In my secret identity, I’m a graduate student, and I just wrapped up a class about depictions of Black people in film history. So from that perspective, Skids and Mudflap, the hideously misconceived characters from “Transformers 2”, are pretty interesting in how they go right back to minstrel shows. As in, literally.
And from a nerd perspective I hate Michael Bay, although that hate has faded quite a bit over the years.
So, really, I should be enraged from two directions that Skids and Mudflap are returning for Transformers 3. But there’s one small problem with that:
We don’t know that they’re actually returning for Transformers 3.
“But, but, but, that’s what all the other blogs are saying!” you say. Well, read closer, and you’ll find that it’s less about definitive proof and more about hating on Bay and his franchise. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we should hate Bay mindfully, with all the facts, which we don’t currently have, especially since the last we heard about this was literally a year ago.
Here’s what we actually know: Bay posted a message on his personal site saying, in no uncertain terms, that Skids and Mudflap won’t be back. A few hours later, two Chevy Sparks in their exact shades were spotted doing preproduction work.
Anyway, as Bay has flagrantly lied before about Transformers not being in movies, the entire Internet exploded with rage that their hatred of these characters were being ignored. You know, because the Internet’s hatred of these turkeys has totally mattered the last two- Wait, the last one made $830 million?
A few salient points:
– Sparks and Mudflap were public relations disasters. Chevy wasn’t happy, Bay wasn’t happy, the studio wasn’t happy, basically it was Jar-Jar Binks all over again.
– Bay does not do subtle, so if they ARE featured, he’s probably going to violently murder them.
– All three Transformers productions have been, well, huge messes behind the scenes. It’s worth remembering that Bay and Paramount have rushed these things to the screen, literally starting the next one before the prints had dried on the last one, and just because preproduction work was done with something doesn’t mean it’ll be in the actual film, which supposedly none of us are going to see anyway, so why does it matter?
In short, let’s actually freak out when there’s something to freak out about, mkay?
[ via Topless Robot and The Mary Sue ]