Some parts of the movie were funny, but the racist remarks against the young Indian chap were not cool. If there'd been a young African kid, and a young gay kid, getting called The N word or Fag, respectively, in an non ironic just plain nasty way, batemans career would be over. I don't know why it's ok or funny to be racist to Indians. Weird choice of movies for Bateman to direct.
shareits ok and funny to be racist to anyone. i don't understand why indians are special?
shareits ok and funny to be racist to anyone. i don't understand why indians are special?
share"It's ok and funny to be racist to anyone."
Hard to agree with that kind of ignorance. You sound like a real creep.
There's plenty of bigot's and nazi's out there who will enjoy this kind of movie. I guess you're one of them.
It's a lewd, vile character saying lewd and vile things. After all the horrible stuff he does in the film, why should race be off limits? It's okay for him to show a 11 year old boy a naked prostitute and sneak him shots in a bar, but not for him to make a racial remark? Don't cherry pick your morals, bro.
Lionel Lunch has got a hunch!
I'm not cherry picking my morals. I found the drinking scene and the naked prostitute scene the be super weird too.
Like you say, Batemans character is meant to be seen as lewd, vile and broken.
Just a very strange film because of it's comedic tone, while promoting racism, bullying etc.
The film is in no way promoting racism and bullying, those are just two things that happen in the film, same as in real life. The film showed the lead character as a deeply flawed, unhappy, unpleasant person, those were merely two of his qualities... In no way was the film promoting these things, they were presented in the style of back comedy.
Lionel Lunch has got a hunch!
Saying this movie promotes racism and bullying is like saying a movie like As Good As It Gets does, or Silence of the Lambs promtes cannibalism, or Leaving Las Vegas promtes alcoholism.
They are traits of a particular character in the movie, and the viewer is not supposed to view these traits as endearing. They are supposed to be disgusted, scared, disappointed, etc. Sometimes the character ends up being likeable despite their flaws, and taht usually comes from them learning and growing, but in some cases the character is unredeemable and bad things usually happen to them because od it, or if they don't we're supposed to be upset by it.
If you can't make this simple distinction while watching a film, whether you like it the movie or not, then I suggest you either stay away from movies altogether or seek help with getting a grip on reality.
"Chicks dig me because I rarely wear underwear,and when I do, it's usually something unusual"
I agree with you, good post!
shareToss off, you wanker!
shareI agree with your remark about the creep saying racism is funny which it isn't but dissing a comedy due to close to the bone remarks just sounds ridiculous. You Americans seem to pick and choose who deserves respect and who can be ridiculed in scenes in various comedies, Scots, Irish, Chinese people can be torn to shreds with "jokes that are funny though" but mention comments aimed at black or gay people and suddenly new prisons are being built in preparation, ridiculous!
Either lighten up or don't watch it. It seems some of you want to be offended in order to start a campaign to get someone hung! ( neither of these comments were aimed at minorities before the police are called on me!)
Hi Sam,
I don't have a problem with black comedy or close to the bone remarks. I'm just curious that Bateman decided Indians were fair game in this one, but he didn't have the balls to have a shot at jews, gays, etc. In my opinion this film didn't stray far enough into darkness to work in the way Bad Santa worked. Bateman just comes of looking like an a-hole for choosing to direct and act in this project.
By the way..."you Americans" - I'm not an American. But I don't think all American's can be lumped together as picky respect choosers. There's clearly two groups...Fox news viewers and normal people.
Sorry m8, when i replied i was generalising due to the fact that many from the UK view Americans as having the loopiest view on religion with so many "mini-branches" breaking off into their own little groups as they each differently interpret a 1600 year old interpretation of a legendary word of mouth fable! LoL
I take your point.
Curry hole isn't racist in the least. For it to be racist, the remarks would have to be dismissive based solely on the target's race. The remarks were dismissive, but based solely on the speaker's intent to be rude to another person. The race of the kid didn't matter. Had he been French he might have been told to shut his crepe hole. Get it?
