Page "Mudflap (Transformers)" Paragraph 16

There has been a strong negative reaction to Mudflap and Skids in Revenge of the Fallen as the pair were received as embodying racist stereotypes.

The characters have been given ape-like appearance, speak in street-slang dialogue, and confess an inability to read ( though the film clarifies that they only have difficulty reading the ancient Language of the Primes that no other modern Transformer can read either, not reading in general and in the film itself they admit to not reading often ); one of the characters also has a gold tooth.

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said that " the characters [...] indicate that minstrelsy remains as much in fashion in Hollywood as when, well, Jar Jar Binks was set loose by George Lucas.

" Critic Scott Mendelson said, " To say that these two are the most astonishingly racist caricatures that I've ever seen in a mainstream motion picture would be an understatement.

" Harry Knowles, founder of Ain't It Cool News, went further, asking his readers " not to support this film " because " You'll be taking children to see a film with the lowest forms of humor, stereotypes and racism around.

" Director Michael Bay has defended the robots as " good clean fun " and insisted that " We're just putting more personality in the film.

" Bay stated that he made the robots for the kids, but he did remove them from Dark of the Moon in response.