Summer Movies – Wall-E and Wanted | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

Summer Movies – Wall-E and Wanted

by Latoya Peterson

For some strange reason, I’ve found myself in the multiplex more times in the last week than I have in the last couple months. I caught Wall-E and Wanted, and I am heading toward The Dark Knight this weekend. (Hancock is still being debated by my friends who fall into two camps – “Will Smith is hot” and “Wait for the DVD.”)

With that in mind, here’s my take on the two films I saw.

Wall-E

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

We brought a four year old to Wall-E, and it was her first movie ever. However, unlike the two 24 year olds and 27 year old who were enraptured by every little bit in the movie, she was overwhelmed – and then bored. I am starting to think these animated kid movies are really for the adults that drag the kids out of the house to go see them.

Wall-E is charming and sweet. Pixar really did find a way to humanize this little robot and did so early in the movie. Before anyone else arrived on the scene, most of us in the theater had already fallen for Wall-E, who desperately wants to experience love, and his pet roach (who lives in a Twinkie). There are other great reviews of Wall-E on the internet, but I want to focus on my favorite – Jay Smooth’s:

“Wal-Mart killed all the poor people so they could replace them with robot labor and then sent Wall-E to bury the evidence!”

I love it. Overall, I highly recommend Wall-E, despite its tokenized representation of people of color and sizeist overtones. It’s all about the robots anyway.

Wanted

Dear readers, I am going to say something I rarely ever have cause to say on this blog:

I take it all back.

I have never been so happy to not see a woman of color in a role in my life. They can’t blame us for this one!

I went into Wanted expecting an action flick to remember. The movie started off well – a tall, lean, sharply dressed South Asian woman is in the opening scenes. I remember thinking Whoa, bad ass – is she an assassin too? She was revealed to be a munitions expert. As she scrutinized a specially made bullet, a laser sight swept across the room conveniently landing on her bindi. Her head is blown to bits before she can finish her work.

Ah well, so much for that hope.

Heroine Content nails quite a bit of the racism and sexism in the movie:

The film gives us three female characters–lead antihero Wes (James McAvoy) begins the movie with both a nagging, cheating girlfriend (Kristen Hager) and a bitchy, always-eating, “comically obese” boss (Lorna Scott), both of whom he resents and immediately ditches when he finds out his other options, coming back only to insult and humiliate them further, in case the viewer missed out on the hatred of them the first time. For the majority of the film, however, the only female character is Wes’ assassin trainer, Fox (Angelina Jolie).

And though Jolie has her fair share of badass moves and I did get a little thrill out of her kicking her reluctant pupil’s ass, she really doesn’t shine here. Nothing about her character sets her apart as a heroine, rather than just another soldier who can also be used as bait sexually. [...]

So what we have is one of the film’s only moral and upright characters, and only strong female, turned from black to white, while the villain is turned from white to black. Not hard to see the racism there.

Not only does Wanted fail all possible Heroine Content tests for both racism and sexism, it’s just a bad movie, and it’s a rip-off. For the first twenty minutes you are watching Fight Club, only not as good, and then you start watching The Matrix, only not as a good.

J. Caleb Mozzocco, writing for his blog Everyday is Like Wednesday, wrote an excellent take down of the race issues in the Wanted comic:

The moral point of view of the movie is also almost opposite of that expressed in the comic; the film’s Wesley is a bit arrogant and a total badass assassin, but he’s still the hero; he’s not a murderer, rapist and villain, as he is in the comic.

Movie-Wesley also isn’t a racist.

Is Comic Book-Wesley? I’m not sure, but the case can certainly be made that he is. Or, at the very least, that the white character has some issues with characters with darker skin than his. Or should the case be made that it is the character’s creator, the guy filling his head with thoughts and his mouth with words, who has some issues? [...]

I’m not sure what to make of this scene. He points out that she’s African-American in the narration, and in the next sentence says “I’m embarrassed by the situation.” Embarrassed that he’s being yelled? Or that he’s being yelled at by his “African-American boss” as he says, or that he has an “African-American boss” at all?

I don’t know. But including the words “African-American” to the narration at all encourages one of the latter readings. The art clearly indicates that the woman he’s talking about is African-American, so why redundantly mention her race if he was only embarrassed by the fact that he was taking shit from his boss?

Mozzocco also clearly paints the picture of the role of Fox, which I suppose is why Cheryl Lynn was glad the part went to Angelina Jolie:

The only other black character in the book is Catwom—er, Halle Berr—er, The Fox, and while she has substantially more panel-time than, say, The Professor or Mr. Rictus, her character is hardly more developed: She likes having sex (to the point that she regards both Gibsons as life support systems for their cocks, which is all she’s interested in about them), she likes money, she likes killing people and she never, ever lets her nouns and verbs or tenses agree.

Considering these scenes, it’s understandable why the filmmakers wouldn’t want to stay too faithful to the source material—some of it is pretty ugly, and would give the film a lot more baggage than anyone would reasonably want to invest millions of dollars into lugging around in public.

So essentially, the film is less racist than the comic. And they decided to swap out the bitchy black boss for a bitchy white fat boss? Just magical.

My anger at the Wanted movie went even deeper than the racial stereotypes though. I can leave aside the fact that there was no character development of the side characters. Common is one of the assassins and as far as I can tell, he was paid to smolder in the corner. Every time we see him, he’s giving someone the hairy eyeball. But that and only that. He has three lines the entire movie. But whatever – no one else had lines to speak either.

The Fox has limited screen time, heavy on the ass kicking. She gets one monologue near the end, designed to reveal her humanity, but by that time there isn’t enough attachment to the character to feel anything as she tells her tale.

