Current Events > Robert Downey Jr says something kinda racist in defense of superhero movies

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/alejandro-g-inarritu-robert-downey-jr-superhero-cultural-genocide-1235362143/

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/9/AAPstsAADqBf.jpg

Bad look player

Was never any kinda about it.

I don't condone RDJ's comments, but the "cultural genocide" remark is stupid.

How's it racist if they're both white?

oh yea, I remember reading this when it first came out.

totally a bad look for RDJ.

he literally complimented the guy by saying he was impressively fluent in a secondary language

how is that racist

HovaRex posted...

How's it racist if they're both white?

by how condescending his comment was, like, it's surprising to hear from a native Spanish speaker.

Come on yall

When RDJ swings he swings hella hard.

Probably referring to the Spanish Conquistadors with that retort, but yeah, really bad clap back from RDJ.

g0ldie posted...

by how condescending his comment was, like, it's surprising to hear from a native Spanish speaker.

I thought the implication was that the Spanish were cultural genociders, creating some irony

We're lucky Iron Man was already written out of the MCU.

If the MCU decides in the near future to use the multiverse as a means of rebooting characters without rebooting them, there's an 80% chance that Universe B Iron Man will be Latino. "My grandfather's name was Rivera. My father thought that Stark was more marketable. It always hurt me to hide my identity like that."

"For a man whose native tongue is
Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is."
If I had to give him the benefit of the doubt, id say he was alluding to the cultural genocide of the indigenous Mexicans and the Spanish conquistadors being responsible for that. I dont think he was saying wow you sure are smart for a spanish speaker

Spanish isn't a race, and no one would have a problem with it if he said something similar about Americans.

Suddenly, Tropic Thunder does not seem like the clever commentary on race relations it once was and more an excuse for R to dress up in black face...

EmbraceOfDeath posted...

Spanish isn't a race, and no one would have a problem with it if he said something similar about Americans.

Don't be dense. Hispanic/Latino is a clear ethnicity

Alucard188 posted...

Probably referring to the Spanish Conquistadors with that retort, but yeah, really bad clap back from RDJ.

Innaritu is Mexican though so it's incredibly ignorant.

Seaman_Prime posted...

"For a man whose native tongue is
Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is."
If I had to give him the benefit of the doubt, id say he was alluding to the cultural genocide of the indigenous Mexicans and the Spanish conquistadors being responsible for that. I dont think he was saying wow you sure are smart for a spanish speaker

Benefit of the doubt? It's obvious that's what he's saying. Anybody who reads it differently is doing whatever the opposite of benefit of the doubt is.

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Don't be dense. Hispanic/Latino is a clear ethnicity

Hispanic =/= Latino

Seaman_Prime posted...

"For a man whose native tongue is
Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is."
If I had to give him the benefit of the doubt, id say he was alluding to the cultural genocide of the indigenous Mexicans and the Spanish conquistadors being responsible for that. I dont think he was saying wow you sure are smart for a spanish speaker

This was my take away.

"You know RDJ, as an English speaker, you should shut your fucking mouth."

Seaman_Prime posted...

"For a man whose native tongue is
Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is."
If I had to give him the benefit of the doubt, id say he was alluding to the cultural genocide of the indigenous Mexicans and the Spanish conquistadors being responsible for that. I dont think he was saying wow you sure are smart for a spanish speaker

Go tell a black person that they're well-spoken and use this sort of excuse for why it's a compliment.

See how that goes for you.

I'm pretty sure no one is reading it as "you're smart for a Spanish speaker." He's snidely saying the Spanish historically are perpetrators of cultural genocide and Innaritu is being a hypocrite, which is ignorant as hell because he's Mexican.

Like that whole thing isn't even a backhanded compliment.

DrizztLink posted...

Go tell a black person that they're well-spoken and use this sort of excuse for why it's a compliment.

See how that goes for you.

Why they gotta be black?

The guys who hate on Superhero movies are so dumb.

Acting like Hollywood has been deep artistic expressions of human life and soul until capes turned up.

UnfairRepresent posted...

The guys who hate on Superhero movies are so dumb.

Acting like Hollywood has been deep artistic expressions of human life and soul until capes turned up.

I get not personally liking them or feeling that their overabundance comes at the expense of other genres. (Personally, I'm annoyed at the lack of action and adventure outside of the superhero genre.) But calling it cultural genocide? That's going way, way too far.

Smashingpmkns posted...

He's snidely saying the Spanish historically are perpetrators of cultural genocide and Innaritu is being a hypocrite, which is ignorant as hell because he's Mexican.

Because to a ton of people, Mexican and Spanish are the same thing, and don't have the thoughtfulness as to why Mexicans speak a language from Spain.

