MovieChat Forums > The Black Phone (2022) Discussion > Brazen Racism. Why are the folks at Buzz...

Brazen Racism. Why are the folks at BuzzFeed and Vox not all over this?

posted 2 years ago by mechajutaro (2788)
32 replies | jump to latest

We all know that the producers deliberately avoided making the phone in this movie white, due to the culture of The US having long associated the color black with all things aberrant, subhuman, and threatening to Caucasian women and children. The fact that The Mainstream Media isn't bombarding Twitter with calls to cancel not only the producers, but the director, the cast, the gaffer, the movie's composers, and even the caterers is indicative of just how unserious our commitment to social justice really is

[–] kuatorises (7467) 2 years ago

Shut the fuck up. Weren't you idiots appy enough ruining IMDB?

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Weren't you idiots appy enough ruining IMDB?

I wasn't at all HAPPY when IMDB lost it's scrotum, and shut down the boards

[–] sONOMArEturns (1253) 2 years ago

quite sad that people think this is actually satire. conservatives fantasize about america being this corruptly leftwing because they cant get laid.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

I wasn't being satirical. I'm genuinely enraged by the producers's making the phone in this movie black and also titling the film in the fashion that they did. I'm more upset by this than the 36 year old lesbian who's never going to get pregnant, yet spent the entirety of this week ruminating on The Supreme Court's revisiting of Roe Vs Wade, telling herself "I can't bear the thought of them overturning it", then had a fucking meltdown yesterday when the very thing most folks anticipated came to pass

She's right when she asserts that this turn of events is indisputable proof that the modern American woman spends her every waking hour oppressed by an evil patriarchy, just as I'm right when I call The Black Phone out for being still further evidence that White Supremacy is baked into the foundations of The US

[–] Theeboon (97) 2 years ago

Are you angry because your mom still makes you do your own laundry?

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Are you angry because your mom still makes you do your own laundry?

The 12 Kenyan and Cambodian kids I've adopted washing my clothes

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Buzzfeed and Vox haven't been relevant in 5 years. That yous reference thrm underscores how much of a loser MC users are. What next? Referencing The Onion or The Drudge Report?

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Hadn't thought about Drudge in eons. Not sure what your basis for BuzzFeed and Vox not being relevant are, though I rarely find their work cogent or intellectually honest. I'm curious though; which outlets do consider to be more trendy than these two?

[–] acidraindrop (3055) 2 years ago

Shut the fuck up.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Clearly, you're triggered by something I said. Let's have a dialectic about all of this, Ac..... What specifically have you found upsetting by anything I've said thus far?

[–] TheArgentinian (6431) 2 years ago

No one finds this "satire" amusing. Not even people on your side. And you are not upsetting its target like real satire should.
So discuss the film or STFU. White male right wingers unironically seeing "agendas" against them already ruin this board enough.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Not even people on your side. And you are not upsetting its target like real satire should

What people do you think are on "my side", and what "side" do you think I'm on? Who do you think I was i was targeting and what, in your view, are examples of "real satire"?

[–] Anotherday (6877) 2 years ago

I think you're just putting meaning onto something that was not there.

Many cheap phones prior to the 1970's were black. The Grabber talked about the phone not working since he was a kid which puts the phone 20-30 years older than the film. Looking at phones from the 40's and 50's, black was the most common color. Phone companies provided most phones for the average family, so they had no incentive to add variety in color. Color became more common in phones after the 50's when petroleum products really took off.

As for the balloons, maybe you got something. When I was a kid in the 80's, black balloons were rare. Seeing them was almost special and strange. Using black balloons in this could also symbolize the rarity and strangeness of the character... or it could be a reflection of his soul. You may call that racist. I associate it with pitch black nights. The killer used them as camouflaged just as a predator uses the night or dark to catch its prey.

[–] SandyR (7346) 2 years ago

"I think you're just putting meaning onto something that was not there."

You've just defined contemporary society's lazy substitution for critical thinking.

[–] Anotherday (6877) 2 years ago

Or it's an accurate description that you don't like. Either way, fun movie.

[–] SandyR (7346) 2 years ago

No, it's what I said.

BTW, I haven't seen the movie but I intend to.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

"You've just defined contemporary society's lazy substitution for critical thinking"

Not quite, R. The absence of critical thinking is what's responsible for movies like TBP not only being made, but having the blackness of the phone placed front and center in the movie's marketing and very storyline. The director and writer Joe Hill know that we'll automatically infer that this story is one of malevolence, because that phone isn't white. The fact that the vast majority of the public didn't raise an eyebrow at this movie's title shows just how little we've progressed since Brown V Board of Education and The Civil Rights Act of '65

[–] SandyR (7346) 2 years ago

I see.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Many cheap phones prior to the 1970's were black

And do we really think it's coincidental that more expensive phones were so often white? The fact that black colored phones had less care and craftsmanship invested in them is borne out of the same racist psychology that results in black people so often being shuttled into the most shabby K-12 institutions in The US

[–] Anotherday (6877) 2 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Anotherday (6877) 2 years ago

Happy 4th of July. ;)

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Likewise, Day. Celebrating a day in which The US became a free nation, for a handful of the richest and whitest men

[–] asom (6509) 2 years ago

Shit, I'm always buying a black iPhone.

Therefore I must be racist ...

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Shit, I'm always buying a black iPhone.

Therefore I must be racist

No, but you're still problematic. The fact that you've never bought an IPhone that's yellow, brown, or/and one that hasn't been designated gender fluid indicates that you still require a great deal of re-eucation, 'Som

[–] asom (6509) 2 years ago

I've bought a black samsung ... does that count as a minority??

And a grey Nokia 3310. And a silver Motorola V3 ...

I think I'm fine after all ...

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

And a grey Nokia 3310. And a silver Motorola V3

You're Woke enough to not perpetuate ageism. That's commendable

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Um, a telephone is not a human being, OP.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Um, a telephone is not a human being, OP.

That scene from Spike Lee's Malcolm X("Look up the word black in the dictionary")remains just as true today. The producers of this movie deliberately chose a black phone, then put it front and center in both the title and the marketing, for the sake of exploiting our culture's association of all things black with malevolence

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

"The producers of this movie deliberately chose a black phone, then put it front and center in both the title and the marketing"

All the marketing I've seen of this movie focuses on the Grabber's mask and eyes, NOT an actual phone, even if the title implies that.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

All the marketing I've seen of this movie focuses on the Grabber's mask and eyes,

Note that The Grabber's eyes are also black in the poster

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

(ohforcryingoutloud) YOU'RE NUTS! Seeing "black" as "bad" in everything! You need psychological help!

EDIT: (SPOILERS)

I should also point out that the black phone of the title does help the boy to escape, so how is that bad?

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

(ohforcryingoutloud) YOU'RE NUTS! Seeing "black" as "bad" in everything! You need psychological help!

Don't fault me for American culture's long, sordid history of associating all things black with evil. Another example: It's not a coincidence that polar bears(who are white)are almost always depicted as cute and cuddly, while black bears are either seldom used in marketing, or depicted as being menacing when they are

I should also point out that the black phone of the title does help the boy to escape, so how is that bad?

The plot ends up using the black phone as a variation for The Magical Negro trope. It exists only to lead the white protagonist to victory. This is hardly progressive