Sloan is a stereotypical villain. The only glimpse of potential from the character comes from close to the end of the film, where’s he’s giving his standard issue supervillain speech and breaks with the haughty high-handed language to implore his cronies to “shoot this motherfucker” and get back to business. A brief moment of levity in an otherwise boring ass scene, with another boring villain-escaped-so-I-scream-his-name-into-an-empty-room scene right after.

And there was my main issue with Wanted.

For a white guy against the world flick, it was boring as all hell.

While there were a couple scenes that gave me some grim amusement (the “Fuck You” flying keyboard was a nice touch) the movie was just flat. I didn’t care about any of the characters. The protagonist was annoying. I saw the first plot twist coming twenty minutes before it played out on scene and started guessing the dialogue in my head.

I haven’t done that since I saw Batman and Robin.

I wasn’t even this bored when I saw the Departed, which is a movie based on a film I already saw six times. (Note to self: check all reviews of big budget movies before you go see them, lest you see the remake of your favorite HK action flick butchered.)

As we exited the theater, my friend Hae turned to me, confused.

“I don’t know why I didn’t like it,” she said. “It had everything I normally like – action, guns, stunts, cars…”

I wanted to break down all the levels of suck for her, but I didn’t know where to begin.

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Comments

atlasien wrote:

I’m not planning on seeing Wanted. From all the reviews, it sounds so bad and so misogynistic that I’d probably have walked out halfway through.

Which is too bad, because I absolutely loved Daywatch and Nightwatch, the Russian movies from the director, Timur Bekmambetov. They were completely over-the-top in terms of action and fantastic elements, but still very humanistic when it came to the emotions of the characters.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 7:10 am ¶
prof bw wrote:

I hadn’t actually read the Wanted comic book before and reading your review I am of two minds: 1. I wish I had b/c I would never have gone to this painful movie (painful as in I wanted Jolie to come put a bullet in my head if there was no other way of escaping the theater before the end) and 2. I wish I had b/c the scathing review of the boss character I did on my blog review would have been that much more scathing and nuanced. This movie was among the biggest disappointments of the summer for me and I am still trying to figure out whether it’s the housing crisis (ie they all had mortgage payments) that made Jolie, McAvoy, and Freeman do this film or . . . It’s a smarmy, dirty (as in grime), offensive film in which if I were an assassin the main character would have been dead before the plot even unfolded.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 7:16 am ¶
Tiffany wrote:

Is it a bad habit that I go to the movies EVERY weekend..

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 7:20 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:

Re WALL-E: EVE reminds me of the few animebots I’ve seen, especially her giggle

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 7:41 am ¶
SarahSimone wrote:

The sexism in Wanted really bothered me also. I don’t know anything about the comic book, so all my observations are strictly from the film.

The stereotypes of the nagging shrewish cheating girlfriend especially and the cruel and obese boss who loves to humiliate him are set up against this fantasy badass impossible gorgeous woman. And yes, Jolie’s character is an ass kicker, but she also has no qualms about betraying Wesley if she has to. I read the ending of the film as a femme fatale/she had to do penance for being willing to kill him, ie: bitches just can’t be trusted.

But what bothered me the most was the complete absence of, you know, HIS MOTHER. The entire film is based around wanting to make his dead daddy proud (and I found it interesting that once he found out his father was a professional assassin, it was suddenly all OK that his father had totally abandoned him). If he grew up without a father, it seems to me like it MIGHT be important to know something about his mother. Is she dead? She dropped him on the steps of a church? She worked 3 jobs to put food on the table? Just SOME piece of information would have been nice to help set up his backstory.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 8:46 am ¶
RoslynHolcomb wrote:

IMO, all the Pixar movies are too long and complex for a child to enjoy in one sitting. IMO, they are designed for the DVD market because they know the kid is going to watch them over and over again. This way, the parents are entertained at the theatre, and, of course want to share the experience with their kids so they buy the DVD as well. My son is also four, and though he saw the movie at the theatre, we’ll be buying the DVD as well.

I’m still trying to recover from a five hour Cars marathon on our last road trip. Yes, my son watched that movie three times, and I praise God for it!

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 8:52 am ¶
Jus Plain Ol Me wrote:

I’m BACK! I too was very disappointed with Wanted. Admittedly, I did not know about the background story and the change in the race of the major characters.

Latoya: Please go see Hancock. I don’t want to play spoiler, but there is at least one [major] aspect of the movie that I believe would be pertinent to this website. I’m interested to hear your take.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 8:53 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@SarahS -

Yes, that last “hark, view the body of the dead angel” shot annoyed the fuck out of me. To be good, you must sacrifice for teh menz.

And I also hated that ridiculous six skull piercing bullet. Aren’t all these mofos trained assassins? And yet they look on as they are comically dispatched one by one by the same bullet. If the movie had thought bubbles, it would read “oh noes!” LOLKittehs could have done a better job with that scene.

The mom thing doesn’t surprise me. I was checking BetaCandy’s post on why Hollywood has issues with strong woman leads:

Only to learn there was still something wrong with my writing, something unanticipated by my professors. My scripts had multiple women with names. Talking to each other. About something other than men. That, they explained nervously, was not okay. I asked why. Well, it would be more accurate to say I politely demanded a thorough, logical explanation that made sense for a change (I’d found the “audience won’t watch women!” argument pretty questionable, with its ever-shifting reasons and parameters).

At first I got several tentative murmurings about how it distracted from the flow or point of the story. I went through this with more than one professor, more than one industry professional. Finally, I got one blessedly telling explanation: “The audience doesn’t want to listen to a bunch of women talking about whatever it is women talk about.”

So, in sum – bitches talk too much.

