"Guess Who" double standard?

You said it better than I could, thank you

For once I actually agree with catsix! (scary ain’t it kids?).

Unclviny

Ha! I knew the tone of the movie as soon as I found out Ashton Kutcher was in it.

Well then maybe the movie should work on its advertising, because it certainly was presented to me by advertising as a movie that relies on stereotyping of white people.

Since the point of advertising something is to make people interested in it, why is it not reasonable to use the same advertising to decide that you are not interested in something? This move presented itself as one that uses racial stereotyping as humor. I take issue with racial stereotyping and will not support it with money. Therefore it is very reasonable of me to not spend money on something that has been advertised to me as an exercise in racial stereotyping.

If that’s not the thrust of the movie, perhaps they oughta fire their advertisers, because those people just cost someone the price of my admission ticket.

“It’s a black thing, you wouldn’t understand.”?

WTF.

Okay, I don’t remember much of the trailer, but I know that there wasn’t even enough material in the movie itself that could even with crafty editing make the film look like a bunch of jokes about white people, so can you explain what in the trailer would make you think that?

Huh? You had to translate what I said into a stereotypical catch phrase in order to understand it? BTW, that catch phrase doesn’t really even match with what I claimed.

They must be airing different commercials where you are than what they’re airing in my neck of the woods. The ads I see for the flick rely on the chagrin of Bernie Mac’s character because his daughter brought home a white guy instead of a black one like he assumed as a vehicle for humor. The rest of the ad seems to me as if Mac’s character is treating Kutcher’s character pretty much like he’d treat any dude dating his daughter, regardless of his race.

Give me a break! What does it matter? An assumption is an assumption. Just because being a professional is better than being a thug is no reason that it can’t be insulting.

I say we turn this thread into a pitting of pizzabrat for actually going to see this movie. :stuck_out_tongue:

You do realize that this is a movie, right? A comedy movie? A film genre that often relies on the device of mistaken identity, faulty assumptions, and characters leaping to conclusions in order to provide humor?

I haven’t seen Guess Who?, but you apparently have not either, and the gag as you described it rests on the idea that white men are not all accountants or IRS agents. It doesn’t sound like a real thigh-slapper as jokes go, but what humor it does contain can only exist if the audience realizes that the character isn’t there to handle some tax problem. The joke relies on people knowing that the (horrifically insulting) stereotype about all white men holding good office jobs is not actually true.

In the movie What’s Cooking? there’s a plot involving a Latina girl bringing an Asian-American boyfriend home for Thanksgiving. There’s a pretty funny scene where her brother, trying to make conversation with the boyfriend, starts talking about Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. This scene is humorous because the brother’s assumptian that any Asian guy must know all about kung-fu is wrong. The boyfriend obviously has no special interest in martial arts flicks, and the audience knows that he’s not even Chinese – he’s Vietnamese.

If people in real life judge others according to broad stereotypes then yes, that is problematic. It would be prejudiced to assume that all Asian men are martial arts experts, or that all white men hold high-paying office jobs. But if characters in a comedy believe these things and are shown to be humorously mistaken in their beliefs, I don’t see anything to get upset over.

This is so true. For example, the last time I was out of prison, I never had a problem catching a cab no matter how jittery or wild-eyed I was. After watching a cab driver pass over a black stockbroker to pick me up, I asked him what he thought I did for a living. When he said “I dunno, middle manager?” I was so offended I stabbed him in the neck. How dare he make assumptions!

Not to mention that there’s no end of comedies about a guy having a hard time fitting in with his fiancee’s family. There’s always a fish out of water element: he’s a hick and they’re well-to-do, or the reverse; he’s normal and they’re weirdos, or the reverse. And sometimes it’s a racial division.

I never saw Fools Rush In, but there was one bit in the trailer that made me laugh. Salma Hayek is introducing Matthew Perry to her family, and one of the relatives is a CHP officer. “This is Chui,” she says. Perry smiles broadly and says, “Chui! Luke Skywalker. Good to meet you.” Stony glare from Chui, who does not accept the offered handshake.

Anyway, I guess you could see that as horribly offensive: white guy makes a fanboy joke about a Latino name! But I didn’t see the movie, so I don’t have to worry about it.

