Pajiba

Oh, how I love Mamie. "Miz Scarlett, do you know a dyed haired woman." Best line ever.

Geeks are heinous, unsocialized, dark-room dwelling half-human creatures - unless they're girls who can be magically transformed into Abercrombie & Fitch visions with the use of contact lenses and hairstyling.

Also, holy shit, fat people are hilarious. Always sitting around eating whole buckets of ice cream or anything else that happens to wander by.

Do the SalesGenie ads from this year's Super Bowl count? They aren't movies, but they certainly made me cringe.

As for movies, what about the entire subgenre of Comedies Based on the Concept that Irish People are Just Adorable? I can't watch those.

Future: I'm hoping that future moviegoers and film historians will be aghast at the preponderance of torture porn, regardless of victim. I see an ad for Saw or any of its spawn and wonder what's wrong with us.

All of the "new" Star Wars movies (which were horrible anyway, but whatever)... Jar Jar Binks and his fishy race were all sorts of Jamaican; when they had the party on Naboo at the end of the first film (me=nerd) all I could think was "Jamaican Day Parade!"... ALSO, those muthafookin' grey trade federation fools were completely Asian! I saw the movie with my fierce Asian friend, she was all sorts of offended...

And C-3PO was a homosexual. I speak from experience... igotpictures

The hot girl's fat best friend.

There were so many cringe worthy moments in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. I don't remember all the details, I didn't want to watch it in the first place. But I do remember that in many parts throughout the movie I thought "GSA members everywhere are going to be pissed about that...".

Okay, and call me a nerd if you must, but in a lot of the "science" filled movies the science is B.S. or twisted to make it work for the film. It gets annoying when you actually know what should be happening when those 2 chemicals are mixed, etc...

So, I watched Shirley Temple's Littlest Rebel recently...expecting bunches of racist stuff...which was there...but that wasn't the most disturbing thing about it...all the creepy pedophilia...the creepy way they sexualized her was....shocking. There is a moment when she writes a letter to her father (a Confederate Officer off in the War)...and we see the letter...it is written in that fake scrawl that is supposed to look like it was written by a kid but was clearly written by a 45 year old production assistant. "Daddy cum home soon." Seriously. It is supposed to a mispelling...but cum was used in the meaning we understand back in the 30s too.

Other things? All the transphobia. There are lots and lots of transphobic moments...especially towards transwomen. One moment that stood out for me is in Ace Ventura, when he realized that the hot woman had been assigned male at birth and proceeded to completely wig out and vomit and pour toothpaste in his mouth. How cruel and transphobic. But transwomen still get to be the butt of seriously messed up treatment...and in a time period when they are murdered so frequently...it is really in poor taste.

I think I missed the point of the thread. Whatever.

Anyway, to add a serious point, I'm over the gay (male) best friend shtick. He makes clever comments, he's a snappy dresser and critiques clothes (he's great to shop with), he lusts after the main character's cute crush, and in general, he's just a queeny tag-along. Then, when two gay characters are actually the focus of the film (Brokeback Mountain), conservatives throw a shit fit, and gays are corrupting America; and all along they SHOULD have been flipping out about the style-centric "fag" friend in all of these other films that is dressing up their daughters and eyeing their poolboys 'cause who is that fool? Give a gay depth and you start a revolution; keep him in his pigeonhole and the world is safe for another day.

Blech.

My cringe-worthy one is about the same as the one 3 generations from now: women's goal in life is to get married. How come there can't be a movie starring a woman with another goal than finding a man? Our media sucks. No wonder women need Oprah so much.

Worst offenders I've seen lately:
Three Coins in a Fountain (1954)--a woman is literally given a basket of kittens because she's apparently a spinster at age 30. Not to mention the poor man's Audrey Hepburn lying to get a man, totally called on it, and still gets the man because that's the point of the movie: marriage, not being a decent person.
27 Dresses--I felt horrible after this movie. It made me heartsick to think that this was the slop women are given to watch that's apparently "empowering." Gross.

Caucasians playing Indians (ahem, Native Americans).
F-Troop, any Western made before 1970...all the Indians were white people in tan makeup.
Hollywood did not know about actual Native Americans until Dances With Wolves. Then it was, "oh, they look so noble!" Assholes.

Past Stereotype Cringe: The ethnic slurs all over Disney's Lady and the Tramp.

Future Stereotype Cringe (or at least I hope people will cringe): Mostly from TV, the infantile, schlubby husband who just wants to have fun and whose mean but hot and responsible wife is always trying to put a stop to it.

The next person who asks me about my lucky charms will pray for the mercy of death.

In fairness, they are magically delicious. How do we know you're not a leprechaun?

the "under the sea" segment from the little mermaid has always bothered me. sebastian declares "the blackfish she sings" and we are shown an image that makes you wonder how disney got away with it. it's not as bad as those crows from dumbo, but it's there!

The stereotype I find most glaring is that of any First Nations person in a movie. It is friggin' rare to find an aboriginal person playing anything other than the token "Injun". Why no aboriginal superheroes/romantic leads/etc (without being adorned by feather headdresses and tomahawks at the same time)?

Also - I love the movie Holiday Inn, but I always have to fast forward through the blackface "Abraham" sequence. It's seriously sickening.

Plain women are clueless and need their friends to help them figure out how to look good, and its corollary: Plain women are miserable and unable to accomplish their goals, and they just need a makeover in order to have everything they want in life.

Mexicans are always villains in old movies. There are generally drunken and lascivious, much like black villains, but man, Old Hollywood (and New for that matter), DO NOT know what to do with Hispanics, especially our neighbors to the South.

I think that there's already some backlash against "Noble Suffering AIDS Patient" (or any kind of noble, suffering dying person), but that 20 years from now, it'll be widely recognized as an overdone stereotype.

Also, the "Token White Girl/Guy" in movies aimed at black folks. Not all white movies bother throwing in a single black friend (which is generally a stereotype in itself), so why bother with that one white dude in the background of a party scene. Were they just who showed up in the call for extras?

Pretty much everyone in "The Birdcage". When it was originally released, I went to see it with one of my close friends, a gay male. We cackled through the whole film like a couple of old biddies, but upon a recent re-viewing, I realized just how over the top and broadly drawn nearly all the characters, but especially the gay ones, were. Nathan Lane was a hysterical, flitting, preening, screaming Queen, bolstering every "fag" stereotype out there.

I once heard a very impassioned speech given by a gay man about how Carson Kreeley's performances on "Queer Eye" also perpetuated the stereotype of the ass-grabby swish. He even said his grandmother called him after the show to ask him if gay men really groped straight men so much.

While everyone was crowing about the awesomeness of "Lost in Translation", I couldn't get past the movie's tired, lame jokes about Japanese accents: "rip my stocking" and "woger mow" and so forth. Seemed like nearly every Japanese character with any lines was made out to be kooky and spoke English with a mouth full of marbles. Coppola's idea of "fish out of water" humor was slapped on with such wide strokes (Seriously, she used a freakin' paint roller.) that I fully expected Mickey Rooney to come screeching through a scene in his bathrobe.