Wanted already had a hot silent chick to impose fantasies on, a bitchy kind of hot chick to take vengeance on and a fat chick to humiliate for having the audacity to be a bitch while fat – no room for other talky women. Too many as it is.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:03 am ¶
cosmicsistren wrote:

I didn’t know that Wanted was from a comic book. I didn’t like the movie at all. I thought the stunts were too over the top. The scene that comes to mind was when Jolie and the McAvoy were trying to kill someone. She speeds up turns around and drives ontop of the other car. I almost walked out of the theatre after that. Then I remembered that I had snuck in to see it so I didn’t feel bad for spending money on it.

I liked Hancock though. Go see it Latoya.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:04 am ¶
lxy wrote:

Who is the author behind the _Wanted_ comic book?

I’ll wager its a dorky White boy living out his Ubermensch fantasies.

Many comic books specifically speak to the resentments and pathologies of this class in general.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:08 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Ixy –

If you follow the Mozzocco link, you’ll find some bits about Mark Millar’s past comic history, as well as some unsavory parts of the Wanted comic I didn’t excerpt. (Spike Lee extras? Cholos? Anyone not white and hetero – yep, a fag reference too – gets it.)

I need to email some of the comic-femmes I know and ask about his treatment of the X-Men franchise.

@JPOM & CosmicS –

Hae is in the “Will Smith is hot” camp. I guess I’ll drag her along.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:14 am ¶
Jack D. wrote:

re “I am starting to think these animated kid movies are really for the adults that drag the kids out of the house to go see them.”: My eyes rolled up in my head two complete revolutions over this statement. … Where did this assumption come from, that animated movies are, by default, always appropriate entertainment for children? That adults aren’t the intended audience for cartoony features? … Yes, I know, I know — that’s an argument for another blog. But sheesh. Stop prejudging, people; pay a little more attention to content, not appearance.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:50 am ¶
Philly Phil wrote:

Mark Millar is a Scotish comic book writer. I’m a fan of some of his work but not of WANTED. Honestly, I never gave it a chance because i judged the book by its’ cover. The main protagonist looked too much like Eminem and Eminem equals crap.

I was a fan of the Authority, though. Anyone who can successfully create the Superman/Batman duo into two gay heroes, Apollo and the Midnighter, and have them kick ass at such an insane level gets a thumbs up from me.

Latoya – are you a fan of any of his work?

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:53 am ¶
Philly Phil wrote:

also, in regards to WANTED, i kinda liked it because of the over the top action sequences that Timur is famous for. but mostly thought it sucked because, well, it sucked.

i was mostly distracted by trying to guess which corners of Chicago these scenes were shot at. it was nice to see my city represented in an action movie. i’ll be doing that all night tonite when i catch the midnight showing of BATMAN.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:56 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Jack D – As an older toon fan and a longtime reader of Cartoon Brew and other comic critique blogs, no, animated features are not just for children, nor would an anime fan like myself argue that.

But Disney/Pixar’s features are generally marketed to children which is why their ads appear during children’s TV time slots or on the side of Happy Meals at McDonalds.

Some cartoons/animated features are marketed to adults (see: Family Guy, American Dad, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the Boondocks, Anything on Adult Swim, AfroSamurai, Home Movies, etc. etc.)

But not Disney Pixar stuff. We may have adult aficionados of their stuff, and they may have jokes to entertain the captive adults who are with their target market, but the market for these types of features remains children.

@Philly Phil – Nope. Most of the comics I spend my cash on are written by women or PoCs. Wasn’t familiar with Millar’s work until the ads for Wanted came out, which is why I defaulted to Mozzocco and Cheryl Lynn’s opinions.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:00 am ¶
Philly Phil wrote:

latoya – really? can you recommend some? obviously, this is a conscious choice but for how long have you been doing this? why?

i mostly gravitate towards crime comics nowadays and, here and there, my street vigilantes like Daredevil or Punisher. I can’t take the theatrics of X-Men anymore. Some of the Ultimate Universe stuff is well-written but I never buy them. DC Vertigo is where it’s at. A shame Marvel doesn’t have something similar for their fans.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:12 am ¶
ptbb news wrote:

wanted was boring as heck the action is in the previews, Hancock was funny i really enjoyed it out of all, i also went to Get Smart which was just ok. the studios are fooling people with crappy movies and they are running out of ideas using the same tried people and greenlight junk redoing old tv shows etc. time for new fresh writers and idea people oh and i forgot Indy jones was action packed but he’s too old to be beating up 20 and 30 year old men.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:13 am ¶
DEAF FEMINIST PUNK!! wrote:

WANTED was awesome. I adore Jolie and I have a huge crush on James McAvoy (yeah, yeah, whatever), the action sequences were awesome. The movie didn’t bother me one bit, but I wish they had given Jolie a bigger role, because she IS a huge star.

Otherwise, t’s just a fun summer flick, nothing more, nothing less.

Wall-E was so cute. I want a robot pet!!! Overall Wall-E was brilliant and genius with a good message.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:14 am ¶
patrick wrote:

Wall-E totally looks like the robot from “Short Circuit”… minus the cheesy 80’s style of course

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:30 am ¶
veggiegrrl wrote:

We were thinking about taking our 3-year-old to see Wall-E – it would be his first movie, too.

Then we showed him the trailer online, and he said it was “scary” and started cowering behind the sofa.

So, yeah. Definitely more for the adults than the kids…

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:33 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@PhillyPhil –

*warning, this comment is ridiculously long*

I was really big into comics and I can’t remember when I got into them, just that I was always asking to buy some. Since I was unaware of the existence of comic stores, I was stuck with what was stocked in 7-11 and Kmart. Lots of Betty & Veronica, Simpsons Comics, stuff like that. I read classic stuff like TinTin in the libraries and remembered reading a couple of graphic novels before the genre got hot. Through TV I discovered the X-Men and Batman and really fell for them hard – that’s when I figured out I could go to comic book stores and get the info straight from the source.