UnfairRepresent posted...

The guys who hate on Superhero movies are so dumb.

Acting like Hollywood has been deep artistic expressions of human life and soul until capes turned up.

It's not the superheroes, but the interconnected film universe that draws people back again and again. Also, are superheroes that popular or is it really just the MCU?

I mean, there's a pretty big issue in the industry with major film studios mostly only funding huge franchise films that will have a $300-$500+ mil return. It's becoming increasingly harder to receive funding for non-franchise films. Superhero movies just so happen to be THE franchise films right now. I think as a filmmaker it's a reasonable thing to be upset about.

Smashingpmkns posted...

I mean, there's a pretty big issue in the industry with major film studios mostly only funding huge franchise films that will have a $300-$500+ mil return. It's becoming increasingly harder to receive funding for non-franchise films. Superhero movies just so happen to be THE franchise films right now. I think as a filmmaker it's a reasonable thing to be upset about.

That's a problem with capitalism. It's not a form of genocide.

Here's the real question, y'all

Loki season 2 when?

Xethuminra posted...

Here's the real question, y'all

Loki season 2 when?

I think mid-2023

Smashingpmkns posted...

Come on yall

Be upset everybody

FortuneCookie posted...

That's a problem with capitalism. It's not a form of genocide.

Film is a culture. Not funding smaller stories in favor of huge franchise films is killing a huge part of that culture. Not a hard thing to grasp, and not something to get caught up on.

Smashingpmkns posted...

I mean, there's a pretty big issue in the industry with major film studios mostly only funding huge franchise films that will have a $300-$500+ mil return. It's becoming increasingly harder to receive funding for non-franchise films. Superhero movies just so happen to be THE franchise films right now. I think as a filmmaker it's a reasonable thing to be upset about.

I feel like this has always been a thing though, or at least for a long time even before superhero movies. Maybe it started with Star Wars.

MICHALECOLE posted...

Be upset everybody

That wasn't a "bump" post it was in response to the pretty obtuse replies before it.

Seaman_Prime posted...

"For a man whose native tongue is
Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is."
If I had to give him the benefit of the doubt, id say he was alluding to the cultural genocide of the indigenous Mexicans and the Spanish conquistadors being responsible for that. I dont think he was saying wow you sure are smart for a spanish speaker

And the Incans, too.

The Spaniards did a lot to wipe out all the florishing Native American civilizations of South and Central America.

The Incans - destroyed. The Mayans - destroyed. The Aztecs - destroyed.

And their survivors? Their languages and religion wiped out... and replaced with Spanish and Catholicism.

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

I think mid-2023

Easily some of the best content of the MCU and the action isn't even on the forefront

Hype

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

I feel like this has always been a thing though, or at least for a long time even before superhero movies. Maybe it started with Star Wars.

Nah. If anything the first Star Wars marked the end of an era for this type of studio funding (see: Westerns). 70's-early 2000's didn't really see much of this. Yeah there were a shit ton of franchise films, but studios were still pumping out plenty of smaller films throughout that time. Not so today. We have a handful of "indie" distributors and production studios, but most of those (like A24) just buy the rights to film festival darlings and push them out.

A24 is essentially the monkeypaw version of Miramax. Not saying they're bad, just not what that style of distribution used to be.

does the first guy think that all super heroes are white? I don't understand his point

UnfairRepresent posted...

The guys who hate on Superhero movies are so dumb.

Acting like Hollywood has been deep artistic expressions of human life and soul until capes turned up.

The game is about mothafuckin money. Dollar bills, y'all

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Don't be dense. Hispanic/Latino is a clear ethnicity

Fun fact, most people from Spain are white. They are also Hispanic. In fact Spain sits on the Hispania Peninsula.

Another fun fact, being Hispanic and or Latino means you can also be white, black Asian, whatever.

Speaking Spanish, being Latino or being Hispanic does not remotely mean you can't also be white.

is stale as fuck in this topic

Like yeah, it sucks that franchise films suck up so much oxygen, but there's plenty of very strong independent/smaller films that do extremely well.

Iunno, I can see where they're coming from, but every time a director starts going off about franchise films "killing" cinema or throwing around terms like "cultural genocide" with regards to it, it always comes across as slightly pathetic imo

interesting.

I immediately read it as the racist version, and then thought about it, realized the mexican part, and now think its definitely possible he meant it the other way.

Damn that hits hard. I don't know if it is racist...but damn he took to a new level, for a movie jab. He is talking about how someone from Mexico City speak Spanish and not Nahuatl. Language of the Aztec.

Saying this is what cultural genocide really looks like.

I mean RDJ literally did blackface. If you support Disney/Marvel and their movies you're literally condoning racism

Oof. Come on, Robert.