Granted, every once and a while, I blurt out "Rip my stocking" to Mr. Pink for no good reason. So I guess I am a bit of a hypocrite.

Plain-looking intelligent women that can't find a date. Cue makeover montage, and suddenly she's Cindy fucking Crawford.

Dirty old men that sexually harass young women and are played off as silly old farts.

My most hated: when characters don't speak the same language as another character, and they just repeat what they said, but only LOUDER. GAH!

David--it's because conservatives think that overtly feminine males and extremely butchy females are the ONLY gay people. Therefore, when they are exposed to what is considered very "masculine" men as gay they have a huge shit fit because it couldn't possibly be so and the gays are trying to infiltrate the media with their "gay agenda" whatever that is.

Well if GWTW were made today, Mamie would be livin' in the ghetto. Ghetto stereotypes make me cringe.

Yeah, I just re-read that post, you already said that...sorry

Sarah, it seemed to me (I haven't watched the film in years) that GWTW depicted Mammy and especially Prissy essentially for laugh value. I think the closeness of the relationships was accurate, but the voice work seemed designed to encourage white audiences to laugh about (a) the stern black nannie character (who was about a step away from Buckwheat of the Little Rascals) and (b) the helpless ninnie Prissy, who shrinks aside while tough-as-nails-underneath-it-all Scarlett takes over as midwife.

Would it work today? Like I said, I haven't seen it in years.

The Eastern Bloc guy who wears nothing but his Adidas tracksuits. As a native Pole I love my Euro suit, but I do own real clothes.

Agent Scully, I just watched Everything is Illuminated and thought that exact thing.

I know I have had many moments, but the most recent was the Persian king in 300. god, I hated that movie; just thinking about it incites an uncontrollable rage (racism, sexism, jingoism...you name it). Before I saw the film, I remember Persian groups being upset about it, and I thought, just maybe they are overreacting. But no.

Apocalypto for the same reasons (I still cannot believe I was dragged into that movie.) Pretty much any movie where ancient and/or native peoples are portrayed in historically inaccurate or offensive ways with it disguised as being simply "entertainment."

My personal cringe-worthy stereotype is that most Mexicans are in gangs. Listen up gringos, just because my skin is brown, doesn't mean I'm in with a bunch of Cholos looking to keeck your ess, main. And also my Mexican sisters are not baby-factories and letting los ninos just run around in their diapers. We don't all wear wife-beaters, drink piss-poor beer, or listen to the oldies. And we don't all own low-riders, either. But if I did, I would be sure to place a naked lady on the front. Oh, we do speaka da Eenglish. Hay unas veces que no querido escucharte, vato!

Future generations will laugh at our attempt to put women "back in their place", through dreck like 27 Dresses, P.S. I Love You, and any Sex in the City bullshit. There is nothing more that I despise, as a weak-willed woman. Women are strong and the stronger and more independent they are, the hotter they become. My perfect woman would be someone who can stand up for herself and not let a man determine her worth. Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder and this beholder prefers strong women. Give me the Buffy's, the Faith's of the world and keep your Lipstick Jungle weaklings to yourself.

Twig: How can "she's all that" not be one of those movies? Freddie Prinze, Jr. doesn't even look at Rachel Lee Cook until she has her "makeover"? She looked perfectly fine before the "makeover" she had glasses on (=geek) and they took them off and put her in a dress (= hot girl)

Has anybody seen the Chinese people in "Thoroughly Modern Millie"? Good Lord. All they say is "shu sho" over and over again and run around acting all silly the whole movie. Every time I see it, I keep hearing "El Scorcho" by Weezer for some reason, which I guess is a stereotype in and of itself. Hmmmmm.

ScarletKnight, I'm not sure I see where you're coming from. How is Sex in the City and example of weak-willed women?

lyricalcatt, it had more substance than that, even for bubblegum fluff. She isn't just some vacuous pretty nothing - she rips into him for not doing anything with his life, and for not having any plans for the future. The movie gives a fair chunk of time to him as well as her (the hacky sack bit). Like I said, it's not Shakespeare-level gravitas, but they develop the characters enough that they're people, not just stock tropes.

Ugh, so many out there to choose from, sadly!

The one that gets under my skin the most is the "fat ladies who eat by the truckload and think of nothing but food." The portrayal of young Monica from Friends seriously made me want to throw things at the TV.

The fiery redhead stereotype makes me laugh; I'm the furthest thing from fiery (unless by "fiery," you mean "apathetic"...)

* as much as Freddie Prinze Jr is, in fact, a person.

I believe I was caught up in perpetuating my own stereotype and I'm sorry. Or just perhaps, I just find the characters themselves a bit shallow and self-absorbed and that translates over in them being "weak-willed". My personal distaste for them seems to be coloring my vision here.

socalled: I must admit I have no way to conclusively prove I'm not a leprechaun. I suppose it doesn't help that when I'm drunk enough, the accent creeps back.

lyricalcatt: I don't think I got the red hair from my mother. Her hair is black. And while I do indeed have a bad temper, it's not because I'm Irish. It's because I'm a bitch.

PissBoy, I think you'd have to send a picture of yourself in teeny blue speedos to Socalled for him to give you any real chance.

courtney: my dad is both Polish and from Chicago.

I will never sleep again.

That made me crack up :)

Agent Scully, yeah--I think Carrie/Buffy aren't really "strong" (if we're using Faith in the sense of being strong. And if that's the case, then to be strong one would NEVER admit weakness and would fly into a bloody rage every time an emotion surfaced). I don't think they're really weak, either, just realistic. (I mean, yeah, they've got neuroses about men and get overly clingy sometimes, but show me a human who hasn't felt that way at one time or another about their romantic partner :-).

I mean sure, you get the goodie-goodie ones, but you also get people who come to school hungover from that "totally awesome party last night".

Um, I think both of these were old way before Britney got Hit One More Time.

Apparently, due to the fact that I have a penis, I must leave all reason and logic at the house and focus solely on whatever can get me into the most vaginas in the shortest amount of time with the fewest legal troubles.

Well, that is the best use of your energy.

boo:

Hook me up!

Hell, Bing F-ing Crosby has a black face number in Holiday Inn for fucksake. No amount of crooning with David Bowie can remove it from my mind.

The most cringe-worthy stereotype is also one we'll be looked down upon in the future: the Latino as a barrio/ghetto/slum dwelling, gangbanger with a heart of gold who only needs a teacher (preferrably from another under-represented ethnic group, usually played by Sam Jackson, Morgan Freeman or Edward James Olmos) or, worse, a dancing white person to set him/her straight and other variations like the Latino as immigrant (legal or not) without much culture because, well, there's no culture in Latin America because it's not like there were huge, culturally impressive empires in the Americas before the white man arrived.

Kevin Longrie, yep, that seems to be the maxim that guides pretty much all television premises: Men are stupid; women are shrill.