I think Spawn was also getting hot then, and I dabbled in that a bit, but I was enthralled with the worlds created by the X-Men and Batman. I was so into X-men (both the show and the comic) that I remember writing some horribly cheesy fan-fic in order to insert myself into the plotline. Never had the urge to do that with Batman because Gotham was so dark and fascinating, I preferred to observe.

As I became more conscious socially and more involved in creating my own work – I used to write a lot of fiction – my interest in comics started to wane. There was no one who looked like me and no one I could relate to. While I still was able to glean some enjoyment from comics, I felt like a lot of my excitement was just leading up to disappointment. So I left.

I spent a few years immersing myself in fantasy and sci-fi to fill the void that comics left behind. A few years into that, Batman Beyond came on the TV and sparked a renewed interest in the character – but I shied away from going back to the comics. I think I had also left Batman alone for a while after sitting through Batman and Robin.

Then, a friend introduced me to manga, which is like book crack. I was hooked from the jump and stayed completely immersed in manga for a few years after that.

In 2003, I started working at a photo store that was right near a comic shop. The comic shop had a manga club where you could get discounted books if you bought a certain number per month. (My friends jokingly referred to the clerks at the store as my “pushers”). But being in the proximity of American comics, I started to drift toward them again.

I started following Too Much Hopeless Savages, then slid into Scooter Girl and Blue Monday, tripped in the Sandman and Strangers in Paradise, a few other one – off comics that I can’t remember off the top of my head. I also started giving American made manga a chance. (I’ll do a post on that when I get some time – it’s one of the few places you find characters of color in the manga world).

It’s been a while since I have gotten a good comic recommendation, as a lot of my friends are coming out of it due to time restraints. I’ve been recommended American Born Chinese and Shortcomings in the last year, but that’s about it.

They opened a new comic store near my new job, and like a true addict, I couldn’t resist heading back inside. Things were as I remembered – cramped (as they always are), shitty customer service, fanboys that ignore you, all the shit that comes with the American comic experience.

But, I walked out of there with a book. Apparently, someone had been paying attention and gave Harley Quinn her own hardback. Now I want to get back into Gotham, but I’ve been out 10 years. The only thing I’ve read in the meantime is Hush.

I’m also playing around with Wonder Woman again. There was a cover where her boot is on Batman’s head, so you know I want to check that out.

But I still feel some reluctance. There isn’t much love for my race or my gender in comics. I’m sick of seeing my heroines raped. (That day, I was going to buy the Wonder Woman/Batman comic, but I skimmed through to see what I was getting. I saw a plotline with two women characters revolving around a past rape, so I put it back. I reconsidered, but when I went back they had sold it.)

I may go back and have a convo with the owner of the other comic shop I used to frequent – he’d be the best guide I can get to get back into the swing of things. Then again, do I want to start pumping money into an industry that doesn’t concern itself with my existence?

Then again (again) the stuff that Torchbearers posts looks really interesting.

http://community.livejournal.com/torchbearers/

If you scroll through, you’ll see snippets of comics, write ups, and announcements of carnivals and things.

Torchbearers and When Fan Girls Attack are kind of pushing me back toward comics.

I suppose we’ll see.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:34 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

Oh, and I fucking love Oni Press – they published a few of the titles I have up there and this, which is currently piquing my interest:

http://community.livejournal.com/torchbearers/33416.html#cutid1

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:45 am ¶
Tariq Nelson wrote:

@ Latoya

Wait for the DVD on Hancock. It was ok, but not worth an evening at the movies

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:53 am ¶
DEAF FEMINIST PUNK!! wrote:

LaToya, there’s been attempts for the past 7 years to bring Wonder Woman onscreen. Josh Whedon was going to write (and direct?) it but he dropped out due to creative disagreements.

I wonder if they’ll be open to casting a non-white, dark-haired woman to play her (she does have BLACK hair after all).

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:53 am ¶
dave wrote:

yeah i saw wanted … some of the action was good, but all the characters were hollow and the misogyny was pretty rampant.

the comment re: where was his mother is pretty spot on, glad someone wondered that.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 10:59 am ¶
Me wrote:

I must say I disagree about Wanted. I really really enjoyed it even though I dont usually like these types of films. I thought that Fox was a very empathetic character. They developed her character more roundly than everyone elses by explaining why she does what she does — the traumatic murder of her father as a child because a member of the league of assisins took pity on their victim who turned out to be the murderer. I get the sexisim, however, though Morgan Freeman was the villian I did not see it as racist in the least. Nor do I take issue with Common being a villian because he was one of the least offensive villians in the whole movie. Clearly Fox could have been played by a black woman, I’ll give you that. They clearly could have taken out the ebonics etc endemic to the comic. But even with that, I thought this was a surprisingly good movie, and I thought Jolie did a darn good job. I left thinking “this is one bad ass chick, and if they had to replace the black girl, at least it was for someone who did a really good job.” The decision, this time, might not have been based on race. You have to give them props for not making his boss black too. If she were, I would not have been able to enjoy the movie at all.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:06 am ¶
Joseph wrote:

@Latoya
I suppose I am outing my own ridiculous fanboy past with this but… a wave of (white, straight, male) UK writers began working in US comics starting in the 80s (Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Mark Millar…) who became superstars. I like some of these guys more than others but a lot of them write from a position of unquestioned, creepy Euro-privilege. And that plays out in racist and sexist representations layered on top of the usual white-boy adventures mainstream comics are known for.

Predictably there has been no real criticism of this dimension of their work. (If you think “Wanted” is bad you should check out Ennis’ “The Pro”…about a super powered whore…but it’s ok because it is a satire. Riiiight.)

