MovieChat Forums > ¡Vampiros en La Habana! (1985) Discussion > surprised

surprised

posted 14 years ago by cinemajunky
3 replies | jump to latest

Let me first state that my question is not an attempt to troll and I honestly would like to hear others' thoughts on the issue.

I just recently watched this and found it hilarious, but I was surprised that no one made any comment about how black Cubans were depicted. I don't want to say it's racist just because I'm not familiar with the Cuban animation style beyond this film, but it was sort of shocking to see a character drawn like that and have no audience backlash.
Is this normal and really inoffensive or do people just take it as harmless stereotyping?

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[–] girl_on_wire 12 years ago

This movie isn't really that well-known, which is why there isn't a backlash: this is, what, one of five threads posted so far?

This movie showed black Cubans as no different from other Cubans, though they were drawn in a way that was similar to how blacks were depicted in much older, more racist cartoons.

I should add that the women were very sexualized in this movie: all bouncy titties and seething jealousy. But eh, we ladies are used to it.

Manuscripts don't burn.

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[–] cinemajunky 12 years ago

It's been awhile since I watched it so all I really remember is that I liked it. I made this post when I first watched it, so, as a Caucasian American woman who is aware of history, it just struck me as something that stood out. If they were depicted as the same or similar, I don't think it would have stood out to me. As far as women being sexualized, I think this was just an exaggerated cartoon, but I agree with you on the fact that we're sort of desensitized to it. When just about every Disney princess is sporting double-Ds and an impossible waist, this movie wasn't incredibly surprising.

edit: Oh, and I watched it on Netflix Instant so it had at least a couple dozen member reviews and no one mentioned it, but they don't have message boards so no one could answer my question there.
__________________________________
I ain't your friend, palooka.

[–] dramamean 12 years ago

the movie is also 27 years old..