I too must throw in my vote with the abused-empowered-wife-who-gets-back-at-her-husband crap. Seriously...what the hell?

umm. are we not stating the obvious because everyone knows it exists and it's not worth it? I mean the mexican unejumicated persons in movies. I mean it's like they all follow that old horrible joke...(a mexican and a black man are in car, who's driving? the cop). seriously, white people are not the only ones who are smart.

and the one that gets me and makes me laugh is when people who look foreign all have to speak a foreign language. i.e. people who look asian speak japanese or chinese (I know a lot of asians who can't say more than kawasaki in japanese, and their parent ARE japanese). Or people who look hispanic HAVE to talk spanish. When was the last time you saw a hispanic person speaking anything other than "hey esse..." or some such spanglish.

and fat people in general... why are we different simply because we choose (or some of us anyway) to maintain an adequate supply of storage nutrients in our body in case of a nuclear disaster?

Julie, they play Everybody Loves Raymond every fucking night when I'm at the gym, and even though the sound is off, the sight of their smarmy, smirking faces makes me want to claw my eyes out. Or theirs. Whichever is more efficient, really.

And I'm not talking about chubby people, I mean orca fat. If you have no respect for yourself and your body, why should I?

Sarina, or, Option B: He'll become a vile, misogynistic scythe of a human intent on destroying everything good in his path (think Aaron Eckhart in In the Company of Men), and she'll become preposterously paranoid and defensive, like a Miranda version 15.

Also? Any movie in the Nice White Lady genre. (link goes to You Tube)

The idea that any girl with big boobs is a slut. Hint: we aren't.

True, damn the luck, but you are fun on roller coasters.

I, frankly, am impressed with any man who packs his own orgy along for the war.

And that wasn't just your typical, every day, run-of-the-mill orgy either. That was a freak orgy with all sorts of mutilated people, animal people, Siamese, oops, I mean, conjoined twins. That was some crazy shit.

And that wasn't just your typical, every day, run-of-the-mill orgy either. That was a freak orgy with all sorts of mutilated people, animal people, Siamese, oops, I mean, conjoined twins. That was some crazy shit.

They should totally feature that on Engineering Marvels of the Ancient World -- "Xerxes' travelling orgy couldn't just show up and start sucking and fucking; no, Xerxes relied on a series of pumps and pullies that continue to mystify Sucking and Fucking Scholars to this day ...."

Being born and raised and still living in South Louisiana, it always makes me cringe the way people in New Orleans and the city itself are portrayed.

Here's a few things that bother me:

1. Everyone speaks with a cajun accent (usually a very bad one).

2. Everyone has a French last name (usually something along the lines of Boudreaux or Thibodeaux).

3. Apparently the only kind of music you will hear in bars and clubs is Jazz.

4. You need to take a ride on a shrimp boat in order to get to certain areas of the city (watch the movie Blue Chips).

In fairness, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" also helped to debunk a long-established Straight People Myth About Gay Men: at the end of one episode, when they're all in their tastefully decorated flat sipping martinis, they spontaneously began dancing...

...except for Ted Allen, who began flailing as though someone was attempting to defibrillate him with the alternator from a '64 Buick.

God bless you, Ted Allen, for conclusively disproving the notion that all gays dance well.

As for The Birdcage, the plot relied on Nathan Lane's character's inability to "pass" for straight. If Robin and Nathan had been a couple of uptight suburban Log Cabins, then I doubt their son and his beloved would have been so concerned about getting them all together. (Still a lot of other broad stereotypes in that movie, though.)

Good call on the transphobia, trooper6... we have a long, long way to go on that front.

Right on, Sarina:
But heaven forfend they try to live without each other! He'll become an unemployed pothead who masturbates to cartoons and video games, and she'll have eight cats and listen to Joni Mitchell and cry while eating a pan of brownies for dinner.

But wait: Why can't it be the WOMAN who smokes pot and masturbates?

1. The Magical Negro

Hmmm...

As far as I can recall, there is a distinct lack of magical black people in film.

All magical people I know of are white (some very much so): David Copperfiled, Houdini, Dough Henning, Criss Angel, David Blaine, Penn and Teller, Merlin, Gandalf, Sarumon, Dumbledore, all the Harry Potter kids, Raistlin, Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Dr. Fate, etc., etc., etc...

The list goes on and on with a magical black man in sight. (And, no, Shquille O'Neal was not a magician in Kazaam, he was a genie. There's a difference.) Still, even including Shaq's Kazaam, if anything, magical black men have been under represented.

Ajax19 The Magical Negro isn't a magician or wizard in the traditional magical sense; he's more a stock character who dispenses wisdom and platitudes that help the white main characters find enlightenment.

Think Baggar Vance or Whoppi's character in Ghost.

For all of those people who are mentioning "Holiday Inn" with it's offensive blackface routine, I got an even better one. "Babes on Broadway" with Mickey Rooney (again!) and Judy Garland. At the end of the movie they put on a huge, extravagant show...all done in blackface. That just ruined the movie for me. I know it was in style at the time, but I just can't watch it.

I am getting so sick of fat people as the punch line. I'm not sure if anyone's ever seen the movie "Avanti!" with Jack Lemmon and Juliet Miles, but it infuriates me to no end that she's supposed to be this gigantic cow and Jack Lemmon still falls in love with her! She's not even fat and yet, there are fat jokes left and right at her expense. Even her name is a joke Pamela Piggot. Pig. Get it? Ha ha ha. Yeah, not funny. That was from 1972. All these years later and fatties are still used as the punchline. I'm getting highly offended when my size 10 ass is now considered obese. Thanks, Hollywood.

Telesilla, you could have also referred him to any of the M.N.s in Stephen King's novels/films. Easiest one is Michael Clarke Duncan's character in The Green Mile, but there's also the cook in The Shining and the Mother Somethingorother character in The Stand.

Alternately, Mace Windu, that bad-ass motherfucker played by Samuel L. Jackson in the Star Wars prequels.

Wow, no one called out John Wayne? There is a lot to dislike about his movies but I'm thinking of one where he's a Mongolian warrior which was painful, all 15 minutes I saw of it.

Classic Disney movies are pretty bad but especially The Jungle Book where The Monkey King sings "I wanna be like you, I wanna walk like you, talk like you" to the white boy. Also the crows singing "I ain't never seen an elephant fly" in Dumbo. Both songs are obviously Negro (as they used to say) performers. All the more insidious because the songs are catchy.

The treatment of Natives / First Nations / Indians. I was watching the Simpsons Movie - The Simpsons Movie, folks! - and cringing. All the cowboy revival of the 90s did was remove the scalping aspect. They're all incredibly poor with 18 kids, no education and addicted to alcohol, at best. Adam Beach on SVU and Lorne Cardinal on Corner Gas are finally starting to turn this trend around, thank GOD.

Don't even get me started on Peter Pan.

