MovieChat Forums > Venom (2005) Discussion > Venom is based on a long held Hollywood ...

Venom is based on a long held Hollywood racism...

posted 19 years ago by naisox
98 replies | jump to latest

I'm not sure how many of you noticed this, but the trailer is filled with Vodoun (Voodoo) imagery. The box from which the "evil" comes is decorated with vévé, ritual drawings, representing the spirit Danballah, Vodoun's *very benevolent* and *most elevated* diety. I'm tired of Hollywood using Vodoun as a source of evil. Be creative for once!

Notice how the people who are associated with the box, who know what's in it and how to protect against it are black? Notice how Vodoun is a African-derived religion maligned by the Western world ever since the black, enslaved Haitians expelled the French from Haiti? Isn't it bad enough that the United States has done everything in its power to use Haiti for its own benefit, leaving its inhabitants in subhuman poverty (and don't argue against this with me with out knowing some history), without perpetuating the stereotype that their most cherished beliefs are not just subhuman but EVIL?

This kind of movie makes me sick -- Skeleton Key included. You don't have to be black or a Vodousih to feel this way -- I'm neither. Just a concerned anthropologist trying to educate a little bit...

PS Notice how movies with "Voodoo" as a modern evil always SUCK?

[–] blazenthor1 19 years ago

I guess I didn't read into it that much. To me, they are just movies. Knowing Hollywood, nothing can be taken seriously from them anyway. Don't get too worked up with us viewers, send the letter to the producers.

PS-I won't see this until it hits DVD.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] calx2001 19 years ago

Leave it to a Humanities person to imagine-up racism where it doesn't exist.

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[–] violet_yoshi 19 years ago

ok, The Serpent and the Rainbow bored the hell out of me. Is there something I was missing? Plz pm me back.

[–] xredgarnetx 18 years ago

I prefer those old African-themed films for good old racism hard at work. Look at the natives in "Abbott and Costello in Africa Screams," for instance. Hell, look at the natives in the most recent version of "King Solomon's Mines," the one with Richard Chamberlain. Or its sequel, with the delightful J.E. Jones as the top bad guy. How about any film where a white actor is slapped with dark makeup and a dark wig to play a minority, includng our pals, those good old Muslims? Remember Robert Forster in DELTA FORCE? How about the crying Indian in the commercial who was in reality Italian or something else? I always loved all the hoodoo business in the James Bond flick where he goes up against African warlords, one of them played by Geoffrey Holder if I recall correctly. A real laff riot. One of the few times I have seen a black actor play a complex character and a true villain without us worrying about his skin color, was J.E. Jones himself in a bad wig in CONAN THE BARBARIAN. We also didn't have to focus on the color of the bad guy's skin in SERENITY. He was too good an actor for that.

[–] neamtzu_rau 16 years ago

I know why this is a racist movie. It was so obvious to anyone that I can't believe no one has ever thought of this . Venom is portrayed as an evil-demonic entity right ? A maleficent version of Spider-man, am I right ?

But why is this movie racist , you ask ? Pssssst... I'll give you a hint.

Venom is black.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] brodiebruce_405 11 years ago

Villifying voodoo is everyone's right. It's exceptionally stupid.

[–] yuri_abbot 19 years ago

not all voodoo movies suck. serpent and the rainbow was RAD!

[–] mindofchester 19 years ago

Racism in a film doesn't have to be flat out racism. Racism can be subtle in the way a film potrays people. If a film potrays all black people as thieves and gangsters and all chinese people as bad drivers, and all Arabs as terrorists, then yes, there is definately a racist undertone without the film having to come out and obviously state that it's being racist. Many people don't take into consideration how the way a film potrays certain types of people whether it be race, class, age, or gender, can have a positive or negative effect on whom the film is potraying. Alot of people don't even know a film is being biased.

[–] AaahhRealMonsters 19 years ago

Give me a break! People are SO uptight these days. Jeeze.

