MovieChat Forums > True Lies (1994) Discussion > Are there any positive non-white charact...

Are there any positive non-white characters in the film?

posted 9 years ago by HarveyManfredSinJohn
26 replies | jump to latest

The villains, even the apolitical, money-grubbing, femme fatale character, are all non-white, one of the few black characters in the film is the pathetic whimpering hostage in the hotel sequence, and even Arnold's sidekick, 'Faisal', is played by a Jewish actor rather than an Arab one.

It's almost as if James Cameron was purposefully going out of his way to offend.

[–] Blubonnet_Spearman 9 years ago

So what. The Jewish actor is playing an Arab character. That's why it's called acting. Arnold isn't a secret agent for the U.S. Government you know. He was acting

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] herrandrusz 8 years ago

This is such a *beep* 2015 post.

[–] moviechatterer (13226) 4 years ago

its 2020 now , nothings changed

[–] aneurysms 8 years ago

You are an idiot to the infinite power seriously. This movie was amazingly fun and yes waaah waaah muslim terrorist ls are real

[–] TheSilhouette 8 years ago

WHO CARES

They thought they were alone...

[–] whozisdude 8 years ago

Playing the race card for a fictional movie shows you to be somewhat... uh.... goofy.

[–] blackturkdog 8 years ago

Offend???? Nah, flipping the bird to the pc crowd,yes.

[–] IceboxMovies 8 years ago

The villains, even the apolitical, money-grubbing, femme fatale character, are all non-white

Not true. It's hard to tell because of how dark it is, but I'm pretty sure that those Swiss guards patroling outside in the snow at the beginning of the movie were all white.

Also, the Bill Paxton character is a hilariously pathetic white "anti-hero".

Anyway... I don't think the film's portrait of Arabs is racist or xenophobic. Cameron does indicate to us that Aziz and his followers have been driven to terrorism because innocent Arab women and children have been murdered in previous U.S. wars; Aziz makes this clear during the recording of his terrorist video. And the terrorists are also granted their humanity by way of humor, as in the "Battery, Aziz!" moment, or when the guys driving the truck on the severed bridge are chuckling to each other until the eagle lands on the hood.

The movie is certainly politically-incorrect, but it's not deliberately offensive.

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 8 years ago

It was a pelican.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae