Movies That are Going to Suck: Part Deux

People wrote:

Explanations for Bane being able to eat

Meh, I still prefer the mental image of him slurping coffee through his grill like Dark Helmet.

WD40 wrote:

Also: how does Bane eat?

See, that didn't bother me because it's almost too mundane, you know? I already accepted that the guy wears a weird mask that he needs to live and that coincidentally makes him sound EXACTLY like Darth Vader - he eats somehow, I don't care. It's on the same level as "what if Batman needs to take a shit while he's in the Batsuit". But they made such a big deal out of climbing out of the well and then didn't even show him trying to climb the rope.

Quote :

EXACTLY like Darth Vader

He sounded more like Sean Connery to me.

"I was wondering what would break first. Your spirit? Your body? Or.... your mother!"

I honestly had some trouble understanding what the hell Bane was saying some times. There was too much noise in the background and his voice too pointlessly distorted at times.

I still can't get over the whitewashing of Ra's, Talia and Bane.

And some people had a problem with Heimdall. Do you want to be like those people?

Right.

Because white people are so underrepresented in movies. The situation with Heimdall is exactly the same.

Even though movie!Heimdall is an alien from outer space.

PendragonGirl wrote:

I still can't get over the whitewashing of Ra's, Talia and Bane.

Bane's skin colour varies from white to tanned depending on who is drawing him. He has a Mexican-ish accent depending on who is writing him, but his actual nationality is never really defined. He grew up as a child in a prison with a Spanish name, on a made up island with a Spanish name, and that's it...


As for witewashing for Ra's and Talia... Erm... Are you serious?

Ra's: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Talia: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Both have always been white.

Regardless... Sometimes (and I know this sounds daft) 'whitewashing' can be done out of respect for racial identity. Case and point Ben Kingsley as The "Yellow Terror" Mandarin (Who was, let's face it, a cheap imitation of Ming the Merciless... Need I say more?)

*Insert Gandhi joke here*

Look: Talia and Ra’s are not white. They’re just not. Ra’s is an Arabic man, possibly with some Chinese heritage thrown in there too, depending on which canon sources you acknowledge. Talia’s mother, Melisande, was a polyracial woman of Arabic, Chinese, and European descent. Which makes Talia, at very, very most, 1/4 white. She might be as little as 1/8th.

Nolan’s depiction of a major urban city in the modern United States is pretty lacking in racial diversity any way you slice it.  

PendragonGirl wrote:

Nolan’s depiction of a major urban city in the modern United States is pretty lacking in racial diversity any way you slice it.

I found it rather troubling that almost all the characters of colour in The Dark Knight ended up dead, evil or dead and evil.

Cyberwulf wrote:

PendragonGirl wrote:

Nolan’s depiction of a major urban city in the modern United States is pretty lacking in racial diversity any way you slice it.

I found it rather troubling that almost all the characters of colour in The Dark Knight ended up dead, evil or dead and evil.

Except for such important characters as Lucius Fox (who showed more ethics than most characters) and the "scary black prisoner" who refused to play the Joker's game and threw the device to blow the other boat up into the river.

Also--main bad guy (Joker): white. Bad guy who started out as a (mostly) good guy (Harvey Dent/Two Face): white. Love interest who got blown up (Rachel): white. Guy who wound up taking the fall for Two Face's crimes (Batman): white.

Most people get the short end of the stick in The Dark Knight.

Yes, one good black person in a supporting role makes up for everything.

Lady Anne wrote:

Cyberwulf wrote:

PendragonGirl wrote:

Nolan’s depiction of a major urban city in the modern United States is pretty lacking in racial diversity any way you slice it.

I found it rather troubling that almost all the characters of colour in The Dark Knight ended up dead, evil or dead and evil.

Except for such important characters as Lucius Fox (who showed more ethics than most characters) and the "scary black prisoner" who refused to play the Joker's game and threw the device to blow the other boat up into the river.

Also--main bad guy (Joker): white. Bad guy who started out as a (mostly) good guy (Harvey Dent/Two Face): white. Love interest who got blown up (Rachel): white. Guy who wound up taking the fall for Two Face's crimes (Batman): white.

