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102 COINCIDENCES AND COUNTING

URCA:
UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT

Deadicated to Scatman Crothers

1900 - 1960 - 1970 - 1980 - 1990 - 2000 - 2010

The Unfair racial Cliche really got moving in the 1980s.
Read HOLLYWOOD RACISM

For a complete explanation of what this page is about, please go to the
UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT
main page.


LEGEND

HORROR/THRILLER HOLLYWOOD THRILLER NON-HOLLYWOOD HORROR

Be Alert for These Titles of the
1990s

Total Recall 1990
1990s: DECADE OF THE FACE POSTER!
TOTAL RECALL- 1990
HORROR / THRILLER
Carolco Pictures
&Gary Goldman
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Producer: Buzz Feitshans & Ronald Shusett

In the future, the only black guy - on Earth or Mars - is Benny, the jive talkin' cabbie (actor / writer / director Mel Johnson Jr.). He's a bad guy and gets drilled to death by Arnold, who is trying to protect his hispanic woman, but mainly himself. Yes, the secretary at Rekall is also black, but she's a bit part and you know it; having less than 30 seconds on the screen.

Alien Raiders SYNGENOR - 1990
HORROR / THRILLER
Syngenor Production Company Limited, Associated Screen Artists Inc., American Cinema Marketing Corporation
Screenplay: Michael Carmody, Brent V. Friedman
Director: George Elanjian Jr.
Producer: Jack F. Murphy

There's only a single minority in this movie, so as you've come to expect, he dies. The lazy, bitchy, beer-drinking on the job security guard, Donnie (Roy Fegan), gets his brains blown out by his white boss.

T2

TERMINATOR 2 - 1991
HORROR / THRILLER
Carolco Pictures
Screenplay: James Cameron & William Wisher Jr.
Director: James Cameron
Producer: James Cameron

The only minority/black guy - Joe Morton (also dies in THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE) - nobly blows himself up to save the future and to avoid being shot to death by L.A. cops.

In Fact:
to save time let's just say that, if you are a male minority in an Arnold Schwarzenegger SF/Horror movie, then you are probably not a good guy, most likely a bad guy, and Arnold is either going to kill you himself or leave you for dead.

On The Other Hand: If you are a female minority, then Arnold's character is going to kill the all minority men and keep you for himself. Unless of course, he is already protecting a white woman, in which case you are threatening his white woman and you are going to die. Unless of course, he has already killed all the male minorities who were threatening his white woman in the first place.

Alien 3

ALIEN 3 (1992)
HORROR / THRILLER
20th Century Fox
Screenplay: David Giler, Walter Hill, & Larry Ferguson
Director: David Fincher
Producers: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, & Walter Hill

One white survivor plus the evil corporate big wigs at the end - who weren't really in any danger in the first place.

They were all white except for one token Asian man among them: a walk-on extra who doesn't speak. There was a flap among some Asian columnists for the movie makers having portrayed the only Asian man in the entire series (at that time) as one of the bad guys.

Jurassic Park

JURASSIC PARK (1993)
HORROR / THRILLER
Amblin Entertainment / Universal Pictures
Screenplay: Michael Crichton, David Koepp
Director: Steven Spielberg
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen

The only black character, Samuel L. Jackson, dies nobly. Only the white wealthy people survive.

UPDATE:
Mention has been made online that I forgot the first victim, whose movie credit was "Worker in the Raptor Pen".

That person is former Chicago Cubs baseball pitcher and current Stunt man, Jophery C. Brown. I don't include him just as I don't include any extras in the URCA. Jophrey was a speaking extra and this is what he said, "ARGH!"

So yeah, not a character.

Samuel L. Jackson played Ray Arnold and HE was a main character in the movie.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)
HORROR / THRILLER
Skellington Productions, Inc., Tim Burton Productions, Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures
Screenplay: Tim Burton, Michael McDowell, Caroline Thompson
Director: Henry Selick
Producer: Tim Burton, Denise Di Novi

The only black character, doesn't look black, he's just cartoonishly stylized that way.

He's Oogie Boogie and he speaks in the argot of Hollywood movie filtered Harlem black people. The person who was chosen to speak for Oogie Boogie was, according to Tim Burton in the director's commentary, black American actor Kenneth Page, who won the part because he had the right "sound" they were looking for to play a characer named Boogie.

Not the Bogeyman, but the "Boogie Man" who sings a "Boogie song". Everything about him from sound to vision speaks a stylized version of jazzy Harlem boogie.

Oogie Boogie is the only real villain and Jack kills him.

Unfortunately

This is an issue that has haunted Tim Burton for some time.

