top 100 most racially awkward movie moments

91) That godzilla film "He's destroying everything ... Luckily he's in the black part of town"

"Great big watermelons
Go round and get in your way....
Luscious pork chop bushes
Bloom right outside your door
In a pickaninnies' heaven!"

Jesus Christ. Never actually seen it and I definitely do NOT want to.

82) not a movie, but any time Mark Lamarr has a black guest on Never Mind the Buzzcocks

watch the film (Road Trip), it's great! the love scene in question isn't racist at all but i think a lot of people still may have felt uneasy about it so it qualifies i think

Julia and Denzel get out of the plane and they shake hands and then she walks away and turns around once more and trembles with passion and hugs him and gets in the car and drives away - and then Denzel's expression - I laughed so hard my stomach still hurts.

otm, but what a scene

SPIKE LEE TO THREAD!

the whole Jericho-One thing

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000IQCY.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

looks like a real hoot

???? I was thinking about the speaking to camera in Do The Right Thing, but the whole damn film was about race anyway.

Heh, you know, I knew you would be amazed by it. :-) But please, Kate SMITH, not Ms. Bush. ;-)

It's definitely noticeable.

you were right about Jericho One from "Strange Days". Every time I see that particular actor he's playing that type of role, i.e. pretty fucking embarrassing.

Samuel L. Jackson's career is filled with those types of roles too. His career is only slightly less pathetic than Travolta's now.

-- Rollie Pemberton (cadence_weapo...)

SUP DUDES, THIS IS NOT THE MTV WEBSITE, STOP ASKING IF WE CAN, AS IT WERE, "PIMP" YOUR "RIDE"! ALTERNATIVELY, GIVE US YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBERS.
Peace out yo.

-- Trayce (trayc...)

"phat beats" aside, nothing whatsoever
-- zemko (giaou...)

[wigga]Why ya frontin', y0?[/wigga]

Peer pressure? Diseased with musical fashion? is this a po-mo "ironic" move like the fleeting destiny's child/missy elliot affection of last year?

-- http://gygax.pitas.com (gygax0...)

No question....awesome...'phat' bassline (as they say on 'the street')...class remix from a class act.
-- Matt Rutherford (matt_rutherfor...)

"fo shizzle ma nizzle" is a bastardization of "fo' sheezy mah neezy" which is a bastardization of "for sure mah nigga" which is a bastdardization of "I concur with you whole heartedly my African american brother"
-- zebedee (zebede...)

'Crowd' of 'friends' 'vibing' to 'the' 'phat' 'beats'.
-- William Bloody Swygart (thingummy9...)

(As opposed to regular white indie kids who don't really think about what color they are and don't spend every day of their lives fearing that their car will break down in the South Bronx and some "blinged-out" "pimp" will ambush them and pop-quiz them on BDP or whatever.)

-- Jody Beth Rosen (edito...)

The scene w/q/tarantino in "pulp fiction" is fucking excruciating!!

That isn't nearly as staggering!

School of Rock has at least one other iffy moment.

also, the black nurse in PF was a ref to Jack Hill's "Coffy"

say, should Bulworth or Dances with Wolves be in here somewhere?

"I'm down. I've got the 411. And you are not going out with some boy and getting jiggy in his ride."

I haven't seen School Of Rock, but I'm guessing Aretha got the token nod over Prince, right?

this thread is mutating.

xpost

(xpost)

try again, pls

heh. well, maybe not hyper-athletic...

http://www.student.carleton.edu/~sheridar/schoolwork/writing109/blackwolf_files/blackwolf.jpg

try again, pls

??? I saw the film just couple of months ago, and it definitely was awkward. The main plot was about Kevin Kline helping Danny Glover and her sister out of liberal guilt, because they're poor and black and can't help themselves. I was expecting them to question the motives of Kline's character, but that never happened, they just accepted his welfare as if it didn't imply anything.

x-post

She may be Jewish, but she can play Italian! Or Cuban! (not that those are mutually exclusive, of course)

34. Pocahontas (Disney version)

So poor, black people "can't help themselves"? Are you saying that or is the movie saying that? When white people help black people, that's "welfare"? Is the movie about "white liberal guilt" or an expression of "white liberal guilt"? Both? Is it self-conscious about same? What is "liberal guilt" and if that is the "motive" of Kline's character, why should it be "questioned"? What does it "imply"? Should people accept help from others only after questioning that help? Do you really think that the characters in the movie don't raise questions? Why do you address the inner life of the main white character of the movie but not the main black character? And are the non-Kline-Glover plots merely filler?

I'm not saying it's a great movie, but I think it's a worthwhile essay, and I don't think you're thinking very hard about it.

and, of course, she is Italian. I'm a moron.

this reminds me: all of Besieged

Although...

The movie. I'm not saying black people should just keep to themselves, but the movie implied this sort of charity-based attitude to social problems. Because the US lacks a decent welfare system that would adress social inequity, it's left to the will of rich, charitable white people to help the lower classes.

Is the movie about "white liberal guilt" or an expression of "white liberal guilt"? Both? Is it self-conscious about same?

I definitely felt it to be an expression of liberal guilt on the behalf of the writer-director. The movies exact flaw was that it wasn't self-conscious about this. Had Danny Glover's character in any way considered this issue, the movie would've been better because then it would've been about the liberal guilt of Kline's character, not that of the director.

Do you really think that the characters in the movie don't raise questions?

