MovieChat Forums > Antwone Fisher (2003) Discussion > A question for ethinic minorities here o...

A question for ethinic minorities here on IMDB...

posted 17 years ago by nidi22
35 replies | jump to latest

Do you notice that any movie that has a empowering minorty message or even just a cast of color has at least 3 posts on the message board filled with some sort of racist/prejudice/steryotyping nonsense? I've seen racist posts on every movie with a black co-star I've been on (boomerang, white men can't jump, and blazing saddles just to name a few) and its really astounding! And yet these same white people will tell you that racism isn't that bad anymore. IMDB is a microcosim for opinions of real people in society and if there exists that many racist opinons, well its pretty scary because these people are your co-workers, neighbors etc. Conversley how many "white" movies will have racist posts started by minorites? Haven't seen one yet! You guys seen any other movies with posts like that? And if you don't belive me just check some of the posts for this movie!

"Cocaine is a helluva drug!"

[–] chesterrodney 17 years ago

nidi22, I agree 150 percent with you! Almost every black movie on IMDB has a racist remark of some kind. Or they are putting the movie down in some kind of way. You are sooo right. I've been saying this ever since I became a member to this site. And they say that we(the Blacks)always scream about and make everything about race. WRONG! Thank you so much for pointing this out.

[–] harleyquinnn 17 years ago

I agree, it's very depressing. This was a great movie and I don't know why anyone has anything bad to say about it.

The hitman needs a ride.

[–] Brandon_HD 17 years ago

Ignore 'em, they have no life or friends. For the most part, their words are meaningless.

Paul Mooney says: If it doesn't apply, let it fly...

B

[–] Meded 17 years ago

It doesn't only happen with 'black' movies. Check the comments for any movie that has even the least christianity in it.
I guess some people vent here what they dare not say in the real world.

[–] happiness_is_easy 17 years ago

I think you need to be careful not to lump any valid criticism of the movie as an attack on black people. While I enjoyed certain parts of the movie there were many scenes that didn't work for me. I also thought the direction by Denzel Washington was rather pedestrian, if not cliched at times. It sort of reminded me of those tear-jerker TV movies of the week that were everywhere in the '80s and '90s. So overall I thought the movie was okay at best. Now I would say the say the same thing about a movie I watched the same week called "The Fog", in fact I would be a lot more critical of "The Fog" which was tedious most of the time - I have stated why I did not like "The Fog" in that movies boards.
Yet based on some comments on this thread my strong criticism of "The Fog" is okay but I seemingly cannot criticise "Antwone Fisher" because it is a 'black' film. Something is wrong here!

[–] nidi22 17 years ago

Great response, and I'm glad you said that so I could clarify something. My point wasn't that movies with ethnic leads or ethnic movies are above critisism, EVERY movie can be flawed since none of us are uniform thinkers. My point of this post was why is it that EVERY movie with a minority in it contains a racial blast of some kind within the posts, (or at least every one that I've seen) and has any other minority noticed this. When I say a racist post, it isn't a "this movie sucked" post its a post that contains "c00n", "nig nog" (not exagerating) or some post with a steryotypical comment.This is also why I directed the question towards minorites because non-minorites tend not to notice these things, since they aren't the subject of it. The unfortunate thing is pointing this out, even to people that aren't racist can't see it, like a fish trying to see water. For example: Imagine if there was an irish person in the place of any minority in movies. Now imagine if you went on imdb and seen a irish steryotype or slur on at least one post or thread in EVERY movie you see regardless of whether the movie was good or not. Just the PRESENSE of this irish person incites all this venom (subconciously or not). Sounds pretty crazy right? But as ridiculous as that sounds, I've seen that very thing on these movie posts, and I have a feeling minorites on this site have seen this and agree, which is why I posed the question. Oh, and one more thing: I want to say that I keep mentioning "minority" and not "black" because I have a feeling this may happen with asians, latinos etc as well, although I would guess not as much since they are so woefully underrepresented in movies (which is a topic for another post in itself!)

"Cocaine is a helluva drug!"

[–] nidi22 17 years ago

...and also, a poster mentioned that christian movies had these types of comments, which is something I didn't know or notice. Kind of proves my "fish trying to see water" comment because I probably wouldn't have picked up on that since I'm not christian. Just food for thought...

"Cocaine is a helluva drug!"

[–] bjorkpluto 17 years ago

Its not just black movies, if you go on IMDB.COM a lot of racists have negative thing to say about black women. And a lot of those women that write the negative comments are of course white women. Because so many white women are jealous of successful black women.