Besides Mickey Rooney:
The black faun in Fantasia.(Which now has been edited out.)
Anyone in Song of the South(I haven't seen it)
Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer(I think they dealt with this best in the film The Savages for senior movie night)
Any Gay Stereotype in a movie(Chuck and Larry for instance)
I hate how Jews are Vicious and evil creatures in the Middle East. Not close to funny.

I'm teaching Blade Runner right now, and the "love scene" still makes me cringe even though I've seen it dozens of times. It makes my students cringe too (praise Jebus).

1) Fat guy friends are funny and idiotic or constantly high - haha, laugh at the fat guy doing cartwheels or being incredibly loud (Chris Farley started this trend, I think, but some other examples: Jack Black in EVERYTHING, the Poor Man's Jack Black in Catch and Release (can't remember that guy's name> He sucked.)

2) Most attractive girls who care about their appearance are dumb. There is always at least one of these in every teen flick. Examples: Bring It On, Mean Girls (Karen, I think), and Clueless. Some of these are just so over the top. I've known some dumb people in my life, but never so dumb that they can barely function. Although I guess I know OF Jessica Simpson.

3) Girls always stab their friends in the back - Mean Girls, 13 Going on 30, etc. Sometimes there are functional female friendships. Even in high school.

4) Educated and/or successful black men are nerdy and "act white"

5) Southerners are stupid and racist

He must really hate women, and especially overweight women.

Slash, I don't think he hates overweight women so much as there's absolutely NOTHING relevant about him anymore, so he's foraging in the last "acceptable" (as others have pointed out) place he can find.

What I find so interesting is that these kinds of movies always make fun of fat women, and never fat men. Or if there is a fat man, he's characterized as being so effeminate that he might as well be a woman.

"Twig-I see where you are coming from. I suppose that it just floors me that glasses make you invisibile (i.e. Clark Kent/Superman). Funny. I love guys with glasses. It's a turn on."

Lyricalcatt: same here, I've always preferred guys with glasses. And (as an adult) I've never had a bad experience when occasionaly wearing my glasses instead of my contacts, I've found that guys think they're pretty cute. I'll never understand the glasses=nerd mentality. Hell, one of my first childhood crushes was on Egon Spengler.

You do admit he was awful in C&R and very Jack Black-esque, right? I mean, I like Silent Bob as much as the next gal, but come on. That was bad.

I WANT A LAMÉ JUMPSUIT, DAMMIT.

Thought of another two: In American movies, all British characters are effete know-it-all snobs. In British movies, all American characters are loud boorish pricks.

For something to be 'cringe inducing' because it's been done one too many times is one thing, but to look at a Gone With The Wind or a movie that 'inappropriately' portays homosexuals and say you cringe at the references is another.

I still say the end of A Christmas Story when the Chinese people come out and sing 'Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra' to Jingle Bells is one of the funniest moments of that movie. It's not because I'm racist.... Hell, I'm half asian. But sometimes you can't deny when something's funny.

Trooper, I would recommend NOT looking to Ace Ventura for a politically correct response to a man (being JIM CARREY) finding out he made out with a transgender male. I mean, come on....

I think people need to stop being so sensitive. I'm not racist, I'm not a bigot, I'm not homophobic, but get serious... Yes, there are certain things are quite offensive, but if you take the context in which they were created in mind, a lot of times it explains itself. Where it doesn't, why do you bother yourself with watching hateful things anyway?

CARS CARS CARS CARS CARS

What stereotype DIDN'T that movie have? Ramone? Luigi? Guido? Flo? I swear, when Larry the Freaking Cable Guy voices the LEAST stereotypical character in the film, you've got a problem.

Also, the Chinese restaurant scene in A Christmas Story. I know that movie is darn near unassailable in our collective culture, but I remember as a wee tyke asking my mom to explain the Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra joke to me, and I just couldn't understand it, and I could tell that she was uncomfortable explaining it, and finally gave up, and I knew right then it must be awfully wrong......

Also, Mammy was my favorite character in Gone With The Wind. She loved Scarlett and everyone around her. She was so effing sweet, but tough as nails. When she pulled up her skirt to show Mr. Rhett her red petticoat was just the funniest thing......

Socalled, Sarina is going to douse you in Bushmills, set you on fire, and Irish jig on your ashes for that remark.

telesilla: As for Mace Windu...yeah, Lucas has his own skeevy race issues, witness Jar-Jar. Or you know, don't, if you value your sanity.

What's less known is the hardship and systemic racism Admiral Ackbar had to endure while climbing the ranks of the human-dominated Imperial Navy. I don't think any of us fully appreciate just how much Ackbar did to advance the cause of Mon Calamari rights throughout the galaxy.

No wonder he turned rebel.

Ackbar did to advance the cause of Mon Calamari rights throughout the galaxy.

No wonder he turned rebel.

Posted by: Oh Henry at February 20, 2008 6:18 PM

-----------------------------------------------
Amen brother, A FUCKING MEN! I say that EVERY TIME someone brings up the many Bothan lives lost to smuggle the Death Star plans. But that was just a one time thing and they were being USED by Palpatine anyway.
Ackbar and the Mon Cals laid it ALL on the line for YEARS.

May the Force be with you.

I hate the part in the movie John Tucker Must Die when they give him estrogen and suddenly he's a big whiny cry-baby who can't handle his life. I mean, seriously? This is your portrayal of becoming more 'womanly'?




Yes.

Of all the offensive stereotypes mentioned in this thread, nothing is more offensive than referring to Kevin Smith as the poor man's Jack Black. That hurt my soul. Deeply. tt, please tell me you didn't discover movie theaters until 2005.

Awww, don't kiss his soul Theresa, let it burn, burn straight to heck. He was talking smack about Johnny Dangerously just hour ago.

What about the "menstrual crazy woman" shit?

Lemme tell ya sumptin: crazy ain't limited to those who bleed from their 'jay.

Re: big titty gals---

they also make excellent radio tuning knobs. obviously.

Oh crap - I'm just going to say it - here goes..retards.
Franks and beans anyone?

longcoat000: did you ever hear of the "Rule of Thumb"?

Yeah.

Some more:

The lovable (and highly adoptable) orphan.

The trainwreck terrible twos toddler. (oooh, alliteration! squee!)

Hooker with a heart of gold. And on the other side of that coin, the evil nun.

Devil worshipers also get a pretty bad rap.

Napoleon Dynamite. The movie spends 99% of it's running time mocking Napoleon, Pedro etc., then you're supposed to feel warm and fuzzy about their triumph. Oh, and it's okay to mock them, because they're oblivious to the mockery, just like in real life. Listen to people quote this movie, and it's obvious they're not laughing with the geeks, they're laughing at them.

"So, I watched Shirley Temple's Littlest Rebel recently...expecting bunches of racist stuff...which was there...but that wasn't the most disturbing thing about it...all the creepy pedophilia...the creepy way they sexualized her was....shocking."

All of Shirley Temple's movies were basically women's films with tap numbers and she was usually the smartest person in them so it's only natural that the leading man would fall in love with her. Jeanine Basinger wrote a lot about that aspect of her films.

