X-Men: First Class Racism

[Tnwagn]

So, for those of you who have yet to see the movie this might is going to contain spoilers.

**************SPOILERS BELOW**************

So when Kevin Bacon's character rolls up to the group of young mutants he goes into his little speech. During the speech, he mentions enslavement. IMMEDIATELY after he says this, he pauses and it cuts to the only black guy in the movie. Not a quick cut either, it had to have been ~5-6 seconds of WTF for everyone in the theater. To top it all off, in the next scene the guy gets killed off.

I just wanted to hear some opinions from anyone else who's seen the movie. This seems pretty blatant to me.

All said, it was a pretty good movie, I'd suggest it to anyone.

[Leung]

I've only seen the first Xmen movie. I guess i'll check it out when it reachs Netflix or one of my friends lends me a bootleg.

[Law Grandeur]

So, for those of you who have yet to see the movie this might is going to contain spoilers.

**************SPOILERS BELOW**************

So when Kevin Bacon's character rolls up to the group of young mutants he goes into his little speech. During the speech, he mentions enslavement. IMMEDIATELY after he says this, he pauses and it cuts to the only black guy in the movie. Not a quick cut either, it had to have been ~5-6 seconds of WTF for everyone in the theater. To top it all off, in the next scene the guy gets killed off.

I just wanted to hear some opinions from anyone else who's seen the movie. This seems pretty blatant to me.

All said, it was a pretty good movie, I'd suggest it to anyone.

fwahahahaha i thought i was the only one who noticed this

[apuforyou]

[P5ylance]

HAHAHAHA I saw that too, I was like "them mofos hella planned that "

i mean... its a comic, yes. but. dayum, be a little more subtle for a movie, zoom out a bit heh.

He had a sick ability too.

[Leung]

HAHAHAHA I saw that too, I was like "them mofos hella planned that "

i mean... its a comic, yes. but. dayum, be a little more subtle for a movie, zoom out a bit heh.

He had a sick ability too.

What was it? Go ahead spoil it for me bc I won't see the movie for quite a while anyhow.

[MikeW]

Which part are you upset about? That he talked about enslavement and then they cut to the only black guy or that they killed him after said speech? I think talking about any kind of enslavement and then cutting to the black guy, yes, that does have some racist undertones but I doubt they planned it that way. I doubt the fact that the character being black or the fact that the actor portraying that character might be black was intentional. It was probably coincidental. I bet if you look into it, someone somewhere probably went back, saw that, and went, "....fuck." Lol.

It's just one of those things Hollywood does. Albeit stupid and ignorant, but the whole "token black guy who dies" stereotype is relatively true--from my movie-watching experience anyway. It's not every movie or every black character but there are certain films where you can just tell that there's only one black actor and I get the feeling that that character will be killed some point in that film and sure enough, they are.

[zmanwit90accord]

So when Kevin Bacon's character rolls up to the group of young mutants he goes into his little speech. During the speech, he mentions enslavement. IMMEDIATELY after he says this, he pauses and it cuts to the only black guy in the movie. Not a quick cut either, it had to have been ~5-6 seconds of WTF for everyone in the theater. To top it all off, in the next scene the guy gets killed off.

I just wanted to hear some opinions from anyone else who's seen the movie. This seems pretty blatant to me.

All said, it was a pretty good movie, I'd suggest it to anyone.

As soon as my brother and I got out of the theatre, this is what we talked about. I thought we were the only ones who noticed.

This also leads me to wonder why the green lantern is now white. Nothing wrong with change but when I was growing up, the Justice League cartoon portrayed him as a black man, one of the few true black super heroes. Now a white guy is taking the spot as a first real big movie.

[MikeW]

This also leads me to wonder why the green lantern is now white. Nothing wrong with change but when I was growing up, the Justice League cartoon portrayed him as a black man, one of the few true black super heroes. Now a white guy is taking the spot as a first real big movie.

It's just one of those things Hollywood does. Albeit stupid and ignorant.

.

[baracuda]

As soon as my brother and I got out of the theatre, this is what we talked about. I thought we were the only ones who noticed.

This also leads me to wonder why the green lantern is now white. Nothing wrong with change but when I was growing up, the Justice League cartoon portrayed him as a black man, one of the few true black super heroes. Now a white guy is taking the spot as a first real big movie.

The green lantern was originally white, they change him to a black guy in the later cartoons episodes....which dont follow the comics to much at all.

[JoshM]

I laugh every time I hear something about the Green Lantern not being black for the movie, mainly because they're so upset and passionate about it.


There have been, and still are, MANY Green Lanterns in the comic books. John Steward was the "black" Green Lantern. He became popular because of the Justice League cartoon. However, Hal Jordan, is the most popular and favorite Green Lantern. He has a rich back story, which makes the movie a little more plot friendly.


No, Hollywood didn't choose a white guy because it'd make more money for the movie.



I'm upset they're using a Canadian! Yup, and he's not black.

[zmanwit90accord]

I could actually care less about his race. I don't follow comics or super heroes at all and watch the movies for special effects and whatnot.

Just wondering since the only Green Lantern I knew growing up, happened to be black and now the most recent incarnation is white.

And sorry Mike W, didn't read your post before I posted lol. Good point.

[Tnwagn]

...yes, that does have some racist undertones but I doubt they planned it that way. I doubt the fact that the character being black or the fact that the actor portraying that character might be black was intentional. It was probably coincidental. I bet if you look into it, someone somewhere probably went back, saw that, and went, "....fuck." Lol. .

This wasn't a movie shot in someone's backyard where they only have time for one take and no script. This was something that went through dozens of people's eyes and approval steps before making to the screen. I doubt the guy that wrote the script was like "Yeah, let's do this because I hate black people" but I find it very odd that no one throughout the process would bring it to the attention of others and change it. They could have cut to any of the other characters present and it would have been just the same. Who knows, maybe they wanted to stir the pot a bit.

As to the Green Lantern, he was initially white and there was a black character that followed. No controversy there.

[samuri88]

HAHAHAHA I saw that too, I was like "them mofos hella planned that "

i mean... its a comic, yes. but. dayum, be a little more subtle for a movie, zoom out a bit heh.

He had a sick ability too.

[Daheavyking]

I noticed that also. So did my wife. We both had the screw face...