Now that comics are being developed into films left and right this becomes more important to expose and analyze because the reactionary sex/race politics of this niche media become even more grotesque resized to fit the big screen. The US American comic creator Frank Miller’s “300″ is a perfect example of this. And images from that racist/nationalist/orientalist/homophobic phantasy were actually used by Italian fascists in campaign posters.

So even if people don’t care about comics (or action films) I think this is an important issue for progressives. It is literally the intersection of race and pop culture.”

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:17 am ¶
Thea wrote:

My sister and I went to see Wall-E and liked it, but afterwards we did worry slightly about the fact that all of our people clearly don’t make it into the future. Also, the underlying message of the movie is “Don’t worry if we trash the planet! Eventually it will all sort itself out. Except if you’re a Chinese (or South Asian, or Middle Eastern, or…). You guys all get wiped out.”

Thanks for the heads-up re: Wanted. The trailers for Wanted looked really stupid, with Angelina Jolie appeared to be playing her regular “OooI’mbadI’msexyhavesexwith me” role – but it got medium reviews and I love action movies so I almost went to see it. But now I won’t. Phew!

I was really looking forward to seeing Hancock but then a friend told me that apart from being super problematic, it was also really boring. Sigh. Crossing my fingers that Batman is good.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:31 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Tariq – No, I’ll go see Hancock. It’s a Will Smith movie with the script completed by an Asian American man. I’ll call it my $9 penance for wasting money on Wanted.

@Joseph – Duly noted. I’ll see what I can do.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:33 am ¶
Alexandra wrote:

I saw Wanted a week or two ago, while I liked the action scenes the racism and misogyny got too be a bit much. Everything you pointed about really irked me to. I really disliked that they used woman of color as basically cannon fodder. I was annoyed that Sloan was the villain. I even more annoyed that Common was the gunsmith and Dato Bakhtadze was the butcher. They made the African-American man a gun expert and the Hispanic man a knives expert come on could they have been any more stereotypical.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:40 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Alexandra –

OMG, how did I forget the knife thrower? In my head I was calling him “The Pussy Guy” because of how often he said the word.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:43 am ¶
Philly Phil wrote:

latoya – who writes the one revenge tale for Oni Press?

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:44 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

I’m not sure. The only writer I follow who was published there is Chyna Clugston Major – I just happen to catch their little label at the top of a lot of things that catch my interest.

If you are asking about the Shot Callerz book, it’s:

Shot Callerz (Paperback)
by Gary Phillips (Author), Brett Weldele (Author)

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:57 am ¶
Arturo wrote:

re: Warren Ellis. I hated Wanted as a comic so much it turned me off even watching this movie. The production money would’ve been much better spent on Nextwave, which featured Monica Rambeau.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 12:01 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

Mark Millar does nothing for me… but I have to admit, I LOVE almost anything by Garth Ennis (Punisher included). It’s that sick black humor… but he’s talented in all other directions too. A lot of his stuff is extremely offensive, but he often has his heart in the right place.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 12:02 pm ¶
Jack D. wrote:

Hey, Latoya –
In regard to your comment, above, defending assumptions about animated features (specifically Pixar), “We may have adult aficionados of their stuff … but the market for these types of features remains children.”:

1. There’s nothing about the TV commercials themselves that screams “MADE FOR KIDS.”
2. Other marketing promotions, ala toys? I can name dozens of adults that have toys on their office desks or other branded gadgets adorning their personal property (cars, keychains, etc.)

Child-like entertainment or playful modes of communication should not be equated with actual childhood audiences without careful consideration of the underlying material. Even the simplest fairytales were originally intended for adults as well as children, folklorists tell us, before being collected into published books. It’s our responsibility to make sure any cultural shifts that shape our assumptions about an entire class (of people, objects, genre, whatever) have a legitimate basis.

I’m not going to repost the entire synopsis, but here are some excerpts from RottenTomatoes, BEFORE the movie was released. Nothing here suggests it’s primarily a children’s movie:

” What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off Academy Award-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton and the inventive storytellers and technical geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios transport moviegoers to a galaxy not so very far away for a new computer-animated cosmic comedy about a determined robot. … After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future. … WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen. … Filled with surprises, action, humor and heart. …”

So why would an adult take a kid to this movie? Because it’s a cartoon. And maybe because it’s Pixar. (But on that point, Ratatouille was a brilliant adult film that also bored children, and Finding Nemo had just as much of a message that appealed to adults as it did to kids.)

If you examine your underlying assumptions about animation — and this point has a bare tangents to racism, at least in terms of critical thinking — and consciously dissect the commercial messages, there’s nothing in particular that would suggest that Wall*E was a movie targeted at children … other than the medium/genre itself.

This is another case of buying a book based on the artwork on its cover rather than asking a few informed consumer questions: Does this appeal to me personally, or am I projecting? Do I hold an unexamined bias regarding animation? Am I basing my decision on a few quick observations? And what is the underlying content and character of this material?

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 12:05 pm ¶
Tasha wrote:

Video is no longer available.
dang it i forgot postbourgie had it also and was waiting until after i saw it to view…now i can’t argh

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 12:26 pm ¶
Jaye wrote:

Action movies are the only Hollywood movies I watch with any consistency, so I was really looking forward to this film.
God, it was so painful to sit through. Contrasting the overweight female boss to Jolie’s character was just misogynistic and really pissed me off. I also thought it was strange that all was forgiven for the absent dad as soon as McEnvoy found out he was an assassin, and was actually watching him from a distance the whole time, so that proved that he loved his son…? The Oracle of the Loom or whatever it was called…that didn’t make any sense. And at the beginning, right after they shot the East Indian woman right through the head…the guy jumps out the window, kind of flies through the air and lands on the building across the street…did they ever explain his magical powers?