In that BABES ON BROADWAY number with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, some of the lyrics go something like, 'We're Blacking it up! We're Blacking up Broadway!' It's pretty horrifying.

I hope this stereotype goes away in the next few week but it's kind of been around forever so...the (usually) white person going into the black (usually) community and amusing everyone with their attempts to fit in. Awkward race relations are funny! And interesting how it's rarely played for laughs when the situation is reversed.

to insertclevernamehere, I ask you, is your character from the street organically, or is your character some jive talking cardboard smack dealing tap dancer who is saving money to send his sister to Denmark because shes dying of cancer and laughing at foreign people in person is her life's dream?

All I am saying is serve no master other than the story. If that is your character, and that is how he (or she) speaks, then flesh it out and go with it. Just don't play it for laughs/ratings.

So my question is, is it wrong or lazy to do that? Is there a better way to do that?

Just look at "The Wire" and how ghetto the language is -- and this is from a largely-white group of writers. They're honest about the nature and origin of the characters, and no one would even think twice about the "urban" patois. Artistic credibility goes a long, long way, but like the lady says, follow the story and be honest.

Wow, not that this is going to matter at all, but the last time I saw a conversation about Disney stereotypes and somebody mentioned King Louie as being a negative black portrayal - I think he was based on a popular Italian entertainer at the time.

The rest still stand. Especially the jaw-dropping insult they edited out of Fantasia.

Emotionally-stunted adults that must be taught how to live/laugh/love by precocious children.

Personally speaking, I'm a little fed up with the whole "British teeth" thing. (Austin Powers, Shanghai Knights, etc). Teeth are no worse here than anywhere else in the Western world - excluding Hollywood obviously.

I know the British are hardly an oppressed culture (in fact we used to do much of the oppressing ourselves 150 years ago), but it still hurts our feelings!

The trainwreck terrible twos toddler. (oooh, alliteration! squee!)

Posted by: boo at February 20, 2008 6:54 PM

Come live at my house for a few days.

There are moments here now lately that I feel like putting a sign around my son's neck that reads "Lovable (and highly adoptable) orphan" and dropping him off at a corner.

Good times, good times.

Is it me... or did this comment section veer off course? It was suggested to list the most "politically uncomfortable" film moments. Not entire hollywood-typical stereotypes.

ANYWAY...The most "politically uncomfortable" moment I ever watched in a movie was in "The Accused". The rape scene in the bar. ugh. just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt.

In an action/adventure movie: The hero/protagonist is always a WASP-y man.

and "Chuck and Larry" left me speechless.

OK, I haven't seen this one mentioned yet.

I'm really tired of female aliens with weird face makeup but Barbie bodies / gigumbo boobies. Why don't the Klingon women have udders? NO, they gotta have Dolly Partons in a painted on leotard.

There's only two female aliens I can think of who didn't have big boobies. That ottoman that ate through rock on one of the early Star Trek episodes ("Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer.") And of course, THE Alien from Alien.

But these ones are true by and large, like the clovers and leprechauns flying out of Sarina's ass.

Posted by: socalledonlycousins at February 20, 2008 6:14 PM

Some days it hurts to sit. Do you think I could file for disability?

Socalled, Sarina is going to douse you in Bushmills, set you on fire, and Irish jig on your ashes for that remark.

Posted by: Julie at February 20, 2008 6:17 PM

Nah. I don't drink whiskey unless I'm already too wasted to know better. I'm way more of a tequila girl. It's equally flammable though, so watch your back, socalled.

Wait, how tall are you? I may require an assistant to reach the top of your head for the dousing.

HAHA! Diablo you just made me have another coffee-on-the-computer-screen moment. I guess it's my fault for drinking coffee at 7 pm.

Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies. Oh God. Makes me want to hurl. I can't even watch it. Nasty, nasty, nasty!

I have never wanted to hurt a character real or imagined as much as I wanted to injure Jar Jar Binks.

Dear, dear Courtney. My mother's family is Polish and from Chicago. Being only half Polish, I've been banished to the Chicago suburbs. I fucking love this town too.

Has anyone actually read some slave literature? Like To be a Slave, or Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas? Read some, then watch Gone with the Wind and then you will understand that GWTW's slave characters are actually well done, and really do not belong in this catagory. Mammy is an amazing character.

If you are going to get married and be happy forever, you must have a single best friend who is snarky and bitchy and preferably looks like/is Judy Greer. Seriously, how many times has that woman played the bitchy/snarky single best friend?? My problem is that I probably am the bitchy/snarky single best friend...which means I'm pretty much doomed in the man department...

I apologize. I was too lazy to look it up. My bad on Louis Prima singing "I wanna be like youooo" but I still think the song/scene is racist.

So. *cough shuffle* How about tonight's lunar eclipse? Boy that was beautiful, huh?

Here's my take on the problems people have with GWtW, but I think it applies to a lot of what people have been saying here:

I don't think anyone is up in arms about the fact that slavery is depicted. In a story about the Civil War, it would be stupid and insulting NOT to include it. The slave characters are some of the most, if not the most sympathetic characters in the story. But isn't that part of the problem. They aren't dissenting, they aren't causing trouble, they aren't forcing themselves into view--quite the opposite. Why would this be? I'm guessing there are two reasons:

One, the powers that be put them there, and there will be hell to pay if they don't stay put.

Two, people who aren't persecuted don't tend to make waves. I think the portrayal in this film is suggesting that they are comfortable and cared for in their current situation, so there's no need to worry. The Yankees are a threat to EVERYTHING and EVERYONE: maurading rapists and despoils who live to destroy the peace!

Of course, 2008 viewers know better than to posit our values and mores on an old film based on an older book.

Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

The story isn't really about the slaves, so we assume that it is for this reason that we can't talk too much about how they lack complexity, because that's looking for a fight where none exists. I don't really buy that notion. Stories can be just as much about what is left out, or not addressed (for whatever reasons) as they are about actual content.

I mean heck, if we want to look at the whitest literature to ever white out of Whitetown, take the example of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. We hear all about the dashing soldiers in their dishy red uniforms, but the savagery of the Napoleonic Wars, which is what they would've been fighting, isn't mentioned. I'm not saying Jane Austen didn't know what she was doing--I'd never say that-- and she's free to write about whatever she pleases. It's just something interesting to think about, and it could colour your interpretation. Why was something so HUGE just left out?

Another argument I could myself grinding up against, would be the one about authenticity. Our author friend upthread brought up something really interesting, important and thought-provoking when asking for advice. I'm not a writer of fiction, so I don't know how to answer the question, but how does a writer compose in the voice of a character convincingly and believingly?

I don't have this skill, so I just don't know.
But I know all about anxiety.

Being outside of a cultural/racial/whatever group means that we gnash and grouse about whether we can or can't speak for/or in the voice of that group. Is it presumptuous, when it's done right, how it that acheived? And so on.