The only scene where such questions were implied was when Glover's character said to the woman she was on a date with: "Maybe he doesn't know any other black people than us.", but it what treated more as a joke and the movie never returned to this issue, which I think it should've.

Why do you address the inner life of the main white character of the movie but not the main black character?

Because the movie didn't?

And are the non-Kline-Glover plots merely filler?

No, but the Kline-Glover plot was kinda central. However, notice that the baby Kline's wife found from the forest was Asian, another implication of white people coming to help when ethnic minorities can't deal with their lives. And the guy who shot Steve Martin was a Latino.

I'm not saying it's a great movie, but I think it's a worthwhile essay, and I don't think you're thinking very hard about it.

Oh, I think I am.

There's another movie with the "Nice of you to add colour to the proceedings" line trife quotes, but I'm stuck for the answer.

The most awkward thing about The Lizzie Maguire Movie was watching it.

Come again???

OK, you clearly still have the racism stick up your arse, so I'm not playing along anymore.

FWIW though matey - I'm australian, and 99% of the people I see, both here and on TV in the US - who use words like yo, bling, etc, AREN'T black. I happen to think THAT is worth ridiculing - seeing some prepubescent 15 year old white aussie kid from Dandenong walking around waving his hands talking like a homie. It's really seeped into the culture here. Make of that what you will.

(crosspost obv)

""Yes"".

She wasn't asked to emulate Aretha Franklin, Black's character (in what I felt was a great scene) is trying to help this tall, solid black girl with her self-esteem, and says something like "You have an amazing voice! Look at me, I'm fat! I like food! Is that such a crime? Hey, look at Aretha Franklin - she's really, really fat, but that woman can sing! Don't be disheartened!" etc etc. I didn't find it racially awkward at all.

I was the one who first called out Trayce on that quote and for the record I don't think she's racist at all she just writes shit jokes

so i'll just say: pretty much everything about the barbarian invasions, title included.

also: i saw several scenes of the lizzie maguire movie being shot. in person. on location!

Except that's in no what what I said, so keep trying Simon.

aaargh. painful.

Also Better Off Dead: "Man, now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that."

The daughter as the beautiful polite geishalike asian stewardess - "I wanted....to be that!" I'm not even sure if it's racial - it's just AWKWARD!!!!@!

see also: chris tucker's entire career

the "hip" black best friend in that mandy moore movie, "a walk to remember"

particularly the moment where he puts on missy elliot, and his friend switches it to the lord's music (i.e. jars of clay) after having been reformed by miss moore

also, the black nurse in PF was a ref to Jack Hill's "Coffy"

????????

-- amateur!st

woah, that skit was redone in Rush Hour with Tucker and Jackie Chan...or is that what you meant? (Charlie Sheen?)

Also, something awkward about Me, Myself and Irene (besides its spectacular wackness).

The whole movie is about making fun of racial stereotypes and is funny as hell (Tony Randall as Dr. Lao fades in and out of this 'lice, prease' Chinese accent mockery to macho cowboy to British wise man, etc.).

The awkward thing for me last time I saw it was the town meeting when the reporter guy brings his big silent Indian friend to plead for his welfare. Apparently if all the whites leave town, the Indians won't know what to do.

Also interspecies awkwardness: the librarian getting hot over the goat.

P.S. Hi Alison!

Number 6

Bamboozled deserves mention in the top 5 - the whole movie was embarrassing and awkward. Especially the 'oreo' trying to sound like a black guy trying to sound like a white guy talking to Michael Rapaport trying to sound like a black guy. Everybody trying to sound like black guys of one stereotype or another (good acting would have helped). And the final display of toys gone wild that seemed to be Spike Lee saying 'I don't know how to end this movie but look at all the racist objects I found on e-bay!'

That would be number 4.

Worst. Disaster movie. Ever. At least Dante's Peak had a burnt-up grandma.

PUFF DADDY.

OTM. Though the use of the old racist cartoons in the ending montage was effective and disturbing.

http://faculty.mckendree.edu/brenda_boudreau/English%20281/bullwort.gif

Does this mean that the blind bloke who could see into the future in Oh Brother Where Art Thou was obviously a slur upon black people the world over? Hmm . . .

That's a good point, and a good reason to watch a great movie again. "Green Mile" upset me with the large black simpleton - equals wisdom. I also hate "Forrest Gump" which is smallish white simpleton equals wisdom. Probably because I work with mentally ill people, and the wisdom I get from them is never simple. The black stereotype seems more culturally translated through the media, as opposed to the mental sterotype. When they're linked it is really awful.
It's funny to see Spike Lee villified. I remember seeing "She's Gotta Have It!" in 1986 and thinking nothing more than -waw, I need to get a loft and have a hundred candles around my bed.
Hi Maria who made me watch "7 Faces of Dr. Lao". I think I still love that movie - or is it just you?

TIMMY: I would like to enter you....
WOMAN: What?
TIMMY: ... for the beauty contest on Saturday.
WOMAN: Are you sure there's no trouble with me being black?
TIMMY: No, there's no racial bra... uh... bar.....

She walks away and Timmy ogles her buttocks.

TIMMY: Oooooh, now I see what they mean by /racial tension/ !!

(ugh....)

This one?:

http://www.kamera.co.uk/features/scream_theory_6_eli_roth_and_cabin_fever.php

-- chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (joe.goode...), June 7th, 2006.

Don't forget, it's a no-bullshit black guy. "Shit, mufucka, I don't give a muthafuck about no ghosts long as I gets paid." Ok, that's not an actual line from the movie.

also i tried to watch some of "guess who" and mygod was it awful.

