MovieChat Forums > McFarland, USA (2015) Discussion > Over the top racism?

Over the top racism?

posted 9 years ago by plumlogan
14 replies | jump to latest

I'm not unaware that racism still exists. I went to high school in a town that had a lot of bigotry, which was quite a learning experience after coming from an orchard community that was pretty mixed White/Hispanic and everything was fine.

This movie is based off true events and I'll concede that the central characters probably had to overcome more than an underfunded CC program, but this trailer makes it look like McFarland is Alabama circa 1960. White runners literally locking arms to give the Mexican kid a barrier to break through? Maybe that's how it was and I'm just to naive to know, but putting USA as the modifying location makes it seem like of your Mexican and you want to succeed in America, be prepared for all the white people to try and stop you (save for one outstanding individual, and his steadfast wife, who will find an opportunity for you that your traditional small-minded family was incapable of recognizing (white saviour, anyone?)). Basically the message here is that whites will try and keep you down, but if you're willing to trust "the good ones" whites will provide a path for you. How is that not condescending to whites and immigrants?

[–] plumlogan 9 years ago

Written from my phone, so I apologize for the grammar - and the content if I took this way too seriously.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] krasnegar 9 years ago

jerk

[–] coleburnz07 9 years ago

These racially-based movies always exaggerate and sensationalize the supposed past incidents of racism, to the point where they make all white people seem evil.

LMAO@"supposed past incidents" Right because whites bombing churches with children in them and terrorizing "colored' folks or having slaves, jim crow laws, etc.. can't be proven to have happened.

Get All the way the *beep* out of here with this.

Ya'll made the bed and now you don't want to lay in it, that's your problem.. I hope they make a million more 12 Years A Slave and Selma's for people just like you... Take your own pasty ass passive aggressive advice and "just get over it!"

Because we arn't going anywhere, buddy. LOL

*waits for idiot to tell me to get over the past and accuse me of being a race baiter*

Loove The Bottle like Tyson loves Cus D'Amatoooo"
http://youtu.be/XUGm0owk9ec

[–] Seoul_Seeker 9 years ago

Ya'll made the bed and now you don't want to lay in it, that's your problem

So much racism coming from you. Ya'll? Generalize much?

"I hope they make a million more 12 Years A Slave"

I hope they do as well, the next two can be about 12 years as an Irish Indentured Servant and 12 years as a worker in a Communist Chinese slave labor factory.

By the way, who sold those African slaves to the "evil white man"?

Slavery exists in every corner of the world and every race, color and religion has experienced slavery and wholesale slaughter at some point in history. To deny this is to deny reality. Quit playing the victim.

[–] cara-stone 9 years ago

Jack wolf - your comments are clearly anti-Semitic. You say "they" are trying to make all white ppl seem evil, then you go on to basically say that all Jews are evil.
You are no better than (you think) they are.

[–] FireNationKennedy 9 years ago

Yes, I agree. It's like The Blind Side all over again.
They try to make it seem like the movie is about the mexican kids and their path to victory but really it's all about how good and great some white people are. They're just patting themselves on the back.
As a mexican, I don't apreciate my culture being portrayed as people who need to be saved.
But this is all I get from the trailer so I still have some hopes for this movie

[–] coleburnz07 9 years ago

My family has been in the Central Valley for generations deep.

There is definitely racism out there in places like McFarland.. but it wasn't anywhere near on the level of places like Alabama (especially not in the damn late 80's).

Mexicans been out in places like McFarland and they make up like 80-90% of the population.. white people are used to you for the most part.

Loove The Bottle like Tyson loves Cus D'Amatoooo"
http://youtu.be/XUGm0owk9ec

[–] otterprods 9 years ago

I don't know... you make some valid points but that stuff really does still happen, I'm certain of it (I'm a middle class white male).

Besides, I think you're reading too much into it. I think someone just came across the "true" story of this and thought it would make a good movie and ended up getting it produced. I'm sure they, and studio executives, recognized that some people would see it as a cliche moralistic story about racism, but in the end they obviously felt the market for it was big enough to warrant that risk. (which isn't really risky anyways) I'm not sure why white people get all incensed when movies like this come out. They take it like a personal affront. I don't see it that way. I see it as an affront to the characters in the movie and real life people like them, which it should be. But I am not racist like that, so I don't take it personally. Sure I think that racism and so-called 'reverse' racism exists, because I've seen it and been a victim of it. But you can't fight ignorance with more ignorance and there are many many good individuals who aren't like that. Those are the ones I choose to be friendly with and let the other ones be.

Otterprods, to keep those aquatic Mustelidae in line.

[–] xsomanymoviessolittletimex 9 years ago

I live about 35 miles to the south of McFarland. I can't speak for what happened during the time period the movie was about - but I was raised in a very small town about 20 miles south of where I live now. I'm white. We had a very diverse ethnic community, however during the 60s-70s when I was growing up, whites made up the largest part of the population in our town. Maybe I wore rose colored glasses or was just too naive to see any racism going on. Pretty much everyone knew everybody. A town about 5 miles away, where the population was probably more Hispanic than ours, fed into our high school. I just never remember any of that going on. There were the typical "mean girls", socs and cliques - jocks and nerds.

Our local TV station just ran a story tonight on the family and the coach that the movie was based on. All the children (seven of them) talked about their experiences, as did the coach. The experience was different for all the children since they were all different ages. One of them did touch on the farmworker life vs. gangs being their only option. The kids ended up all going to college. The dad, who didn't graduate went on to get his GED so as to set an example for the kids. The coach and his wife helped the family out a lot as far as paying for expensive track shoes and feeding them sometimes - kinda took the family under their wings. Part of the reason was that the coach saw real talent in the kids. One story the coach told was about a track meet they were going to (and I don't remember where it was) but the bus was late and they started without them, even though the coaches wife called ahead and said they would be a little late. The coach heard the starting pistol as their were driving up and said that he told the bus driver to drive right up to the starting "gate" and the boy that was on the JV team jumped out and took off running. The other boys were already about 200 yards ahead of them. He managed to catch up and I think he won! I hope this part is in the movie.

The coach and the family have seen the movie. (I haven't). The coach did say that they went into it knowing that it wasn't a documentary and that they knew that they (Hollywood) would change or add to the story to dramatize it. He did say that they felt like they did a good job of telling the story.

[–] BluntForceDrama 9 years ago

It isn't racist to keep Mexicans in Mexico. To think otherwise is hyper-apologism.

You've clicked on this before. Don't you remember?

[–] robert-macc 8 years ago

First of all, all of America was openly hateful and racist in 1960...

but that's besides the point, this movie does something stupid.

See Hispanics with non-Visigothic names like Garcia, Delgado, Santiago, Rivera, Santos were not seen as white.

Hispanics with surnames like Diaz and Sanchez WERE. Yet this movie tries to portray it as such. The Hispanics with those surnames were maybe even more racist than the very Anglo whites themselves.