> Jeez. Looks like I struck a nerve there.
>
> First: I don't agree with your definition of racism. Racism doesn't require advocacy, merely the certain belief that your race is superior to other races (or that certain other races are inferior to yours) and the visible expression of that belief.

I don't think that the visible expression of the belief is necessary to be a racist. The belief that one race is superior to another, whether visibly expressed or not, qualifies someone as a racist in my book. -K

> Second: The resemblance is more than superficial. There's a physical resemblence (although certain characteristics are, naturally, highly exaggerated), there's a one-to-one correlation in speech patterns, and the image of the aliens presented fits in with the stereotypical view of the Chinese as emotionally dead money-grubbers. I went into the movie thinking that all the flak Lucas was taking from this issue was ridiculous, but after actually -seeing- and -hearing- those aliens, I was convinced.

I have never heard Chinese people stereotyped as "emotionally dead money-grubbers." Yes, the physical and linguistical (don't care if that's a word or not, I like it) resemblance was there. But what kind of accents should they have had? Knowing the character of these aliens, what group of people *wouldn't* be offended if the aliens were given their accent? -K
>
> Third: The aliens are represented as being evil and cowardly. What Lucas was saying (or so it appeared to me and virtually everyone I've talked to about the matter) was "here's what I think of those Chinese *******s." What bothered me most is that some of the people I talked to about it weren't troubled by that message.

Isn't that reaching a little bit? How can you derive Lucas' views on Chinese people based on the fact that his characters have similarities to them? The Gungans have similarities to African-Americans, are you inferring that the Gungans represent Lucas' views on them? Would you also say that Lucas' portrayal of the sand-people is representative of his views on Arabian people? There are a lot of similarities there. My whole point is that perhaps you are reading way too much into these characters. Like I wrote earlier, yes there are similarities between the aliens and Asians (not just Chinese), but I don't believe that his portrayal of the aliens represents his views on the entire race. -K
>
> Fourth: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Now, obviously, Lucas' movies are a form of free speech, and thus he has the right to say whatever he likes. But I consider it socially irresponsible to avoid pointing out blatant things like this, especially in a kids' movie. I doubt he went into this project with the intention of making weird racist statements, but some part of his mind obviously wanted to.

Did it? Or are we perhaps so turned off by the mere hint of racism, that we've begun to see it in places where it doesn't really exist? -K
>
> I agree that there are too many accusations of racism flying around based on relatively innocent material... but we shouldn't let that cloud our view when something genuinely offensive appears.

I agree with your statement above. But I think this is one of those cases where the view has been clouded by hype, hearsay, etc... I saw the movie with a group of people, two of which are Oriental, and nobody found it offensive.

Kel"wow...two cents sure goes a long way these days"ly