The whole black first mate/cabin boy thing in King Kong was extremely racially awkward (and sexually awkward!), particularly when the black first mate tells the white cabin boy to read Heart of Darkness. "I'm not racist because I'm going out of my way to let you know that the black guy can read, and yet the book I'm using is widely considered to be racist and all this is in the larger context of a film where the natives are restless and the black guy dies first."

Ray, when someone asks you if you're a God, you. say. YES.

By morons, maybe.

http://13gb.com/media/media/great_watermelon.jpg

Absolutely. Within America, everyone knows that there are parts of the county that you just don't go to - especially if you are black or Jewish. What is so scary is these places are for real, not just the creations of backwoods movies like Deliverance. And these people are pissed that they lost the civil war, for them its not over. I mean we had one local crew member whose father turned out to be the head of the North Carolina Klu Klux Klan. This guy turned up to help out with construction and what was so shocking was not only how reactionary some of these people, but how their rhetoric was just accepted as truth. I mean, we found the rebel flag everywhere and when you questioned some of the people about how this could be offensive to black people in the area, they would come out with racist comments that would just make your skin crawl. This is why I made some references to this in the actual dialogue of the movie. So this was a really, really backward and scary place.

Just to give you an example of this, the Director of Photography and I were out location scouting one day, and the farmhand who was supposed to be looking after us calls us over to his car. He gets out this homemade moonshine which has all this dirt and bugs in it, points a gun at us and just says "Drink it!" As if that wasn't bad enough, then he spots a squirrel jumping around on a tree and he starts shooting at it! I asked him what the hell he thought he was doing and he said, "That's good meat!" I mean this guy was taking pot-shots at his dinner! There were so many times when I was making the film that I would start to think "Fuck, we're not in Kansas anymore!"

When I saw Cabin Fever in theatres (in NC), the VERY LAST scene of the movie (possibly an after-credits bonus clip but I don't think it was) was a group of black people coming into the supposedly racist guy's store (the one with the gun "for the niggers") and being all pally with him before taking the gun and leaving (see the gun was LITERALLY for the niggers, HA HA HA). Was this scene in other prints or was it just in the one I saw? Basically, was the "OMG THE SOUTH IS SO RACIST" stuff toned down for the south?

More convincing than Laurence Olivier's rabbi!

Director Dude, if you can't get into that I feel sorry for you.

Tyler Perry

You may not have seen Lionsgate's Madea's Family Reunion ($63.2 mil), but a ton of other people did. The entrepreneurial renaissance man's latest low-budget movie improved on the gross of his last, 2005's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, by more than 20 percent. His fan base is increasing.

am i being too sensitive?

LMAO!

I can't stand that guy.

It's definitely in the version shown on HBO, etc.

http://www.brns.com/picts18/kb43.jpg

Oh, and in the same movie when they get caught in the middle of a supposed gang fight on the train.

even in the Funeral? He's pretty restrained in that.

"I love going to see gansta rap because they're so vicious," Mark Lamarr once remarked. "They just don't care about anyone's feelings whatsoever. They come on and go, 'Pop, pop, pop the mothaf---er in the mothaf---ing head. Gonna stab the mothaf---er 'til the mothaf---er's dead! First I assassinate 'em, then I cremate 'em, then I take their f---in' ashes and evaporate 'em!'

"And this goes on for an hour, an hour of nastiness. And then they walk off and go, 'Peace.'"

not a movie but

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VH7_H05aeiY

I don't get this thread, and Hurting needs to cut John Ford a little slack (for Sergeant Rutledge, at least).

-- Dr Morbius, Saturday, 24 March 2007 15:56 (8 months ago) Link

I love The Searchers and Quiet Man

Man, I hate "Scrubs".

I had never seen it before that clip, but I'm glad that my prejudices were confirmed

O Murray from Clueless, why have you reduced yourself to an idiotic reaction shot?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwv655uA_Gw

oops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwv655uA_Gw

-- gershy, Wednesday, January 30, 2008 2:50 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

that is some fucked up shit right there.

am i the only one who wants to see that shit?

that negro asked him to rub his head.

THE MAGIC NEGRO

Oh it's nice they make parking meters that fall over on impact and do not damage your rolls royce.

"I'll teach you how to pick a lock"

"Rob Schneider had it all.."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLyCrH-Xb3s

HOLY SHIT @ carbon copy

Am I the only person here who's seen part of that?

I sort of vaguely remember the scenario, but I've never seen the film. That title! "he's his son, see, so he's sort of a copy, but he's black, LIKE CARBON - CARBON COPY!!! SEE??!!?!?!1 OMG I AM A GENIUS."

there's like a germ of a decent film in there (haven't seen it obv like most others, so ass-speaking alert) like when he says "Oh it's no myth about black people changing your luck. Why you just met me yesterday and already your luck's changed" folowed by scenes of poverty and alternate-reality life, but then you hear "...my son is black - don't tell me i'm not in trouble". also who knew jack black's been around that long? plus "believe it or not george isn't at home.."

I like the tagline from imdb..."Any resemblance between Father and Son is purely hysterical."

I think I remember seeing this on HBO a long long time ago, back when we first got cable.

they used to run carbon copy on comedy central ages ago (way back when penn gillette did all the voice work), that's where i remember seeing it

o_O

DEN-zel Washington.

in Animal House, when the white kids and their dates go to a Black club. The whole scene goes from racially awkward to overt racism pretty quickly. One of the white kids asks his date what she's majoring in. She says, "Primitive cultures," at which point the camera cuts to Otis Day and the Knights.