Finally, Jolie’s story about her traumatic past is used to explain why McEnvoy shouldn’t ask questions when he’s ordered to assassinate people, because if you did dare to ask questions about why you’re killing the people you’re ordered to kill…little girls like Jolie could end up without daddies. Did the outcome of the movie actually refute that moral lesson, I’m not sure. I was too irritated when I left the film to give it much thought.
I know Jolie is more worried about saving the real world than her role in films, but giving a little thought to the message you send out when you’re such a high-profile actress might be helpful.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 12:46 pm ¶
Philly Phil wrote:

am i missing something? why was it bad that common played a gunsmith or that the spainsh speaking guy was the knives expert?

i thought the knife expert was, to me at least, the most entertaining character in this shitty movie.

i was happy that the supporting characters represented the diversity of Chicago, the setting of the movie. that they were counted amongst the most deadliest assassins, roles typically played my caucasian actors, was nothing short of a miracle.

i wasn’t offended in the least in this regard. if anything, i was offended that i had to pay $10 for an undercooked action movie.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 12:55 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:

Aw, crap, my mistake. I forgot Wanted was by Millar and not Ellis. Now I definitely feel better for recommending Nextwave. Apologies!

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 1:01 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@PhillyPhil –

Undercooked is right. I am not sure if I just didn’t pick up on it (or maybe I’m just jaded) but the two didn’t seem like over the top minority stereotypes.

I am pissed that they underutilized almost every single actor in the movie. At *least* Common got his own little monologue at the end of Smoking Aces.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 1:04 pm ¶
Roy wrote:

Glad I didn’t waste my money on Wanted.

Mark Millar makes my teeth grind. Some of his work is okay, but a lot of it is just exactly the kind of schlock that makes people think comics are for prepubescent boys living in their ‘rents basements. Which is made worse by the fact that sometimes the concept is pretty good, but the execution is so juvenile and offensive. The original concept of Wanted (all of the DC villains get together to bring the hammer down on the heroes once and for all, leaving the villains to divide up the spoils, which leads to the villains fighting amongst themselves for control) was interesting to me, and definitely a set-up for some awesome smackdowns, but then he ruins it all. Ugh. Annoying.

Speaking of Wonderwoman and animation: have you seen any of the teaser images of the animated movie scheduled for next spring? I’m reserving judgement, but the teaser poster I saw at least has her looking more Greek than she’s usually presented.

I haven’t picked up the new Wonder Woman stuff, but Gail Simone is the current writer, and most of the reviews were positive when she took over.

And I think I’m years late, but some of the Minx label books are very good- Plain Janes and Re-Gifters were both very interesting, I thought.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 1:08 pm ¶
Alexandra wrote:

@Philly Phil and Lotoya
Maye I was little too sensitive about the way they were characterized because even though they highly regarded as assassins they did not get screen time and mostly served to help train the main character and then were later killed.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 1:13 pm ¶
Rosa wrote:

We took our 3 year old to see Wall-E, fwiw. Mostly because friends said “let’s go see Wall-E!” and we didn’t have a sitter.

The funny thing is, the stuff I was worried about (explosions, dead planet, shooting) didn’t bother him one little bit, but the scene where Eve was breaking stuff scared him, and there were two times when Eve left Wall-E behind when we had to leave the theater and go walk around outside and decompress.

It’s only the second movie he’s seen (the first was the Veggie Tales movie, which was definitely marketed to young kids, and scared the cr*p out of him).

It has to do with the individual kid, and their comprehension, attention span, and ability to cope with tension. Plus their ability to be quiet and the parent’s willingness to leave if it’s too much for them.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 1:20 pm ¶
Philly Phil wrote:

@ alexandra -
very underused indeed. but, to me, the best fight in the movie was between the butcher and the protagonist. good ol’ slice ‘em and dice ‘em. kinda like the knife fight between donnie yen and whats-his-face in killpoint, but shorter.

@ latoya – agreed. and that small scene with alicia keyes and common on the stairwell was the best love-at-first-sight scene EVER! (hyperbole?)

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 1:47 pm ¶
Vanessa wrote:

Wanted was an awesome and fun film. The fight scenes amazing. The music is just great. Common was hot. Jolie….perfection (but a bit thin). I loved her style, her behavior, and just her persona.
I don’t get the complaints…..this film was just pure pop-corn film…nothing serious.

Haven’t seen Wall-e but I hear it is really good.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 4:09 pm ¶
Kirk Van Irvin wrote:

@Roy: if you buy The Batman: Gotham Knights, you’ll get the WW Sneek peak. All they showed was layout, but the storyline looks good. It looks ike there going to make it in WWII. They also showed the main cast:
Keri Russell -Wonder Woman
Rosario Dawson – Artemis (great choice!)
Nathan Fillon-Steve Trevor(also great choice)
Alfred Molina -Ares
Virginia Madsen-Hippolyta

hope this helps.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 4:13 pm ¶
johnjihoonchang wrote:

Jack D. – Although I agree that animation is not just for children, working at Disney, I can tell you that Disney’s own assumption, in distribution, is that all of its Pixar/Disney branded content (thus removing Touchstone/Miramax, etc) is considered (at least) for children, but not exclusively children.

That said, I will agree with you that Wall-E in particular appears to be aimed at both children and their parents, in particular, the marketing appears to have been trying to make it a “whole family” film, not a “entertain your kids while you nap” film. Better that way anyway, because you get the ticket sale for the adult and the kid, as opposed to one adult (baby-sitter or short straw drawer) and a ton of kids.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 5:37 pm ¶
Vidya wrote:

I highly recommend Wall-E, despite its tokenized representation of people of color and sizeist overtones.