2012

Outcast by the Outcast: Tim Burton's Racial Blindness
I'd like you to take a look at a video:

This is the first TV spot for Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, the director's most recent release that's by all accounts imaginative and full of heart.
- GeekQuality

2016

Tim Burton's Answer for Lack of Casting Diversity Inflames Fans
Star of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" Samuel L. Jackson admits he "may have been the first" black actor in a Burton film
- TheWrap

2022

Tim Burton's Wednesday Criticized for Racist Characterizations and Undertones
Tim Burton's newly-released Netflix series Wednesday is getting dragged on social media for its portrayal of Black characters on the show.
- CBR

 

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994)
HORROR
Geffen Pictures / Warner Bros.
Screenplay: Anne Rice
Director: Neil Jordan
Producers: David Geffen & Stephen Woolley

All the minorities in the movie die: the New Orleans prostitute (Indra Ové - also dies in RESIDENT EVIL), and Yvette (Thandie Newton).

 

The Fear

THE FEAR - 1995
HORROR
A-Pix Entertainment, Inc.
Screenplay: Ron Ford & Greg H. Sims
Director: Vincent Robert
Producer: Richard Brandes

Alone in a cabin to discover their true fears, a mess of white people die because of ghosts from their past. The black couple are the only ones killed without explaining what evil things they did in the past to deserve it. Their story and guilt doesn't matter to the movie. Only white survivors.

 

ERASER - 1996
THRILLER
Warner Bros.
Screenplay: Tony Puryear & Walon Green
Director: Charles Russel
Producers: Anne & Arnold Kopelson

Arnold Schwarzenegger kills everyone to protect the minority woman in his charge (mulatto actress Vanessa L. Williams). All male minorities die.

The Frighteners

THE FRIGHTENERS - 1996
HORROR
WingNut Films / Universal Pictures
Screenplay: Peter Jackson & Frances Walsh
Director: Peter Jackson
Producers: Peter Jackson & Jamie Selkirk

The only black guy, Chi McBride, is a dead guy - one of the ghosts. All the living are white. Even as a ghost, Chi still dies! In prior movies by Director Peter Jackson, the minorities lived - and there was a lot of them. This was his first Hollywood financed Horror movie, and his first to get an UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT. Odd, huh?

FDTD

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN - 1997
HORROR
Miramax Films / Dimension Films
Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Producers: Gianni Nunnari & Meir Teper

Despite the largely interracial crowd (African, Hispanic, Asian) including SALMA HAYEK, the only survivors with any screen time, are white.

Cheech Marin, who played many different characters in the movie, dies several times. He finally makes an appearance at the end, but his last character was never involved in the story in the first place. The last minority "character" doesn't die, but George Clooney's character punches him in the mouth.

 

Cube

CUBE - 1997
HORROR / THRILLER
Téléfilm Canada / Viacom Canada
Screenplay: André Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, & Graeme Manson
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Producers: Mehra Meh & Betty Orr

Though not made or funded by Hollywood (it's Canadian), this otherwise fine movie still follows the same old formula.

There is only one black guy (Maurice Dean Wint), one racially set apart minority at all, actually - all the rest are white. Maurice was cast as the only bad guy: and what happens to bad guys in these movies?

 

Relic

RELIC - 1997
HORROR
Paramount Pictures
Screenplay: Amy Holden Jones, John Raffo, Rick Jaffa, & Amanda Silver
Director: Peter Hyams
Producers: Gale Anne Hurd & Sam Mercer

The first victims of the creature in RELIC are all Hispanic.

The first victim in the Museum is a black security guard who gets it while smoking pot on duty. Tico Wells is a black cop trying to save the rich white people and he dies nobly. The only Asian man (Chi Moui Lo: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) is a bad guy trying to steal a white person's job. Only white survivors.

 

Deep Rising

DEEP RISING - 1998
HORROR
Hollywood Pictures / Buena Vista
Screenplay: Stephen Sommers
Director: Stephen Sommers
Producers: John Baldecchi, Mario Iscovich, & Laurence Mark

All the black people were also bad people so they die. All the Asians were wealthy Asians so THEY die. Basically, anyone who is not white dies.

Actor/Model Djimon Hounsou (Vivo) not only dies trying to take over a ship in this sea-movie, but a year earlier played an African Slave Trader (Cinque) in AMISTAD (1997) who commandeers a slave ship and later demands that the white slave owners of early America return him to his home country and freedom - so he can continue the family business (!) (that family business of enslaving human beings continues to this day. Thanks John Quincy Adams!)

 

Alien Resurrection

ALIEN RESURRECTION - 1998
HORROR / THRILLER
20th Century Fox
Screenplay: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Director: Joss Whedon
&Walter Hill

In the 4th and worst installment of the series, all male humans regardless of race are bad guys. All the women or those appearing to be human females are confused and victimized. Still, of the 4 survivors, all are white. As with every ALIEN movie, all black folk were cast in body count roles.