Furthermore, the idea that Indians like curry isn't offensive. Same as the crepe example. It might call attention to a person's race, but it doesn't attempt to reduce them to a negative aspect of it.
Curry-hole and the N-word aren't even comparable. Watermelon-hole is comparable, and though it wouldn't be racist, it would be offensive on its face. Not because blacks are untouchable, but because it's just plain ignorant. And it has a history of being used when the person's race is the sole reason for the insult.
I agree with your sentiment, but not sure that an insult like watermelon-hole or your other examples aren't racist.
Remember, racist remarks don't have to be negative stereotypes - positive or neutral stereotyping comments can be seen as racist.
And there is a double (or multi) standard that exists. For some reason it's OK to talk about Jews eating Mahtzah balls and a Scotsman eating haggis, but say that blacks like watermelon or whatever and you're on much thinner ice.
The ice is thin in the watermelon patch only because of its association with blacks. That is, the black experience in American history has been particularly injurious. Coincidental to the harsh treatment were harsh words and associations, e.g. watermelon. Were it not for this shameful history then the watermelon example would be similar to curry-hole. We see this thin ice all the time. Express a negative opinion about a black person and watch out! I take that back...express any opinion about a black person and you are on thin ice. When Barack Obama came on the scene you better not have commented about his eloquence. I excuse much of the thin ice as a natural outcome of the black experience, but it's been getting ridiculous over the past 10-15 years. Just ask Giuliana Rancic.
shareSo anyone who likes this movie is a Nazi?
share"It's ok and funny to be racist to anyone."
Hard to agree with that kind of ignorance. You sound like a real creep.
There's plenty of bigot's and nazi's out there who will enjoy this kind of movie. I guess you're one of them.
For some reason racism toward Indians and Asians is tolerated in Hollywood.
You're right though, anything anti-gay, anti-semitic, or anti-black and your career is over.
Wrong. Anything truly racist is bad for anybody. The problem is most people are complete morons about recognizing what is racist. Bateman's character was rude to an Indian character, yes. Clarify for me what was anti-Indian.
shareIt was wrong of him to assume that the kid eats curry! î‚•
I'm kidding, I find this topic to be completely ridiculous.
I am an Indian and I take/took no offense to all or any of the racist remarks and words.
I think stereotypes are funny. All the remarks never really meant to hurt the kid.
All Guy (Bateman's character) wanted was Chaitanya to leave him alone so he used those words. Its still better than to bully a child or make up fake stories about ghosts to get them to sleep early!!!!
And Bateman as a director....never intended to offend any Indian.
Check My Guitar Video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXVYXprSS_c
LIGHTEN UP. It's just a damn movie. Jeeeeeez.
share[deleted]
It's like how we're not allowed to say "Merry Christmas" in Canada anymore because it might be offensive to non-Christians.Did they pass a law or something in Canada? Because the last time I checked in the USA we could say any damn thing we wanted to.
If I were in Africa and they said "Happy Kwanza"Don't know much about Kwanzaa, do you? Kwanzaa is American, nobody celebrates Kwanzaa in Africa.
People have to stop living life so uptight, and take it for what it is.It would help if people didn't go around making up strawman to get uptight about. share
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by AndyCapp3 » 10 hours ago (Sat Sep 27 2014 06:49:11)But apparently worth the time to be smug about it not being worth your time!
Ridiculous rebuttals not even worth my time!
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by AndyCapp3 » 2 hours ago (Sat Sep 27 2014 18:51:03)
No...I just don't care any more ya tvvat...piss off
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> No they didn't pass a law you idiot.
Good, at least you admit to hyperbole. Of course I'm the idiot because you exaggerated to the point of misdirection.
> How is any of this a strawman? And why would it make you uptight either way you tvvat?
It is a strawman because it has nothing to do with being offended. The reason corporations require their employees to say "happy holidays" is because they want to include as many customers as possible.