Though no one has this to me explicitly, what I intuit is the problem that people have with the slave character (I hesitate to pluralize, it's pretty much a singular unified voice), that it acts as a mouthpiece for the values of the fellas in charge. Everything about them, from their childlike behaviour, to their mental incapabilities, to their bonhomous, but deferential relationships with the whites acts as a ringing endorsement for slavery.

Not once is the backbreaking labour, the demoralizing, dehumanizing nature of the history, or the contribution that they made to the country ever made. GRANTED, no one would've expected this, seeing as how the film came out in 1939.

It's a system in working order, people who otherwise couldn't do so for themselves have caretakers, and the owners get them to provide a service in return for their charity.

And well, that's just not something I can really cotton to, pun absolutely intended.

The status quo? Ay Caramba!

So, I'd argue that the fact that the slaves lack this complexity isn't because they're secondary characters, it's because they are slaves. And as such, popular belief dictated that they HAD to be marginalized and infantalized. And in this story, often they're so fucking annoying, you want to beat your head against a wall until is is raw and bloddy. The characters aren't products of the story, they're stock-characters who've been created by an ignorant of unsympathetic master narrative, individuality or circumstances be damned.

This holds true with any marginalized group, and if this isn't the case, may the ghost of Edward Said strike me down!

A lot of times, many of them included on this list, good intentions can look like a bunch of hot wind in the sobering light of day. And this intent doesn't match up with product, because we are just too ingrained with the values of our times, backwards though they may be. Was this the case here? Maybe.

And I'm sure that when Hattie McDaniel got her Academy Award for her role as Mammie, it was seen as very progressive and embracing by the film community. Now, historic though it was, we find it hard see no acid in the sugar sandwich that was the first Oscar win for a black woman--in a film that waxed nostalgic on the glory days of slavery.

'If's' and 'But's', right?

The 'happy worker' trope was also one that was stock-in-trade long before this film came about. I've actually read some scholarship that suggests that perhaps the watermelon was chosen as being emblematic of this stereotype, is because of the way a slice of it seems to be smiling at you. Ergo, happy workers. I don't know, it's an idea.

Truth be told, a sassy black head-wagger nowadays gets much more ire from me than an old movie, we should know better, clearly we don't. Now THAT SHIT IS WACK.

Late to the party...yada, yada, yada.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it but I have to go with the Magical Negro. I believe Chris Rock may have coined the phrase. You know the type, Will Smith in "Bagger Vance", Whoppi Goldberg in "Clara's Heart", Morgan Freeman in almost anything (I do like Morgan though - Electric Company; nuff said) and any black actor of substance whose main goal is to aid white people.

Official definition (according to me anyway) as follows:

The Magical Negro comes from a special place to help troubled white folks solve their problems with their signature brand of dignity, grace, and wisdom.

The Magical Negro's purpose is to show white people the true meaning of life (either as a ghost, figment of the imagination, or as the ultimate act of self-denial so that said white person(s) can live a more fulfilling life while the Magical Negro ignores his/her own life).

Yeah, that happens all the time. That's how we black people do.

Shit, I want some "Magical" presence in my own damn life. I will now be accepting applications for my own "Magical" person. Equal Opportunity Employer, bitches! I don't discriminate.

Ok I'm just going to thank whoever clarified King Louie on here. Louis Prima is the shit, go listen to him. (David Lee Roth's cover of Just A Gigolo is almost note for note of the original, entertainingly enough).

The bad guys are out to destroy our noble vision of freedom. The bad guys are just bad guys, not humans or anything quite so complicated. The bad guys hate us and everything we stand for. The bad guys exist solely to be bad.

But on the other hand, there are the films that treat the bad guys as martyrs for their Noble but Misguided Cause. Saccharine and stupid. Don't make it out like some asshat blowing up other people is honourable - whatever patch of land he grew up on. This stereotype is possibly more annoying than the first.

There's no pleasing me.

All Black african's speak Zulu and live in huts, no matter what part of africa they're from. and all listen to South African music from the 80's.

Emily Blunt* sigh

I'll probably be last - but I think the people of the future (who will thankfully have figured out how to make a proper crotch for the Lame jumpsuits by then) will wonder not so much as to the movie plots - but why we place so much time, energy and effort into the minutia of 'celebrity'. They will wonder - why is Marilyn Monroe like unto Anna Nicole? Why is there umpteen-bazillion 'news' items filed for Paris Hilton - what on earth did she actually do to deserve it? That file is missing. What was the point of this drive towards public penance called 'rehab'?

Hopefully by then they will have some new ideas about proper media and content and chalk it all up to the sugar-rush of technological breakthrough.

Also:
clap your hands everybody,
and everybody clap your hands
we're lambdalambdalambda and, omega mu
and we've come here onstage tonight to do our show for you.

......breeeeeeaaaaaaak.

R2D2= He is short, hard to understand his chirps and whistles, and falls down a lot: Anyone else think of the stereotypical drunk Irish person?

------------------------------------------------

Yes! yes I see it, and like all Irish he wants to destroy the English (civilized) way of life and to kill the queen.

*thank you Garth Marengui

I was watching Day at the Races the other night (the Marx brothers film). And there is some "great" (not) poor blacks (looks like a slave shack town with cars...its weird). It was odd to say the least...granted expected for the time sooo

to no Asians at all in Serenity.

So it's necessary for every cast to always look like the United Colors of Benetton or else it's evilbadwrong.

Whatever.

" no Asians at all in Serenity.

WTF ???

Posted by: mamitabrujita "

Good point. Since the crew is constantly spouting off in Chinese (I assume it's Chinese) you'd think there'd be a lot of Asians around, since the implication was that China eventually took over Earth just from shear numbers. Or maybe I got that bit wrong.

In the future, movie fans will wonder why every hooker had a heart of gold instead of stealing your wallet to buy the drugs she needs to get high, looking ravaged from her crystal meth habit, or being uncomfortably close to the legal age limit (if not below), instead of looking like Julia Roberts, Kim Basinger or Rebecca De Mornay (Carve out for Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver).

I don't know if this one has been done already, and I actually don't know if it really counts (probably not ...), but the only allowable accent is British/Australian. You can have a room full of Asians, Africans, Norwegians, you name it, but they either speak perfect English or have a British accent. ER is the only example that's coming to mind right now. It would be refreshing to see physicians or other professionals speaking with a Lebanese or Kenyan accent, as some people happen to in real life.

Lord of the Rings, anyone???

Good guys = white. Bad guys = every other colour.

Inspirational,mythicial,soul saving Black man- The Shawhshank Redemption, The Family Man, Baggar Vance, etc. Vomit inducing stuff.

In the movie "African Queen" when Humphry Bogart throws the stub of his cigar onto the ground and a group of people actually dive onto it, fighting each other to grab it. The most cringe-inducing thing about it is the huge smile on Humphry's face when he turns to the camera.

The future will take us to task for eroticising rape in movies. HG already touched on it a little in the "'love' scene from Blade Runner" comment.