[–] docferal 19 years ago

What you're talking about is stereotypes. Not racsism. Things like Blondes are dumb.. Brunettes are smarter..Blond surfers get high.. Films portray stereotypes. It makes it easier for people to relate to certain things.. Hell, even in Short Circuit (1986) they had a E. Indian character who spoke broken English - yet,he said he was from NJ. ..Was that rascism? No, it's a stereotype. It was done for fun. Just like all the sitcoms now that have the white male Dads/Husbands as idiots. Take King of Queens, Life According to Jim, The Simpsons or the ever popular Family Guy for example.. Do you see white males up in arms about it being rasicm? No. Why? Because unlike some people out there we can laugh at ourselves. We know it's not life. It's a Tv show/Movie. Hell, I'll laugh at anyone's stupidity, they don't have to be a white male. Once everyone else gets off their high-horse and realizes it's all just fiction and not real, we'll all get along much better.

[–] footyhannah1 16 years ago

Hey I know you wrote your post ages ago but I'd just like to say... I completely agree! Take English people in Hollywood... we are all either portrayed as posh people with unbelievably stupid accents or the villians. Thats life.

"The best way to keep a guy at least ten feet away? Dry heave. Vomit is the new mace." Veronica

[–] Kimberwyn 19 years ago

Um, I agree that voodoo is evil and Im black. It has nothing to do w/ race.

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[–] Otkon 19 years ago

Um. I just watched the trailer and I don't care from racism.

I can't believe Marvel hasn't sued.

Venom is a Spiderman foe: it started as a black symbiotic fluid from another planet that Peter Parker brought back to Earth thinking it was a nifty costume. It just so happened to hang out in a suitcase and at night would take over his body and go out for some springy, high-flying fun. Needless to say, there is a bitter break-up; the fluid turns into an evil menace, melds with others bent on revenge against the Webslinger and eventually spreads, spawning off other like-minded foes.

[–] xxChronusxx 19 years ago

so you obviously havent seen the movie since it doesnt have ANYTHING to do with your description of the Marvel Venom deal and thats why nobody's being sued...

[–] Adara-Drallil 19 years ago

Um, I'm sorry, but that's one of the stupidest comments I've ever read, especially if you wrote it after seeing the trailer. Marvel doesn't have a copyright on the word "venom," despite there having been a character in one of their comics with that word as a name.

Think of it this way: my friend Jason Xandos didn't sue when the movie Jason X came out, because it's just a coincidence that he shared the name.

[–] tedhasdowns 19 years ago

i thought you were gonna go a different way with that but yea i guess this is true its also a sterotype that teenagers like these kinds of movies

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[–] scarletdragon 19 years ago

If some idiot Chritian missionary was cocky enough to come to my homeland and tell me that the way I worshipped was wrong, I'd want to kill him too.

[–] sean_bda 19 years ago

umm not to doubt the racism or anything but in general it is usually non blacks who cause the evil. either through abuse or misunderstandings. most of the time whites do soemthing very bad/stupid and they cause the evil. althought not voodo movies very similar stories such as thinner or pet cemetary are good examples of that. plus from the trailer this looks like a pet cemetary rip off. if anyone should sue it should be king.

[–] scarletdragon 19 years ago

What deity OTHER than the "*very benevolent* and *most elevated*" would you use to seal a suitcase you wanted to keep shut?

And as for that designation, I beg to differ. Gede is usually seen as far more powerful and well respected than Danbala and Ayida Wedo (who are both depicted on the shot of the inside of the suitcase). When people go to the lwa for help, they are far more likely to appeal to Ogoun, or Gede or one of the Ezulis, before they speak to Danbala and his wife.

And vodoun as a religion came out of a spirit of African pride, trying to salvage a homeland torn away by slavery. Who better to be associated with it than people of African heritage?

How about you do a little more research before you start flying off the handle?