I may not be remembering this correctly but I thought the date was being intentionally racist because she was displeased about being brought to that club...?

Hmmm...I didn't really get that impression. That exchange just kinda came outta nowhere, and I interpreted the cut to Otis Day as, "See? Here's an example of the primitive cultures she was talking about!"

Sorry, I'm not much of a Landis fan...not really willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Dentsle Washington

did anyone mention the entirety of "romeo must die," and how jet-li and aaliyah never even came close to kissing? this bothered me a LOT for some reason.

"For some reason"

Hmmm...I didn't really get that impression. That exchange just kinda came outta nowhere, and I interpreted the cut to Otis Day as, "See? Here's an example of the primitive cultures she was talking about!"

I remember interpreting this scene the same way as you when I saw the film, it seemed quite obvious that the cut was supposed to be a lame racist joke.

After having rewatched Bonfire of Vanities I'd like to nomimate the whole film here. It seems like they were trying to say that everyone is selfish and manipulative, but the way the characters were portrayed Tom Hanks's lawyer ultimately came across as a good guy, whereas the black characters were portrayed as schemers and fanatics who just want to manipulate the system by bringing up racial issues. And of course the final "race doesn't really matter, mmkay?" speech had to be delivered by Morgan Freeman, because if they'd chosen a white actor to play the judge it would've been totally awkward.

I've never seen the film, but Wolfe always struck me as one of those "equal opportunity offender" types who's actually just racist.

The book definitely tries to ride the "equal opportunity offender" card...definitely trying to have it both ways by taking down the WASP asshole protagonist, but he remains the protagonist and you get drawn into his side of things, whereas the black political con man guy is treated as just plain evil, largely from a distance. (Nobody in the book really comes off all that well though.)

ha, which I guess is just restating the "equal opportunity offender" clause...

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g190/beedubelhue/2068757EWatermelon-Man-Posters.jpg

... surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet

every moment with cuba gooding jr

Cheerleader from Heros as other cheerleader character learning to krump in Bring It On 3.

least favorite thread titles [Started by and what, last updated Wednesday, March 26, 2008 1:54 PM] 8 new answers

Has John Hughes ever met a non-whitey?

Would've been funnier if he had replied "Except there weren't any black people in Capra's movies."

OMG the maid in "It's A Wonderful Life." At the very end, "I been savin' up this money for my divorce, if I ever get married!" Jesus.

The whole black first mate/cabin boy thing in King Kong was extremely racially awkward (and sexually awkward!), particularly when the black first mate tells the white cabin boy to read Heart of Darkness. "I'm not racist because I'm going out of my way to let you know that the black guy can read, and yet the book I'm using is widely considered to be racist and all this is in the larger context of a film where the natives are restless and the black guy dies first."

Black guy totally does not die first in PJ's "King Kong."

Cheerleader from Heros as other cheerleader character learning to krump in Bring It On 3.

-- s.clover, Thursday, January 31, 2008 1:20 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Link

^^^sounds amazing

downey jr. in blackface

I LOVES RACIALLY AWKWARD MOVIE MOMENTS. I go out of my way to watch these type of films with apologists so they can get all self-righteous and angry and of course...apologise. LOLZ.
Also I think Downey Jr. in blackface is kinda amusing. Wrong? Actually it'd be wrong if it was Tom Vanilla Sky Cruise doing it.

i dont think thats what apologist means

ya, apologists for what exactly?

hackers apologists? dana carvey apologists?

dana carvey apologists get all self-righteous and the of course apologize... for making me watch master of disguise

MIRACLE IN MILAN!

everyone in an italian shantytown is lining up for a magical dove to grant them wishes. you've seen a black man and a white woman making tentative eyes at each other throughout the movie, and they each come up to ask for wishes. a few minutes later, you see the black man transformed into a white one! only to find the white girl has wished herself black.. very sad, very queasy, very bad make-up.

In the always overrated Day for Night, the scene where some peasant-type characters walk by the set and someone says something about farmers passing through and someone replies "they don't even look Jewish"
a bit more sobering knowing Truffaut was in fact an anti-semite.

...or that he was jewish.

What? Who told me he was an anti-semite then?

Actually, the person who actually did tell me this happens to be entirely unreliable let alone a probable compulsive liar.

Ptee B?

Yeeeeeah I could have been clearer.

There should be a hall of fame for Racially Awkward moviemakers. Quentin Tarantino would be the first person inducted.
― max (maxreax), Thursday, January 11, 2007 5:35 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i still believe this to be true, two years later

maxreax2max

98) forrest gumps child-like simplicity puts the black panthers in their place

laugh at this item every time this thread gets revived

There should be a hall of fame for Racially Awkward moviemakers. Quentin Tarantino would be the first person inducted.
― max (maxreax), Thursday, January 11, 2007 5:35 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i still believe this to be true, two years later

― max, Thursday, February 12, 2009 3:50 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

do you really think he qualifies as awkward... dude is in his own weird category of his own

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103128/

this is pretty racially awkward as it has lenny 'one accent and its my jamaican mother' henry pretending to be african american pretending to be white. I thought id imagined it until i found it on IMDB

Sean Connery in Dr. No telling Quarrel to "fetch my shoes"

Leslie Neilsen talks boxing with OJ Simpson in Naked Gun 2 1/2: 'You sure know your boxing chief', 'ah, all I know is, never bet on the white guy'.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103128/

this is pretty racially awkward as it has lenny 'one accent and its my jamaican mother' henry pretending to be african american pretending to be white. I thought id imagined it until i found it on IMDB

sweet jesus

what is qt's relationship to race if not 'awkward'??? i think its awkward on a whole other level than forrest gump, but im not about to call it straight-up racism! its... hella awkward.

more awkward: white dudes who constantly rep the walken/hopper scene in 'true romance'

Bond again (played by Roger Moore this time) in Octopussy: "That ought to keep you in curry for a few weeks."