Frankly, this is enough to keep me away. I have read many reviews from fat rights bloggers, and while some enjoyed it, a number said that they felt really uneasy or even cried at the representations of fat futuristic people. While the director apparently claimed he was not trying to portray these people as fat (but rather as babylike), I have seen review after review in the mainstream press — the most saddening ones written by children — that make reference to how Wall*E ‘warns’ us that we will all end up as ‘obese blobs’ if we are greedy and lazy.
Sorry, Pixar, I don’t pay money to see fat people represented this way.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 9:08 pm ¶
Joseph wrote:

@Latoya
Just thought of this: you know Los Bros Hernandez’s “Love and Rockets”?

Brilliant. Amazing.

Back in the day (and for all you children that means the 80s–the 80s are “the Day,” okay?) Jaime and ‘Beto Hernandez wrote comics about POC who loved punk rock! I felt like they were writing about me. They changed my life!

All the major “Love and Rockets” arcs are anthologized by Fantagraphics. I can’t recommend these highly enough.

Posted 17 Jul 2008 at 11:12 pm ¶
CelloShots wrote:

To chime in on the Wall-E bashing, I have to repeat a criticism made by an acquaintance of mine–there’s no good reason for making a robot romance an indubitably heterosexual one. Why must genderless mechanical objects be clearly designated male and female? And when was the last time a heterosexual male obsessed over Hello Dolly? Plus, the sizeist crap was just too much to take. Maybe I’ll check out the DVD some day and discover that I was actually missing something crucial, but I really thought the best thing about it was Wall-E’s resemblance to Short Circuit’s Johnny 5.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 12:01 am ¶
PaulPortland wrote:

Joseph:

I have to admit really, really liking a lot of those UK writers that came in the wake of Alan Moore too. In fact, I’d have to agree with people who argue that this particular “British Invasion” saved American comics (well, for me, at least). Certainly, some of the material these guys put out were created from “a position of…creepy, Euro-privilege,” as you put it, but I got the sense (most of the time) that because they were “foreigners” working in a quintessentially American genre (the superhero funny book), they took much less for granted when it came to working with its tropes and conventions. Unlike American comic writers who are oftentimes myopic to the fascistic/ authoritarian/ power-trip/ revenge fantasy subtexts of superhero comics, and thus end up playing the ridiculousness of it all straight, writers like Moore (with Watchman), Morrison (with The Invisibles), Milligan (with Enigma), Ennis (with Preacher), Ellis (with Planetary), seemed to be able to approach superheroes with a more critical understanding of the types of questionable undertones the genre was relaying to its readers. The UK writers seemed to revel (well, at one time, at least) in taking the piss out of the sanctimonious morality American comic writers and readers liked to use to cloak the more honest and ugly reasons why they loved them some Batman, Superman, the Punisher, Wolverine, etc.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 12:53 am ¶
Joseph wrote:

@PaulPortland
Sure, I agree that these guys infused US American comics with a much-needed jolt of energy. (I loved Moore’s Swamp Thing, Ellis’ Stormwatch and recent Thunderbolts run, and Milligan’s X-Force for the reasons you’ve said) If this were a thread about comics in general I could geek out with the best of them about the highs and lows of these and other runs. But I thought it was worth pointing out that they all come from similar cultures in terms of the way some of them represent race and women, which speaks to the theme of this thread. I didn’t mean to over-generalize, I was just trying to add to the conversation. Although it is probably worth making the distinction between say, Alan Moore–who wrote some of the best female characters in mainstream comics in Promethea–and Mark Millar who, well, wrote Wanted…

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 11:59 am ¶
heyhey wrote:

I too just (finally) saw Wall.E this week, and compared to other Pixar pics it didn’t quite resonate with me as deeply. The first third was offered a wonderfully textured “trashopolis” landscape, and was engaging despite a near lack of dialog. Everything thereafter had a kind of familiar sterility that wasn’t as interesting.
Re: the sizeism of the ship’s inhabitants, I think Stanton did a good job of early on tying the image of the hover-seat bound adults to similarly dressed infants in their cribs. So at least for me, with that context, the (unfortunately really white) populace did read more as “grown babies” than anything else.
Yah, and kinda laughingly agree with the commenter that gave side-eye at the musical loving “straight” Wall.E. That became a post-movie discussion point: he collects antiques! He dances! He loves a musical too damn much! (Yes,we’re not the most high-brow film critics.)

As far as “Wanted”, my companion and I walked out with a resounding “meh”. Even walking in with lowered expectations, tonally it seemed off — not enough personality or pops of humor to offset the operatic violence. And regarding the violence– if you are going to go that route, the set pieces should escalate in scale, and I after that almost laughable car chase, everything else seemed less impressive (including the textile answer to Matrix’s “Federal Building” scene.)
With regards to race, even tho I could see the “twist” a mile away, I did momentarily enjoy seeing a group of alleged heroes in more shades than usual. Including Common, who I concur can’t act for CRAP. “Smoking Aces”, and now this. Fooled me twice, Com. I want my $20 back.

Please don’t bring up the Whedon/Wonder Woman project in development hell. I’ve been waiting for that forever. Well, one written and helmed by a woman would be AWESOME, but since Whedon’s a self-proclaimed feminist, I give him a pass.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 3:01 pm ¶
sarah wrote:

“The movie started off well – a tall, lean, sharply dressed East Indian woman is in the opening scenes.”

East Indian? Seriously? For some of us, that’s about as antiquated as calling an East Asian person an “Oriental.”

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 4:03 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Sarah – I was using the term “Desi” until I was informed it could potentially be perceived as an insult. What term do you prefer?

