Comparing Rafiki to Jar Jar is a huge insult.
And like I said, if you want to complain about dark clothes on villains, and say it’s racist, good luck trying to convince the makers of the next vampire movie to dress their villain up in a white tuxedo.
This is a huge overreaction on your part, IMO.
No, no, and no. Ordinarily three strikes means you are out, but you are welcome to take another swing at putting words in my mouth. This time read my comment in the context of the post I was responding to.
Not only does that not make any sense, I’m guessing it’s way too subtle for any kid to pick up on a white villain who happens to have dark hair thinking that all villains are, well, people of color. I can’t imagine any kid watching the Lion King and making the transition to light grey and maroon > evil > black people > Disney is racist. Which only further proves kids are susceptible to the whims of their parents, as was someone’s original point.
(And as an aside, Fessie, are you a white dude?)
Hollywood can move on to global warming after the stellar job that they did feeding starving African children in the 80’s – “Feed the World,” “Artists for Africa,” “We are the World”"… all that hand wringing and heartfelt caterwauling really, truly made a difference. For *at least * 30 seconds.
Leave it to Hollywood! How would these celebrities ever combat their reputations for being self-absorbed, overpaid twits if it weren’t for global warming and doe eyed starving kids?
Well, one of em could run for President on the Republican ticket. Oh wait, that’s already been tried.
I could see a vampire in the Dracula mode (and not the Blade mode) in white tie for at least part of a movie. A classy and refined vampire throwing one hell of a formal party, complete with women in dresses with plunging necklines and lots of cleavage.
As for a white tuxedo, I don’t think so. Though how about this: Elvis as a vampire. It may not be a tux, but it could be white and flamboyant.
Forget self-absorbed and overpaid Hollywood celebrities. I’m picturing the Doe-Eyed Kid, two minutes after delivering his sincere and heartfelt plea, when the camera has stopped rolling:
“Jeezus, Mom, I told you–it’s Poland Spring I want, not Aquafina. And my agent has what lined up? Another cereal commercial? Crap, I’m tired of commercials. Look at me, I was just reduced to doing a global warming PSA, fercrissake. Can’t he find me a really good TV or movie role? I gotta think of my career here!”
Okay. The post you were responding to:
Then you responded
It seemed to me that you were responding negatively to the suggestion that “the environmental movement is as worthy of our vigilance as any other group with an agenda.” Thus, it seemed to me a reasonable interpretation that you were saying that since the environmental lobby was relatively powerless, it didn’t really matter what tactics they used, because they were helpless against the much larger oil interests.
And if you WEREN’T responding negatively to that suggestion… well, that’s why I asked the question in the first place.
So, unless it’s villains are albinos in white cloths, Disney is racist ?
And of course there are other implications. Obviously, the Catholic Church is racist because their priests and nuns wear black. Elvis was obviously evil; he had black hair. And of course, all black people are evil in the movies, because they are shown with dark skin ! Disney should make a movie about MLK, but portray him as a white guy to show he’s a hero, obviously.
I am very anti-gun, but one of my best buddies back in Texas was very pro-gun. Very, very pro-gun. But I’ll always remember his rant one evening after the local newspaper ran a photo of some gun rally elsewhere in the US showing a small child carrying a pro-gun-ownership sign. He hated that sort of thing. Kept going on about how these kids don’t know gun ownership from Adam, they’re just being dressed up cute and being told to hold a sign, and they don’t know what it’s all about. Some might even think they know, because they were told one side of the story by their parent. He That really got his got. This is the same thing. I hate it, too, when children are trotted out for any cause whatsoever.
I’ll believe the celebrities (most of them; I’m sure a few really are sincere) are serious about this whole thing when tomorrow’s headline reads: “Madonna Gives Up Limo: Vows to Use Public Transport.”
Yeah, and the main villian was TOTALLY in black and voiced by James Earl Jones, a BLACK MAN!
Who ironically also voiced the noble Lion Father Musafa in THE LION KING, the main villian of which, Scar, was voiced by Jeremy Irons, who is as white as one can get!
I’m sorry for the highjack. When I get a chance I’ll look up some research on this and open a new thread. Somebody has to have done some work on it.
For those of you who think I’m too PC for words: If you don’t think it matters that villains are always in dark colors / dark skin / dark hair, if you think those images are totally meaningless and without impact; then WHY do companies spend millions of dollars on advertising, based on very careful research? Wouldn’t just any old image do? It probably wouldn’t bother me, personally, so much if I hadn’t recently moved to a city where there are real, tangible, ALARMING problems with racism and xenophobia. I’d thought those issues were a thing of the past.
I won’t say Disney causes racism, of course, but they sure do reinforce it with their choices.
Yes, no doubt there is someone drooling over a connect-the-dots fantasy, for example this line from your Wiki link on Cruella de Vil:
“In the original story, Cruella is a pampered London heiress who knows the owner of the Dalmatian puppies through school. She was a notorious student with black and white plaits. She was later expelled for drinking ink.”
Ink! And ink is…dark.
Ooo.
Really, that was beneath you.
Also English, while Jones is American. US hero, English villain. Now there’s a stereotype for you. :dubious:
Staggering back in the direction of the OP, I personally used to yell at the car radio when the “Kill your speed” ad used to come on with a woebegone pubescent female reiterating “You’re going to kill me…” over a sad angel-voice soundtrack along with all the circumstances under which I was going to be driving murderously fast. “You’re going to kill me… unless you kill your speed”. No, I’m going to kill you unless you STFU. :rolleyes:
Here in the States we had one about careless driving featuring some choad flipping channels in his car. In his path about a block away was a tiny pout-faced yardgoblin retrieving her bouncy ball from the street.
“Mike Smith hated a song so much he killed a little girl over it.”
Frank, I believe much as ‘when everybody’s special, Nobody Is’, that when both sides use kids in their ads, the tactic will finally lose its effectiveness and finally be seen by the vast majority of people who watch TV in the US as cheesy. Once it loses its effectiveness, this tactic will stop being used.
In my opinion, Dopers are, as always, ahead of the curve.
Right now, as sad an indictment of America as this seems, it is still an effective political advertising tactic (at least among the demographic smart enough to watch TV, not smart enough to operate a computer, but still eligible to vote).
“The only solution is…a balance of power. We arm our side with exactly that much more. A balance of power – the trickiest, most difficult, dirtiest game of them all. But the only one that preserves both sides.” (Frank, may the Shatner-hair be with you…! 
)
Please do. Because I agree with you, in reverse.
I was practically an adult before there were any non-white heroes or heroines in Disney movies. In Beauty and the Beast, Gaston is brunette and the Prince is blonde. Mulan is much less beautifully animated than Hercules. Little things like that. Even Princess Jasmine may have dark hair but is fair and has Westernized features.
I wondered all my life where the dark-haired heroines were. Everyone was blonde.
I’m not going to hijack this thread any further but fessie if you do start the thread I’ll join in. Disney did have an effect on me.
Was it Bon Jovi?
That reminds me of a quote from The Tick:
Interviewer: Well, can you… blow up the world?
Tick: Egad. I hope not. That’s where I keep all my stuff.
LilShieste