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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Perd Hapley on January 01, 2015, 12:22:24 PM

Title: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 01, 2015, 12:22:24 PM
...because Black America now owns Annie, haters!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/targets-ads-new-annie-inspired-760742


I guess Target's response was not terrible, but I really think it should been more along the lines of "Target's policy toward absurd, race-baiting accusations is to laugh at the mountebanks, and send them away."
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: vaskidmark on January 01, 2015, 04:21:30 PM
Anybody that can't spell the race of her oppressors/repressors properly (Caucasion (sic) ??  That's not even Ebonics!) needs to be laughed of the stage before their 15 seconds of fame expires.

stay safe.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: MechAg94 on January 01, 2015, 04:27:38 PM
Quote
She saw the ad and said to me, 'That's not what Annie looks like. How come the new black Annie isn't good enough? Does that mean I'm not good enough?'" Shelton told Yahoo! Parenting.
If the little girl actually said that, i have to wonder what that says about the girl's insecurity?  Somebody set her up for that sort of attitude.  
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Hawkmoon on January 01, 2015, 05:25:25 PM
Never mind that Annie started out as a comic strip in 1924. Annie was white. Through several movies, a Broadway play that has had a couple of revivals, and something like 86 years of the comic strip itself, Annie has always been white.

So where was the outcry when some idiot made a movie with a black Annie? Isn't taking a 90-year story line and deliberately changing the race of the protagonists a form of racism? Of course, they'll argue that it's "literary license" but, if that's the argument, then why is it "wrong" and "racist" for Target to adhere to the original story line? It would be far more logical and appropriate for a red-headed white child to see Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie and respond with, "That's not what Annie looks like!"
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 01, 2015, 05:46:49 PM
Isn't taking a 90-year story line and deliberately changing the race of the protagonists a form of racism?

How so?

I was really taken aback to hear Rush Limbaugh being all offended at the notion of a black James Bond, just a few days ago. I just don't see the problem.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Andiron on January 01, 2015, 06:50:13 PM
How so?

I was really taken aback to hear Rush Limbaugh being all offended at the notion of a black James Bond, just a few days ago. I just don't see the problem.

Not saying they can't have a black Bond...  But just because you can do a thing doesn't mean you should.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: TommyGunn on January 01, 2015, 07:42:05 PM
How so?

I was really taken aback to hear Rush Limbaugh being all offended at the notion of a black James Bond, just a few days ago. I just don't see the problem.

I take it you missed the thick sarcasm in his monologue ......  :police: ;/
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 01, 2015, 08:07:39 PM
I take it you missed the thick sarcasm in his monologue ......  :police: ;/


There wasn't any sarcasm. He really did think that a black Bond was a bad idea.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Monkeyleg on January 01, 2015, 08:42:40 PM
I think a black James Bond sounds like pandering. James Bond has always been a dashing white guy. It would be like having Bruce Wayne's name changed to Igor Strakinski.

It's not like blacks are lacking for great action movie heroes. Denzel Wasshington is a cottage industry unto himself. (Just finished watching "The Equalizer". Good movie.)
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on January 01, 2015, 08:51:13 PM
my only beef with the new Annie is the hair color. I don't give a hoot what her race is, but Annie was always a redhead.

and, for the record, I've met plenty of biracial redheads, so it's not like having a redheaded Annie that's not white is impossible.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 01, 2015, 11:16:30 PM
I think a black James Bond sounds like pandering.


Well, obviously. I really don't care, since the brother in question is Idris Elba. How could you not want to see Idris Elba as James Bond?
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: TommyGunn on January 01, 2015, 11:55:38 PM

There wasn't any sarcasm. He really did think that a black Bond was a bad idea.
No, he didn't.  Rush doesn't give a ***** whether they do a "black" Bond or not.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: TommyGunn on January 01, 2015, 11:59:17 PM
I think a black James Bond sounds like pandering. James Bond has always been a dashing white guy. It would be like having Bruce Wayne's name changed to Igor Strakinski.

It's not like blacks are lacking for great action movie heroes. Denzel Wasshington is a cottage industry unto himself. (Just finished watching "The Equalizer". Good movie.)