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 4:05 pm ¶
Jaye wrote:

What’s wrong with the term East Indian? What should the term be?

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 4:07 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:

Joseph:

Oh, I completely agree with what you were trying to bring to the conversation. I’m a big believer in the “soft power” of pop culture in perpetuating harmful ideologies, even if the creator of a particular piece of work vehemently denies any kind of retrograde beliefs. You see, that’s where the privilege we all talk about on this blog comes into place, right? It’s the privilege of existing in a world where consequences don’t matter because, for the most part, everything breaks your way.

So, yeah, my comment wasn’t meant to excuse the privilege of those UK comic writers. For example, even though I thoroughly enjoyed Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and am able to meet him half-way in terms of recognizing his attempts in those books of subverting racial stereotypes, being confronted with fairly harsh images of evil, swarthy South Asian pirates about to violate the honor of a porcelain pale Englishwoman only to be ruthlessly dispatched by Quatermain, the epitome of Anglo colonial supremacy, does send up some alarm bells. The same can be said for Moore’s use of the Yellow Peril trope in his Lime House plot line.

And I think my unease with those elements of Extraordinary Gentlemen falls in line with my critiques of American comic writers and fans. Moore, as an Englishman, was working, with Extraordinary Gentlemen, in a traditional English medium – the penny dreadful pulps of Victorian times and the colonial adventure stories of Kipling and H. Rider Haggard – and thus due to his internalized privileges as an Englishman, might possibly have failed to recognize how his recalling of the “wog” stereotypes might be harmful on a subtextual level. Just like American comic writers casually toss around notions of vigilante justice perpetuated by white superheroes, Moore’s motivation for depicting non-whites in Extraordinary Gentlemen in such starkly offensive ways may have been a result of a blind spot owing to a close familiarity with the subject matter.

This comment is getting really long, so I’ll just end by cosigning your request for a closer reading on this blog of what have been traditionally seen as marginalized genres that have recently been gaining interest by the mainstream. Genres like fantasy, sci-fi, comic books, and video games all come from very white, very straight, and very male creators and consumers. And replicating them for the society at large purely for entertainment purposes, without investigating the damaging subtexts many of them hold dear at the core, would be unfortunate.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 4:08 pm ¶
PaulPortland wrote:

Oops, sorry, that Anonymous post was by me.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 4:15 pm ¶
sarah wrote:

LOL. Desi is an insult but “East Indian” is ok? “South Asian” is probably the most appropriate term, but when in doubt, I highly recommend using the SAJA sytlebook. It pretty much breaks down which terms we find derogatory and which ones are appropriate.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 4:16 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Sarah – fixed.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 4:22 pm ¶
Jaye wrote:

Can you just say “Indian”?

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 5:50 pm ¶
Joseph wrote:

@PaulPortland

“…being confronted with fairly harsh images of evil, swarthy South Asian pirates about to violate the honor of a porcelain pale Englishwoman only to be ruthlessly dispatched by Quatermain, the epitome of Anglo colonial supremacy, does send up some alarm bells. ”

I laughed when I read this because I picked up the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel in the shop, read this scene, said “Yeah, okay…” and set it back on the shelf.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 5:57 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

@Sarah –

Sorry, excuse my running out the door fleeing from the day job manners.

Thanks for the link – it’s really helpful and I will incorporate it into the writer’s guide.

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 6:59 pm ¶
G.D. wrote:

this thread contains healthy doses of Why I Fux With This Blog.

Posted 19 Jul 2008 at 10:14 am ¶
Devo wrote:

I enjoyed Wanted. I didn’t expect to like the movie as I thought it would be the typical action movie. And indeed it was but Jolie’s acting was good- she didn’t overshadow the movie. The plot was good- except for the absent Mother. I was not aware of the comic book as I’m not into comics but does anyone know where the Mother is in the comic book stories?

Posted 20 Jul 2008 at 6:51 am ¶
S's mom wrote:

We went to see Wall*e on opening day and guess what my son got for free for attending? A plastic Wall*e watch!!! He enjoyed it for a week and I don’t know where it is any more. So much for saving the planet from meaningless junk………

Anyway, I am glad to see that someone overthought the movie as much as me. The reviews claimed it to be “fun” but it depressed me (even though it’s message about overconsumption is a good one.) I also wondered, “What about the non-priviliged who couldn’t afford the space cruise?”
Also, “How are all these fat people going to farm? That is hard work! Do they even have any seeds? What are they going to do when the dust storms come?”
And, “Where are these humans getting their oxygen from? The trees are all gone! No plant life means no oxygen. How can they breathe?”

However, my son does want to be a robot-maker when he grows up, so he thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

Posted 20 Jul 2008 at 6:47 pm ¶
Pheagan wrote:

Oh my God this is the only place that I can find someone on my side about Wanted. I’ve been so disgusted with the racial change-up that I’ve been angry at it since before it came out. All the reviews I read are OMG it’s so good (but a little sexist). So nice to see someone have as much rage about this movie as me.

Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 2:53 am ¶
Chanita wrote:

I LOVED Wanted. I thought it was thouroughly entertaining from beginning to end. It was a great action movie. I can understand that ppl wish there’d been more depth to the characters, but sometimes an action flic is just that- an action flic. I liked the knife guy- I’m hispanic and I didn’t feel offended. He was badass and he gave the main character the biggest fight. It was entertaining. The rats were gross.

Wall-e was sweet- I watched it with my 11 yr-old niece and she loved it. I gotta tell ya, the second they showed the ship and it’s “amenities”, all I could think of was how big the ppl would get b/c of the lack of real excercise. It mad sense to me. Don’t play golf on your wii, play it on the golf course!

Posted 22 Jul 2008 at 11:09 pm ¶