| UNFAIR RACIAL |
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CLICHE ALERT |
!SPOILERS AHEAD!
102 COINCIDENCES AND COUNTING
URCA:
UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT
Deadicated to Scatman Crothers
1900 - 1960 - 1970 - 1980 - 1990 - 2000 - 2010
The Unfair racial Cliche really got moving in the 1980s.
Read HOLLYWOOD RACISM
For a complete explanation of what this page is about, please go to the
UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT
main page.
| HORROR/THRILLER | HOLLYWOOD THRILLER | NON-HOLLYWOOD HORROR |
Be Alert for These Titles of the
1990s
HORROR / THRILLER Carolco Pictures &Gary Goldman Director: Paul Verhoeven Producer: Buzz Feitshans & Ronald Shusett In the future, the only black guy - on Earth or Mars - is Benny, the jive talkin' cabbie (actor / writer / director Mel Johnson Jr.). He's a bad guy and gets drilled to death by Arnold, who is trying to protect his hispanic woman, but mainly himself. Yes, the secretary at Rekall is also black, but she's a bit part and you know it; having less than 30 seconds on the screen. |
SYNGENOR - 1990HORROR / THRILLER Syngenor Production Company Limited, Associated Screen Artists Inc., American Cinema Marketing Corporation Screenplay: Michael Carmody, Brent V. Friedman Director: George Elanjian Jr. Producer: Jack F. Murphy There's only a single minority in this movie, so as you've come to expect, he dies. The lazy, bitchy, beer-drinking on the job security guard, Donnie (Roy Fegan), gets his brains blown out by his white boss. |
 TERMINATOR 2 - 1991 The only minority/black guy - Joe Morton (also dies in THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE) - nobly blows himself up to save the future and to avoid being shot to death by L.A. cops. In Fact: On The Other Hand: If you are a female minority, then Arnold's character is going to kill the all minority men and keep you for himself. Unless of course, he is already protecting a white woman, in which case you are threatening his white woman and you are going to die. Unless of course, he has already killed all the male minorities who were threatening his white woman in the first place. |
ALIEN 3 (1992) One white survivor plus the evil corporate big wigs at the end - who weren't really in any danger in the first place. They were all white except for one token Asian man among them: a walk-on extra who doesn't speak. There was a flap among some Asian columnists for the movie makers having portrayed the only Asian man in the entire series (at that time) as one of the bad guys. |
JURASSIC PARK (1993) The only black character, Samuel L. Jackson, dies nobly. Only the white wealthy people survive. UPDATE: That person is former Chicago Cubs baseball pitcher and current Stunt man, Jophery C. Brown. I don't include him just as I don't include any extras in the URCA. Jophrey was a speaking extra and this is what he said, "ARGH!" So yeah, not a character. Samuel L. Jackson played Ray Arnold and HE was a main character in the movie. |
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993) The only black character, doesn't look black, he's just cartoonishly stylized that way. He's Oogie Boogie and he speaks in the argot of Hollywood movie filtered Harlem black people. The person who was chosen to speak for Oogie Boogie was, according to Tim Burton in the director's commentary, black American actor Kenneth Page, who won the part because he had the right "sound" they were looking for to play a characer named Boogie. Not the Bogeyman, but the "Boogie Man" who sings a "Boogie song". Everything about him from sound to vision speaks a stylized version of jazzy Harlem boogie. Oogie Boogie is the only real villain and Jack kills him. |
Unfortunately This is an issue that has haunted Tim Burton for some time. 2012 Outcast by the Outcast: Tim Burton's Racial Blindness This is the first TV spot for Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, the director's most recent release that's by all accounts imaginative and full of heart. 2016 Tim Burton's Answer for Lack of Casting Diversity Inflames Fans 2022 Tim Burton's Wednesday Criticized for Racist Characterizations and Undertones |
 INTERVIEW WITH
THE VAMPIRE (1994) All the minorities in the movie die: the New Orleans prostitute (Indra Ové - also dies in RESIDENT EVIL), and Yvette (Thandie Newton). |
THE FEAR - 1995 Alone in a cabin to discover their true fears, a mess of white people die because of ghosts from their past. The black couple are the only ones killed without explaining what evil things they did in the past to deserve it. Their story and guilt doesn't matter to the movie. Only white survivors. |
ERASER - 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger kills everyone to protect the minority woman in his charge (mulatto actress Vanessa L. Williams). All male minorities die. |
THE FRIGHTENERS - 1996 The only black guy, Chi McBride, is a dead guy - one of the ghosts. All the living are white. Even as a ghost, Chi still dies! In prior movies by Director Peter Jackson, the minorities lived - and there was a lot of them. This was his first Hollywood financed Horror movie, and his first to get an UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT. Odd, huh? |