Does it hold a candle next to the 1980s series with Edward Woodward?   I loved that show, and just recently purchased the DVD set of the complete 4 year series and have been watching it.  Some great Stewart Copeland scores, intelligently written stories and  .... well, it sorta gets one looking at the Manhattan skyline of the 80s with the Twin Trade Towers still intact.   
I recall the TV adverts on the movie and can't say I was  very impressed.  Maybe I was wrong.    ???
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 02, 2015, 12:04:33 AM
No, he didn't.  Rush doesn't give a ***** whether they do a "black" Bond or not.


Okay, then what was his point?
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: RoadKingLarry on January 02, 2015, 05:22:38 AM

There wasn't any sarcasm. He really did think that a black Bond was a bad idea.


I'm now wondering if you listened to the same monologue the rest of us did.

Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: erictank on January 02, 2015, 10:53:29 AM

Okay, then what was his point?

IIRC, he was quoting a studio exec talking about why Idris Elba wouldn't be James Bond.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: TommyGunn on January 02, 2015, 08:03:08 PM

Okay, then what was his point?
He was making a point on how race has become involved in pop culture.
In the 1980s there was a series called "The Equalizer," starring Edward Woodward, a white (British) actor who played Robert McCall, an ex secret agent (supposedly CIA but refered to as the "Company") who had a sort of P.I. business protecting people who were in lethal trouble.
Denzel Washington  (black) played a character of the same name in a movie of the same title, though "revamped" for the silver screen.
There's nothing wrong with that.   
But what if "Roots"  was being re made with  a pop culture white actor as Kunta Kinte?   
It wouldn't work, would it.     IF Roots were ever to be re made there for sure would be a black actor portraying the main character BECAUSE race is so much a PART of that story.

And James Bond was a white British MI6 operative.   Well .... unless you need a black actor portraying him.
Is it so much a PART of the story?      :facepalm:
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Hawkmoon on January 02, 2015, 08:13:24 PM
How so?

I was really taken aback to hear Rush Limbaugh being all offended at the notion of a black James Bond, just a few days ago. I just don't see the problem.

The problem is that James Bond was white.

What's next, a remake of Shaft starring Brad Pitt as Shaft? I wonder how the race baiters would react to that.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: dogmush on January 02, 2015, 08:27:39 PM
For once I agree with Tommygun.

James Bond is a British secret agent. There are plenty of brownish orphans in the UK that could be scarfed up by MI6. In the '60's a black agent world have been jarring to the story just because of the circles he was supposed to move in. Now? Not so much. Race is ancillary to the story.  Besides Felix Lighter has swapped races already.

Shaft is a blacksploitation story. A big part of the story is the black cop can do things in the ghetto his white counterparts could not. A white actor wouldn't fit the story.

On the other hand you could remake say Lethat Weapon with an old white guy in Danny Glover's role, or a black guy in Mel's with no real change,  because their races weren't pay off the story.

Now that there are rich black guys to adopt Annie, it's non jarring that they swapped the actors,  although it's also not some racial epiphany that precludes ever having a white Annie again. The story can be told with either. THAT's the task triumph of civil rights,  that it doesn't matter.  As usual, the usual suspects can't take a win,  and have to continue to find some racial issue.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 02, 2015, 09:35:29 PM
For once I agree with Tommygun.

James Bond is a British secret agent. There are plenty of brownish orphans in the UK that could be scarfed up by MI6. In the '60's a black agent world have been jarring to the story just because of the circles he was supposed to move in. Now? Not so much. Race is ancillary to the story.  Besides Felix Lighter has swapped races already.

Shaft is a blacksploitation story. A big part of the story is the black cop can do things in the ghetto his white counterparts could not. A white actor wouldn't fit the story.

On the other hand you could remake say Lethat Weapon with an old white guy in Danny Glover's role, or a black guy in Mel's with no real change,  because their races weren't pay off the story.

Now that there are rich black guys to adopt Annie, it's non jarring that they swapped the actors,  although it's also not some racial epiphany that precludes ever having a white Annie again. The story can be told with either. THAT's the task triumph of civil rights,  that it doesn't matter.  As usual, the usual suspects can't take a win,  and have to continue to find some racial issue.


Very much this.

Yes, James Bond has always been white, and making him black would be a change. But as far as I know (not being a hardcore Bond nut) there's never been anything sacrosanct about his race that makes him work as a character.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 02, 2015, 09:55:28 PM
He was making a point on how race has become involved in pop culture.