[–] gothicprince1981 17 years ago

I don't think it's jealousy, it's ignorance. Also it's probably the same 10-20 people on here all the time changing names and making posts all over. But any movie that has anything that someone might not like will have hate messages, no matter if it's christian, black, something about damn George Bush in a movie that has nothing to do with him, or whatnot. This is just a place to vent for many so they do over and over again. I'm a white guy and I loved the movie and even cried some at the end mainly because he achieved a life that wasn't meant to be, but he made it anyway. Also media is a big one to blame. All people see on the news is blacks killing blacks, so they just learn from what they see. Yeah it happens, but black people are more than that, but it's hard to see when no one shows it, that's why I liked this movie because it's not a stereotypical black gangsta with hoes and tons of money with a gun or whatever. People just see what they want to see, not what's really there.

Joey

[–] happiness_is_easy 17 years ago

Well if a film is criticised just because it has black actors in that, then that is truly pathetic and not worth responding to.
While I wasn't such a fan of Antwone Fisher a film that had mostly black actors in it that I thought was brilliant was Ray. Check it out if you haven't seen it!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] nagmashdriver 17 years ago

Really?????! Then why is it that in the last decade (at least), black women have been going to great expense (and trouble) to straighten and bleach their hair; a la caucasian women?????????

[–] mikainen 17 years ago

Yeah, and 90 per cent of the white women try to get tanned.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] mokill00 13 years ago

While there is some truth to your analysis of the wealth of cathartic moments in this movie, I have to agree with the OP that a majority of people don't seem to have a problem with this until it appears in a movie dealing with minority issues or with black issues specifically. For instance, Goodwill Hunting...

[–] sweet1310452 17 years ago

I've noticed it- people do come on this site and say what they wouldn't dare say in mixed company- they vent and much of it is out of ignorance.
This movie is profound and while there may be things about the directing or the script or whatever that are cliched (in real life I don't think that there was a Cheryl) this film deals with subject matter that isn't seen a whole lot in a Hollywood flick so it can be used as an educational tool. I guess it depends on where the viewer's head is. Sometimes we get so caught up in analyzing the execution/style of the film that we don't let the underlying message affect us for the better. I'm a fan of the Jeffersons and some of that show's 80s episodes are inferior from the standpoint of artistry/writing etc but have very good social and moral messages that have actually led me to change my outlook and behavior in real life.

[–] teezah24 17 years ago

You are right! I just started posting up here a few days ago because we have the DVD's of Whats Happening, Diff'rent Strokes, Good Times, and The Jeffersons. When I go on the message boards I have noticed that people seem to make a lot of racist comments about these shows. I know that it is a combination of plain ol ignorance and another combination of venting!

[–] devoelodi 17 years ago

the internet is a tool for cowards to hide behind. they cant say it at school, church or at a local bar, so they use the internet.

[–] badlands284 17 years ago

so very true

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] canes0629 17 years ago

the majority are just trolls look for a response for laughs. making fun of whites does do much here... partly because our society lets us make fun of whites. lets face it we all have prejudices, make generalization about other cultures, and have pride in our on race. I am cuban and have to admit that minorities are worse about this then whites. We should just stop being so sensitive

[–] killacam-2 17 years ago

IMDB is racist as hell. Yes, I noticed bad comments about blacks in movies and movies generally. There are more whites bitching about "Reverse racism" than blacks doing the same thing. Look at ratings of black movies. You won't find any Spike Lee movie in top 250, when Tarantino has 5 flicks in it! Visit any board of Spike Lee movie and you'll find a bunch of hateful posts about him and his joints. I believe IMDB reflects our society in AmeriKKKa.

[–] devoelodi 17 years ago

if you think this is racist, check out sternfannetwork.com

YEAH I SAID IT!

[–] nidi22 17 years ago

I actually joined SFN awhile ago, but haven't read to many posts. Its that bad huh?

"Cocaine is a helluva drug!"

[–] sinthia3000 16 years ago

Soooo true! I've thought the same thing so many times in many different instances, not just on here. I went to the Jones Soda website recently to order those disgusting holiday sodas and what do I see? Post after post of derogatory, racist comments by people pretending to be black, using bad English and asking why there weren't Kwanzza flavors. It always makes me mad when white people are like "get over it" when so many of them take every opportunity to degrade us for sometimes no reason at all. We can't even make positive movies without people trying to down us every second they get. If I'm not bothering you, don't bother me. You don't have to like me, but don't degrade me when I haven't done anything to deserve it. What I do deserve is to be allowed to live my life in peace like everyne else, especially when I'm trying to do something positive. Don't respond with negativity for no reason.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] nidi22 16 years ago

very true. I've been looking at the "I am legend" posts...some true anger on there.

"Cocaine is a helluva drug!"

[–] Mr_Cryptic 16 years ago

It's not a People, that are evil; it's individuals.

[–] Ohheyhi 16 years ago

To the OP, I agree with everything you've said and most of the posts, but please don't call us an ethnic minorities, It's supposed to be PC and stuff but to me it sounds derogative. It's subliminaly giving the impression that we are inferior by referring to us as a "minority"

I just wanted to say that, but other than that, I completely agree with the doublestandards and other issues raised.

I always route for the bad guy ;)