Mark — That LA Weekly brain burp somehow reminded me of the old debate about whether the Orcs in Lord of the Rings were racist. Here was my response at the time:
Sigh. Okay, yes, it’s true. Many of the Orcs (and the super-Orcs) are dark-skinned and have slant-eyes. They are also — how shall I put this? — Orcs! Ya frickin’ idjit!
One is tempted to ask who is the real racist here? On the one hand we have people — like me — who see horrific, flesh-eating, dull-witted creatures with jagged feral teeth, venomous mouths, pointed devilish ears, and reptilian skin, and say, “Cool, Orcs!” On the other hand we have people, like Mr. Yatt, who see the same repugnant creatures and righteously exclaim “black people!” Maybe he should spend less time vetting movies for signs of racism and more time vetting himself if, that is, he free-associates black people with these subhuman monsters.
The posters are so transparently and plainly evocative of the Joker that no reasonable person can deny it. But the LA Weekly can’t imagine it’s not some KKK-style stunt and that the appeal for conservatives must be racist. Whatever happened to transcending race in the Obama years?