White people playing black parts

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: SpiderWiz

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: SpiderWiz
Hmmmm Didn't Eddie Murphy do this in every one of his movies. Coming to America he played a old jewish guy. I remember him playing an old lady one movie.

Yeah, he also played some old Chinese guy in another movie. So what? big deal, it's a comedy.

Well I was pointing out to OP that other actors have done this. And it was no big deal.

Eddie Murphy is a comedian who gets paid to make people laugh

Robert Downey is not

In this movie Downey is...it's a comedy.

 

[xochi]

Nobody saw Soul Man?

Soul Man with C. Thomas Howell

 

[middlehead]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: scott916
Hell, it could work. Despite all his problems in the past, the guy is a hell of an actor. Plus, it'd be pretty fuckin hard to find a lot of people who'd be willing to take on such a potentially controversial role.

He's a good actor, I just can't see him pretending to be black especially alongside of Ben Stiller.

But I can easily see him pretending to pretend.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: SpiderWiz

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: SpiderWiz
Hmmmm Didn't Eddie Murphy do this in every one of his movies. Coming to America he played a old jewish guy. I remember him playing an old lady one movie.

Yeah, he also played some old Chinese guy in another movie. So what? big deal, it's a comedy.

Well I was pointing out to OP that other actors have done this. And it was no big deal.

Eddie Murphy is a comedian who gets paid to make people laugh

Robert Downey is not

But Downey is an actor. He made me laugh in A Scanner Darkly and seems like he has some great moments in Iron Man. He can play a role you assign him. And the role his character in this movie has, is described as a serious actor. It's going to be an atmospheric comedy that combines the elements of a lot of different people.
It sounds like a recipe for comedic gold, but it could also flop miserably. I'm expecting potential gold though.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: SpiderWiz

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: SpiderWiz
Hmmmm Didn't Eddie Murphy do this in every one of his movies. Coming to America he played a old jewish guy. I remember him playing an old lady one movie.

Yeah, he also played some old Chinese guy in another movie. So what? big deal, it's a comedy.

Well I was pointing out to OP that other actors have done this. And it was no big deal.

Eddie Murphy is a comedian who gets paid to make people laugh

Robert Downey is not

But Downey is an actor. He made me laugh in A Scanner Darkly and seems like he has some great moments in Iron Man. He can play a role you assign him. And the role his character in this movie has, is described as a serious actor. It's going to be an atmospheric comedy that combines the elements of a lot of different people.
It sounds like a recipe for comedic gold, but it could also flop miserably. I'm expecting potential gold though.

its got ben stiller in it though. most of his characters are exactly the same. and he tries too hard to be funny and it comes off forced and unfunny.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
how is this any different than when the wayans bros played two white girls?

so in our society

black guys plays white girls in a comedy movie - ok two thumbs up

white guy plays black guy in a comedy movie- no way thats an insult

there been other movies where a black comic plays white people or other races so whats the big deal? why is this even news?

I found that White Girls movie extremely offensive and I'm sure I'm not alone in that feeling.

KT

but it wasn't because of them dressing up as white girls though, was it?

 

[theprodigalrebel]

He's made some decent movies in the past. I enjoyed Reality Bites, The Cable Guy and Zoolander. I'd watch this and laugh my ass off.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

That is extremely convincing makeup. I would never have guessed that was Robert Downey Jr., and honestly, I still don't see it. He looks like a slightly lighter Don Cheadle.

I'm a big fan of humor that pushes the envelope of offensiveness (Drawn Together, for example). I think that people are far too quick to condemn something out of the fear that it may offend our delicate sensibilities. But these portrayals force us to examine why we consider these things offensive in the first place. It causes us to reflect on the nature of bigotry, race relations, homophobia, religious intolerance, and countless other cultural differences that we try to ignore in order to feel we are being tolerant. There's nothing wrong in admitting that we have cultural differences. As long as the portrayal does not result in harm (intentional or not), it should have a place within our media (hell, even stuff that does harm should have a place, if only as an example of what not to do).

 

[TallBill]

This was a common thing around the 1900's. Only thing was that the goal at the time was to poke fun at black people. The public didn't seem to mind.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
how is this any different than when the wayans bros played two white girls?

so in our society

black guys plays white girls in a comedy movie - ok two thumbs up

white guy plays black guy in a comedy movie- no way thats an insult

there been other movies where a black comic plays white people or other races so whats the big deal? why is this even news?

I found that White Girls movie extremely offensive and I'm sure I'm not alone in that feeling.

KT

but it wasn't because of them dressing up as white girls though, was it?

Nope, it had more to do with the "plot", acting, and everything else.

KT

 

[dbk]

Jack Black looks ridic!

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: dbk
Jack Black looks ridic!

http://powet.tv/wordpress/wp-c...ds/2007/05/riddick.jpg ?

KT

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: pontifex
its got ben stiller in it though. most of his characters are exactly the same. and he tries too hard to be funny and it comes off forced and unfunny.

Jack Black is in it too .

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: pontifex
its got ben stiller in it though. most of his characters are exactly the same. and he tries too hard to be funny and it comes off forced and unfunny.

Jack Black is in it too .

i've liked most his movies - that i've seen. nacho libre was pretty dumb though.

 

[0roo0roo]

as said, white chicks

and well...he looks pretty real

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: pontifex
its got ben stiller in it though. most of his characters are exactly the same. and he tries too hard to be funny and it comes off forced and unfunny.

Jack Black is in it too .

i've liked most his movies - that i've seen. nacho libre was pretty dumb though.

I still haven't finished watching that movie. I think the longest was maybe 30 minutes. Does it ever get to be any good?

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
how is this any different than when the wayans bros played two white girls?

so in our society

black guys plays white girls in a comedy movie - ok two thumbs up

white guy plays black guy in a comedy movie- no way thats an insult

there been other movies where a black comic plays white people or other races so whats the big deal? why is this even news?

Because all white people are racists.

You two never really heard of blackface? If you had, you'd kow it's a stupid question to ask about why this could be controversial. You can compare it to the wikipedia article on whiteface to see why that isn't as big of a deal.


That said, since the point of this isn't to insult black people but to make people laugh, I doubt this will cause any problems. Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor, and does a great job at pretty much any role he takes.

 

[HankToms]

when i first saw that picture, i thought it was Tim Meadows and behind him was Philip Seymour Hoffman.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
how is this any different than when the wayans bros played two white girls?

so in our society

black guys plays white girls in a comedy movie - ok two thumbs up

white guy plays black guy in a comedy movie- no way thats an insult

there been other movies where a black comic plays white people or other races so whats the big deal? why is this even news?

do you know how much flack White Girls caught? I know white people who wanted the Shawn & Marlon ran out of hollywood. Some people are just too damn uptight.

he looks nothing like Don Cheadle in the pics, maybe Tim Medows.

as for why it's not going to go over well, just look back to the roast of Whoopie Goldberg & Ted Danson.

Blackface = bad and racist
white face = no history, so nothing to complain about.

 

[bobeedee]

How about a black guy playing a white guy? Morgan Freeman in Gone Baby Gone-Captain Jack Doyle?

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: Nitemare
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBI....html?iref=mpstoryview

with pic

So, is this blackface part 2?

The character he is playing is a white man acting as a black man.

 

[Mo0o]

Someone explain to me what the big deal is. if anything it's spoofing the concept that people seem to be getting hung up about.