I suppose that might have been his overall point, but he picked a very stupid way of going about it. It played beautifully into the stereotype of the old white Republican that feels threatened by the culture no longer being old-white-guy-centric.

Here's what I heard Rush say, starting at 39.39:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKBbzBORgD4#t=39m39s


And this is how it was received:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/29/rush-limbaugh-s-fear-of-a-black-james-bond.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galanty-miller/rush-limbaugh-saving-the-_b_6383038.html


Well played, Rush.  ;/
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: TommyGunn on January 03, 2015, 12:11:23 AM
I suppose that might have been his overall point, but he picked a very stupid way of going about it. It played beautifully into the stereotype of the old white Republican that feels threatened by the culture no longer being old-white-guy-centric.

Here's what I heard Rush say, starting at 39.39:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKBbzBORgD4#t=39m39s


And this is how it was received:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/29/rush-limbaugh-s-fear-of-a-black-james-bond.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galanty-miller/rush-limbaugh-saving-the-_b_6383038.html


Well played, Rush.  ;/

How long have you listened to Rush?


Quote from: Dean Obeidallah (1st link in Fistful's post)
The idea of black Bond caused Limbaugh to exclaim on his show last week that Bond was “white and Scottish, period.”


While Limbaugh did concede that Bond was a fictitious character, he still insisted, “We had 50 years of white Bonds because Bond is white.  Bond was never black.”  Adding, “I know it's racist to probably even point this out.”

“Probably racist”? No, I’d say definitely. How else do you describe the notion that certain roles should be labeled as "whites only”?

Limbaugh then tried to defend his asinine opinion by asking if people would be okay if Nelson Mandela was played in a movie by Kelsey Grammer?  Well, it could happen, I guess. But since Mandela is a real person – as opposed to say, James Bond – it could prove difficult for audiences to believe Grammer’s Mandela when he complains about being discriminated against due to his skin color.


Really?  Some dingbat named Dean Obeidallah writes all that ineffable twaddle about a tongue-in-cheek rambling of a radio personality?   Calling Rush's opinion "asinine??"


  
Quote from: Dean Obeidallah (1st link in Fistful's post)
Limbaugh makes comments like this because his right-wing fans require a non–stop diet of race-baiting red meat.


Good grief, this guy is a flaming moron!
Does this jackwagon realize that many of Rush's audience are liberals?   Many are libertarians?  
Does he thinks Rush broadcasts solely to KKK members?  


Rush has stated on several occasions that I know of that in order to understand, fully, what he's saying and doing, you need to listen to his program for something like three months straight.  Or maybe it was six?  
Well, three for conservatives ...six for liberals.  ;)

Sorry, after that honeysuckle hogwash I refuse to even try to tackle The Huffington Post's reaction.
All I can say is I don't even know why they bother to try to analyze what they don't even have the IQ power to understand.

Limbaugh sometimes goes off on wild tangents from even my perspective.   He once made a comment about astronomy (having to do with the distance to stars, something I'd studied in college) that revealed he was completly ignorant about what is learnable about our universe.

But when he stays on political/social topics, he's got a lot of smarts .... certainly a LOT more than Mr.  Obeidallah!!!!
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Ben on January 03, 2015, 12:21:46 AM

Well, obviously. I really don't care, since the brother in question is Idris Elba. How could you not want to see Idris Elba as James Bond?

Yeah, when I first heard about it, I immediately thought "race pandering", but Dogmush brought up some good points. Wouldn't have worked in the '60's, but we just had a female "M", so a black Bond would certainly work in the modern world. He might not go unnoticed in some Eastern European countries, but there are certainly a number of areas of the world where a black Bond could blend in even better than a white Bond if they wrote the storyline right. Plus, yes, Idris Elba would rock as Bond.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 03, 2015, 12:56:50 AM
I've listened to Rush, off and on, since the early '90s.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Hawkmoon on January 03, 2015, 10:41:22 AM
Plus, yes, Idris Elba would rock as Bond.

Who or what is "Idris Elba"? I thought Elba was an island, to which Napoleon was sent in exile.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 03, 2015, 12:00:25 PM
Who or what is "Idris Elba"? I thought Elba was an island, to which Napoleon was sent in exile.


But no man is an island.


Idris Elba was, all too briefly, a vampire hunter. Aside from that, he worked in mid-level management for a regional paper distributor, and then as a crooked Bobby.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Ben on January 03, 2015, 12:12:22 PM

But no man is an island.


