in Politics

Everything is Racist: Toy Story 4 Edition

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This week, we were unsurprised to see disgraced former football player Colin Kaepernick whining on Twitter about how the strike against Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was further evidence of America’s racist so-and-so and just another example of imperialist this-and-that and something, something “brown and black bodies.” Kaepernick would have nothing else to do if he didn’t have his controversial opinion factory (to go along with the sweatshop factories churning out his sneakers).

We were a little surprised, however, to flick past The Hollywood Reporter this week and find writer Stephen Galloway opining, at length, about the inherent racism of…Toy Story 4?

Yes, everything is racist, indeed.

From the essay:

In many ways TS4’s worldview seems like an Eisenhower-era fantasy, a vision of America that might have come from the most die-hard reactionary: lovely if you’re wealthy and white, but alarming if you’re black or brown or gay or a member of any other minority — in other words, more than half the U.S. population.

True, there are a few characters of color (including two supporting players voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele); but each of the leads is Caucasian, and not just the franchise regulars but a host of new ones including a very white fork (Tony Hale) that’s among the more memorable — and merchandisable — creations of this fourth iteration in the series.

As Matthew Cherry, the African American director of animated short Hair Love, recently told The Hollywood Reporter: “When you don’t see yourself represented and you don’t see people with your same type of hair seen as the hero and seen as loving and desired, it really does a number on your self-confidence.”

How is it that a professional critic could watch the words “a very white fork” appear on the screen and not take a second to reflect on the complete inanity of what he is writing? Did Mr. Galloway have such a moment? Did he look up at the ceiling for a couple of seconds and think, “Really…is this what I’ve been reduced to?” before penning the rest of this nonsense? Or is he such a true believer that he really thinks that pontificating on the “whiteness” of Toy Story 4 (!) is a worthwhile expenditure of his time?

We have to assume the latter, because only someone very steeped in social-justice Kool-aid could write the following sentence: “Take 2006’s Cars: its humor was based on all sorts of foreign stereotypes, inadvertently encouraging the anti-immigrant prejudice that’s now running rampant through the country.”

If you’re at the point where you’re suggesting, even to a small degree, that the humor of Cars (!!) is tangentially related to “anti-immigrant prejudice” in America today, then it’s time to turn off your computer, grab your toaster, draw a hot bath, and…enjoy some toast while you relax in your bath.

What? That’s a thing.

Written by Andrew

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