The only people who get offended about the situation are thin-skinned people like yourself who can't stand the fact that being friendly to everyone rather than to just the people in your particular tribe is good business.
Well said. The only thing worse than the extreme minority who take offense to Merry Christmas is the even more extreme minority who takes offense to Happy Holidays.
shareI'm sorry but I find "Happy Holidays" so offensive. Not everyone gets holidays at the same time. A lot of people celebrate holidays by going out to eat, or going to the cinema, or going shopping. All of these places have mostly low-paid employees working at these times of year. As if people making minimum wage didn't have it tough enough! And what about the unemployed? They aren't even lucky enough to have a low-paid menial job. THEY NEVER GET HOLIDAYS!!
Happy non-denominational majority downtime period which recognises the contribution of the minority at work and those for whom this is just another grey day in the seemingly endless grind of poverty ... er, days! That's the only truly inclusive message to give at such times. I think you'll all agree.
That's quite a mouthful. Just go with Happy Festivus!
shareNobody celebrates Kwanzaa even in America. Nobody black, that is.
shareTHANK YOU!
shareI agree completely, I've always found it bizarre that South Asians are mocked so openly in films and television. East Asians, Jews, African-Americans, Irish, etc., all used to be as well. The only other ethnicities I can think of that seem to be fair game (maybe to a lesser extent) as well are Arabs, Persians, and Latinos.
shareIf there'd been a young African kid, and a young gay kid, getting called The N word or Fag, respectively, in an non ironic just plain nasty way, batemans career would be over.
Why do you think that is? Keen to hear your opinion. I'd say it's because gays, And African Americans have stood up against the ignorance and insults and said it's not acceptable for people to treat them with malice or contempt anymore. Good for them right?
shareAll would agree that it's not ok to treat anybody with malice or contempt based on things like race. And all should recognize that Bateman's character, while clearly being rude to the Indian kid, did so with absolutely zero malice or contempt for him because he is Indian.
shareIt wouldn't be like calling a African Kid "the N word" or a gay kid "Fag".
It would be like telling an African Kid to shut his "chicken and waffle hole" or telling a gay kid to shut his "dick eating hole".
So, obviously offensive, but yet not utilizing those special offensive buzz words that everyone is so afraid of.
What about the sexism in the movie? Calling a woman's sexual organ a "grey and distended like an elephant trunk" (HILARIOUS)
Fat people, short people, white people, ALL FREAKING PEOPLE are abused in comedy.
There is nothing special about someone's race that keeps it from being just one more easy target of comedic abuse.
Batemans free to make movies like this, and I'm free to hate his guts. It's all good.
share[deleted]
Bateman's character was despicable. But he uttered not a single racial slur.
shareOP you are what's wrong with the world....and I'm guessing too dumb or programmed to realize it. Probably both, as programming an idiot it much easier than programming someone with even a shred of common sense.
shareSki bum, I'm a free thinker, and opposed to a-holes.
shareIt's just a movie!
shareSki bum, I'm a free thinker, and opposed to a-holes.
Because the Indian race hasn't been particularly wronged in the past (I don't think British occupation counts). For blacks, slavery, for Jews, the holocaust, and for homosexuals, well it's still an ongoing struggle.
I think what happened in the past should be buried with the past, and personally don't have a pickle with any racially oriented jokes.
I'm sorry what? The British Occupation doesn't count? I don't agree with OP and didn't take offense to the movie and I am from the subcontinent, but your remarks do offend. Freaking bigot.
shareI didn't mean it doesn't count as in lack of importance, I mean because it's not a feud that continues to this day. British people and Indian people can get on fine now, whereas a Jew and German or a southerner and an african american will still have tension between them. Sorry if I offended you, I could have phrased my statement better
shareStruggle ain't got nothing to do with it. Racist is racist, and is despicable. But that little Indian kid suffered no racism from Bateman's character. Bateman's attempt at witticism by making Indian references eventually got on the kid's nerves because it got old, not because it was racially offensive.
share