You know, you’d think, after all this time, that people would have finally learned that because a movie has a character that believes in racial stereotypes, it does not automatically follow that the movie itself is endorsing those stereotypes.

Now, I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m betting I can guess the plot, at least in its broadest outlines. Let me know how close I am, pizzabrat. Bernie Mac’s daughter brings home her fiance, who is white. Everyone in the family is shocked and makes all sorts of assumptions about him because of his race. Something happens that seems, due to comedic misunderstanding, to re-enforce those stereotypes, and it seems like the marriage is going to be called off. Then, there’s a crisis of some sort, and the fiance solves it, proving that the stereotypes don’t actually apply, and everyone learns not to judge other people based on the color of their skin. There’s a big wedding, and everyone lives happily ever after, until the vastly inferior sequel is made. Am I close?

Now, I can understand how you might not figured that out on your own, if you’ve never seen any American movie, ever. On the other hand, if you haven’t been living in a cave, on Mars, with your fingers in your ears, you’d have to pretty goddamned stupid to think the movie is overtly racist based on the one joke described in the OP.

Stereotyping or not, the reviews I’ve read for this movie don’t exactly give me the urge to grab my jacket and bolt to the cineplex. In fact, if it’s as bad as they say, I doubt I’ll ever see it under any circumstances.

Shouldn’t disgust with a premise be proportional to artistic merit? I just can’t get all that worked up about characterization, no matter what, when the vehicle itself is a steaming pantload.

No, I figured it out.

No, give ME a break!

I bet your mother is a librarian who wears bifocals and a bun in her hair.

I bet your mother is a scabies-infested, two-bit whore.

According to your stupid logic, the first one should elicit the same reaction as the second one. And if it doesn’t, there’s a double standard present.

If Bernie Mac thought Kuchor’s character was a serial killer or a child molestor, then perhaps you’d have a good reason to be offended. But an auditor? WTF? There isn’t even a stereotype of white people being auditors. The humor probably lies in the fact that the only reason a white guy would go knocking on Bernie Mac’s door would be if he worked for the government (especially if none of his friends, neighbors, or regular Jehova Witness solicitors are white). That joke is not based on some widely-held stereotype but rather an assumption specific to that man’s life.

I find your outrage to be so freakin’ outrageous. It’s a damn movie. A movie about fictional people! People who are stupid and have stupid ideas. Humor is based on stupid ideas and misconceptions. What do you want us to do? Ban comedy that takes advantage of known myths and misconceptions?

-sigh-

UrbanChick is right. We only need to look at Bringing Down the House to see that there is no double-standard at work. Find me a movie about a white person that’s equally as embarrassing as that garbage (which did make me laugh a couple of times, admittedly), and you might have a damn point.
It seems to me that the people (not necessarily the OP, but perhaps a couple of people who have posted on this thread) who are vocal about racial humor targeting whites are the main ones who constantly whine about the “offenderati” and “PC police” whenever it suits THEM to be off color. Or they might complain about blacks who get offended by seemingly insignificant things (like certain t-shirts). These people are some of the biggest hypocrites. I’d wish someone would slap them and then ship them off to the moon.

What’s it called when you judge something or someone based on a cursory glance of its outward appearance? It’s generally not considered, you know, good behavior.

drgnrdr07,

Stay away from the Comedy Central and the BET’s comedy shows. You’ll really be pissed.

Strange, I clicked on the link out of curiosity, and got redirected to http://www.microsoft.com/

Actually, you’re right only up until “everyone in the family is shocked”. Everyone is shocked, but then everyone immediately gets over it except for Mac, who keeps antagonizing Kutcher in various ways (some racial, some not). The resolution is that Bernie eventually accepts Ashton, but not after anyone discarding stereotypes, since they hardly ever even come up. In fact, there seemed to be a consious effort to avoid all of the hackneyed, cliched, “who the hell still finds these funny” stereotypes that arise in interracial movies in order to draw genuine humor from characters and situations, which is why I found it so satisfying (and why its disappointing that many will justifiably assume its crap before seeing it). Oh, and there is no wedding - the parents are having a vow renewing ceremony and the kids plan on announcing their engagement there. The crisis involves the daughter losing trust in Kutcher because of a lie revealed.

Ooop! I meant to say t-shirts.