 

Strangeland

STRANGELAND - 1998
HORROR / THRILLER
Snider Than Thou Productions Inc.
Screenplay: Dee Snider
Director: John Pieplow & Dee Snider

Twisted Sister frontman, Dee Snider, kills off the only major African American character (Amal Rhoe) in the first few minutes of this film. The rest of the town seems to be all white. Hispanic actress, Elizabeth Peña, plays a white woman. I didn't realize that until we see her all white sisters. (?)

 

Mimic

MIMIC - 1997
HORROR / THRILLER
Miramax Films / Dimension Films
Screenplay: Matthew Robbins & Guillermo del Toro
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Producers: Ole Bornedal, B.J. Rack, & Bob Weinstein

Halfway through the movie you just KNOW that the black subway cop Leonard (Charles Dutton: CAT'S EYE, ALIEN 3, SE7EN) is going to be slaughtered in the time honored Horror movie cliché of Kill The Black People. And yep, Leonard dies nobly while saving the white couple (also dies nobly in ALIEN3).

Phantoms

PHANTOMS - 1998
HORROR / THRILLER
Miramax Films / Dimension Films
Screenplay: Dean R. Koontz
Director: Joe Chappelle
Producers: Steven A. Lane, Michael Leahy, Robert Pringle, & Joel Soisson

Only the white folk survive. The one black man - Clifton Powell, the one Asian woman - Valerie Chow, and the one Latino man - Micael DeLorenzo, get slaughtered, though nobly.

Virus

VIRUS - 1999
HORROR / THRILLER
Dark Horse Entertainment / Universal
Screenplay: Chuck Pfarrer & Dennis Feldman
Director: John Bruno
Producers: Gale Anne Hurd

There is a black guy (former Pro Footballer Sherman Augustus: Richie) in this movie and so, like nearly every SF/Horror movie in the last twenty years, from perennial black movie victim Paul Winfield to the present; HE DIES!

The black character in SF/Horror (like Charles Dutton in MIMIC) is no slouch, of course. He is noble, he overcomes his limitations, he is heroic, he saves the white people, he is a credit to his race, but never-the less, HE DIES.
THE ONLY BLACK GUY DIES!

As soon as you see him and the little guy (Julio Oscar Mechoso: Squeeky) and the dark complected, but undetermined race character (New Zealander Cliff Curtis: Hiko - also dies in the SF/Horror movie DEEP RISING), you know one thing: that out of all of the potential survivors, THESE NON-WHITES ARE GOING TO DIE!

And of course, you'd be right. It's just that predictable.

The Astronaut's Wife

THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE - 1999
HORROR / THRILLER
New Line Cinema
Screenplay: Rand Ravich
Director: Rand Ravich
Producers: Andrew Lazar

Black actor Joe Morton is in this movie and so, like nearly every SF/Horror movie in the last twenty years, from perennial black movie victim Paul Winfield to the present; HE DIES!

Morton is the only black actor in the movie who doesn't have a bit part, so Joe (who also died nobly in TERMINATOR 2), gets to die nobly again while trying to save the earth.

This is how the Racial Cliche Alert works.

The minority actor in SF/Horror (like Charles Dutton in MIMIC) is no slouch, of course. He is noble, he overcomes his limitations, he is heroic, he saves the white people, he is a credit to his race, but never-the less, HE DIES. THE ONLY BLACK GUY DIES! As soon as you see him you know one thing: that out of all of the potential survivors, HE IS GOING TO DIE!

In the more racially mixed EVENT HORIZON, they at least allowed one member of each race to live, and to the movie maker's credit, did it without being left wing liberal hokey about it. EVENT HORIZON, however, wasn't a Hollywood made movie and THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE is.

Dogma

DOGMA - 1999
THRILLER
View Askew Productions / Lions Gate Films / Scanbox Finland
Screenplay: Kevin Smith
Director: Kevin Smith
Producer: Scott Mosier

As DOGMA grows steadily duller, your mind starts to wander and you begin to notice things. Things like, "Hey, there are no black people in this movie, in fact, there are only white people."

To overcome this, Writer/Director Kevin Smith has Chris Rock fall out of the sky, literally. Problem is, Chris Rock, for all his millennia in Heaven and his status as an apostle, is not an angel, he's just a dead guy. When his mission is done, back he goes. He's only there to help the white folks accomplish THEIR mission; he doesn't actually do anything himself. The only other black people in the entire movie are a unusually friendly group of street thugs, who are all quickly killed off by an "Excremental": A shit demon.

Ha! Ha! The black people get all covered in shit and die!