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN - 1997 Despite the largely interracial crowd (African, Hispanic, Asian) including SALMA HAYEK, the only survivors with any screen time, are white. Cheech Marin, who played many different characters in the movie, dies several times. He finally makes an appearance at the end, but his last character was never involved in the story in the first place. The last minority "character" doesn't die, but George Clooney's character punches him in the mouth. |
CUBE - 1997 Though not made or funded by Hollywood (it's Canadian), this otherwise fine movie still follows the same old formula. There is only one black guy (Maurice Dean Wint), one racially set apart minority at all, actually - all the rest are white. Maurice was cast as the only bad guy: and what happens to bad guys in these movies? |
RELIC - 1997 The first victims of the creature in RELIC are all Hispanic. The first victim in the Museum is a black security guard who gets it while smoking pot on duty. Tico Wells is a black cop trying to save the rich white people and he dies nobly. The only Asian man (Chi Moui Lo: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) is a bad guy trying to steal a white person's job. Only white survivors. |
DEEP RISING - 1998 All the black people were also bad people so they die. All the Asians were wealthy Asians so THEY die. Basically, anyone who is not white dies. Actor/Model Djimon Hounsou (Vivo) not only dies trying to take over a ship in this sea-movie, but a year earlier played an African Slave Trader (Cinque) in AMISTAD (1997) who commandeers a slave ship and later demands that the white slave owners of early America return him to his home country and freedom - so he can continue the family business (!) (that family business of enslaving human beings continues to this day. Thanks John Quincy Adams!) |
ALIEN RESURRECTION - 1998 In the 4th and worst installment of the series, all male humans regardless of race are bad guys. All the women or those appearing to be human females are confused and victimized. Still, of the 4 survivors, all are white. As with every ALIEN movie, all black folk were cast in body count roles. |
STRANGELAND - 1998 Twisted Sister frontman, Dee Snider, kills off the only major African American character (Amal Rhoe) in the first few minutes of this film. The rest of the town seems to be all white. Hispanic actress, Elizabeth Peña, plays a white woman. I didn't realize that until we see her all white sisters. (?) |
MIMIC - 1997 Halfway through the movie you just KNOW that the black subway cop Leonard (Charles Dutton: CAT'S EYE, ALIEN 3, SE7EN) is going to be slaughtered in the time honored Horror movie cliché of Kill The Black People. And yep, Leonard dies nobly while saving the white couple (also dies nobly in ALIEN3). |
PHANTOMS - 1998 Only the white folk survive. The one black man - Clifton Powell, the one Asian woman - Valerie Chow, and the one Latino man - Micael DeLorenzo, get slaughtered, though nobly. |
VIRUS - 1999 There is a black guy (former Pro Footballer Sherman Augustus: Richie) in this movie and so, like nearly every SF/Horror movie in the last twenty years, from perennial black movie victim Paul Winfield to the present; HE DIES! The black character in SF/Horror (like Charles Dutton in MIMIC) is no slouch, of course. He is noble, he overcomes his limitations, he is heroic, he saves the white people, he is a credit to his race, but never-the less, HE DIES. As soon as you see him and the little guy (Julio Oscar Mechoso: Squeeky) and the dark complected, but undetermined race character (New Zealander Cliff Curtis: Hiko - also dies in the SF/Horror movie DEEP RISING), you know one thing: that out of all of the potential survivors, THESE NON-WHITES ARE GOING TO DIE! And of course, you'd be right. It's just that predictable. |
THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE - 1999 Black actor Joe Morton is in this movie and so, like nearly every SF/Horror movie in the last twenty years, from perennial black movie victim Paul Winfield to the present; HE DIES! Morton is the only black actor in the movie who doesn't have a bit part, so Joe (who also died nobly in TERMINATOR 2), gets to die nobly again while trying to save the earth. This is how the Racial Cliche Alert works. The minority actor in SF/Horror (like Charles Dutton in MIMIC) is no slouch, of course. He is noble, he overcomes his limitations, he is heroic, he saves the white people, he is a credit to his race, but never-the less, HE DIES. THE ONLY BLACK GUY DIES! As soon as you see him you know one thing: that out of all of the potential survivors, HE IS GOING TO DIE! In the more racially mixed EVENT HORIZON, they at least allowed one member of each race to live, and to the movie maker's credit, did it without being left wing liberal hokey about it. EVENT HORIZON, however, wasn't a Hollywood made movie and THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE is. |