Speaking of Julia Stiles, 'peep' her dad in 10 Things I hate About You:

"I'm down. I've got the 411. And you are not going out with some boy and getting jiggy in his ride."

These are the comments in this thread that I don't get. Isn't it a bit of a stretch to say the "lolomg old white man using slang!" jokes involve racism?

It's awkwardness rather than racism that's the subject of this thread though.

True, but even still... I think that scene is just awkward, not racially so.

more awkward: white dudes who constantly rep the walken/hopper scene in 'true romance'

― max, Thursday, February 12, 2009 6:38 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

78) hopper taunts walken in true romance (i saw a dude giggling through this whole monologue to his gf once in the street and cringed then too)

― %%, Tuesday, March 23, 2004 11:58 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm--i knew a bunch of guys in college who could quote that almost word for word and i was just sort of o_O

pretty much if a dude is quoting any movie monologue irl i am cringing

btw i think i was 13 or so when pulp fiction came out and i could recite the whole ezekiel 25:17 spiel

what is it that makes that scene so attractive to white guys? tarantino seems obsessed with using traditionally anti-black racism against non-blacks, especially the predjudices of ethnic whites (even with the last name "tarantino" he's mostly irish)

xpost this is a truth bomb and a "which movie dialogue did you recite irl when you were young" thread in the making

and his reversal after jackie brown, where he wrote a complex, meaningful black character then watched the movie flop, seems to have taught him not to ever do that again

re walken/hopper scene i think it's a bit like the "love chris rock...esp. the 'black people vs niggers' skit" thing

^^^^^ cringes at memory of welsh white emo-core group reciting said skit on their tourbus with much gusto, and zero irony

does anyone know if Kill Bill or Death Proof have n-bombs in them?

there was a while where it seemed like dude couldnt write a movie without it

sidney poitier's daughter is called "jungle julie" in death proof

also vivica fox home invasion sequence in kill bill gave me kk vibes just like terminator 2

"kk vibes" lol

what is qt's relationship to race if not 'awkward'??? i think its awkward on a whole other level than forrest gump, but im not about to call it straight-up racism! its... hella awkward.

― max, Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:38 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ya i just think it's different than the really dopey shit this thread seems to be zeroing in on, maybe because of its intense self-awareness or something? that it's really consciously intentionally awkward or something?

i guess on some level hes evoking the racial awkwardness of shitty 70s b-movies right?? like how many times have you been watching some cop drama and suddenly the n-bombs start droppin... hes going for that feel, not trying to engage with race in the 90s and failing like hackers or volcano

ya that's the difference i mean, there's a totally brain-dead earnestness to the best examples of this above that he lacks

well. i feel pretty awkward watching his scene in pulp fiction. and the fact that he gives HIMSELF the lines just adds a level of awkwardness.

film critics call that "self-awareness"

a.w., this thing you're on about any invasion of a black domicile giving you "kk vibes" is a bit o_O. Unless someone's making Vivica Fox sit on an exploding toilet, consider it a reach. Hmm?

i don't even notice what he says b/c his acting is so terrible.

well. i feel pretty awkward watching his scene in pulp fiction. and the fact that he gives HIMSELF the lines just adds a level of awkwardness.

― max, Thursday, February 12, 2009 4:03 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

totes not saying its not awkward—it definitely is, it's just that it's not like, a revelation to say that QT is weird wrt race. i find unearthing stuff like the "volcano" thing to be more interesting just cuz no one really talks about that stuff

i mostly just brought it up to bring up the weird affection for the scene in true romance

thats definitely a thing.

weirdest part of that scene (ok not THE weirdest) is james gandolfini hanging around in the background

more awkward: white dudes who constantly rep the walken/hopper scene in 'true romance'

― max

^^^this is the favorite scene of way too many people (not to mention gary oldman in that film)

i like volcano and what the little girl says is true
― mark s (mark s), Thursday, January 11, 2007 6:23 PM (2 years ago)

i like volcano and i am crazy

Its kind of funny and cruel and offensive at the same time. I don't think people like it b/c they are secretly racist, more like there aren't many extended monologues in really popular movie. (re: hopper/walken)

haha that is sometimes the effect that racial awkwardness has, though. like i think the strange days jeriko one storyline gets mentioned up thread--those scenes are totally cringeworthy but there's something touching about the earnestness behind them.

xposts

I thought the scene in True Romance was supposed to indicate that both Hopper's and Walken's characters were afwul people. (I guess you could argue that Hopper wasn't really racist, he just told the story because he knew how much it would piss Walken off, though it was maybe a bit too impressive for him to faking it.) But when you say you know people who really love that scene, does it mean they symphatize with Walken's position?