Yeesh! This is not to say that some white characters don't also die, they do. The UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT is to let you know that, no matter how many victims or how many people from different races are in the movie, the whites and ONLY the whites were cast as survivors. Or in this case, even have lives that matter.

I don't have a "feminist cliche" alert because the ultra-sexist Women As Victim and/or mere Furniture is so institutionalized in all manner of movies across the board it isn't even worth the time to bring it up. Everybody knows about it and nobody can argue that it doesn't exist. In the movie SOYLENT GREEN, women were literally billed as Furniture, right on the poster.

Even Thelma And Louise played out the whole movie in a never ending Women-As-Helpless-Victim vein (and that was considered a feminist movie)! What makes it particularly stand out in DOGMA though, is how the flick tries to be so painfully hip and cool and Politically Correct Liberal, Yet Still Paints Every Woman As Helpless Victim And Every Minority As Dead Meat!

It was so over-obvious as to be mind-boggling. Like when Senators Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde upheld the "Defense of Marriage Act", the "Sanctity of marriage", family values, and decrying Clinton for lying under oath about his having an affair, WHILE both Gingrich and Hyde were having adulterous affairs and lying under oath about it!

For example: While this movie pretends to be oh-so-very sensitive toward women (only white men are bad, only white men are guilty, blah, blah. Women are muses, saviors, and the latest version of GOD), it really just puts them in the background while the guys get to have all the fun, best scenes, and good lines. Only men have agency.

Bethany is sent only male characters to help her in her mission. First Metatron, then Jay and Silent Bob, and finally Rufus.

Yes. A black guy named Rufus.

That's the joke, you see.

Bethany is never sent any female help. Understand that Bethany is played by Linda Fiorentino: LINDA FIORENTINO (!). When it comes to American, ass-kickin' female leads you have Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, and Linda Fiorintino. Yet in this movie she is helpless wandering kitten without the constant assistance of all the guys who are either saving her life or telling her what to do.

When we first meet Loki, he is talking a Nun right out of her own faith.

Not a priest. Never a priest. No, it's gotta be a woman.

Later, when Loki and Bartleby go to the Mooby Corporation to do some cleansing of the sinners, the all white board of directors has only one woman. All the sins of the men are laid out. The woman's life story is never told. She is innocent; no background; no life; has done nothing wrong and is reduced to being less than a cipher.

Salma Hayek makes her appearance in this movie as the stripper Serendipity (these guys must have loved her in FROM DUSK TO DAWN). What she is, in reality, is a Muse. She can do nothing herself, she can only influence (in this case men) to actually accomplish the ideas that she invented.

Wait a minute! Shouldn't a muse be influencing the supposed hero of this movie, who is Doctor Bethany? Nope. Serendipity can only influence - never actually tell the men - what they should do. Only the men can save Bethany from getting herself killed.

GOD, while frequently referred to in this movie as he, is played by a she (Alanis Morrisette).

But guess what? God is unable to speak for herself.

To hear her talk will destroy your brain (ah ha ha! Of course *wink*). She needs her all male Angels to speak for her in her behalf.
She's God!
She's Omnipotent!

Except she can't talk to people without opening her mouth as wide as possible, screaming, and blowing her creations apart (never had a problem with speaking for "herself" in the bible, but there you have it). God needs men to speak for her.

Only when she nonsensically squeeks and giggles do we hear her.

SHEESH!

 

The Green Mile

THE GREEN MILE - 1999
THRILLER
Warner Brothers
Screenplay: Frank Darabont
Director: Frank Darabont
Producers: Frank Darabont & David Valdes

Only one black man in the whole movie (Michael Clarke Duncan) and he happens to be on death row. So guess what? And the argument that Steve killed off the character in the story doesn't work here either. See THE SHINING as to why.

 

End of Days

END OF DAYS - 1999
HORROR / THRILLER / MYSTERY
Universal Pictures
Screenplay: Andrew W. Marlowe
Director: Peter Hyams
Producers: Andrew W. Marlowe, Bill Borden, & Armyan Bernstein

CCH Pounder plays Margo the cop. The only black woman or minority person in this movie, she gets shot to death by Arnold's character because she is evil and is threatening the white woman that he wants to protect. This is not a spoiler since black people in Arnold Schwarzenegger SF/Horror movies are always bad or victims or both and wind up dead.

Come to think of it, you really can't spoil an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie with the UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT. It would be a surprise if it DIDN'T happen!

URCA

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REFERENCES
Anthropologist Gretchen Bakke, PhD, references my UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHE ALERT as an expert resource in her 2010 Anthropological Quarterly essay @ Johns Hopkins University

Researcher David Waldron, references my review of UNDERWORLD in the Spring 2005, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture entry, Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic (downloadable pdf).

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