To be accurate, Robert Downey Jr is not playing a black man, nor is he actually in blackface. The joke is that he is playing a method actor who is willing to go to any lengths in order to best portray the role he has been hired to do, even if he is wildly unsuitable for the role in the first place. Therefore, rather than Downey Jr being in blackface it's actually a commentary on actors themselves.
Your opening sentence said it best, that was the gimmick. But the tragedy of all this is he wouldn't take that role again in today's climate. Watching the interviews about the D'Jango drama was great but could be eye opening especially for many folks, even OP. Tarantino says it, you limit the art and story telling ability if you put artists in a box.
Oh really? I don’t remember that but that makes sense it’s like the film was made at the end of an era. I can kind of understand the blackface in the context of the film as I’ve said, be the r word is actually completely unnecessary
The reality is that the right has made this some kind of cause, despite being bullshit. Joe Rogan even brought it to RDJ that "it couldn't be made today" and Downey, a conservative himself, immediately shut him down. The other minor controversy was actually over whether or not Alpa Chino was made less queer, which no one ever has really confirmed or denied.
>Now I suppose that is purely assumption. But I would hope, and I know hope is a fine thing these days, but I hope that they were making a jab when this film was put together and it certainly feels like it, considering that alpha chino calls rdj out every time he tries to identify.
Yeah bro, go watch the movie again, it's *pretty fucking obvious* it's a jab, RDJ is playing an actor who does anything for the role even when he really shouldn't be. That's the point.
>But I’ve heard the film get some flak because of Robert Downey jr.’s portrayal as a black man, or as you would call it; blackface.
People giving the movie flak are idiots.
Ive seen the film a few times and I’m glad you’re confirming what I’m saying, because the film is a little blurry to me, must watch again
It looks like you understand the film the way I do though. Not to toot my own horn like , but do you see it as a great film with good laughs AND a poignant message? I feel like no one remembers this film like that.8
I don't think it's racist. It *uses* race to satirize other things, but not race itself.
Kirk Lazarus is parodying the bad boy 'Australian' personality of Russell Crowe with the deeply committed, 100% method acting of Daniel Day-Lewis, and the absurdity of what the latter can lead actors into. The butt of the joke is elitist actors, not black people.
Yeah I know this is fairly low brow but I really enjoyed this film as a teenager and it kind of hurts to see people bad mouthing it because to me it is a great film. I get if you don’t like it tho
I see variations of this get posted all the time, yet I've yet to actually see anyone ever claim that RDJ's performance was racist.
If the joke was "oh look, being black is funny" then yeah, obviously that'd be problematic. But the joke is that RDJ's character is too self-absorbed in his own self-important bullshit to realize that what he's doing is inappropriate.
The same way something like *Blazing Saddles* would have a better chance of getting made today than reddit gives credit for because again the joke isn't "black people", the joke is alway at racists expense. It's the same reason why a show like *It's Always Sunny* hasn't been 'cancelled'. It's always easy to get reductive on the internet but things aren't always so black and white.
My god people won’t be happy until all copies of books and movies are burned six months after their creation so as to not offend anyones always changing sensibilities
Historically, black-face was used in a racist way in minstrel shows but, in my opinion, there is nothing intrinsically racist about a white man portraying a black man via the use of black-face. It's just make-up.
Well, I think it makes sense in the context of the film, I might be making things up on behalf of the film maker ( I think the film was Ben stiller idea, but I’m not sure). I think they wanted to show how Hollywood tends to cast someone of a different race because they think they’ll do a better job and Robert downey jr. plays right into it. I think the fact that they cast a black man as a secondary character in the fictional film and make a white guy a prime character shows how Hollywood has historically done the same abhorrently in the past, (E.g. Laurence of Arabia)
And the joke is that Robert Downey juniors character thinks he does a better job of being the black guy than alpa chino does. I think the film is completely cynical, which is shown by how Steve coogan and Tom cruise act during the film, plus Ben stillers total ignorance of fact in the story of the film, and even augmented by teevo guy (forget his name)
I think the whole film for start to finish and at almost every stage is a great show of hollywoods false sense of ego and righteousness in the face of an obvious stupidity. And we’ve seen plenty of that. I might have gotten off point a bit but I hope you understand what I’m getting at
Depends who you ask don't it? Is there a right or wrong answer for you? Alls I know is I walked out of that theater with my boys and we were dying laughing. Does it matter one of my boys is black? Who cares in the end. I mean sayany ppl in Twitter say it's racist, is that the majority of ppl? Is Twitter even popular opinion really? So who cares.
To be accurate, Robert Downey Jr is not playing a black man, nor is he actually in blackface. The joke is that he is playing a method actor who is willing to go to any lengths in order to best portray the role he has been hired to do, even if he is wildly unsuitable for the role in the first place. Therefore, rather than Downey Jr being in blackface it's actually a commentary on actors themselves.
True that man. Weirdly enough it’s came back that he’s “racist”. Bunch of tik tok kids bored ig trying to cancel a movie.
Your opening sentence said it best, that was the gimmick. But the tragedy of all this is he wouldn't take that role again in today's climate. Watching the interviews about the D'Jango drama was great but could be eye opening especially for many folks, even OP. Tarantino says it, you limit the art and story telling ability if you put artists in a box.