"him to be faking it"

i think they just think its badass

i dont know that people liking that scene "means" any one thing more particular then "a large portion of (mostly) white men of a certain age have a strange and not-well-thought-out relationship to race relations"

not saying there's not a weird racial undercurrent to that tho xp

i dont want to accuse anyone of secret racism, tho i guarantee a not-insignificant portion of dudes quoting that shit are secret racists

he told the story because it was a long story and he knew he was going to die anyway but wanted to stretch it out as long as possible in order to give his son the maximum possible getaway time

and THATS why people like it—it was a good strategy

haha

the pacino monologue in glengarry glen ross was for several years a perennial audition favorite for men too young to really play the part - there was something in the seen-it-all-before cruelty of it they really got off on

y'all should srs get off yr high horses and realize that loudmouth brohammers being mystifyed by snappy n-word tirades in a movie is just the not-as-sophisticated version of white dudes on ILX bumping every thread with the word "black people" in it.

...whiney says as he furtively deletes the true romance dialogue from his "favorite quotes" on facebook

i just saw true romance for the first time and didn't like it all that much :/

the thing about the eggplant monologue is that it's got a perfect get-out clause for secret racists in that it's plausibly the monologue of a total non-racist who merely wants to get under the skin of a man he suspects probably is very racist indeed

QUEEN GERTRUDE

There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

^^^ whiney's favourite monologue

slocki bringin the high-brow lols

heard he was a big virginia woolf fan too

haha

i figure if we go into serious literature we can stretch this joke out even further

a.w., this thing you're on about any invasion of a black domicile giving you "kk vibes" is a bit o_O. Unless someone's making Vivica Fox sit on an exploding toilet, consider it a reach. Hmm?

― •--• --- --- •--• (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:06 AM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dogg i just saw this - i dont think every black home invasion gives me kkk vibez but when its this rugged white survivalist militia type gunnin for the only black character in the movie, and his wife & kids, yeah i do get that feel - same for blonde valkrie uma comin at vivica & her daughter, there's something about the violent disruption of surburban black family life - something you hardly ever see in movies that make as much $$$ as kill bill & terminator 2, violated or not - that def says something about the white filmmakers who went for that. like i said, tarantino tried the normal middle-aged black woman with jackie brown & it flopped, so he comes back with middle-aged black woman gets stabbed to death by the white hero in front of her school-aged daughter - what does that say?

There may be some racial awkwardness in this:

This entire movie:

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/5/8/4/4/23654485-23654489-large.jpg

Particularly this: the girl in it collects boyfriends of color, and there is a fantasy sequence in which we see the actually-white guy from her mother's perspective as a pimp asking for watermelon and a hypodermic needle.

"boyfriends of color" is reminding me of
http://www.banbucket.com/uploads/1234449075.jpg

i guess interracial includes transgender :/

i guess al jolson includes mammy :(|)

there's something about the violent disruption of surburban black family life - something you hardly ever see in movies that make as much $$$ as kill bill & terminator 2, violated or not - that def says something about the white filmmakers who went for that.

I still see it as, if you flipped the colors around, it'd still roughly be the same scene. I mean, it wasn't any more racist than chasing after Lucy Liu or good ol' boy kicked up in his trailer listening to some Johnny Cash vinyl.

Ever seen One False Move with Billy Bob Thornton? There's a similar white-on-black scene that though isn't all transparently racially charged, still gives me the creeps.

Soul Man wasn't a great movie, but I think the two things you mention (especially the scene where the upper-class mom sees the black guy according to her worst prejudices) were supposed to highlight the racial awkwardness or the racism of the characters, not the film-makers.

(x-post to Mad Puffin)

Soul Man wasn't a great movie, but I think the two things you mention (especially the scene where the upper-class mom sees the black guy according to her worst prejudices) were supposed to highlight the racial awkwardness or the racism of the characters, not the film-makers.

― Tuomas, Thursday, February 12, 2009 4:50 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

even if this is so that can be done in a really awk way

imo theres nothing MORE racially awk. than someone clueless abt race trying to highlight someone elses cluelessness abt race

ah, l0u1s jagg3r syndrome

haha

I don't think Soul Man was totally clueless about race, it was just that the whole premise was so ridiculous there's no way they could've gotten anything really good out of it.

the other thing about the eggplant monologue is that the whole thing is a built up to hopper dropping the n-bomb.. which he then refuses to do, saying "eggplant" instead; i think this scene's memorizers must love this part of it, the glee of making their audience squirm and anticipate something offensive and then yanking it away at the last second - "aha you see! it was not me saying the word, it was yout hinking it! it is YOU who are the ball lickers!"

xxxxp which partially explains why 'crash' was gross and awk

the other thing about the eggplant monologue is that the whole thing is a built up to hopper dropping the n-bomb.. which he then refuses to do, saying "eggplant" instead; i think this scene's memorizers must love this part of it, the glee of making their audience squirm and anticipate something offensive and then yanking it away at the last second - "aha you see! it was not me saying the word, it was yout hinking it! it is YOU who are the ball lickers!"

