06-27-2011, 04:42 AM
All I remember about the second movie is 1) retarded old bot and the stupid, stupid ass jokes around him 2) the insane number of new bots that are never properly introduced, and 3) the horrifyingly racist caricatures of Skids and Mudflap.
I know some people try to argue that Skids and Mud were actually a mockery of wiggers, but I saw no evidence of that. I had the misfortune of seeing the movie multiple times around its release, and believe me, on the second viewing I was desperately trying to find a reason to like them. Maybe Bay was using them (Skids and Mud) as commentary. Maybe there was some sort of subversion of the apparent stereotype that I wasn't seeing. Maybe the whole "uh, we not really big on reading" thing wasn't exactly what it sounded like.
You know, an interesting subversion would've been to keep the racist looks, but keep them pretty intelligent, maybe even slightly exasperated at the look that they've adopted. They scanned earlier media in Earth's culture, maybe, and without context took the shape that they're now stuck in, not realizing how silly it might look. Or maybe you could make one very intellectual, and make the other emotive. The audience's attention is then drawn to the contrast between the two, rather than what they look like.
Hell, even if they hadn't done any of that, I could've maybe forgiven it if these were strictly background characters that you see once or twice - off-color bad taste jokes and nothing more. But no; I guess it's better to cram an offensive stereotype in there and SHOVE IT IN THE AUDIENCE'S FACE FOR TWO HOURS. It's like Jar Jar Binks, only there are two of them.
UGH. God, I hate that movie.
I know some people try to argue that Skids and Mud were actually a mockery of wiggers, but I saw no evidence of that. I had the misfortune of seeing the movie multiple times around its release, and believe me, on the second viewing I was desperately trying to find a reason to like them. Maybe Bay was using them (Skids and Mud) as commentary. Maybe there was some sort of subversion of the apparent stereotype that I wasn't seeing. Maybe the whole "uh, we not really big on reading" thing wasn't exactly what it sounded like.
You know, an interesting subversion would've been to keep the racist looks, but keep them pretty intelligent, maybe even slightly exasperated at the look that they've adopted. They scanned earlier media in Earth's culture, maybe, and without context took the shape that they're now stuck in, not realizing how silly it might look. Or maybe you could make one very intellectual, and make the other emotive. The audience's attention is then drawn to the contrast between the two, rather than what they look like.
Hell, even if they hadn't done any of that, I could've maybe forgiven it if these were strictly background characters that you see once or twice - off-color bad taste jokes and nothing more. But no; I guess it's better to cram an offensive stereotype in there and SHOVE IT IN THE AUDIENCE'S FACE FOR TWO HOURS. It's like Jar Jar Binks, only there are two of them.
UGH. God, I hate that movie.
![[Image: Bellesig6-1.jpg]](http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff137/catseye543/Bellesig6-1.jpg)