Most people get the short end of the stick in The Dark Knight.

Are there really a lot of black characters in the comics though? I mean, Harvey Dent is canonically white. Joker is BLEACHED white. Bruce Wayne is white. I don't think there's a whiter name than Bruce Wayne. Except maybe Orville Masterson.

Killer Croc isn't even really human, so it's hard to count him either way.
The Riddler is white
The Penguin is white
Harleyquinn is white
Mr Freeze is, uh blue. Originally was white, however.
Selina Kyle COULD be portrayed by a Latina, her hair is always dark and skin tone drifts from white to quite tan depending on the person drawing her.
Clayface, I believe, was a white guy before he became Clayface. Like, ALL versions of Clayface were originally white.
All significant GPD characters I can think of are white.

The point is, you can't blame this on Nolan.

Oh, no. Those characters are all canonically white, and I enjoy them as such. The casting was quite good in that respect.

My problem is how he turned three characters who are canonically POC into white people.

PendragonGirl wrote:

Yes, one good black person in a supporting role makes up for everything.

When he's A) The most unambiguously good person in the series (him or Alfred, take your pick) and B) Morgan Freeman? Yeah, it kinda does.

Freezer wrote:

PendragonGirl wrote:

Yes, one good black person in a supporting role makes up for everything.

When he's A) The most unambiguously good person in the series (him or Alfred, take your pick) and B) Morgan Freeman? Yeah, it kinda does.

When everyone else is white?

...

In a city? And Notghanistan?

I'd rather have one POC in a movie who's actually important as a character, than a bunch of tokens and stunt casts for diversity's sake.

Freezer wrote:

I'd rather have one POC in a movie who's actually important as a character, than a bunch of tokens and stunt casts for diversity's sake.

Because if a background character isn't white they're a token.

And why can't we have it both ways?

But yeah, diversity is totally a disaster and stuff. Black casts are for Tyler Perry movies and Asians are for that one bit part in every comedy movie.

I dare say if you're scanning the background for cast diversity, you're kind of missing the point of the narrative.

Not saying you don't have the right to do so. It's just not that important to me and I simply don't see why people get that worked up about it.

But isn't it a bit odd that Gotham is the one city without any black people? I mean, it's a more important discussion than "how does Batman take a shit in the suit".

EDIT: I mean.... none of this is important because this is an incestuous forum but...... why are movies for general audiences typically whitewashed?

Tyler Perry movies and Ice Cube movies and all those other movies directed towards a "street" audience have a predominately black cast. Doesn't this strike anyone as odd? Possibly worth noting?

PendragonGirl wrote:

Look: Talia and Ra’s are not white. They’re just not. Ra’s is an Arabic man, possibly with some Chinese heritage thrown in there too, depending on which canon sources you acknowledge. Talia’s mother, Melisande, was a polyracial woman of Arabic, Chinese, and European descent. Which makes Talia, at very, very most, 1/4 white. She might be as little as 1/8th.

You are right about their origins. However, have you stopped to think about the implications of making the villain of Batman Begins a bearded Arab supervillain, who lives in the middle of nowhere in South Asia, has an army of fanatic men, plots the destruction of modern society for its wickedness, and launches a massive terrorist (literally using terror) attack against a major US city?

Fine, you've got a point there.

Batman has a huge rogues gallery, though. Why not choose another villain who is white? There are plenty.

PendragonGirl wrote:

Fine, you've got a point there.

Batman has a huge rogues gallery, though. Why not choose another villain who is white? There are plenty.

Scarecrow.

Mr.Doobie wrote:

Freezer wrote:

I'd rather have one POC in a movie who's actually important as a character, than a bunch of tokens and stunt casts for diversity's sake.

Because if a background character isn't white they're a token.

And why can't we have it both ways?

But yeah, diversity is totally a disaster and stuff. Black casts are for Tyler Perry movies and Asians are for that one bit part in every comedy movie.

You know what group is really underrepresented? Native Americans. You don't see many of them in movies or TV, unless it's in a role that specifically points out their heritage (and there aren't that many of these roles).