Wasted Time

On Wednesday June 24 "Transformers: Rise of the Fallen" was released, raking in $60.6 million, coming in behind "The Dark Knight" for all time debuts. However that is not the story surrounding the film, instead people are leaving theaters upset over two autobots, Skids and Mudflap. The two robots have hit many sensitive nerves with their 'stereotypical' portrayal of African Americans, they are jive talking, goofy, quick to fight characters, essentially they're the movie's blackbots. Obviously whenever stereotypes find their way onto screens, problems will follow, but for people to feel offended by these characters is ridiculous.

It should be noted that this is not the first time director Michael Bay included a blackbot in a Transformers film. The Pontiac, that was easily killed by Megatron, was seen break dancing and also heard jive talking during the first film. Yet there was no outrage then, so why now? The characters are just funny, changing the tone for a minute and allowing the audience to laugh. Putting these characters into context, we have to remember they're robots! There is absolutely nothing 'black' about first being a robot and second in their appearance (unless of course ONLY black people have gold teeth), as they do not have dreads, cornrows, a do rag and so forth. Those offended need their skin thickened, plain and simple. Leave the robots alone and get serious about a real issue.