offensive racist remark about the Chinese towards me. If you're not part of that ethnic/racial group it's very hard to understand the amount of pain that they go through.

 

Having an English accent, I tend to find a lot of the fake English people in US television shows offensive... seriously, NO ONE HERE SPEAKS LIKE THAT!!

 

Having done a little research on the subject though, I was a little bemused to find that both skid-marks and mud-people were old abusive terms form black people. :wtf That & the referance to Skids and Mudflap being proud they can't read did at least make me think twice.

 

http://www.complex.com/blogs/2009/06/23/is...-fallen-racist/

 

 

I think the fact that it made people think twice about it is the only real reason this is an issue at all. Like I said though, they seemed to me to come across as some lame white kids from suburbia trying to act all hard and gangsta that bothered me. Might as WELL have had Eminem voice them at THAT point 9_9

 

That and the fact there has previously been controversy surrounding a Micheal Bay film before, quoting Rolling Stone Magazine:

 

Bad Boys II has everything. Everything loud, dumb, violent, sexist, racist, misogynistic and homophobic that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay can think of puking up onscreen.

 

But in either case, I can see how it would be easy for people to be offended by them and in the end isn't that all we really need? Some understanding? Perhaps if we pay attention to what has happened there will yet be a positive outcome.

 

Oh and Police Box Travellor (I'm a huge Dr Who fan too btw), it would sound like a white kid trying to sound street... the voices were apparantly provided by Tom Kenny aka Spongebob Squarepants. Very street.

Here's what I think;

 

I never even thought of the twins as being racial bashing. Nobody seemed to think this, nor did anyone who I know that saw it say anything about the two. Racism never even crossed my mind until I started seeing posts here with people whining about it. Apparently, it's a bigger issue though (as I later learned) since it is apparently coming up in reviews, and if the writers are backing off saying they had no and/or wanted no part of it.

 

My opinion of the twins is that they were just bad characters. They took time away from characters who were (in my opinion) much cooler and much more deserving of screen time. My problem is that there were just way too many "comedic relief" characters, while the neat new characters, and many of the characters from the first movie, were just swept under the rug and forgot about or were nothing but background scenery. It was disappointing.

To be brutally honest...I really have no idea why people are getting so worked up over this whole issue. What exactly is "racist" about these characters...can someone please define what actually makes them "racist stereotypes"? At no point, either during the movie or afterward, did I feel offended in regards to the twins characters. To me they were just, well, characters. So what... if you have uneven facial features, gold teeth, and overall wacky mannerisms, are you some kind of horrible person? If I walked down a street and saw some guy with a crooked looking face and a big gold tooth hanging out, should I yell at him for being a bad influence on other people. Get real folks! The only people offended by so-called "stereotypes" are just insecure perfectionists. You can't even define what's "racist" about the twins characters without sounding like a racist yourself.

 

I agree that I wasn't offended by the twins in the movie, other than the fact that they're the twin Jaja Binks of the Transformers world... but then again I'm not part of the group being offended. In the same way that I (white English) wouldn't be personally offended if someone used a highly offensive racist remark about the Chinese towards me. If you're not part of that ethnic/racial group it's very hard to understand the amount of pain that they go through.

 

Having an English accent, I tend to find a lot of the fake English people in US television shows offensive... seriously, NO ONE HERE SPEAKS LIKE THAT!!

 

Having done a little research on the subject though, I was a little bemused to find that both skid-marks and mud-people were old abusive terms form black people. :wtf That & the referance to Skids and Mudflap being proud they can't read did at least make me think twice.

 

http://www.complex.com/blogs/2009/06/23/is...-fallen-racist/

 

 

I think the fact that it made people think twice about it is the only real reason this is an issue at all. Like I said though, they seemed to me to come across as some lame white kids from suburbia trying to act all hard and gangsta that bothered me. Might as WELL have had Eminem voice them at THAT point 9_9

 

That and the fact there has previously been controversy surrounding a Micheal Bay film before, quoting Rolling Stone Magazine:

 

Bad Boys II has everything. Everything loud, dumb, violent, sexist, racist, misogynistic and homophobic that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay can think of puking up onscreen.

 

But in either case, I can see how it would be easy for people to be offended by them and in the end isn't that all we really need? Some understanding? Perhaps if we pay attention to what has happened there will yet be a positive outcome.

 

Oh and Police Box Travellor (I'm a huge Dr Who fan too btw), it would sound like a white kid trying to sound street... the voices were apparantly provided by Tom Kenny aka Spongebob Squarepants. Very street.

 

 

HAHAHAHAHA! I had forgotten about that XD Didn't they also have Tom do Starscrem for the movie as well? anyway yeah I dunnow...sometimes I think that calling out every racist thing actually perpetuates racism. Like, if people just didn't care then it wouldn't matter, then theres the part where it's just plain rude and insulting to many people...then there's another part who don't like it when one group can be racist but the other group can't be racist back...you know, that whole "equal opportunity racist humor" and...it just goes on and on. XD Vicious circle i think it is. XD

 

Glad you dig the Doctor Who stuff ^_^ I think you're the only person who ever said anything about it XD

For Bay to not even recognize the possibility that the Twins could be misconstrued as a racist element is neglectful to say the least, if not insensitive. Do I think it was done intentionally...of course not, but it does show ignorance on the part of Bay, the two voice actors, and the robots' designers.

 

Now while I'm glad the writers are willing to acknowledge that this wasn't part of their script, I personally don't think Orci & Kurtzman should have a hand in any other Transformers scripts. I normally like the material that these two writers create, but they're contribution to the Transformers storyline is seemingly lacking in direction, dialogue & other like elements that produce good stories. And Bay's directing style does nothing to strengthen these weaknesses.

 

Their last statement concerning a third film not being the finale to this particular arc of the franchise is a bit frightening given what we've seen so far. And it doesn't sooth the senses when they acknowledge that no one has any ideas as of yet concerning a third installment...that just seems to further enforce the disjointedness of these movies in respect to having any connection to one another.

 

:agree :hbang :tfdance :yay :win :thumb :beer :agree

 

I love this post.

 

I wish there was an award I could nominate this post for.

Once again, more white people who think they should say they're offended or sympathize with those who are trying to redeem what forefathers did hundreds of years ago.

 

I had no problem with it, and I understand where they're coming from.

For Bay to not even recognize the possibility that the Twins could be misconstrued as a racist element is neglectful to say the least, if not insensitive. Do I think it was done intentionally...of course not, but it does show ignorance on the part of Bay, the two voice actors, and the robots' designers.

 

Now while I'm glad the writers are willing to acknowledge that this wasn't part of their script, I personally don't think Orci & Kurtzman should have a hand in any other Transformers scripts. I normally like the material that these two writers create, but they're contribution to the Transformers storyline is seemingly lacking in direction, dialogue & other like elements that produce good stories. And Bay's directing style does nothing to strengthen these weaknesses.

 

Their last statement concerning a third film not being the finale to this particular arc of the franchise is a bit frightening given what we've seen so far. And it doesn't sooth the senses when they acknowledge that no one has any ideas as of yet concerning a third installment...that just seems to further enforce the disjointedness of these movies in respect to having any connection to one another.

 

:agree :hbang :tfdance :yay :win :thumb :beer :agree

 

I love this post.

 

I wish there was an award I could nominate this post for.

 

Seconded! :yay