DOGMA - 1999 As DOGMA grows steadily duller, your mind starts to wander and you begin to notice things. Things like, "Hey, there are no black people in this movie, in fact, there are only white people." To overcome this, Writer/Director Kevin Smith has Chris Rock fall out of the sky, literally. Problem is, Chris Rock, for all his millennia in Heaven and his status as an apostle, is not an angel, he's just a dead guy. When his mission is done, back he goes. He's only there to help the white folks accomplish THEIR mission; he doesn't actually do anything himself. The only other black people in the entire movie are a unusually friendly group of street thugs, who are all quickly killed off by an "Excremental": A shit demon. Ha! Ha! The black people get all covered in shit and die! Yeesh! This is not to say that some white characters don't also die, they do. The UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT is to let you know that, no matter how many victims or how many people from different races are in the movie, the whites and ONLY the whites were cast as survivors. Or in this case, even have lives that matter. I don't have a "feminist cliche" alert because the ultra-sexist Women As Victim and/or mere Furniture is so institutionalized in all manner of movies across the board it isn't even worth the time to bring it up. Everybody knows about it and nobody can argue that it doesn't exist. In the movie SOYLENT GREEN, women were literally billed as Furniture, right on the poster. Even Thelma And Louise played out the whole movie in a never ending Women-As-Helpless-Victim vein (and that was considered a feminist movie)! What makes it particularly stand out in DOGMA though, is how the flick tries to be so painfully hip and cool and Politically Correct Liberal, Yet Still Paints Every Woman As Helpless Victim And Every Minority As Dead Meat! It was so over-obvious as to be mind-boggling. Like when Senators Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde upheld the "Defense of Marriage Act", the "Sanctity of marriage", family values, and decrying Clinton for lying under oath about his having an affair, WHILE both Gingrich and Hyde were having adulterous affairs and lying under oath about it! For example: While this movie pretends to be oh-so-very sensitive toward women (only white men are bad, only white men are guilty, blah, blah. Women are muses, saviors, and the latest version of GOD), it really just puts them in the background while the guys get to have all the fun, best scenes, and good lines. Only men have agency. Bethany is sent only male characters to help her in her mission. First Metatron, then Jay and Silent Bob, and finally Rufus. Yes. A black guy named Rufus. That's the joke, you see. Bethany is never sent any female help. Understand that Bethany is played by Linda Fiorentino: LINDA FIORENTINO (!). When it comes to American, ass-kickin' female leads you have Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, and Linda Fiorintino. Yet in this movie she is helpless wandering kitten without the constant assistance of all the guys who are either saving her life or telling her what to do. When we first meet Loki, he is talking a Nun right out of her own faith. Not a priest. Never a priest. No, it's gotta be a woman. Later, when Loki and Bartleby go to the Mooby Corporation to do some cleansing of the sinners, the all white board of directors has only one woman. All the sins of the men are laid out. The woman's life story is never told. She is innocent; no background; no life; has done nothing wrong and is reduced to being less than a cipher. Salma Hayek makes her appearance in this movie as the stripper Serendipity (these guys must have loved her in FROM DUSK TO DAWN). What she is, in reality, is a Muse. She can do nothing herself, she can only influence (in this case men) to actually accomplish the ideas that she invented. Wait a minute! Shouldn't a muse be influencing the supposed hero of this movie, who is Doctor Bethany? Nope. Serendipity can only influence - never actually tell the men - what they should do. Only the men can save Bethany from getting herself killed. GOD, while frequently referred to in this movie as he, is played by a she (Alanis Morrisette). But guess what? God is unable to speak for herself. To hear her talk will
destroy your brain (ah ha ha! Of course *wink*).
She needs her all male Angels to speak for her in her behalf. Only when she nonsensically squeeks and giggles do we hear her. SHEESH! |
THE GREEN MILE - 1999 Only one black man in the whole movie (Michael Clarke Duncan) and he happens to be on death row. So guess what? And the argument that Steve killed off the character in the story doesn't work here either. See THE SHINING as to why. |
END OF DAYS - 1999 CCH Pounder plays Margo the cop. The only black woman or minority person in this movie, she gets shot to death by Arnold's character because she is evil and is threatening the white woman that he wants to protect. This is not a spoiler since black people in Arnold Schwarzenegger SF/Horror movies are always bad or victims or both and wind up dead. Come to think of it, you really can't spoil an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie with the UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT. It would be a surprise if it DIDN'T happen! |
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| HOW OTHERS SEE IT |
| 2022 "And for Ralph, who has quietly and steadily built a 45-year career in an industry not always welcoming of her skin tone, taking up space has deep personal resonance." Sheryl Lee Ralph put in the time and the work. Hollywood is finally taking notice |
| 2021 "Industry professionals like the one I pitched above don't think of themselves as ableist." How Hollywood Reacts to My Disability - And Why it Matters For You |
| 2020 UCLA: Does Hollywood STILL hire based on race? 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report: A different story behind the scenes |
| 2006 Does Hollywood hire based on race? LA Daily News article. Study: Whites Get Majority Of Acting Jobs |
| From The Independent in the UK Gay Rights And Wrongs: Hollywood's Biggest Taboo. |