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:59 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wtf ru talkin bout he says it like 5 times right before he says eggplant

Clifford: Your ancestors are niggers. Uh-huh. Hey. Yeah. And, and your great-great-great-great grandmother fucked a nigger, ho, ho, yeah, and she had a half-nigger kid... now, if that's a fact, tell me, am I lying? 'Cause you, you're part eggplant.

the other thing about the eggplant monologue is that the whole thing is a built up to hopper dropping the n-bomb.. which he then refuses to do, saying "eggplant" instead; i think this scene's memorizers must love this part of it, the glee of making their audience squirm and anticipate something offensive and then yanking it away at the last second - "aha you see! it was not me saying the word, it was yout hinking it! it is YOU who are the ball lickers!"

uh, he says nigger a bunch of times in that monologue.

xposts obv.

yeah, really makin em squirm with that one

There was one funny scene in Soul Man though... In it the main character (a white guy disguised as black so he could go to Harvard on a African-American scholarship) is invited to a black students' group meeting, and he goes there dressed up in full Black Panther regalia, and when he opens the door he sees everyone else is wearing regular clothes, and they're all like "Wtf?!".

how deliciously subtle, making your audience uncomfortable by saying "nigger" a bunch of times

tuomas did that scene hit home for you?

I've never seen true romance and never heard anyone quote it

huge lol @ tuomas riding for soul man

why is tuomas defending soul man

you can't make this stuff up, folks

xp

tarantino tried the normal middle-aged black woman with jackie brown & it flopped, so he comes back with middle-aged black woman gets stabbed to death by the white hero in front of her school-aged daughter - what does that say?

I dunno, what DOES it say? Vivica's character is the least explored and developed in Kill Bill AND she gets killed first sequentially! But she could've been played by anyone. Do you think QT actually subconsciously sets things this way? Does it actually mean anything (considering his blonde heroine also goes to Japan and slices the top off Lucy Liu's crazy yakuza boss head)? Intentions vs impressions wormcan tho.

Hey, I already said Soul Man is a bad movie, but that one scene was funny.

tuomas did that scene hit home for you?

No. why would it?

talking about the scene in True Romance: the scene is racially awkward and yes, does enjoy a very suspicious popularity I would disagree with some of the readings upthread as to what it means in the film. Like it's quite clear that the point of the story is:

a) to give his son some time to get away.
b) to annoy mafia dude so much that he just kills him instead of continuing to physically abuse him, because he knows he's going to be killed anyway.

And there's no indication that Dennis Hopper's character is racist, just that he knows the mafia dude will be and that he can use that to his, sort of, advantage.

you think i'm reading too much racial shit into the films of a guy who bases 80% of his shit on blaxploitation and then puts himself in the movies throwin n-bombs around?

also i think it's a bit of a stretch to say that scene came reflexively out of JB's disappointing box office xxxxp

xxxxxxp sock man

dude im not saying the scene is some direct commentary on jackie brown, but post-jackie brown tarantino treats black characters very differently than pre-jackie brown tarantino

twatty was makin sense up til that last post

hah oh well

STILL it's a huge build up and the "eggplant" is bathetic... it's like he's going to say something even worse than n---er!

we're getting into hardkore ilx clusterfuck territory here but i think theres some analogy in like the old sfj eminem/diplo minstrelsy thread - dudes who rode into the game on a lot of black cool (detroit freestyle battles, hollertronix dirty south ish, sam jackson & foxxy brown) on their road to fame and ditch it once they get to the top

http://www.irregulartimes.com/tweetybirg.jpg

I wouldn't call getting RZA to score your movie ditching black cool

i guess al jolson includes mammy :(|)

― and what, Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:49 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol

and what's point about kill bill is totally valid, but a bit projective. i.e., it requires that you see "black suburban family life" as special/protected territory, and insist on treating all such representations as largely symbolic. that isn't the wrong lens through which to view these films/scenes, but it is only one lens, and a potentially distorting one.

i mean, in KB, we know that the bride must confront her ex-allies, only real question is where. by placing VAFox in a settled, domestic environment, with cute kids and bland furnishings and sugary breakfast cereal, QT increases identification with her, and complicates his protagonist's quest. we're not sure who to side with in that scene, and i think that's the point. Vivica isn't just some hardass bad guy, she's a "normal person", and she clearly doesn't deserve to have her home invaded & life destroyed in this manner. that her daughter has to witness it only twists the knife in deeper.

i mean, if vivica and daryll's roles had been reversed, would that have been better?

post-jackie brown tarantino treats black characters very differently than pre-jackie brown tarantino

― and what

um, tracie thomas in death proof? i mean, maybe there's some truth in what you say, but maybe it's just that he's no longer so interested in hard-boiled crime & blaxploitation, so the focus has shifted.

I wouldn't call getting RZA to score your movie ditching black cool

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:12 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"he cant be racist! he had a black guy score his movie!"

I'm not saying racist, maximillion, i'm saying he never ditched "black cool" or whatever and what is arguing.

Tarantino has said before that he aims a lot of his stuff at black audiences, and I think the Bruce Lee vibe of Kill Bill is no exception. Just because Sam Jackson isn't in it screaming about being a bad motherfucker doesn't mean he's aiming straight for the Juno crowd

we're getting into hardkore ilx clusterfuck territory here but i think theres some analogy in like the old sfj eminem/diplo minstrelsy thread - dudes who rode into the game on a lot of black cool (detroit freestyle battles, hollertronix dirty south ish, sam jackson & foxxy brown) on their road to fame and ditch it once they get to the top

― and what, Thursday, February 12, 2009 5:10 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is BS imo... the first thing he did when he got on top was make jackie brown

STILL it's a huge build up and the "eggplant" is bathetic... it's like he's going to say something even worse than n---er!

