My Thoughts on Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen

Critically panned but on its way to half a billion dollars or more, Michael Bay's Transfomers : Revenge of the Fallen has taken over your movie theatres. It's been criticized for its plot holes, for being too long, too violent, too crude, too rude, and yes, been accused of perpetuating racial stereotypes.

Still, I saw it at 3:30 AM on opening night on IMAX, and was mesmerized by the action and by my favorite childhood characters coming to life. The stereotype stuff (that I see every day in real life) took a distant second.

As a 30ish year old kid, I have to say that the new Transformers franchise is basically the dream come true for any boy that grew up in the early 80s, specifically 1984... if you were anywhere from age 4 to 14 during that magical year, then these new movies, as well as the tragic death of Michael Jackson, have a PROFOUND effect on you. 1984 was the height of the Reagan era, the explosion of new musical styles and movies, and of course, the founding year of our beloved Transformers.

Twin characters SKIDS and MUDFLAP - Stereotypes ?

The big issue with Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen outside of normal movie critic stuff are the twin robots, Skids and Mudflap who to some embody racist caricatures of African American or Hip Hop culture. My opinion on this is to stop taking it and yourselves so seriously. These characters remind me more of Jamie Kennedy's character in "Malibu's Most Wanted" or the stereotypical hip hop / low rider car characters in the BELOVED G RATED KID FRIENDLY "CARS." Remember the H2 hummer with that spoke ebonics that didn't want to get his 24" rims dirty?? Do we now not remember JAZZ and BLASTER, the two African American voiced and styled characters from the original cartoons that stereotypically talked in "jive" and were all about music?

Fast forward to 2009 and Hollywood's biggest badass director has taken over the franchise. Michael Bay was an ad agency superstar at a very young age as directors go, creating such huge campaigns as "GOT MILK" and other memorable ads, as well as helming dozens of car commercials and sexy campaigns for Victoria's Secret. The guy simply IS American commercialism in a director's chair, with all of its good and bad points. At age 27 he directed BAD BOYS, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith's legendary action fest that grossed hundreds of millions worldwide. He followed with The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Island, Bad Boys II... all adrenelaline packed, loud, ignorant, fun action fests. They all also had their share of comedic portrayals of different stereotypes that we all know as Americans.

Consider this hilarious clip from Bad Boys 1


A funny portrayal of an Arab store owner mangling the English language and being called "Hak-meed" by Martin Lawrence.

Now check out this clip from Transformers 1


In this clip the late great Bernie Mac is basically cussing out his "mammy." In other parts of the movie we see a Spanish speaking soldier being reprimanded for speaking his language (he dies too) and a different African American character screaming at HIS grandmother. Where were the complaints then?? Is it different when a human displays this behavior as opposed to a robot? How about the fact that Michael Bay almost ALWAYS has a loud and cursing African American character in almost all of his films? Or a guido type Italian American, or stereotypically funny Hispanic characters...

Bay's stereotypical characters always bothered me a bit, because I could see him actually getting his own laugh out of them that comes from a place of ignorance, and that ignorance is a choice. I never really understood this until I actually visited LA for the first time in years, and compared to NY it's amazing how racially divided LA seems at times; how belief in stereotype first and poking fun at other cultures is weaved into the fabric of life out there. My friend 40 and I were almost turned away from an invite only Lamborghini unveiling in Beverly Hills - THAT WE WERE INVITED TO - by scared security guys that believe these stereotypes!

That's when I saw where Bay was getting all this stuff from... it's almost in the water out in Los Angeles. Is it wrong? For sensitive viewers that can't see past what's presented to them, maybe. But in the bigger picture, what we see in Transformers or any of these movies is what you see every day in Los Angeles, and yes even in New York. It's part of life and if we can't learn to poke fun at our own perceptions and rise above them and see the myriad of languages, dialects and flavors that different people weave together in the tapestry of humanity, then we're all REALLY in trouble.

Finally, let's remember that this movie, while capturing the imaginations of millions of younger fans who never watched the original, is really a validation and coming home of sorts for all of us 28-35 year olds still holding on to the joyousness of youth. It was a recession in 1984 too but guess what, it didn't affect me then!!! So if something comes out with a $100 million marketing budget and $200 million production budget, wrapped around the biggest thing that mattered to me when my life was its most care free.... I AM THERE. Bay didn't have it as conceptually easy like a Pixar film, where you know your boundaries and your audience. He had to truly appeal to the masses, from the 7 year olds there with their parents, to the old GM employee getting one last look at his handiwork in all its glory on the big screen, to ME, the archetype of the now financially empowered child of the 80s.

In fact, I aim to take part.... Check out MY Transformer, Autobot Blacklight. Created, conceived, modeled, and animated by me.

He's an Autobot tasked with hunting Decepticon scouts accross the galaxies... but he hates it. He'd rather listen to and research Hip Hop music online and create his mixes as DJ Blacklight. It's quite a dilemma. Check out more about him at www.revengeoftheballin.com and follow him on twitter @djblacklight

Mr. Bay - whenever you are ready to add a layer of depth to your characters, as well as get more giant effing robots designed, written, and into action, get at me. When you are ready to take the franchise to even higher levels with online presence and interactivity, get at me. I DO this.

And Optimus Prime never reminded me of ANY human ... but his oration, courage, strategy, and leadership reminds me of President Barack Obama. How's that for a stereotype?

As far as Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen ? I'm going to see it again, for sure.