Idris Elba was, all too briefly, a vampire hunter. Aside from that, he worked in mid-level management for a regional paper distributor, and then as a crooked Bobby.

Shame on you for forgetting that in the depth of all that is time, he has also stood as the all-seeing guardian to Asgard (though he did have to ask for vacation days from Dunder Mifflin to do it).
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: dogmush on January 03, 2015, 01:52:49 PM
Who or what is "Idris Elba"? I thought Elba was an island, to which Napoleon was sent in exile.

Actually a pretty good British actor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0252961/

(That said, I alike Daniel Craig's bond.  less flippant gadgetry and more ass whooping)
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Ben on January 03, 2015, 01:59:31 PM
(That said, I alike Daniel Craig's bond.  less flippant gadgetry and more ass whooping)

I think Daniel Craig has been the best Bond to date. While he's a very good actor, props to the production people as well. Even Roger Moore could have been a good Bond if he'd had a good storyline.
Title: Re: Re: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: makattak on January 03, 2015, 04:22:28 PM
Shame on you for forgetting that in the depth of all that is time, he has also stood as the all-seeing guardian to Asgard (though he did have to ask for vacation days from Dunder Mifflin to do it).

He also sacrificed his life to save the world from an invasion of alien monsters.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: MechAg94 on January 03, 2015, 04:51:09 PM
Sean Connery will always be the best Bond.  Roger Moore was more the comedy version of Bond.  

Personally I like the older movies.  Less Kung fu fighting and more arrogant English attitude.  I really get tired of modern action movies where everything falls down to hand to hand and every flunky bad guy is a martial arts expert.  

That said, as long as the new guy can do the upper crust English accent and attitude well, I can ignore the race stuff. 
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Hawkmoon on January 03, 2015, 05:54:23 PM
I think Daniel Craig has been the best Bond to date. While he's a very good actor, props to the production people as well. Even Roger Moore could have been a good Bond if he'd had a good storyline.

Nah -- I disagree completely. Roger Moore was too "pretty" and too "cute" by half to be Bond. The Bond of Ian Fleming was deadly -- Moore could never have pulled off "deadly." Connery was good, and Craig is good. Of the others, Moore was IMHO the worst by far, and unsurpassedly bad.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: HankB on January 03, 2015, 07:02:25 PM
. . . Yes, James Bond has always been white, and making him black would be a change. But as far as I know (not being a hardcore Bond nut) there's never been anything sacrosanct about his race that makes him work as a character.
Bond was usually spying on the Soviets . . . would a black guy really blend in when infiltrating the KGB or some other Warsaw Pact organization?

Reminds me of The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission in which they cast a black guy as one of the group; he really wasn't convincing wearing the uniform of a Wehrmacht soldier. (IIRC, they used the situation as a sight gag and ultimately wrapped him completely in bandages so he could pass. Sort of.)
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: RoadKingLarry on January 03, 2015, 09:08:48 PM
Who or what is "Idris Elba"? I thought Elba was an island, to which Napoleon was sent in exile.

Isn't it the joint in you arm between your wrist and shoulder?
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Monkeyleg on January 03, 2015, 11:32:25 PM
Does it hold a candle next to the 1980s series with Edward Woodward?   I loved that show, and just recently purchased the DVD set of the complete 4 year series and have been watching it.  Some great Stewart Copeland scores, intelligently written stories and  .... well, it sorta gets one looking at the Manhattan skyline of the 80s with the Twin Trade Towers still intact.   
I recall the TV adverts on the movie and can't say I was  very impressed.  Maybe I was wrong.    ???

I was a big fan of that show, too. In the Denzel Washington movie, you don't realize until you're pretty far into the story that he's a special anything. There's no reference to CIA or otherwise until three-quarters of the way through the movie. I didn't even realize it was a movie version of the series until almost the end of the film. Then, at the very end, you're given the idea that he does this stuff all the time.

I thought it was a good movie. Washington's character lives a minimum wage lifestyle, so there's not the class that Edward Woodward was allowed to display.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 04, 2015, 12:36:05 AM
Bond was usually spying on the Soviets . . . would a black guy really blend in when infiltrating the KGB or some other Warsaw Pact organization?