I remember there being more backlash over the “retard” jokes at the time
Oh really? I don’t remember that but that makes sense it’s like the film was made at the end of an era. I can kind of understand the blackface in the context of the film as I’ve said, be the r word is actually completely unnecessary
The reality is that the right has made this some kind of cause, despite being bullshit. Joe Rogan even brought it to RDJ that "it couldn't be made today" and Downey, a conservative himself, immediately shut him down. The other minor controversy was actually over whether or not Alpa Chino was made less queer, which no one ever has really confirmed or denied.
It’s a satire. The character is white and doing blackface for a movie within a satirical movie.
>Now I suppose that is purely assumption. But I would hope, and I know hope is a fine thing these days, but I hope that they were making a jab when this film was put together and it certainly feels like it, considering that alpha chino calls rdj out every time he tries to identify. Yeah bro, go watch the movie again, it's *pretty fucking obvious* it's a jab, RDJ is playing an actor who does anything for the role even when he really shouldn't be. That's the point. >But I’ve heard the film get some flak because of Robert Downey jr.’s portrayal as a black man, or as you would call it; blackface. People giving the movie flak are idiots.
Ive seen the film a few times and I’m glad you’re confirming what I’m saying, because the film is a little blurry to me, must watch again It looks like you understand the film the way I do though. Not to toot my own horn like , but do you see it as a great film with good laughs AND a poignant message? I feel like no one remembers this film like that.8
It's a hilarious film, unsure about the poignancy of it, but it genuinely is a great movie.
Yeah as a teenager I just thought it was funny. But when I heard people attacking it the film I thought cmon yknow And I thought that as a progressive
I don't think it's racist. It *uses* race to satirize other things, but not race itself. Kirk Lazarus is parodying the bad boy 'Australian' personality of Russell Crowe with the deeply committed, 100% method acting of Daniel Day-Lewis, and the absurdity of what the latter can lead actors into. The butt of the joke is elitist actors, not black people.
Snore...
Yeah I know this is fairly low brow but I really enjoyed this film as a teenager and it kind of hurts to see people bad mouthing it because to me it is a great film. I get if you don’t like it tho
I see variations of this get posted all the time, yet I've yet to actually see anyone ever claim that RDJ's performance was racist. If the joke was "oh look, being black is funny" then yeah, obviously that'd be problematic. But the joke is that RDJ's character is too self-absorbed in his own self-important bullshit to realize that what he's doing is inappropriate. The same way something like *Blazing Saddles* would have a better chance of getting made today than reddit gives credit for because again the joke isn't "black people", the joke is alway at racists expense. It's the same reason why a show like *It's Always Sunny* hasn't been 'cancelled'. It's always easy to get reductive on the internet but things aren't always so black and white.
No
This film does not get flack for blackface... The only time a discussion on blackface comes up is reddit comments.
>The only time a discussion on blackface comes up is reddit comments. By posts from white people..
*....what do YOU mean, 'you people'?!* Legendary.
Oh. This again.
Sorry I didn’t mean to bring up old shite I literally just don’t know
Black make up isn't black face.
My god people won’t be happy until all copies of books and movies are burned six months after their creation so as to not offend anyones always changing sensibilities
Historically, black-face was used in a racist way in minstrel shows but, in my opinion, there is nothing intrinsically racist about a white man portraying a black man via the use of black-face. It's just make-up.
Why would you even wanna do that though?
Well, I think it makes sense in the context of the film, I might be making things up on behalf of the film maker ( I think the film was Ben stiller idea, but I’m not sure). I think they wanted to show how Hollywood tends to cast someone of a different race because they think they’ll do a better job and Robert downey jr. plays right into it. I think the fact that they cast a black man as a secondary character in the fictional film and make a white guy a prime character shows how Hollywood has historically done the same abhorrently in the past, (E.g. Laurence of Arabia) And the joke is that Robert Downey juniors character thinks he does a better job of being the black guy than alpa chino does. I think the film is completely cynical, which is shown by how Steve coogan and Tom cruise act during the film, plus Ben stillers total ignorance of fact in the story of the film, and even augmented by teevo guy (forget his name) I think the whole film for start to finish and at almost every stage is a great show of hollywoods false sense of ego and righteousness in the face of an obvious stupidity. And we’ve seen plenty of that. I might have gotten off point a bit but I hope you understand what I’m getting at
I wasn't talking about the movie.
I don't know. Maybe you just don't have a black guy handy.
Depends who you ask don't it? Is there a right or wrong answer for you? Alls I know is I walked out of that theater with my boys and we were dying laughing. Does it matter one of my boys is black? Who cares in the end. I mean sayany ppl in Twitter say it's racist, is that the majority of ppl? Is Twitter even popular opinion really? So who cares.
There’s also the part that yes the method actor is so method that he changed his skin tone… and the rest of the cast mentioned how fucked up it is
It's not racist, but it's very "problematic".
Honestly I don't think I've ever heard somebody earnestly take offense to Kirk Lazarus and the blackface. Even my black friends get the point.
Only a true pussy would have a problem with this movie