PT The Phantom Menace - Is It Racist?

I've seen this issue brought up a couple of times on some forums and articles. I just don't seem to understand it myself though. People who accuse the film of being racist point out the "stereotypical" accents used for certain parts of the world. Japanese for Trade Federation, African for Gungans, etc. And that would be fine and dandy, except non of these species/groups try to imitate those real world stereotypes and just seem to be their own thing in Star Wars. I don't see the racism.

How about you, do you think TPM is racist? If so, why?

 

Some would say similar for the British Empire/English for the Imperials. Though for the most part I think people are splitting hairs.

 

No it's not.

funny the same people didn't think it was racist for the Imperial 'bad guys' to have English accents.

 

The only racist people are the ones who see racism where none actually exists.

 

The whole racism thing was blown out of proportion

 

Well, I think it's save to say that there was no conscious racism put into the film. Lucas is married to a black women, best friends with one of the most popular jews on earth (Spielberg) and selected Israel-related Natalie Portman as main actess for the film. Moreover, most of the "racist" characters were very collaborative. Sure, Lucas was writer and director, but there were many concept artists (drawing "racist noses" etc.), voice actors (doing "racist accents") and numerous animators (animating "racist characters"). I simply can't believe that all those people chose to showcase their common racism via the most anticipated movie of the decade.

So I'd rule conscious racism out. It just wasn't that.
That said, there is still the possibility that some things could be seen as racist despite the makers' harmless intent because some harmless ideas unconsciously created something "racist". Although I don't see it, I can see why some might see racist stereotypes if they want to see it or "look for it". There are some problematic points in that case.

However, it's all based on selective perception.
Yes, Watto may have a "remarkable" nose and a whatever-Italien/Arabic/Jewish accent, but he's also blue-skinned (which race on earth is blue-skinned?) junk dealer from Tatooine (where is Tatooine on earth?) that flies (which nationality has wings?). And yes, Jar Jar may be "clumsy" (what kind of stereotype is that?) and was played by a black actor (who never saw the character as racist), but he's also an amphibian (which humans are amphibians?) with giant ears, orange skin and a great heart.

So: No, The Phantom Menace is certainly not racist.
There may have been some unfortunate coincidences that probably could have been avoided with more or extreme caution, but the accusation of racism is ultimately a overblown result of people's multifaceted dissatisfaction with the movie and their quest to solidify their view or feelings.

From my POV, at least.

 

The Phantom Menace - Is It Racist?

No.

 

I don't think it was done with any malicious intent, but there's no denying that certain races in TPM were drawn from certain racial stereotypes. Maybe it wasn't even done on a conscious level, but it's clearly there.

Samnz

But none of that changes the fact that the character was clearly inspired by a stereotype. That would be like saying "Well, clearly SW wasn't inspired by any swashbuckling films, since those old films never used lightsabers, never had spaceships, and they took place on Earth." SW has always been inspired by familiar clichés, it simply tweaks them, and puts a unique spin on them. I think that's what they did with Watto and the Neimodians (I think Lucas even realized that he went a bit far with the Neimodians, since their voices changed slightly in AOTC and ROTS to sound a bit less like a bad parody of Japanese.)

Having said all that, none of it bothered me. Having fun with stereotypes have always been a part of SW. Just look at C3PO, for example.

 

Am I just weird, because when I saw Watto or the Jawas, I didn't think, "Ah, this reminds me of xyz stereotype!" I just saw an alien character.

In my mind, if you're looking for a reason to be offended by something in the Star Wars films, you're going to find it. If you have to think about it to be offended, chances are it's just you.

I don't think Lucas went out of his way to say, "I hate the Asians, so I'll make a bad parody race off of their stereotypes! That'll show 'em! Nyaah!" If you want to be upset by the Prequels, be upset by actual, legit problems it had.

 

That's not a fact, it's not even clear to begin with.

 

They are Japanese now? I thought people accused them of being Thai.
Personally I see them more like the British East Indian Company

 

i remember when ATOC came out some group complained about racism because "the actor that plays villain Jango Fett is hispanic "

 

Really?

 

Yes, a guy actually went on Bill O'Reilly's show complaining about it.

 

So by that guy's logic, non-whites are not allowed to play villains in movies? Isn't that more racist than the actual Hispanic dude playing a villain?

And while we're on the topic of 'offensive material', why is no one pointing out that Darth Vader makes asthmatic people look bad? Not all asthmatic people want to take over the galaxy and Force Choke everyone. Whaaaaa, we're offended!

 

apparently

 

That remind me of this http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/disneys-frozen-whitewashing-controversy

 

facepalm

 

Alexrd

You're right-- "Fact" wasn't the right word, since it's never been confirmed. Still, I find it really hard not to believe that Watto was at least partially inspired by stereotypes like this:

http://fathertheo.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/jew-stereotype.gif

There's definitely a clear connection between images like this one and Watto (at least, I think it's clear.)

Again, though, I don't think it was done with any ill-intent. If anything, I suspect it may have been done to ground SW in something familiar. For better or worse, we all know these stereotypes, and it wouldn't be the first time SW has used familiar imagery to help make an alien world feel a bit less alien.

 

I always found Watto more fitting in the used car-salesman stereotype then the jewish one

 

no racism as far as I can see,

then again I don't look for it when watching a fantasy film set in space either.

 

The only one that ever bothered me, and the one that I felt bordered too closely on legitimate racism (intentional or not) was the Nemoidians. The over the top accents remind me of whenever the South Park guys voice a Japanese character, if it isn't racist, it's certainly cartoonish.

Part of my problem is that when I'm imagining the creative process that led to the creation of these characters, I'm reminded of the fact that they didn't need to have those accents. When the time came that someone asked "Well, what do they sound like?" It was a deliberate choice to give them hammy Asian accents. Racist or not, that will always be puzzling to me.

 

Because voice diversity is bad?

 

No, not at all. I mean only that it was a deliberate decision to give them those accents. There's a million routes they could have taken (probably some that could have been much worse as well), and they ended up with this.