The ‘Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen’ Racism Debate
Mudflap and Skids, the robots at the center of racism slurs
Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen isn’t short of criticism, but perhaps one of the most interesting (or insulting) issues many people are having with the movie is its apparent racism.
The slur goes that Mudflap and Skids, the two supposed comic-relief robots in the movie, promote offensive racial stereotypes. Both robots have ape-like builds, bulging eyes, large ears, one has a gold tooth, they drawl, they bicker, they admit they can’t read, they talk about “putting a cap” in other robots and of course one of them is voiced by a black actor. Whilst some people see these two robots as nothing more than the Jar Jar Binks duo of Transformers, for many others these factors add up to one thing: a clear racial slur.
The film’s well known writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, responded to the accusations by claiming that the two robots were not exactly portrayed as they intended.
From Film School Rejects:
FSR: I heard that the gold tooth was Michael Bay’s idea, but do you have any response to those who found The Twins offensive?
Orci: Number one, we sympathize. Yes, the gold tooth was not in the script, that’s true.
Kurtzman: It’s really hard for us to sit here and try to justify it.I think that would be very foolish, and if someone wants to be offended by it, it’s their right. We were very surprised when we saw it, too, and it’s a choice that was made. If anything, it just shows you that we don’t control every aspect of the movie.
FSR: Were you offended by them?
Kurtzman: I wasn’t thrilled. I certainly wasn’t thrilled.
Orci: Yeah, same reaction. I’m not easily offended, but when I saw it, I thought, ‘Someone’s gonna write about that.’”
Whilst Orci and Kurtzman clearly see the issue, director Michael Bay on the other hand has a different view on the subject. As far as Bay is concerned the two robots are portrayed the way they are for fun and most importantly, for the kids.
From Yahoo News:
“We’re just putting more personality in,” Bay said. “I don’t know if it’s stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it.”
“I purely did it for kids,” the director said. “Young kids love these robots, because it makes it more accessible to them.”
The response of Orci and Kurtzman quite clearly throws the ball back into director Michael Bay’s court. Bay in turn throws the ball into the court of the voice actors behind Mudflap and Skids. So what do they have to say about it?
Mudflap is voiced by black TV actor Reno Wilson. Tom Kenny, the white actor behind SpongeBob SquarePants, voices Skids. As far as I’m aware, neither have responded to requests for interviews at this time.
jason: 
Paul: 
Coijo e tal: 
VinceC: 
beth: 
sasss: 
July 1st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
In ten seconds of Googling just now, there are dozens of other articles about it.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:43 pm
The twins weren’t “black” they were “getto” and everyone needs to stop calling the movie racist cause that’s what they are for calling the twins black.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
You’ve got a good point there Jake.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I don’t know if they’re racist cause I’m not seeing this pile of dung in the theatre, wasted my money on the first one but my CPU is a learning computer so I won’t fall for Bay-crap twice…in any case, one of them is a white actor so I suppose if they are racist, they’re only half racist maybe?
July 14th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Jake said Getto which is anoter stereotype and what group of people does that word get attached to. Hummm I wonder!!!!!
Stereotype is another word to convey what you really want to say without saying directly.
A stereotype is a type of logical oversimplification in which all the members of a class or set are considered to be definable by an easily distinguishable set of characteristics. The term is often used with a negative connotation, as stereotypes can be used to deny individuals respect or legitimacy based on their membership in a particular group. In America, the term has long been associated with the Civil Rights movement and is imbued with a semblance of racial context.
Stereotypes often form the basis of prejudice and are usually employed to explain real or imaginary differences due to race, gender, religion, age, ethnicity, socio-economic class, disability, and occupation, among the limitless groups one may be identified with. A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image based on the belief that there are attitudes, appearances, or behaviors shared by all members of a group.
Thus the attributes of big lips, gold teeth, language associated and the inability to read can only bring you to one conclusion as far as a stereotype go in reference to MUDFLAP and SKID. I am thankful that they did not make them red and blue( gangs stereotype) Cadillacs with 24’s (Black material stereotype) Unless you are from that stereotype most often you would not be offended. Example of a stereotype, it was once said to me that if you don’t want black people to know something put it in a book, blacks are fully aware of this stereotype, so hence a connection has been made and people will get offended not only blacks but whites as well.
I didn’t see a AutoBot that was a trailer or a mobile home, nor did I see a robot with a red neck with no teeth talking like a hillbilly, none of those stereotypes were used. There was one thing that bother me more about this movie than the stereotypes, it was when Optimus Prime, said ” PUNK ASS DECPETICONS”. WTF…… I took my daughter to see this movie and had to explained to her that the Transformers I knew are no more.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
What EVERYONE needs to do is see everything as individuals, not a group of people, and that’s what I hate about our world is because no one has the balls to saw they suck and move on, so they blame everyone else. (This has no point with transformers, just a rant I want people to come across) And I see this alot in the drumline I am in, and for that we all suffer, so what I want is there to be no races! Like in TF2 with the twins, they have no skin color so it is hard to judge them, and that is what the lesson here is folks.