"Of course, 2008 viewers know better than to posit our values and mores on an old film based on an older book."

Well, not that much older. GWTW was published in 1936, three years before the movie was released. Reconstruction is also standing in for the Depression.

Every time one of the "new" Star Wars movies comes on, my husband and I have a running commentary about all of the hideous stereotypes. What about the flying Jewish bug that owned Anakin and his mother? I'm almost impressed that George Lucas managed to ruin what he started, make an epic saga with no artistic quality, AND propagate so many offensive stereotypes. I wonder if he used a spreadsheet.

I'm late to the party, as always, but:

Agent Scully: "The Eastern Bloc guy who wears nothing but his Adidas tracksuits. As a native Pole I love my Euro suit, but I do own real clothes."

Y'know, I'm Eastern Bloc too and I have to say, I've seen my fair share of it in real life. But, that was before the wall fell. These days, most of my cousin's friends all dress more like models than Everything is Illuminated. Nothing like going to Palac Kultury for New Year's Eve and being the most under-dressed person there.

That said, if I get asked if we owned cows back in the motherland one more time, I'm going to have a meltdown.

"Am I forgetting the multiethnic bad guys"....

I didn't watch the films obsessively, or whatever - but I do recall oriental pirates; the very asian looking foot soldiers; and those guys on the 3-trunked-elephant creatures... they weren't white. There were more villainous characters than just the orcs and urukai. And yes Saruman was white... one white guy in a GGI army of millions of multi-ethnic villains of eastern extraction.

but it is just a movie....

TK, "Indians (dot, not feather)" you made me milkshake come out my nose!

My milkshake is better than yours. I could teach you, but I'd have to charge.

I'm very late to this and no one is still reading I'm sure. My pet peeve is that all successful, smart black people in American films have identity crises. I get it...pressure from the cultures around them, but oy, figure it out, already.

Oh and I'm sure it's been mentioned, but the dumb unattractive guy - smart attractive woman marriages in sitcoms....AARGH! What?! Why would that happen?!

Young, attractive, successful black women = long hair, big butt with teenie wittle waist, and pass the paper bag test.

When Camille Winbush appeared on television for the first time as the too-cute teen girl, I thought I'd faint from shock.

I've just realised my justification for my Cute Geek bash which i realised might be kinda bitchy, sorry, its the way films use it, like all nerds are secretly drop dead gorgeous model looking types who just need the friendly sassy shallow types to reveal the inner them-this stereotype that all any geek wants is to be made over and crafted into a clone of their direct rivals.
Most geeks i know are pretty proud of how they are, they're comfortably in their geekery and would cringe at the thought of a make over.
that might be more cliche than stereotype though...

Ok, It's a Wonderful Life... Mary, in the world without George Baily, is a mousy, skittish, spinster *librarian*.

But maybe I'm sensitive because I'm a mousy, skittish, spinster librarian too.

Depressing side note: Both the man who played Uncle Remus in Disney's Song of the South and Hattie McDaniel who played Mammy in Gone With the Wind were not allowed to attend their Oscar ceremonies WHERE THEY WON!!!!

Along with women needing men to be fulfilled in romantic comedies, why do all the women have to suffer from these stupid pratfalls? Falling, tripping, singing awful karaoke, falling into a body of water and/or dropping things on themselves apparently qualify women to be worthy of the love of a man?

Another reason to like Definitely, Maybe. All the women were intelligent, independent, and didn't trip over their own feet.

And this one is probably rare enough so I'm the only person on earth who cares, but why is it that when any ethnic person living in their poor, ethnic neighborhood can only become successful by going to the rich white school a 90-minute bus-ride from their own home? Success is only achieved through the path taken by the rich white people? Please.

We might not see blackface (except when it is used to make a point, ala Bamboozled) any longer, but Hollywood hasn't missed a step. My biggest complaint lies with the "White man as clever savior to ignorant people who are not White".
Blood Diamond.
The Last Samurai (which disgusted me so much I wanted to walk out of the premiere). There's two excellent, recent examples of popular movies that few had any issue with. Why? Because it is so insidious. Appallingly few people who saw either of those two examples of racially motivated writing, ever got it. I STILL get in arguments with people about it.

We have not learned a thing, though I suppose the fact that many people at least try to one degree or another, is a distinct improvement over the gleefully cruel depictions and mores of the past. I wouldn't say there are fewer racists - they've just learned to be sneakier about their biases for the most part. I don't worry about the hooded klansmen or the White Supremacists who trumpet their hatred to the skies, thus rendering themselves known to all - worry about the quiet ones; the ones with the real power pulling the strings, who know how to conceal virulent hatred behind a facade of patriotism and sharky grins.

Interesting. So, the fact that within a space of 6 months, he became a better Samurai warrior than the Samurai themselves - due no doubt to his superior genetics - and that there was NO White dude who led the historical battles (and even delivered the final coup de grace to Watanabi's historical character) depicted, no White dude who talked the emperor into closing trade with the West...none of that made you go "hmmm?" Cruise's character only got his arse handed to him for a tiny bit, then suddenly he was Super-Samurai - smarter, faster, sharper eyed than anyone else.
Please.

If you are going to make a movie about factual Japanese events, don't interject Tom Friggin' Cruise into it as the supposed cause of how history came out. His character wasn't based upon anything except selling what the American public is accustomed to: a Caucasian hero.

Well, one of my least favorite cliches in movies is that most of them seemingly must be set in New York or L.A., as though there's nothing in between. Even if the story doesn't specifically require either of those locations.

And, being from Texas, it irks me how Texas and Texans are portrayed in movies.

1. We all wear cowboy hats and/or boots, and drive battered pickup trucks.

2. There are no big cities in Texas, if you rely on the movies. Everything is set out in the middle of nowhere. Preferably desert.

3. The racist redneck stereotype goes with anything from the South.

4. Everyone has a hambone accent, exaggeratedly Southern, not necessarily Texan.

5. We all can ride horses if the occasion requires it.

No confusion between the slave name and the Van Doren, just a typo. And what an, ahem, overenthusiatic response to one, hmm?

I know that the novel GWtW was only three years older than the movie, it hardly could've been written in the antebellum period. Outside of general knowledge, I got roped by a former co-worker into reading that Ya-Ya book, and they just fall into raptures about that book.

As for STAR WARS, I haven't any of them. I've heard the complaints, so that didn't exactly drive me the theatres. Still, I know not whereof I speak on that subject, so I'll leave it you guys.

"to no Asians at all in Serenity."

[i]So it's necessary for every cast to always look like the United Colors of Benetton or else it's evilbadwrong.

Whatever.
twig[/i]

I didnt even imply that.
I am simply saying, if you are going to use a specific ethnicity as part of your story, at least try and cast the damn thing with some actors of that ethnicity.
What, are there no asian actors to play any of those parts?
yeah...whatever.

[i]But if you look at it, if the universe of Serenity is indicative of post-Civil War Western U.S., then China fills the Spanish/Mexico role. While they had great influence over the culture, it didn't automatically mean their people were the dominant race.

