In the defense of RotF Skidz and Mudflap

[Plainsjumper]

The eyes on those characters are a mess.

As for the characters themselves:

1. African american culture does not consist only of ghetto culture.

2. Ghetto culture does not consist only of african americans.

3. Ghetto culture has been widely parodied in other movies.

So there's no racism there.

[J-Ko]

Originally Posted by Plainsjumper

The eyes on those characters are a mess.

As for the characters themselves:

1. African american culture does not consist only of ghetto culture.

2. Ghetto culture does not consist only of african americans.

3. Ghetto culture has been widely parodied in other movies.

So there's no racism there.

Agreed.

[Hellboy]

I totally get these guys! Why on earth, when you have the ability to transform into anything, would you want to be something without buck-teeth and googlie eyes? Shame on Bumblebee for opting to change a second time into something more sleek and modern. He could have had it all as an aging rust-bucket.
Obviously their bumbling antics and nonsensical ghetto-like ramblings are endearing to Optimus; fond memories from the hood back on Cybertron. Why else had he not found the sense to put a cap in their bumpers?

I'm actually shocked Bay didn't go a step further and have their Mama show up decked out with a moo moo and curlers in her hair... waiving a rolling pin as she hauls them away by the ear screamin', "Ya'll just wait till your Daddy gets home".

[SleeplessKnight]

The whole movie was a train wreck and these characters were part of what contributed towards that. Seeing these characters fills me with a burning rage. They never should have existed.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

Originally Posted by lars573

But it only counts as racism if it's by a white person/group on a none white person/group.

I don't believe for a moment that this is true. I'm chinese and I've heard some pretty racist shit from older generation chinese people. To say that just because they're chinese it doesn't count... well that's just not knowing what racism is.

[Croaker]

Wanted to chime in and say I agree with Matrix Holder.

I watched the film on DVD with some film professors and students and their jaws dropped when they saw these characters. They were appalled that this type of racism made it into a current day main-stream picture.

[gagagalvatron]

I was not as appalled at the twins as I was at Phantom Menace. But that's because I expected better of Phantom Menace and had no such high expectations for a Michael Bay movie.

I think that's part of the disconnect here. Few people hold up ROTF as a cinematic masterpiece, so the usual prescription is not to overanalyze, go ahead and turn off your brain, and enjoy it for what it is.

But that's part of the problem.

I believe it is far more clueless than racist, but the same could be said for Phantom Menace. But ignorance, cluelessness, and attempts at humor are not and should not be excuses. There is a history here. And filmmakers are in the business of understanding what their images, shots, and movies evoke and mean.

You can excuse it. You can pretend it's something else instead of something ugly. You can want it to be innocent. It's still there. We're not making it up, or looking for things to criticize or hate. We have the rest of the movie for that.

About the only thing more absurd is trying to rationalize it. The OP has put waaaay more thought into this than anyone actually involved with the film ever did.

[Plainsjumper]

"It's still there."

And it still isn't racist. People who are are implicitly stating that ghetto culture is confined to one race alone and that is racist.

As for Croaker's film professors and students... clearly they haven't seen something like the movie "Friday" or it's sequels.

[Scrapper6]

If the twins are racial stereotypes than Bobby Bolivia is a blatant middle-finger to the Transformers Movie Going Public.

I mean seriously, what is it with people jumping on Racisim so HARD CORE! We as a culturaly minded society seem to have fallen into the PC trap. It is politically in-correct to have two 'Ghetto' Twins in a motion picture because it is Racisit to 'Black' people.

BS.

There I said it. Racism is not one simple little cultural aspect, it is an entire miasma, an entire delusion for the most part perpetrated by ignorant and hate filled individuals. People who claim the twins are racist to black people are not looking at the larger picture, the twins aren't black, they are alien robots who use the internet to incorporate into our culture... And as we all know, the internet is the best place ever! to understand our many diverse cultures. Please note sarcasm levels, they are at Defcon Four.

Seriously folks, the twins are not racist by choice, they aren't even racist, they are ignorant. They are completely incapable of realizing that their attitudes do not reflect the best aspects that humanity strives for. Because they are ALIENS! I mean Good Sweet God, we're humanizing these character way too much. You don't see people claiming that Megatron is a Natzi because he wants to enslave everyone not of his race and kill the Autobots for disagreeing with his agenda/goals?

That's because Megatron is so alien in design that people realize he's an alien, but the twins... Give them a look that slaps in the face of human sensibilities and you immediately hear people crying racist, slanderous towards black people, stuff like that.

Racism is a dark aspect of humanity that is not going anywhere anytime soon, we may be able to put up a good front in a culturally diverse setting, but there is someone, possibly living three houses down from you, who is derogatory towards women/blacks/asians/mexicans/egyptians/isralis, etc...

It exists, we may think it doesn't, we may think that we are maturing as a society, but that is utter delusion and falsehood. And to claim that these fictional characters represent racism, no they don't, they are a piece of film history that is speaking out in a way trying to incense the masses and bring awareness to the fact that HUmanity still has a long way to go, sadly, for the most part, the viewing public has failed to realize the message that they were going for because the writers just handled it terribly and much too subtly.

Of course I could just be giving too much credit to the writers, but I'd like to think that they're smart enough to realize what they were doing, even if it was subconcious on their part.

And for the last time, THE TWINS ARE NOT BLACK THEY ARE GHETTO, GHETTO DOES NOT = BLACK. Ghetto is more like all those white dudes trying to fit in with black society because they're lashing out at their parents or some shit like that. If anything the twins are typical white males between the ages of 13-18 who are trying too hard to blend in with a society that they fail to understand completely and don't realize how derogatory and demeaning they are being.

[Hellboy]

I had no idea it was a white guy who did the voice... he does a splendid rendition of what I thought was one of the Wayan Brothers doing an In Living Colour skit.