I... just felt my IQ drop about five points

[ciroccoj]

Why don't I take my own advice and avoid reader comments?

We're watching Up and I go look up Russel to see if he's the first Asian-American character (or first overweight or kid-raised-by-single-parent character) in an American animated movie, and I come across this:


DISNEY/PIXAR MOVIE “UP” STARS AN ASIAN AMERICAN CHARACTER
Carlos: June 16th, 2009 @ 6:35 am
Disgusting, they talk about discrimination but they are the ones that encourage it. By making this kind of movies, “politically correct” movies, they encourage discrimination against minorities as they impose us foreing cultures. If you want to see an asiatic in a leading role got to japan or china, i dont want to go to the cinema to see a movie without being able to relate to any character, it seems like minorities are starting to discriminate “majorities”.




the stupid. it hurts

Comments

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

O__O

[a-dawn.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm dumb, but I assumed Russel was native american.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Heh - nope, Asian, according to Pixar.

[amoulixes.livejournal.com]

There's a bit of truth there, or a good point. The Princess and the Frog movie created a huge debate in the Women's Studies department because the lead character is black, obviously associated with voodoo and turned into a frog (dehumanizing her). It might be an extreme idea, but I can see the argument there. Same went for Mulan and the Chinese stereotypes.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Oh I actually totally agree with the "maybe this isn't such a hot thing, racial-wise" pointing out that there are layers of issues to deal with any time "ethnics" are portrayed in the media. There are issues about stereotypes, of making one character stand in for an entire ethnic group, about going too far in the opposite direction making them white in everything but their skin colour, etc etc etc...

I thought that's where this guy was going, at first. Is Pocahontas a good role model/representative of Native Americans, is the portrayal of Chinese culture in Mulan accurate or simply pasting together a plethora of Oriental Mystique stereotypes, all that thought-provoking stuff.

And then...

they impose us foreing cultures.
Whu?

If you want to see an asiatic in a leading role got to japan or china,
Hang on, what? No Asian Asiatics should have leading roles outside of Asia? Isn't that a little harsh for the millions of persons of Asian origin living in the rest of the world?

i dont want to go to the cinema to see a movie without being able to relate to any character,
What?! The main character is white. The main antagonist is white. The main background character is white. Everyone but Russel (and a very brief blip of his mom) is white, except for the bloody dog. But this person feels he shouldn't have to go see a movie where he "can't relate" to the characters?!

And why does a character have to be white in order for this guy to relate to him, anyway?

it seems like minorities are starting to discriminate “majorities”.
Mmmmm... yeah, I can totally see that. Just look at this year's Oscar nominees for Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress - oh, no, wait, don't do that, they're all white.

Anyway. ITA that just because a movie features a character that's not white, this is not automatically a good thing. But I really don't think the guy was going anywhere with his post other than "stop discriminating against us whites, damnit!"

I also wondered a bit at his name. I know there's probably a whoole lot of non-Hispanic folks out there who go by "Carlos." I just found it interesting that someone complaining i dont want to go to the cinema to see a movie without being able to relate to any character was using a Hispanic name. Whether it's an online name, or his own, it's worth thinking about. After all, there are plenty of folks who consider Hispanics "unrelatable", and probably think if you want to see them as main characters, you should go back to... Hispaniland, wherever that is ;)

[13oct.livejournal.com]

O_O

[sterling-sky.livejournal.com]

*thunk*

*thunk*

*thunk*

*thunk*