Reminds me of The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission in which they cast a black guy as one of the group; he really wasn't convincing wearing the uniform of a Wehrmacht soldier. (IIRC, they used the situation as a sight gag and ultimately wrapped him completely in bandages so he could pass. Sort of.)



Except that a 2010s Bond would have spent most of his career in a post-Cold-War world.
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Firethorn on January 04, 2015, 02:53:43 AM
So where was the outcry when some idiot made a movie with a black Annie? Isn't taking a 90-year story line and deliberately changing the race of the protagonists a form of racism?

We turned Nick Fury into a black man quite successfully.  Of course, that's probably because Jackson was pretty much born to play the part.

Which leads to the Bond argument - I tend to hold to the idea that 007/James bond is a code designation and cover identity for a series of spies.  IE the title of 007 tends to be handed down fairly frequently.  We just don't see movies featuring Bond dying and being replaced, or otherwise retiring.

As such, so long as the Actor is really the best one for the part, I don't care what race he is - White, Black, Asian, etc...  Same deal with Orphan Annie.  A musical might not work as well if you can't work in the red haired stuff, but eh.  They have to change some stuff for modern audiences anyways.

I think that claiming Captain Picard to be French is actually a bigger deal, because even though he's a good actor, Patrick Stewart can't pull of being a french guy.  ;)

I just tend to figure that he's descended from some French guy who emigrated to England, or that in the 200 odd years and the Eugenics wars the ethnicity/speech patterns were a bit messed up.  Like lots of English people ended up moving to France, enough to change the speech patterns.

Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Regolith on January 04, 2015, 03:04:30 AM
Which leads to the Bond argument - I tend to hold to the idea that 007/James bond is a code designation and cover identity for a series of spies.  IE the title of 007 tends to be handed down fairly frequently.  We just don't see movies featuring Bond dying and being replaced, or otherwise retiring.

Damnit, I was just about to post that... :mad:

 :lol:
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Perd Hapley on January 04, 2015, 10:53:32 AM
We turned Nick Fury into a black man quite successfully.  Of course, that's probably because Jackson was pretty much born to play the part.

Which leads to the Bond argument - I tend to hold to the idea that 007/James bond is a code designation and cover identity for a series of spies.  IE the title of 007 tends to be handed down fairly frequently.  We just don't see movies featuring Bond dying and being replaced, or otherwise retiring.

As such, so long as the Actor is really the best one for the part, I don't care what race he is - White, Black, Asian, etc...  Same deal with Orphan Annie.  A musical might not work as well if you can't work in the red haired stuff, but eh.  They have to change some stuff for modern audiences anyways.

I think that claiming Captain Picard to be French is actually a bigger deal, because even though he's a good actor, Patrick Stewart can't pull of being a french guy.  ;)

I just tend to figure that he's descended from some French guy who emigrated to England, or that in the 200 odd years and the Eugenics wars the ethnicity/speech patterns were a bit messed up.  Like lots of English people ended up moving to France, enough to change the speech patterns.


You've nothing to say about the French Scottish Highlanders?
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: TommyGunn on January 04, 2015, 01:59:00 PM
I was a big fan of that show, too. In the Denzel Washington movie, you don't realize until you're pretty far into the story that he's a special anything. There's no reference to CIA or otherwise until three-quarters of the way through the movie. I didn't even realize it was a movie version of the series until almost the end of the film. Then, at the very end, you're given the idea that he does this stuff all the time.

I thought it was a good movie. Washington's character lives a minimum wage lifestyle, so there's not the class that Edward Woodward was allowed to display.

Thanks ...guess I will be investing in the DVD release ....
Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: erictank on January 05, 2015, 08:44:11 AM
Shame on you for forgetting that in the depth of all that is time, he has also stood as the all-seeing guardian to Asgard (though he did have to ask for vacation days from Dunder Mifflin to do it).

Pretty sure the Dunder Mifflin gig was just cover for his real job as the leader of a bunch of smart, suave bank robbers.

Title: Re: Now this makes perfect sense...
Post by: Firethorn on January 05, 2015, 03:46:56 PM
You've nothing to say about the French Scottish Highlanders?

Not sure I get the reference.  TNG was the first thing that came to mind.

Do you mean the Highlander series?  Not seeing any French guys in it.  Christopher Lambert(Movie) - USA.  Adrian Paul - London.  Etc...