Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:00 pmI do not confuse stereotypical characteristics with racism. Your reference to the gibberish of the island natives is simply insufficient to make your case. That was just the standard of the day. While I would applaud any depictions of Blacks as intelligent and civilized (Tezuka’s Dr. Ram is one such example (In Astroboy’s original ‘Atlas’ story; )) I consider it unfair to judge people of earlier days by modern standards.
There were a few of the old zombies as mind-numbed slaves films that featured Mantan Moreland who was known for his portrayal of the stereotypical ignorant superstitious and cowardly Negro.
. While I still consider his portrayals as offensive in that they reinforce the stereotype, they were consistent with the overall beliefs of the mainstream. However, these characters were far more offensive than the ‘natives’ of King Kong and other films because these people were at least somewhat educated and living in enlightened societies rather than being nearly naked savages whose ignorance and superstitions dominated their lives.
Likewise, I would not condemn Keaton for his portrayal of a Confederate in “The General” because it was not the racism that was important to the plot, but rather the underdog fighting against enormous odds that was the focus of this film. I would not like any confusion here, though; so let me make it clear that I do differentiate between the German Soldier who is fighting a clean war and the SS Death Camp guard or the member who is attempting to eradicate the very last Jews before the Allies liberate that town. Thus, as Buster Keaton’s character was not trying to afflict any blacks or any other negative thing, I can clearly identify with his situation: the guy was simply overwhelmed by the situation, but rather than quitting, he continued to fight. The average Confederate soldier cared little for preserving the slavery of the Confederacy, but, rather, wanted to preserve the region’s autonomy. I really do not want to go off topic, so, I will cease here; I think I have made myself clear.
What is with your inserting ‘The’ into the titles “Forbidden Planet” and ‘Metropolis’? Neither of these films have ‘the’ in their titles!
The Day the Earth Stood Still:
What makes you or anyone for that matter assume that aliens have risen above the desire to dominate others of their own species? Human behavior is a bit more extreme than most other species in its desire to dominate; wolves allow the losers to live, so long as they know their place. However, consider the tortoise. Death to the loser of the battle, he is left lying on his back, unable to roll over, doomed to die. The winner cares nothing about him; he simply goes on to claim the spoils of war.
War is simply the logical conclusion to personal differences; as we have organized ourselves into larger and larger groups, we tend to take conflicts to larger and larger scales. Which group controls the resources? In some areas, it may not be much of an issue, but in others, this is a matter of survival. The desire to dominate that we inherited from our ancestor species prohibits us from merely cooperating and sharing the resources. As sad as it is, war is one of many factors that limit human population growth. It is ironic that the people who decry war are the same people who also gripe about the population explosion. As we have all but eliminated other natural checks on our population growth, war is one of the few remaining ones. Cooperation is desirable, but there is the hidden cost of unchecked population growth.
We live in the real world, we must reserve idealism for children's stories.
There were a few of the old zombies as mind-numbed slaves films that featured Mantan Moreland who was known for his portrayal of the stereotypical ignorant superstitious and cowardly Negro.
. While I still consider his portrayals as offensive in that they reinforce the stereotype, they were consistent with the overall beliefs of the mainstream. However, these characters were far more offensive than the ‘natives’ of King Kong and other films because these people were at least somewhat educated and living in enlightened societies rather than being nearly naked savages whose ignorance and superstitions dominated their lives.
Likewise, I would not condemn Keaton for his portrayal of a Confederate in “The General” because it was not the racism that was important to the plot, but rather the underdog fighting against enormous odds that was the focus of this film. I would not like any confusion here, though; so let me make it clear that I do differentiate between the German Soldier who is fighting a clean war and the SS Death Camp guard or the member who is attempting to eradicate the very last Jews before the Allies liberate that town. Thus, as Buster Keaton’s character was not trying to afflict any blacks or any other negative thing, I can clearly identify with his situation: the guy was simply overwhelmed by the situation, but rather than quitting, he continued to fight. The average Confederate soldier cared little for preserving the slavery of the Confederacy, but, rather, wanted to preserve the region’s autonomy. I really do not want to go off topic, so, I will cease here; I think I have made myself clear.
What is with your inserting ‘The’ into the titles “Forbidden Planet” and ‘Metropolis’? Neither of these films have ‘the’ in their titles!
The Day the Earth Stood Still:
What makes you or anyone for that matter assume that aliens have risen above the desire to dominate others of their own species? Human behavior is a bit more extreme than most other species in its desire to dominate; wolves allow the losers to live, so long as they know their place. However, consider the tortoise. Death to the loser of the battle, he is left lying on his back, unable to roll over, doomed to die. The winner cares nothing about him; he simply goes on to claim the spoils of war.
War is simply the logical conclusion to personal differences; as we have organized ourselves into larger and larger groups, we tend to take conflicts to larger and larger scales. Which group controls the resources? In some areas, it may not be much of an issue, but in others, this is a matter of survival. The desire to dominate that we inherited from our ancestor species prohibits us from merely cooperating and sharing the resources. As sad as it is, war is one of many factors that limit human population growth. It is ironic that the people who decry war are the same people who also gripe about the population explosion. As we have all but eliminated other natural checks on our population growth, war is one of the few remaining ones. Cooperation is desirable, but there is the hidden cost of unchecked population growth.
We live in the real world, we must reserve idealism for children's stories.
