Transformers: Racism, Sexism and Americana

It just wouldn’t be a Hollywood if you didn’t throw in those three ingredients. I was a massive Transformers fan when I was a kid, thus I was obviously excited when the film came out. Overall it was a little more for the younger crowd but I enjoyed it. But there are three things I feel compelled to point out.

Racism:

As if trying to justify itself to the horror genre the film decides to take on two of the most notorious Hollywood stereotypes. The only black Autobot, Jazz, black in that he is voiced by a black actor and his dialog is stereotypical of the comedic black character, is killed in the film. He is in fact the only Autobot to be sacrificed to the forces of evil.

Debatably one could argue that he was a Christ-like sacrifice, since there is a fair range of arguments that Jesus was in fact black. However, I highly doubt this since 85% of the red states get enraged when they hear this theory and alienating 85% of half your audience just isn’t good Hollywood business sense. I guess it just boils down to good old-fashioned family racism.

Misogyny:

Keeping the horror movie spirit going the film also has another important lesson: “Smack your bitch up!” In the climatic scene our hero (Shia LaBeouf) running for his life trips and bumps into a woman’s car. The woman reacts with some harsh words, obviously pissed about her car and not noticing the giant robots in pursuit of our guy.

This woman is set up as a stereotypical self obsessed bitch and as every piece of white trash knows if a woman’s a bitch you’d better beat the attitude out of her. The poor lady whose only crime was worrying about her car is eaten alive by the very car she stands up for. Hectic.

Americana:

Nothing like a good dose of Americana, but really what were you expecting? It’s a movie about giant robots that turn into cars (well mostly). If you’re going to complain about that, I’m going to have to complain about your inability to predict a film’s overall vibe from a trailer (you must waste a fortune on movies you don’t want to see).

Yes the film’s filled with fast cars, jocks, hot chicks and explosions. My favorite ingredient: The ode to football. What’s more American then football? After all the rest of the world does calls it “American” football.

The Setup: Our hero, the social outcast who’s been labeled as a nerd but really isn’t (another Americana cliché), tries out for the football team and is humiliated (and quite literally crushed).

The Play: In the climax of the film our boy runs down a street holding an “object” like a football. In pursuit of him is the entire Decepticon defense. Fortunately for Shia he is flanked by Autobot blockers who provide him the cover he needs to make it all the way to the “end zone”. Hollywood magic at it’s best. At least Optimus Prime didn’t transform into an American flag at the end.