Hello!
The comments on this profile are unclaimed and thus are unverified.
Do they belong to you? Claim these comments.
k
Is this you? Claim Profile »
5 months ago
in Amazing E-mail from a /Filmcast Listener about Racism in Gran Torino on Devindra's Tumblog of the Whatever
Before I continue, let me clarify that I am a minority American (South Asian + Middle Eastern) who lives in a minority neighborhood (Harlem), I voted (and campaigned) for Obama, which is another way to say "I'm not racist, I swear," and I also thought Gran Torino was a ridiculous movie.
However, I'm not sure I totally agree with Jarrod, and his letter raises an interesting question in my mind. Is it necessarily racist to present stereotypical characters like the “trying to be black” white guy or scenes like the black guys harassing Sue? The truth is, those things actually do exist. Some white guys really DO "try to be black," and I've personally witnessed girls being harassed on the street the way Sue was, though they never react to it as brashly as she did.
Maybe the real crime here is not the inclusion of the stereotypes themselves, but the fact that they are so poorly written. Maybe the racism would not be so abrasive if the scenes and overall story surrounding it were not so preposterous? You know, like in Crash.
(Is he joking?)
However, I'm not sure I totally agree with Jarrod, and his letter raises an interesting question in my mind. Is it necessarily racist to present stereotypical characters like the “trying to be black” white guy or scenes like the black guys harassing Sue? The truth is, those things actually do exist. Some white guys really DO "try to be black," and I've personally witnessed girls being harassed on the street the way Sue was, though they never react to it as brashly as she did.
Maybe the real crime here is not the inclusion of the stereotypes themselves, but the fact that they are so poorly written. Maybe the racism would not be so abrasive if the scenes and overall story surrounding it were not so preposterous? You know, like in Crash.
(Is he joking?)
1 reply
All I know is that this film has reached the levels of Crash when it comes to overboiled race relation stories as told by white guys.