"Eggplant" in Italian is something along the lines of (phonetically) "moo-lin-yan", which as I understand it is their version of the n-word.

at arguably his most popular, can-do-whatever-the-fuck-he-wants point in his career

jeez, 2 of the 3 triumphant heroes in death proof were black. the movie doesn't indict or humiliate either of them in any "racially awkward" way.

i mean, if vivica and daryll's roles had been reversed, would that have been better?

if things had been completely different, would they have been the same, or different???? itsamystery.jpg

given that kill bill was basically a genre western crossed with a genre samurai flick crossed with a genre chopsocky flick i'm kind of surprised there were any black characters at all

guyz i didnt see death proof

but if you HAD you have to admit you would be wrong

go see it its awesome

this is BS imo... the first thing he did when he got on top was make jackie brown

― s1ocki, Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:16 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but if he kept making movies that did as well as jackie brown where would he be?

did anyone mention mark wahlberg calling a dude a house nigger in four bros... it seems like he drops an n-bomb or two in all his movies

did anyone mention mark wahlberg calling a dude a house nigger in four bros... it seems like he drops an n-bomb or two a funky bunch in all his movies

im sure that was a real stretch for marky mark

this is BS imo... the first thing he did when he got on top was make jackie brown

― s1ocki, Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:16 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but if he kept making movies that did as well as jackie brown where would he be?

― and what, Thursday, February 12, 2009 5:18 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

in my good graces

At approximately 9:00 p.m. on April 8, 1988 Thanh Lam, a Vietnamese adult male who resides in Dorchester, traveled by car to 998 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester, Massachusetts. At 998 Dorchester Avenue, Thanh Lam left his car carrying two cases of beer. As he crossed the sidewalk, Mark Wahlberg attacked Thanh Lam. Wahlberg was carrying a large wooden stick, approximately five feet long and two to three inches in diameter. Wahlberg approached Thanh Lam calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit," then hit him over the head with the stick. Thanh Lam was knocked to the ground unconscious. Th[e] stick broke in two and was later recovered from the scene. Thanh Lam was treated overnight at Boston City Hospital.

After police arrested Wahlberg later on the night of April 8, 1988, Wahlberg was informed of his rights and returned to the scene of 998 Dorchester Avenue. In the presence of two police officers, he stated: "You don't have to let him identify me, I'll tell you now that's the mother-fucker who's head I split open," or words to that effect.

As a police officer arrived at the scene of 998 Dorchester Avenue, Wahlberg and two other youths who were with him fled up Dorchester Avenue toward Pearl Street.

Shortly after 9:00 p.m. on April 8, 1988, Hoa Trinh, an adult Vietnamese male who resides in Dorchester, was standing several blocks away from 998 Dorchester Avenue, near the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Pearl Street. Hoa Trinh was not aware of the altercation outside of 998 Dorchester Avenue.

Wahlberg ran up to Hoa Trinh, put his arm around Hoa Trinh's shoulder, and said: "Police coming, police coming, let me hide." After a police cruiser passed, Wahlberg punched Trinh in the eye, causing him to fall to the ground.

Police arrived and Hoa Trinh identified Wahlberg as the person who punched him. Wahlberg was placed under arrest and read his rights. Thereafter he made numerous unsolicited racial statements about "gooks" and "slant-eyed gooks." After being returned to 998 Dorchester Avenue, Wahlberg identified Thanh Lam as the person he hit over the head with a stick.

ya i was gonna say

also the funky bunch was originally a white nationalist organization

it seems like stevemartin.jpg is racially awkward in almost every movie he's ever been in

although the jerk probably wins

the only funky bunch trivia i know is that "good vibrations" was the only number one hit for loletta holloway (as a "featured artist" for the funky sensation sample)

My cousin has a faun pug that was birthed by two black pugs, and when i met said pug, my cousin did the bit from the Jerk "I was born a poor black child."

top 100 racially awkward whiney g weingarten moments

who else is trying to think of a racially-charged subway joke right now

37. barks at subway counter girl to "hold the swiss", turns out she just immigrated to america from zurich

only you two can ruin a post about pugs.

http://puppydogweb.com/gallery/pugs/pug_beckett1.jpg

http://www.blackweb20.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/subway.jpg

Damn, well played.

ahahahaha no f'n way

O_O

loooool

no

no no no no no no

giving abraham lincoln a dollar-sign bolo is the last straw - i am never eating fresh again

FIVE $ HOLLA

TEXT A HOLLA

EMAIL A HOLLA

the sound off button implies some serious music accompaniment

too bad its not archived, that ad's sound effects were fuckin nuts

slocki you keep one upping me man

this is the worst, from boondock saints:

racially awkward finance charticles?

http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/golden-parachutes-how-the-bankers-went-down/

(scroll down)

haha, that's fantastic: they suddenly ran into the best conceptual test of whether pictographs are meant to be iconographic or depict specific people -- all because of the "unmarked category"

werewolf native american tribe in Twilight

not a movie, but

http://www.askmen.com/dating/curtsmith_150/174_dating_advice.html

nice pic

never read the articles never read the articles never read the articles ten deep breaths one

two

three

holy fuk. whoever wrote that should be beaten.

askmen is a well-known cesspool, but that photo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCEHqCoHWUk

I had somehow forgotten all about this. Start at about 5:30.

Brad Pitt speaking in patois in Meet Joe Black.

E'ryt'ing gon' be irie.

That Hardly Working one is def. RACIST not "awkward". Fuck you, Jerry Lewis.

- the man who shot liberty valance. at the end of the film, jimmy stewart shares a touching moment with woody strode, who plays john wayne's hired hand. then he hands him a wad of cash and says "pork chop money."