Besides, there were Asians in the series, and both it and the movie had too narrow a focus for such a judgment to be accurate.
vermillion[/i]

except that Spaniards are white Europeans so .....

I have only seen the series once on DVD and the movie once, so perhaps I missed the Asian character, but when the marathon aired last Monday I caught a few of the episodes and saw a bunch of white folks in space ( sorry Zoe, Preacher) and one very wierd black bounty hunter. Oh,thats right, there was an asian whore....that makes it all better....

It was just an example anyway of what many other posters have alluded to far more eloquently than I. There is a anglocentric bigotry in many productions that should make any thinking person wonder.

"I know that the novel GWtW was only three years older than the movie, it hardly could've been written in the antebellum period. "

Sorry--I must have misunderstood your post. The use of "older" in that context didn't seem to reflect "amount of time it would take to produce an epic movie based on a current best-seller."

I read most of the comments - I admit I skimmed through some, but I'm really surprised no one has brought up movies like "Sam I Am" or "The Other Sister" where regular actors pretend to be developmentally disabled. The movie with Cuba Gooding Jr., "Radio", was on the other day and I just wanted to throw something at the TV after watching for two minutes! It's just another version of white people being painted to play different ethnicities, it's downright gross, and to top it off - the point of these movies seems to be (I am guessing because I haven't been able to watch any of them) that people with such disabilities only exist for us "normal" folk to learn compassion, patience, insert other important life lesson here. It astounds me that people are STILL taking these roles and are nominated for AWARDS for them.

Mace Windu is a JEDI, not a magical person.

Re: Asians in Firefly - how about River Tam? Although Simon sure doesn't look Asian (or like her brother, but oh well).

Also, SPra, clearly I was forgetting the movie, having recently only reread the first two books, I will have to take a look for your eastern-type bad guys when I get to the third one. I do remember some elaborately costumed elephant riders but I don't actually recall what they looked like, other than the fancy outfits. I always remember the human bad guys as being more Eastern European than anything else. Must be just me.

Anne, River Tam and Simon Tam is kinda the point I am trying to make. The creators went to the trouble to even use Asian surnames and yet there was a lack of Asian ethnicity in the series/movie as a whole. And nobody else has to agree with me, it is just a thing that irritates me in all kinda movies.

Qin wode pigu,enough about this gorram sacred cow, Sha gua.

Finally, I would like to say the best overthetop stereotype movie ever has got to be Blazing Saddles.
Still relevant and that is just too bad for us.
Thank you Mel Brooks!

Marlon Brando as a Japanese man in a Musical. I can't remember the name of the film, but I found it incredibly insulting.

Anyone know what the name of the film is?

1. Three words: Rob. Schneider. Cameo. "Yoo ken doo eet!" And his "Asian" guy in Chuck and Larry.

2. Does anyone else think it's weird and a little creepy that the majority of female homicide victims on CSI are young, hot, skinny girls? Who we get to see 98% nude in the inevitable autopsy scene? And don't get me started on torture porn (e.g., I Know Who Killed Me)...

3. Sarina, you are a very funny person.

Way late to catch this train, and this is sort of a minor concern compared to some of the biggies on this list, but the universal equation of American Southern accent = ignorant hick is pretty annoying. Most of my family is from the Gulf Coast, which is as deep south as you can get without getting your feet wet, and by and large they have Southern accents. Having moved from Mobile, Alabama to Minneapolis, Minnesota in high school, I learned to lose mine pretty quickly, but that leads me to my "cringe" moment.

This is in TV, not movies, so forgive me if it's a little outside the topic, but I caught an episode of that show Supernatural on TV once and it was about a family of inbred, cannibalistic hicks who kidnapped people and then hunted them for sport. The entire family had absurdly strong Southern accent, but the episode was supposed to take place in Minnesota.

Now, there are definitely hicks in Minnesota, just as there are hicks pretty much everywhere you go, but Minnesotan hicks have Minnesotan accents. This whole Southern accent as shorthand for stupid, inbred (and cannibalistic?) people is just lazy writing.

"And while we're on it, any guesses what the Pajibans three generations from now will be taking our films to task for, philosophically?"

Two words: The Birdcage.

take the example of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. We hear all about the dashing soldiers in their dishy red uniforms, but the savagery of the Napoleonic Wars, which is what they would've been fighting, isn't mentioned. [...] Why was something so HUGE just left out?

Well, the book is about women's lives, and the social injustice central to the characters is women's necessity to marry well. War just was not relevant to their lives. Whether or not the men they fancied along the way had killed people in faraway lands just didn't come in to it, not to mention the fact that the women just would not have necessarily known what war was like. No war porn in the evening news back then.

***

Late additions, but what the heck:

Specific cringe-moment:

40 days and 40 nights. All of it, but especially the repercussions of the rape scene.

Picture this: woman's ex boyfriend sneaks into her apartment and rapes her in her sleep. New boyfriend finds out about this, and dumps said woman because of what has just happened - after all, she was supposed to have been abstaining from sex!

But somehow it's all okay when the person forcing themselves on an ex is a sexy woman, and the man really should apologise to new girlfriend because, being a man, even sex he didn't want must have been sex he liked.

Generic cringe events:

*Even when mixed-ethnic groups of friends come together, any falling in love happens between members of the same ethnic group. If you're black and you aways hang out with your two white BFFs, and meet a group of the opposite sex with similar ethnic representations, if you have any action coming your way in the film, it will be with the other black character.

*Foreign characters are marked by their preposterous accents, and tendency to sprinkle their speech with native words like Da, Merci and Nein. Because the English equivalents of those words would not at all have been the first they learnt in their very first ever English class...

*No-one is average. You have an ugly friend? Lucky they can hack into CIA computers! Are you a scientific genius? Well, so is your kid! I mean, these things are soooo hereditary! You live either in a two-story white picket dream in suburbia, or the projects! No-one has jobs they have to have (unless they're high-school kids) but dream jobs like sports writer or fashion editor, glamour jobs like hot-shot lawyer (is there any other kind?), or ambiguous well-paid jobs where all we know is you have a mobile phone and are busy! The underdog will always overcome the odds to win, spectacularly so - because it would just be uninspiring to show that the guy who's been training in [insert sport here] five years longer than you could - gasp! - actually be better at it that you, even if they are nasty to their girlfriend.

Please, how about a movie where a quantity surveyor and a human resources officer work normal hours to pay the mortgage on their two-bedroom house (or apartment in a non-ritzy building) in need of renovation. They read newspapers, eat hummus and watch occasional foreign films, but neither is outlandishly smart, sophisticated or snobby. Their child does not learn to read faster than everyone else, has not been booked into an elite school since birth, and does not make adults change their ways with pertinent comments. The child eats crayons sometimes, but is not autistic. Their friends include grad students, truck drivers and middle-aged people - not as shrieking stereotypes or as vessels to show how very eclectic and 'tolerant' our main characters are, but because that's just how people are.